Your Five Year Plan is Pretty but Useless
Stop trying to predict the future - trust me, your prediction will be completely wrong.
Like Flowers on Graves
Sunday at the Empty Bottle, the amazing Angela Vela put together an afternoon show comprised of musicians, stand ups and storytellers all paying tribute to the unfortunately diffusive list of extraordinary talents who cashed out in 2016.
Luckily for Dana and I, she invited us to join. Dana decided her tribute would be to Harper Lee, who moments before her homage discovered had died on Dana's birthday. I chose to eulogize the Fifth Beatle, George Martin.
To Find the Right Answer You Have to Ask the Right Question
How hard is it to Google "Who is Frederick Douglass and is he still alive?"
Lessons of Birthday's Past
It's my effing birthday weekend, so let me lay down some more old cranky man wisdom on you.
Crossing Over Into the Second Half Century
Today, I am fifty-one years old. A full six years past my predetermined demise and a year into my fifth decade. What did I learn in my fifty-first year worth remembering?
Strategies to Resist Trump's America
Attention, Attention Must Finally Be Paid
As I approach my 51st Birthday, of course, I am in full bore self reflection mode and gazing deeply into my own navel with an intensity that borders on mania.
The Intangible Rewards of Protest
So, let's break it down a bit. Reward exists to encourage behavior; punishment exists to deter behavior. Sound about right?
The Company You Keep Defines Who You Are
Jim Rohn once said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
Monkey's Paw Wishes and the Consequences of Want
We Are Here
Online Politics and How It Contributes to a Culture of Exclusion
"We" is automatically wed to "Them."
Is Impact > Intent or Only When It Suits Our Narrative?
FATE
Other Things We Shouldn't Normalize
Who Wants to Live Forever?
Re-enlisting is a Choice
The opposite of victim is perpetrator but that's not the only choice.
Don't Go Changing Yourself for Someone Else... Even If You're Lonely
It's better to be alone than with someone who demands that you change your essential self to meet their standards.
Wedged Between Two Tea Parties
That said, the worst thing I did when I was wedged in between AK and BR was believe them.
...that, at a certain age, a birthday is no longer a celebration of your existence but another notch in the ‘Fuck off, Death’ belt.