Don Hall 6/9/26 Don Hall 6/9/26

Your Kingdom Ends at Your Fingertips

Most people are trying to captain hurricanes, negotiate with gravity, and emotionally supervise ghosts.

Don Hall 6/1/26 Don Hall 6/1/26

I Believe… [Roll On, Stone]

…that when a rolling stone finds something worth calling home, it should linger there awhile before gravity gives way to momentum again.

Don Hall 5/30/26 Don Hall 5/30/26

Attention Deficit Empire

How We Turned Every Kid Who Looked Out the Window Into a Pharmaceutical Maintenance Project.

David Himmel 5/29/26 David Himmel 5/29/26

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of May 24, 2026

The legacy of Michael Jackson is complicated. But his music simplifies it.

Don Hall 5/27/26 Don Hall 5/27/26

The Three Things Money Can’t Buy

Empires collapse, fortunes evaporate, and stocks nosedive into hell—but a deep sleep, a clean shit, and a laugh that shakes your skeleton remain the closest thing humanity has to real wealth.

David Himmel 5/26/26 David Himmel 5/26/26

On Turning 47 | Giving Myself Permission to be Myself

I give myself permission to be a living, breathing, learning, failing, succeeding, complicated human being. For if I don’t, there’s no point in celebrating a birthday.

Don Hall 5/23/26 Don Hall 5/23/26

Meaning Is Oxygen: You Don’t Notice It—Until the Room Starts to Suffocate

Or: Why you only care about what you can’t have—and why that’s the whole engine.

David Himmel 5/22/26 David Himmel 5/22/26

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of May 17, 2026

Mastering disappointment is more productive than villainizing it.

David Himmel 5/19/26 David Himmel 5/19/26

The Collective Fall from the Rise of the Elite

When we prioritize profit without considering the human influence, we run the grand risk of ruining people’s livelihoods. And that will always have a trickle down economic effect. But not in the way Reagan intended.

David Himmel 5/15/26 David Himmel 5/15/26

A Big Night Out with the Micro Maidens

When one thinks burlesque, what comes to mind is seductive choreography, feats of sexual prowess, a nod to yesteryear’s pinup girls, sirens pulling you into a subdued desire with their slow and calculated gyrating hips and arched backs. A peep show, a strip tease for the well-mannered crowd. Micro Maidens is not that. Micro Maidens is an aggressive strip club with pasties. But for the brave, adventure-seeking type, it’s big fun.

Elizabeth Harper 5/14/26 Elizabeth Harper 5/14/26

Cruelest Curse

Elizabeth Harper 5/12/26 Elizabeth Harper 5/12/26

Poem About My Mother

Don Hall 5/11/26 Don Hall 5/11/26

I Believe… [What $ Can’t Buy]

...that money comes and money goes but no one can put a price on a good night’s sleep, a solid shit, and a serious, to your toes, laugh.

David Himmel 5/8/26 David Himmel 5/8/26

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of May 3, 2026

It’s easy to misconstrue something you hear or read. Do better by doing the harder work. Pay attention, take your time. And trust that the hard work really isn’t that hard.

David Himmel 5/5/26 David Himmel 5/5/26

The Complicated Appreciation for Teacher Appreciation Week

I’m not going to argue that teachers and school staff don’t need appreciation. They are important players in our children’s lives. Highly influential for good and ill. But there are a few problems I come up against with Teacher Appreciation Week. Those problems are time, effort, and even money.

Don Hall 5/4/26 Don Hall 5/4/26

I Believe… [Stand and Deliver]

...that in order to protect those we care for it may be just enough to stand in the way of those who intend harm.

David Himmel 5/1/26 David Himmel 5/1/26

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 26, 2026

We must strive to make what happens to us good for us. That’s how we master disappointment. That’s how we evolve and persevere.

David Himmel 4/24/26 David Himmel 4/24/26

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 19, 2026

If you ever want the Ellis Island experience circa 1907, swing into the Chicago City Clerk’s office in Portage Park. The number of different accents is loads of fun and reminds you of the shared American Experience, which is that city bureaucracy is no fun for any of us.