Don Hall 7/12/17 Don Hall 7/12/17

Acknowledging the Duality of Man | Applying Puritanism in the Modern Age

As both the Extreme Right and Extreme Left truck in moral outrage (Rage Profiteers) those left in the middle have to walk an increasingly cautious line. Any step or joke in the wrong direction results in personal destruction. And any human creative and ingenious enough to make something or do something notable better be perfect in every way.

This apparently includes those long dead as the need to revile those who made differences in times past are now held to the same revisionist scrutiny and Puritanical confines as anyone today and without the ability of defense. You know, cuz they’re dead.

Don Hall 7/11/17 Don Hall 7/11/17

On Recognizing My Own Hypocrisies | Fallor Ergo Sum

I write a lot. A lot.

Quite a bit of it is of the Socratic solipsistic nature, gazing hard into the ignorance of the world and commenting on how the collective we can do better. Not a bad preoccupation but presenting itself with certain limitations that bind the brain like a too-tight corset squeezing the blood in opposite directions until both your feet and your face get puffy.

I believe that every once in a while, in a ‘take myself down a peg’ sort of way, it’s necessary to look hard into oneself and catalogue one’s own bullshit a tad. Perhaps in an effort to know thyself, perhaps in efforts to change the self before leveling accusations at the collective, perhaps just as an exercise in seeing past the narcissistic image in the mirror and recognizing who one truly is. I dunno but it seems valuable and I’m going to be writing anyway, so why not?

Don Hall 7/10/17 Don Hall 7/10/17

I Believe...[The Safest Space]

...that the safest space of all, removed from micro aggressions and ideas that conflict with your belief system, is in your parents' basement with a padlock to keep your sister from snooping.

Don Hall 7/9/17 Don Hall 7/9/17

Is This What the Revenge of the Nerds Was Destined to Be?

It all amounts to a race to the bottom - seeking out insult, assigning blame for one's unhappiness on an oppressor, hoping for the sympathy of the crowd, and turning to the power of the mob to obliterate anyone who might lightly tread on the toes of what used to be self esteem.

Don Hall 7/7/17 Don Hall 7/7/17

Dragging Dad, Kicking and Screaming into the Future [A Repost But Worth It...]

The mental picture (provided by my wife) is that the kids are taking dad to the future and want to get there now but can only move as fast as dad can move and he is slow and confused. Being a white man in his fifties, I guess I'm the dad in the metaphor and while I'm confused I'm also not about to cede the discussion to people still living like seven-year-old children and hoping their laundry gets done when mom comes down to the basement. A millennial who has never held a job or lived away from his or her parents doesn't get to lecture me on jack shit.

This is not a blanket condemnation of millennials, merely an old white guy's assertion that 98 percent of everyone under 25 hasn't lived enough actual life to know what the fuck he or she is bloviating about.

So, instead of lectures, let's ask some questions, cuz dad needs some clarification, or he's turning this station wagon around and heading home.

Don Hall 7/4/17 Don Hall 7/4/17

What the Fuck Are We Celebrating Again?

Today is the 241st anniversary of the beginning of the country called The United Stares of America.

I’m in Marion, Kansas (arguably ground zero for the horrifyingly Monster Shit Experiment known as “Trickle Down Economics” in my lifetime) with my family as we eat too much food, drink lousy store-bought beer and blow up shit designed and manufactured by the Chinese.

I take it for granted why we do this until we are doing this. On this day, my question, in between sips of Miller High Life and carelessly lighting fuses with a tiny blowtorch, is why? What exactly are we celebrating today?

Don Hall 7/3/17 Don Hall 7/3/17

I Believe... [Small Minds]

...that the quote that goes around that posits "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."? Yeah, I believe that.

Don Hall 7/2/17 Don Hall 7/2/17

The Hard-Earned Lesson I Learned from Lydia, Molly, Ian and Hedy Weiss

I swear to Gawd and All That is Holy that this will be my last word on two specific issues: the public shaming I endured this time one year ago AND Hedly Weiss.

Don Hall 7/1/17 Don Hall 7/1/17

On Becoming That Guy at the Party: The Dilemma of Poor Johnny One Note

Imagine you’re at a dinner party. (And for those less inclined to go to anything as bougie as a dinner party, imagine a house party or a party that includes people drinking and eating and talking—you know, a fucking party…)

Don Hall 6/29/17 Don Hall 6/29/17

Nothing is Sacred. Not Even You

That was the saying above the theater that WNEP occupied for a couple of years on the corner of Halsted and Belmont.

It meant a lot of things in those six words.

You are not not exempt, as an audience member, from being required to participate.
Nothing in the content within the walls (and minds of the creators) is sacrosanct. Nothing is out of bounds. All sacred cows will be skewered, roasted and eaten rare.
We are artists and we are not somehow the world's very precious tellers of truth. Likewise, your opinion of our work means only as much as we allow it.

It meant that YOU (and WE) are not special.

Don Hall 6/27/17 Don Hall 6/27/17

I Believe... [Street Fests Are SOOOO White]

Don Hall 6/26/17 Don Hall 6/26/17

How Communist Did You Have to Be to Be, You Know, COMMUNIST?

You didn't have to be a communist, you didn't have to have friends who were communists. All you had to have was the whiff of possibility—you said something to someone, you complained about your job, you cheated on the wrong girlfriend—if the Committee decided you were a communist, the power of public opinion and the scrutiny of those self-righteous fear mongers using hyperbolic language to paint you as a communist, you were guilty of being a communist.

Don Hall 6/25/17 Don Hall 6/25/17

Slippery Slopes Always Go in the Same Direction

Some might see the cultural desires to censor uncomfortable speech as the end all, be all of the problem but the culture of victimhood—the one that provides more rewards societally in playing the aggrieved than not—is the beginning of so many slippery slopes. Most of these slopes we cascade down begin as a struggle to expand definitions. "Hate speech." "Harassment." "Rape Culture." "Privilege." The expansion of discriminated classes and marginalized groups—from women, to POC, to Obese People, to Demisexuals—is the perfect example of a well intentioned beginning that slips downward.

Don Hall 6/24/17 Don Hall 6/24/17

Cutting Off Your Nose

There are thousand ways to sell your idea in the marketplace of them.

Every NFP org out there (and there are a LOT of them) has the schtick to get you to part with a few of your dollars so they can continue to operate. Lots of causes know how to use Kickstarter and IndieGo. Public radio shills to you by reminding you three or four times a year how you listen to them and need to pony up a couple ducets to keep listening. Hell, even the multitudes of homeless are trying get a few ounces of silver and ask you as you pass the Starbucks for it with a hopeful but determined look.

The techniques range from
You Can't Live Without This Thing
You Can Assuage Your Guilt By Giving Money to This Thing
Without This Thing Society Will Collapse
TRUMP Hates This Thing So Pay Me For It!

And then there is this:

Don Hall 6/21/17 Don Hall 6/21/17

I Believe...

...that I really didn't need to know about the drugs in Carrie Fisher's system but I do need to know how the jury acquitted the cop who murdered Philando Castile.

Don Hall 6/20/17 Don Hall 6/20/17

Change Takes Fuel and We're Using it up on Bullshit

The Internet is a giant puddle of vomit from our minds all over the ether and my suggestion is that you use its power to protest things that matter to humanity and society rather than you and your four friends. And, no, you and your outrage do not represent anyone but you.

Don Hall 6/19/17 Don Hall 6/19/17

The Devil Made Me Do It or How We've Found Excuses for Fucking Everything

Several cops shoot a guy 47 times. This is not about wounding or incapacitating him; this is about killing him as dead as dead can be. The rationale (in a legal sense) is that they were in fear for their lives. As if fear for life justifies shooting someone 47 times.

A Chicago kid gets shot in a drive-by shooting caught between two street gangs warring over a moment of personal disrespect. When the gangs are called into question, family members and neighborhood activists place the blame on white supremacy keeping these otherwise stand up citizens in a system where they have no choice but to shoot one another.

An angry Fundamentalist Religious type decides that he needs to kill a bunch of people in a social setting to make a point. Instead of blaming the guy for being a homicidal asshole, we blame the religion. He, of course, blames the media or women or the Devil.

Don Hall 6/17/17 Don Hall 6/17/17

"Chopping Wood" | It's All in the Fundamentals

Charlie “Yardbird” Parker transformed himself from decent saxophone player into one of the most influential jazz musicians of the last 100 years. The change happened during a 10-month period, when Parker essentially dropped out of the scene and worked deeply on his craft.

By fully immersing himself in an environment that pushed his mastery, he reemerged on a path to becoming a legend.

Don Hall 6/15/17 Don Hall 6/15/17

Shut Up and Make Some Art

Artists get paid so little on the middle to the bottom of the pile because Any asshole can say he's an artist. A degree means dick unless you're going to go into Arts Administration and, even then, grad school isn't about what you learn but who you impress and befriend. If everyone who felt a need to help his fellow man could simply declare that he was a doctor could be, in fact, a doctor, then being a doctor would have very little employable value.

Don Hall 6/14/17 Don Hall 6/14/17

I Believe... [Get Your Feet Offa My Plane!]

...that it really is completely unacceptable to get on a five-hour flight, take off your sandals and put your bare feet up on the seat in front of you. My response was simply to look at him and his feet and say "No. Not gonna happen." He put his sandals back on.