Below is a list of categories and category icons that appear on When Falls the Coliseum, along with an explanation of the content you might expect each category to contain.

Each blog post or article will have one or two icons above the title and will list the name of the categories at the end of the post.

You can browse our site by category archives on the middle sidebar or click on any icon below to find content on a particular topic.

advice for the rest of us — Ruby Mac’s weekly column answers your questions and drops some knowledge about cheap thrills, getting by, love, sex, and everything else you need to know if you’re on a budget. Advice for the rest of us is published every Friday. Ask for advice.

all work — and no play — jobs, career, work, employment, unemployment, unions, employees, workplace bureacracy, bosses, resumes, hiring, firing, corporate culture.

announcements — new publications and appearances by our contributors and press notice and other When Falls the Coliseum news.

art & entertainment — movies, plays, TV shows, television and society, actors, celebrities, music, video games, concerts, reviews of the above.

black helicopter watch — discussion of conspiracy theories that people actually believe and espouse, pretend conspiracy theories that our contributors make up for entertainment or satirical purposes.

blood — family, parents, parenting, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren.

books & writing — books, book reviews, literature, authors, literary issues, writing, publishing. 

   conversations — a column by Paula Marantz Cohen and Robert Anthony Watts, featuring their exchanges on race, gender, politics, cultural issues, art and entertainment, current events, and whatever else makes for good conversation. Join them.

creative writing — original fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, sketches.

damned lies — statistics, misuse of numbers, lying with facts, damned lies.

diatribes — rants on everyday annoyances and outrages, like your car being towed or your inconsiderate neighbor or bad customer service.

easy go — money, economics, taxes, capitalism, socialism, consumerism, free market, debt, spending, credit cards, business.

educayshin — education, school, teachers, learning, teaching, tuition, political-correctness on campus, professors, college, high school, No Child Left Behind.

ends & odd – anything that doesn’t fit any other category, oddities, strangeness.

fandom — a regular feature column by Katie Haegele.

fashion & clothing — fashion industry, fashion, models, clothing, fashion accessories, jewelry.
 

Fred’s dreams — a regular feature column by Fred Siegel, about his dreams, runs every Wednesday.

his & hers – dating, marriage, men, women, relationships, gender issues, feminism, battle of the sexes, sex, sexual harrassment, LGBT issues, gay rights, gay marriage.

if I were king… – What I would do if I were king (or queen). Each entry will begin with the words “If I were king” or “If I were queen” and will continue with a description of what our contributor would do if he or she had that power.

in the balance  — Earth, environment, environmentalism, global warming, natural disasters, pollution, nature, weather, hiking, camping, trees, pesticides, environmentalists.

Joshua Goldowsky blames a fictional character — a column blaming real world problems on characters from books, movies, television, and other fictional settings.

license to ill — health, healthcare, doctors, nurses, hospitals, illness, disease, disease prevention, universal healthcare, advances in healthcare, surgery.

low & high — drugs, alcohol, drinking age, bars, rehab, steroids, prescription drugs, medication, drug laws, prohibition, beer, DUI.

marching on — time, that is — getting older, “kids these days,” the elderly, social security, nursing homes, “back when I was a kid,” wisdom that comes with age.

on the law — Constitution, legal issues, courts, judges, lawyers, legal cases, lawsuits, Bill of Rights, crime, punishment.

pastimes — sports, baseball, football, basketball, boxing, olympics, tennis, athletes, player salaries, stadiums, sports fans, high school sports, college sports, funding for sports, chess and other competitive games.

photography — original photography by our contributors and writing about photography.

Pitney patrol — in honor of Caseworker Alice Pitney — efforts by government to protect people from their own choices and to limit those choices for our own good, as a parent might protect a child. Depending on your point of view, this includes war on obesity, obesity epidemic, war on smoking, cracking down on portion sizes, ban on trans fat, helmet laws, seatbelt laws, and anything government bans or restricts to protect people from themselves rather than from others. Sometimes called “nanny state.”

race & culture — identity, race, group affiliation, identity politics, racism, multiculturalism, affirmative action, ethnicity, nationalism, culture, group-think.

recipes & food  — real recipes for meals or snacks and pieces that use a recipe format for purposes of humor or commentary (a list of ingredients perhaps followed by steps). Expect to see titles like “Recipe for Chicken Marsala” when our writers are in a culinary mood. When our writers are in a more satirical mood, you might see recipes like the ones that appeared on the original When Falls the Coliseum. These included: “Recipe for Brewing the Perfect Liberal”; “Recipe for Brewing the Perfect Conservative”; “Recipe for Holiday Peace”; “Recipe for Continuing to Collect Unemployment.” This category also includes restaurant reviews and essays about food.

reflections & recollections — an autobiographical column by Scott Stein, dredging up the past, exploring the (sometimes embarrassingly) personal, remembering good ol’ days and good ol’ boys, thinking about the present and how it got here, and trying to make just a little sense of it all.

rulers & ruled – government, politics, political philosophy, politicians, elections, candidates, political campaigns, proper role of government, liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, political parties, government competence or lack thereof, government corruption.

sticks & stones  — may break my bones, but words will never hurt me — language, linguistics, grammar, abuse of language, grammatical errors, controversial words, politically correct language, euphemisms, sayings, cliches, vocabulary, English as official language, banned words, n-word, language pet peeves.

 
technophoria — technology, computers, digital age, information age, future of technology, obsolete technology, technology as panacea, fear of technology, cool new devices, technological predictions, technology reviews.

terror & war  — terror, terrorism, war, war on terrorism.

that’s what he said — Frank Wilson’s weekly column riffs on quotations and follows the train of thought wherever it might lead. Published each Tuesday.

trusted media — media, media bias, talk radio, journalism, sloppy journalism, advertising, misleading advertising, newspapers, decline of newspapers, TV news, trends in journalism.

truth (or something) – deep thoughts, the meaning of life, religion, philosophy, faith, organized religions, rituals, metaphysics, God, gods, epistemology, philosophers, religious figures, atheism, belief, cults.

under the microscope — science, biology, physics, chemistry, Evolution, scientists, genetics, scientific controversies, pseudo-science, astronomy.

wild things – animals, pets, animal rights, vegetarianism, animal encounters.