Don Hall 3/6/18 Don Hall 3/6/18

On Book Covers and Online Summaries: The Bumper Stickers That Define Us

The next time I'm in traffic, I start to notice my micro-complaining at various bad drivers and notice a trend. No labels, no specifics in the pejorative. In plain, if a Prius cuts me off, my mind says "Fucking NPR." Which is only ironic in that I drive a Prius and used to work for... If a car that takes too long to turn left in front of me has a BlackHawks sticker, it's "Goddamn Blackhawk fuckwad!" No label or obvious marker? It's just "Fucking asshole!" and we move on.

I'm pretty sure this isn't a specific phenomenon esoteric to me.

Don Hall 3/5/18 Don Hall 3/5/18

I Believe… [Just Tack an "Ism" On It and You're Ready to Go!]

…that, while the election of 2016 (and likely 2020) signaled some dark times for the country, this is nothing more than White Male Supremacy's Last Stand. It's angry, desperate, and wholly unpopular. Those of us who rail against it should simply stay the course and avoid sabotaging ourselves with infighting.

Don Hall 3/3/18 Don Hall 3/3/18

"We" Will Not Overcome but "You" Might Have a Chance

The problem with "we" in this current political climate is that to have a "we" you gotta have a "them" and there are so many fucking "thems" that the unified enemy concept is completely lost.

Don Hall 2/27/18 Don Hall 2/27/18

Take Away Their Money but Change the Narrative, Too

Reality is that, while our access to information and our ability to communicate resistance is faster than ever in history, change is still and always will be a slow grind. Change takes patience and persistence. Change takes generations rather than spokespeople. Change is not limited to advancing legislation and requires a shift in the mythology we hold dear.

Don Hall 2/26/18 Don Hall 2/26/18

I Believe… [WOLVERINES!]

...that, if you think high school kids can’t be heroes, you never saw Red Dawn. WOLVERINES!

Don Hall 2/25/18 Don Hall 2/25/18

Your Life is a Work-in-Progress

From the moment we are conceived and a heartbeat begins pumping and a series of brainwaves commence, we have begun our death sentence. And life is the process of surviving the plethora of obstacles and events that strive to make the sentence shorter rather than "long-lived."

Don Hall 2/21/18 Don Hall 2/21/18

Adding Your Voice to the Cacophony

“That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. ‘Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?’”
— Mary Oliver, Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

Don Hall 2/19/18 Don Hall 2/19/18

I Believe… [Trump is Us. Own It.]

…that anyone who uses social media to insult, shame, name call, posture and overtly self-promote is in no position to castigate Trump for it because you are playing from the exact same playbook as our Idiot Savant President. The biggest tragedy of the 2016 Election is that we finally elected someone just like us.

Don Hall 2/18/18 Don Hall 2/18/18

We Hate Our Jobs | Why Americans Are So Pissy

There is a sense of frustration and despair in the faces I see across tables in cafes and restaurants. A feeling of just keeping heads slightly above the encroaching tide. I believe that this sort of non-stop anxiety is incredibly unhealthy. I believe that swimming in it is a choice. As Sam Harris likes to say "Reframe." And as I like to say, "If you hate spending eight hours a day doing something that causes you to feel small or stupid or worthless, get the fuck outta there, bub!"

In the end, work is work. You sacrifice a piece of yourself to make enough dough to live. The question is how much of yourself do you give and for what return?

Don Hall 2/17/18 Don Hall 2/17/18

The True and Unbending Stink of Destiny

The Romans, I'm guessing, probably thought that all of history up to that point had led to their ascension. It's likely that they could not see past their own dominance of the known world at the time to comprehend the idea that their empire had an inevitable shelf life. Like the jellyfish in Quinn's tale, the average Roman citizen couldn't see past the "lip of the vast bowl that holds the sea."

I'd hazard a guess that the Aztecs were no precognitive than the Romans. Neither were the Greeks. The Han Dynasty? Nope.

Don Hall 2/14/18 Don Hall 2/14/18

The Evolution of a Holiday: From Executing a Priest to Being Terrified of Sex

Obviously, no one sends a greeting card to honor the martyrdom of some dude who was interrogated (and likely tortured - it was Rome and he was a Christian priest) and killed (probably in some really grotesque and humiliating fashion - again, Rome). I'm not sure it would do to have children in elementary schools cutting out construction paper implements of torture or crayon drawings of a cat being stoned to death.

Don Hall 2/12/18 Don Hall 2/12/18

I Believe… [Age is Just a Number That Means You're Old]

…that when you say "Age is just a number" my feet and lower back wanna sock you repeatedly in the junk until you acknowledge that age is decay and decay is the ever approaching sound of mortality. Maybe lose the "just." "Age is a number" is more true and less damning of the fact I'm wearing bifocals.

Don Hall 2/9/18 Don Hall 2/9/18

Why "Three Billboards…" is a Far Better Film Than You Thought it Was

Written by Martin McDonagh (a playwright and screenwriter known for dark satires like The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Pillowman, and films like In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths) Three Billboards… eschews the easy answers of a Good vs. Evil narrative and presents a comic tale of complicated humans doing complicated things for complicated reasons. Of course, it's "problematic."

Don Hall 2/7/18 Don Hall 2/7/18

To Communicate Across the Divide, You Need to Learn the Language

While in Fiji, I ate dog. And it was delicious.

Don Hall 2/6/18 Don Hall 2/6/18

A Lovely So Real: An Ode to Smoke

The thing for those civilians out there to get wrapped around their brain stems is that it isn’t about the nicotine. It’s about the smoke. The feel of it, incandescently winding it’s way into your mouth and down your pipes. Exhaling it into slow curls into the night air.

Don Hall 2/5/18 Don Hall 2/5/18

I Believe… [If You Appropriate, Pay the Toll]

…that cultural appropriation is best addressed by making sure those cultures appropriated are handsomely paid for it. Even then, it's iffy but economic redress is concrete rather than an apology.

Don Hall 2/4/18 Don Hall 2/4/18

How to Jump Out of a Plane and Survive

What does it take — aside from some cash — to commit to jumping out of a plane flying at 13,000 feet?

Don Hall 2/3/18 Don Hall 2/3/18

A Half Century Plus Two: Lessons of my 52nd Year on the Planet

The sheer number of lessons learned from 52 is kind of ridiculous. Some years yield a few solid rules of thumb as I hitchhike down the road of life, others hand me a stream of unending guideposts to keep in check like a consistent smack in the back of the head. It leaves a five-inch section of my skull numb and bleeding and a headache in my left eye from my brain being bounced around.

While I feel a bit like a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot with the head sprung up, I’m still standing and thus the categorization of lessons learned and heeded for the future begins.

Don Hall 1/31/18 Don Hall 1/31/18

The Indelible Brand of Shame | A Society of Scarlet Letters

Not long ago, a woman reached out to Literate Ape about a picture of her on our site. She claimed she had been abused by a boyfriend and had been coerced into going to Neo-Nazi rally. There was a photo. After a short ethics wrestle, we took the photo down.

The Daily Banter, on the other, hand, not only left it up but exposed the woman's name, uploaded a provided recent photo (we were sent a few of these selfies but refused to run them) and ran a story about it entitled Dressing Up Like a Nazi is Forever.

Don Hall 1/29/18 Don Hall 1/29/18

I Believe.. [Nikki Haley was Humping a Bag of Maggots]

…that the only must-see event that eclipses The Greatest Showman as revisionist make 'em up but hysterical historical fiction is the Trumpster's State of the Union Address on Tuesday. I'll be watching it with The Greatest Hits of the Tijuana Brass playing in the background.