Category: Good Men Project

I am able to communicate with you right now because of one of the oldest and greatest inventions of humanity: Writing. Prior to writing, humans had to keep their histories alive through spoken stories, which are malleable and unreliable. We had to learn how to do things directly, as apprentices to mentors; if there was…

As I write this, it’s Father’s Day. I wish a Happy Father’s Day to every decent person who identifies as a father figure in somebody’s life, be it as a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or a caregiver. This article is dedicated to you. This is the ninth Father’s Day I have been a fatherless…

On Friday’s episode of Real Time, Bill Maher provided a clinic on some of the worst white male verbal behaviors, and in how not to take full responsibility. In two segments, he illustrated deflection, microaggression, defensiveness, gaslighting, and tone-deafness. This was in the form of an apology. On the previous episode, Maher referred to himself…

Author’s Note: There are a lot of links in this article, many of which are from black voices. Particularly if you are white, I encourage you to read those articles and strive to understand their perspectives. The links are set up to open in a new window. In my previous article, I wrote about a handful…

I still see white people claiming that there’s no systemic racism among police, and that racist police officers are the exception, not the rule. Even though I’m white, I have had multiple experiences with police officers that have had a racial component. From 1989 to 1997, I lived in a poor neighborhood in Lansing, Michigan;…

I was raised to believe that it was best to avoid talking about religion or politics in mixed company. The political environment of the United States has become particularly rocky in recent years, making such discussions a potential powderkeg. The election of Donald Trump, billed as an attempt to bring an end to that divisiveness,…

We have a cultural preoccupation with not letting people die. Conservatives focus that obsession on being against abortion and euthanasia. Quality of life be damned: The conservative platform includes cutting welfare and getting rid of government controls. But if someone is dying and wants to do so in dignity, they can’t. And if a pregnant…

I’m a high school teacher. Many of my students misbehave regularly, and most of them misbehave at least occasionally. The question is as old as it is contentious: How do we properly impel our students to behave properly? The traditional answer is corporal punishment: Spank students when they don’t do as expected, and they’ll stop…

Alexander Yarde recently wrote, “Toxic masculinity is not women’s fault.” It was even bolded, lest people miss it, and it followed Yarde placing the heavy lifting of repairing the problem on “cis straight men.” A few months ago, I wrote about toxic masculinity, myself. And, while the title specifically focused on supporting a role for men that…

There are two statues on Wall Street that have been getting considerable discussion lately. Since 1989, Arturo Di Modica’s “Charging Bull” has stood in the Wall Street district, a “symbol of virility and courage” and “determination and hard work” meant to “celebrate the can-do spirit of America” (quotes from his website). In March of 2017,…