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PO Box 3201
Martinsville, VA 24115
United States

Stephen H. Provost is an author of paranormal adventures and historical non-fiction. “Memortality” is his debut novel on Pace Press, set for release Feb. 1, 2017.

An editor and columnist with more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, he has written on subjects as diverse as history, religion, politics and language and has served as an editor for fiction and non-fiction projects. His book “Fresno Growing Up,” a history of Fresno, California, during the postwar years, is available on Craven Street Books. His next non-fiction work, “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street,” is scheduled for release in June.

For the past two years, the editor has served as managing editor for an award-winning weekly, The Cambrian, and is also a columnist for The Tribune in San Luis Obispo.

He lives on the California coast with his wife, stepson and cats Tyrion Fluffybutt and Allie Twinkletail.

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On Life

Ruminations and provocations.

Filtering by Category: Culture

10 reasons to quit social media — and why I'm glad I did

Stephen H. Provost

The internet depersonalizes our interactions and, in doing so, keeps us from seeing people as human beings. Instead, we see them as targets or obstacles or followers. As in war, this reinforces the “us vs. them” mentality that fuels continued hostility and conflict. Peace and understanding? They’re condemned as compromise and disloyalty.

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Hey, talking heads: Please stop saying this when you start a sentence

Stephen H. Provost

Since the book came out, a few more clichés have entered the mainstream — and become embedded there like the shell of a popcorn kernel that digs in underneath your gums and refused to be dislodged by Waterpik, toothpick or fingernail. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of these is a single two-letter word that it seems like half the people interviewed on cable news channels. It’s the “y’know” of 2020, except it’s worse because you can’t avoid it by tuning the speaker out halfway through the first sentence. It’s the first thing out of their mouths.

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How "Southern Pride" and prejudice created identity politics

Stephen H. Provost

Identity politics doesn’t start with pride, it starts with shame. If you want to blame someone for identity politics, blame the slaveholders, the segregationists, the people who’ve opposed equal rights for women, who’ve discriminated against and demeaned LGBTQUIA individuals. Blame the people who support or apologize for actions that make others feel inferior, based on nothing more than who they are.

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Cuomo's defense of Columbus statue proves BLM's point

Stephen H. Provost

It’s very possible to be proud about living in the South without waving a Confederate flag. I know. I live in the South, and I like it here. And it’s just as possible to be proud about one’s Italian heritage without putting up a statue to Christopher Columbus. Are we really so narrowly focused as to believe that the only way we can honor our heritage is to erect statues to slaveholders?

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Police brutality: A culture of fear and force that affects us all

Stephen H. Provost

What if, instead of law enforcement cops, we had public service CAPs — Community Assistance and Protection representatives? Don’t call them “officers.” That’s a military term that, again, is designed to invoke fear and conjure up images of aggressive, violent action. That’s not what we need. We need people we can trust to work with us to create a more peaceful culture. We need people who will defuse tense situations, not escalate them with violence.

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We're all George Floyd, and Trump is kneeling on our necks

Stephen H. Provost

There’s never been any question that Donald Trump wants division, and now it’s equally clear that he wants violence, because it plays right into his hands. The minute people become so frustrated, so infuriated, that they lash out against his policies with any semblance of force, he can strike them down, say, “I told you so!” and impose martial law. That’s where we’re heading.

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