I Believe... [Traipsing Through London]
...that London is what New York will be 200 years from now—the City That Used to Be the Center of the World But No Longer.
Recent Memory, Case File #00001: The Ground Zero Mosque
And, now, a monthly look back at what had made the news over the past 5 to 20 years, and if it still matters to this day.
What Was News? The “Ground Zero Mosque”.
Not Wanting to be Married is the Secret to a Happy Marriage
I have always preferred being by myself, especially before or after big social events. And there is no bigger, more social event than one’s own wedding. I needed to focus—submerge myself under the water, fight its resistance, smooth out my breathing, stretch my muscles—become totally in tune with my whole self. This would be the last moments I would ever have to be alone as a man without jewelry. Unless, of course, I got divorced. But I didn’t want to consider that on my wedding day. I may be a cynic when it comes to matters of the heart but I’m not a monster.
Navigation Techniques in a World Designed to Send You Off Course
I am a huge fan of Survivor. I've watched every episode of every season for 15 years. This mystifies some who know me but it isn't that hard to explain. Survivor is simply an unvarnished look (yes, it is highly edited to create a narrative but still...) at how people behave in corporate society.
OK. Go with me on this for a moment.
• It's set in the jungle.
• All are in pursuit of the elusive prize of cash dangled like a toddler in front of Josh Dugger.
• It's a game with real life consequences.
• The most capable of surviving are most often voted off by the most conniving.
• No matter how honest or straight forward someone is, the game itself is like a virus that infects people and turns them into lying sacks of shit.
Notes from the Post-it Wall – Week of September 3, 2017
• I'm not big on claiming divine intervention, but when I consider the number and magnitude of the storms, and the wildfires that have beaten the hell out of our country's topography, and injured, killed or displaced so many Americans, it's difficult for me not to conclude that God actively hates America's guts and he is trying to run us out of town.
Addicted To Nice
There are those who would rather smile and sing a Disney tune than discuss racial injustice. There are those who'd rather make an eye-rolling joke about the violence in Chicago's streets than make a concerted effort to discuss the policies, systems and humans that are both responsible for and affected by the violence. There are people who don't think family dinner is a good time to talk about these types of things.
Beyoncé’s Lemonade Suckers
Box sets bring in the best and more of your previous life and remind you of what you were and what you can be. Usually, by the time these things are released, we’ve forgotten ourselves. Maybe we’ve forgotten the songs and the bands who made them. We need these box sets all these years later.
Beyoncé’s How to Make Lemonade does none of this. And not because it doesn’t have the ability to do so but because it hasn’t given itself enough time to be able to do so. It hasn’t earned enough street cred.
Your 140-Character Shaming Campaign is Weak
Shaming doesn't accomplish what you think it does. I mean, sure, it makes you feel like you're part of some sort of solution—the internet tribal equivalent to the end of Game of Thrones where the evil woman (I don't watch the show) is stripped naked and has to endure taunts and vegetation thrown at her. It does not, however, move things forward in any real way.
Avoiding Being Defined by the Aging Process
If we can avoid the perpetual complaining and bitterness, to communicate not through tragedy and unhappiness alone, and to stop fixating on all the negatives in our lives, we can avoid being defined by the aging process.
I Believe... [Is Taylor Swift Our Nero?]
...that, in light of how screwed we are in the world with nature finally fighting back and flooding coastal cities in epic fashion, maybe the trials of being Taylor Swift aren't that fucking important. Methinks she may be Nero fiddling as Rome burns...
Fox News Readers’ Choice
From this unofficial and institutionally unsponsored study and collection of evidence, it can be determined that Fox News readers—enough to set the trend for online news—are kings and queens of perversion and avoiding the hard truth that their president, their country and their world are going to absolute hell in a weighted handbag that is already engulfed in flames. But hey, at least Sofia Varga is posing completely nude at 45. (And that’s her age, not President Trump, you sickos.)
Notes from the Post-it Wall – Week of August 27, 2017
• It’s unfortunate that it takes national disasters, like what Hurricane-turned Tropical Storm Harvey did to Houston, to bring out the best in people...
Just Hoping My Boss Doesn't See This One
Her eyes popped, her arms flapped and flailed like a person drowning. She was staring at me as her tongue began to bulge from between her lips, pleading with her eyes for rescue. All the while, making the worst grunting screams I’d ever heard.
A Wild Theory About Road Rage
I think the whole problem is, cars don’t have faces. Horns sound the same when you’re happy as when you’re mad. There’s no communication happening from car to car, so we imagine communication.
The Burning of Bad Leroy Brown
The heat was impressive, a near 1,700 degrees. He pushed Leroy into the oven. Before Leroy was halfway in, his feet burst into flames. Black smoke from the cardboard rose up the flue. Three more shoves and Leroy was in, his entire body now consumed with flames.
I Believe... [Uniting Against a Common Enemy]
...that in the dystopian Aliens Attack the Earth books and films, mankind comes together against a common enemy that transcends nationality, race, class and religion. If our global response to Trump is any indication of how we actually respond to a World Class Threat, the aliens are gonna kick our infighting asses.
Now Playing: Light and Echoes from a Dark Room
Back in college I took a film class. This wasn’t about how to make movies, but how to appreciate them as an art form and as visual literature. It was a dope course. We watched Clerks.
This academic pursuit like most required writing papers. Fortunately, it was only one.
Herr Professor needed to know you understood what concepts had been conveyed. So you could choose to apply these critical reasonings to either: a scene from a film of your choosing watched out of class or a music video.
You Are Not What You Wear But We Think You Are...
What we wear—our fashion sense and decisions to purchase clothing from Hot Topic or Eddie Bauer or the local Thrift store—has consequences, as well. The case made that these consequences are unfair as subjective as those of the Rage Profiteers on both ends of the sociopolitical spectrum: fair has nothing to do with it. We judge each other visually first almost every single time.
In some cases, it doesn't really matter. In others (like when the prejudger is an officer of the law equipped with authority, a pistol, and the lack of accountability reserved for those hired to protect our property over our lives) the consequences of prejudgment based on the uniforms we choose to display can be deadly.
Too Much Jelly!
On any given day in the City of Chicago, I can choose from among hundreds of live events—concerts, staged readings, poetry slams, storytelling nights, improv shows, sketch shows, dance performances, plays, musicals, performance art, stand up comedy, movies—it's kind of fucking ridiculous.
Notes from the Post-it Wall – Week of August 20, 2017
• If you think Colin Kaepernick is the problem and that Nazis are kind of OK in certain situations, you might be a redneck.*
The second voice arrived on Thursday morning while Monte was attempting to make toast.