We were raised in that strange in-between space where independence was not a philosophy; it was a requirement. We came home to empty houses, figured things out on our own, and carried that mindset straight into adulthood.

The Super Bowl is back in the Bay Area, but football lost me somewhere between the velvet ropes, the parking lot chaos, and the cost to its players.

We are living in an era of relentless information. Not just news, but noise. Endless data. Endless opinions. Endless urgency. Every platform trains us to react before we reflect, to respond before we process, and to confuse being informed with being regulated.