Michael McGehee / Field Archive
Transmissions
Essays, interviews, dispatches, and reflections from the world behind Eulogy for the Stripes.
Stories worth sending. Ideas worth examining.
The Field Archive / Start Here
Four Essential Transmissions
The origins of the novel. The ideas that shaped its world.
The Origin Story: Part 1 of 2
Featured Image: Proud Place at dusk: a fence, a watchtower, and a community trying to hold. It was the night before the line was crossed, and there was no…
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The Origin Story: Part 2 of 2
If Part 1 was about where the idea began, this part is the prequel to the origin story. Between 1998 and 2010, the story lived in fragments. Scenes. Settings.…
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The Authoritarian Uniparty Is Not a Conspiracy, It Is a Pattern
Last week, I wrote about why America is still worth celebrating. This week, I want to write about why celebration cannot become denial. A country does not drift toward…
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Where Real-World Warning Signs Become Grounded Fiction
For nearly thirty years, I have occasionally watched the news with my dad and found myself returning to the same uneasy thought. What I was watching seemed like the…
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All Transmissions
Newly published dispatches appear automatically, newest first.
The Moral Debt of the Present
We talk about debt as a number. A headline. A running total so large it stops meaning anything. What we rarely talk about is who inherits it.…
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The Invisible Supply Chain
Envision a crisis unfolding. The shelves are still full. Groceries stacked neatly. Fuel available. Delivery trucks still moving. For a few hours, maybe even a day, the…
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The Death of Anonymity
Anonymity did not vanish overnight. In the early internet, it was completely normal to exist without a public digital identity. Over time, that freedom flipped and gradually…
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What This Story Is and What It Is Not
I love God, Jesus, and this country. I am deeply committed to the United States because I believe it is worth protecting. There is no place I…
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Where Stability Ends, and Control Begins
People do not seek tyranny. They seek stability, safety, predictability, and relief from uncertainty. In times of crisis, these requests seem reasonable and even responsible. The real…
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What Gradual Collapse Actually Feels Like
In prior blogs, I have reiterated that collapse does not arrive with spectacle. It comes through erosion. Methodical, incremental, and often justified as necessary. The question is…
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The Moral Cost of Deferred Accountability
Accountability never truly disappears. It simply shifts hands, often gradually over time. A responsibility that once belonged to someone specific becomes shared, then vague, and eventually felt…
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How Republics Fail Without Collapsing
When civilizations fall, it is rarely because of a single moment or a single mistake. Rome did not collapse in one dramatic event. Neither did ancient Mesopotamia,…
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When Systems Hold, Until They Don’t Anymore
Why this story, and why now? As we approach 2026, many Americans sense that something essential is no longer holding. Institutions still function, but not with the…
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