Don Hall 3/1/21 Don Hall 3/1/21

I Believe… [A Potato Has No Gender, Idiots]

I believe… that if the renaming of “Mr. Potatohead” to “Potatohead” is the hill you’re going to die on, you may need to get some sort of professional evaluation.

Don Hall 2/27/21 Don Hall 2/27/21

Advice Unsolicited | Offense Is Definitely a Choice

First things first. It is and has always been a choice to take offense or not.

ALWAYS.

Your aunt has chosen to not be offended by a word that has become weapon used. You have chosen to be offended. Likewise, your aunt has chosen to be offended by being lectured and you choose to be offended that she is offended by your lecturing.

Don Hall 2/25/21 Don Hall 2/25/21

How Free is Our Speech and Who Decides?

These days political thought is indistinguishable from religious rhetoric. So many looking to assert the moral ground upon which we all must stand or be banished. The mistake made is to embrace the idea that the digital space is real life or even matters that much.

Don Hall 2/23/21 Don Hall 2/23/21

Why Can't We Just Share the Last Slice of Pizza?

No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class.

Don Hall 2/22/21 Don Hall 2/22/21

I Believe... [Rush Who?]

I believe... that hearing that Rush Limbaugh has passed on affects me much in the same way as when I hear about someone I heard yelling about something once in a high school auditorium and then promptly blocked the memory from existence.

Don Hall 2/20/21 Don Hall 2/20/21

How Zero Tolerance Policies in the 1990s Caused Our Modern Puritanism

Isabella would be roughly thirty-six years old now and would classify as a Millennial. Her kids are the pro typical Gen Z crowd. Both she and her kids seem to operate still with this zero tolerance policy in mind. They have become the hall monitors for their collegiate experience, the snitches of social media, and the ‘Karens’ of every Walmart and Starbucks in America.

Don Hall 2/17/21 Don Hall 2/17/21

Wandavision is the Most Woke Television Program in History

Granted, as of this writing, only six episodes have been aired. Likewise granted, given my immense love for all things Marvel, I’m loving every second.

One of the big questions of the chattering class is Who is the Big Bad?

Don Hall 2/15/21 Don Hall 2/15/21

I Believe... [ Grogu is the Unifier]

...that the fact that we all find Grogu fucking adorable indicates that we all are far more similar than we are different.

Don Hall 2/13/21 Don Hall 2/13/21

Advice Unsolicited | The Cost of Virtue

There’s a story in the Bible—I’m paraphrasing it here—where a woman goes to prayer every day and prays loudly and obviously. She makes such a noise in her show of virtue and piety that another woman goes to Jesus and asks if making that much of a show is going to get the signaler’s prays answered more quickly. “She has already received her reward, so fuck no. Here's a loaf of bread and a fish. Now scram.”

Don Hall 2/9/21 Don Hall 2/9/21

History is a Puzzle Box of Rashomon

That’s all history is, after all. A slew of stories we tell over and over to indoctrinate a sense of national pride. It grows more perilous when those revising the stories weren’t present. The source of the tales becomes less reliable and the reframe more suspect.

Don Hall 2/8/21 Don Hall 2/8/21

I Believe... [Freedom is Harder Than Previously Advertised]

I believe... that the revival of cultural conformity and political zealotry shows that freedom is not as easy as we assumed.

Don Hall 2/6/21 Don Hall 2/6/21

Culture in Real Time

As I read it, culture is comprised of four things in increasing levels of significance: symbols, heroes, rituals and values. By that quite academic frame, it seems that as we parse out our differences in our current multi-cultural war in America, it is a fixation on the symbols that trip us up.

Don Hall 2/3/21 Don Hall 2/3/21

I Can't Drive 55 | Lessons Learned in the 55th Year

Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything else. I wonder if I’d miss anything important if I simply ceased to breathe on the couch I bought back in Chicago as it sits in Nevada.

Don Hall 2/1/21 Don Hall 2/1/21

I Believe... [Do I Get Paid to Be Old Now?]

…that turning fifty-five years old this week has officially made me an old curmudgeon in the professional sense. I hope I get my badge and sash soon.

Don Hall 1/30/21 Don Hall 1/30/21

Advice Unsolicited | Your Job Isn’t High School

We all love binary thinking because it's easy. She's white, you're black. She's old, you're young. She's incompetent, you're competent. She's a liar, you are honest.

I like to use a different binary in these situations. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who focus on themselves, their work, their responsibilities and those who focus on the work and responsibilities of others.

Don Hall 1/28/21 Don Hall 1/28/21

The Graveyard of Creativity

Orthodoxy is simply the authorized doctrine of a group. When there is no acknowledged and agreed upon authority, like the Church or Science, we confront multiple orthodoxies and competing authority and the idea of a unified vision goes out the window.

Don Hall 1/26/21 Don Hall 1/26/21

SPOILER ALERT! I'm Ruining Culture for You

Guardians of the Galaxy

Chris Pratt is a Christian and kind of dislikes gay people. This likewise spoils the Jurassic World movies. Can't watch 'em. Cancel.

Don Hall 1/25/21 Don Hall 1/25/21

I Believe... [Some of the Kids Are Alright]

...that for every instance of an Amanda Gorman or Greta Thunberg, there are 50,000 GenZ kids snorting crushed Sour Patch candy and arguing adamantly about a video they saw on TikTok so contain your need to claim that the kids are adults.