Can you think of a good reason not to try a cicada, other than “ew”? I’ve posed this question to numerous friends and family, even my partner’s extended relatives, now that Brood X is swarming parts of the United States. Eating cicadas just makes sense, even for someone like me, who’s been a stalwart vegetarian since basically the last time they appeared, in 2004.

Bishop T. D. Jakes is one of the most famous pastors in America. His multi-thousand-member Dallas megachurch, the Potter’s House, is just one part of his platform; he’s recorded gospel albums, starred in television broadcasts, led several popular conference series, and published numerous books, including his latest, Don’t Drop the Mic.

Two weeks after my wife and I moved to Los Angeles, a large man pedaled up to me in a parking lot in West Hollywood. He was sunburned, caked in grime. His bike was sized for a 12-year-old boy. Perhaps it had recently belonged to a 12-year-old boy.

This poem is dedicated to all the men and women, regardless of faith, who made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation.       I have stood before the crosses
as we laid a soldier down.
They cast a simple shadow
upon the upturned ground.The bugler sounds taps
as each cross its witness bears
to the journey of a soldier
released from earthly cares.

The U.S. Senate’s abdication of duty at the start of this Memorial Day weekend, when 11 senators (nine of them Republican) did not even show up to vote on authorizing an investigation of the January 6 insurrection, makes the item below particularly timely.Fifty-four senators (including six Republicans) voted to approve the investigative commission. Only 35 opposed it.But in the institutionalized rule-of-the-minority that is the contemporary Senate, the measure “failed.