Don Hall 12/15/19 Don Hall 12/15/19

Punishing the 98% to Control the 2% Always Ends Badly

Humans crave freedom and yet also demand security. These two impulses co-exist contention-free most of the time but friction builds up over time and we almost always reduce our freedom for security.

Chris Churchill 12/14/19 Chris Churchill 12/14/19

Chris Churchill Saves the World | It Was Good While It Lasted: Saying Farewell to the Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co

Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Company was murdered from within and without; a slow death of slow poison and a thousand tiny cuts that ended with a young pirate running their sword through a dying old man.

David Himmel 12/13/19 David Himmel 12/13/19

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of December 8, 2019

You know it’s going to be a good day when the first conversation you have with your partner is a disagreement over what time it is.

Guest User 12/13/19 Guest User 12/13/19

Long Bang

Five sweaters and a hat find me in the kitchen. Predictably, mother left cigarettes and no note, so I have one over orange juice.

And I make myself concerned suddenly with just where those same mothers have gone absent to, with the indoor weather something now intolerable.

David Himmel 12/12/19 David Himmel 12/12/19

Hope Idiotic | Part 30

With the sadness of Pop dying, the excitement of the play and Michelle preparing to buy a condo, Lou had plenty of reasons to drink. And so he did. A subdued aggravation grew in that small apartment with the incredible view that Lou and Michelle called home. He wanted to talk about the play; she didn’t. She wanted to talk about the new condo; he didn’t. These were the two biggest things in their lives at that time and both knew that discussing them could result in a disastrous fight. But what were they going to do; not talk at all? There was no choice, yet somehow, they managed to be civil during these wretched conversations.

Joe Janes 12/11/19 Joe Janes 12/11/19

The Minutes of Our Last Meeting | Space Poop Jesus!

“Where you see one set of footprints is where I continued walking and you took a golf cart.”

Don Hall 12/11/19 Don Hall 12/11/19

Jesus Would Kick Santa’s Ass

This debate is about who represents the holiday we know as Christmas the best. For this purpose, I see both figures more like Marvel X-Men than real life creatures, so come with me on the comparison train!

Kari Castor 12/10/19 Kari Castor 12/10/19

Holiday Gift Guide: The Best Baby Yoda Stuff for Your Favorite Star Wars Fan

You: I’m trying to find the perfect gift for my Star Wars-obsessed friend/sibling/lover. I don’t know, I guess maybe they’d like a custom lightsaber or something?

Me, an intellectual: Baby Yoda.

Don Hall 12/9/19 Don Hall 12/9/19

I Believe… [The Difference Between ‘Normal’ and ‘Ordinary’]

I believe… that cisgender is not a synonym for normal but a synonym for ordinary. Thus, those outside of the ordinary are naturally extraordinary rather than abnormal. Reframe things and we all win.

David Himmel 12/9/19 David Himmel 12/9/19

Hope Idiotic | Part 29

A week later, Pop was in the hospital. Benjamin called Lou that morning and told him. Lou drove out that afternoon. Benjamin, Grams and Aunt Elise were sitting around Pop, who was lying in the bed. The room was full of forced casual conversation. Dr. Caplan, Pop’s doctor, came in. He was the son of a close childhood friend of Pop’s who was also a doctor, but had retired from practicing medicine a few years ago. The younger Caplan inherited many of his dad’s patients, including Abraham Bergman, who used to give him rides to school.

“Here’s the deal, Abe,” Dr. Caplan said as he tossed Pop’s chart on the foot of the bed. “There’s cancer in your leg. A lot of cancer. It’s bad.”

Elizabeth Harper 12/8/19 Elizabeth Harper 12/8/19

I Don't Wanna Be Right

If loving you is wrong…

I’m dirty in a way no shower can ever wash off

Mike Vinopal 12/7/19 Mike Vinopal 12/7/19

Grace & The Art of Conversation

However pointless or banal it may seem at the time, small talk might end up giving one person a moment in which they feel like they belong and have worth. That one person might really need that moment.

David Himmel 12/6/19 David Himmel 12/6/19

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of December 1, 2019

If you didn’t like the latest Peloton ad, don’t buy a Peloton. That’s how advertising works. Ads are meant to liked so people will buy the thing they’re selling. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. But also, find something else to do with your time than rage out about how dumb it is.

Guest User 12/6/19 Guest User 12/6/19

Fate's Power Animal

Ensconced meanwhile on all sides up the walls amassed a seismic epic fuckton of cultural memorabilia. Oversized indigenous masks carved from rare redwoods slung up beside deactivated German lugers and grenades of every issue. Microphones, pygmy skulls, framed tattooed pig skins, and shells of bass guitars that looked burnt. Lemmy is the high prince of a really metal tiki bar.

David Himmel 12/5/19 David Himmel 12/5/19

Hope Idiotic | Part 28

Each week they walked a few blocks to the therapist’s office. His name was Adam, and he specialized in couples. Adam was part of a practice of three other couples’ therapists who saw patients out of that location, and the waiting room was a revolving door of jilted lovers. The awkward efforts of the couples to not make eye contact with each other were exhausting ocular acrobatics. Lou missed the intimacy of Dr. Milner. The sessions were hour-long free-for-alls during which Michelle purged her frustrations with Lou’s faults. Among the faults: “Sometimes he’s too driven toward things that I just don’t understand.”

Joe Janes 12/4/19 Joe Janes 12/4/19

The Minutes of Our Last Meeting | My Emotional Support Alligator

Nick the Gator may not be fuzzy, but look at those eyes.

Contributing Writer 12/4/19 Contributing Writer 12/4/19

All Art is Political

But where, might you ask, is Art in all this. Well, if the concept of Politics precedes everything, guess what, Art, informs everything that politics and language created because 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens developed an ability no other animal possesses, the ability to imagine that what which can not be seen. In other words, Imagination. If there is a dividing line between art and imagination, I’m hard pressed to find it.

Jenni Thurston 12/3/19 Jenni Thurston 12/3/19

Real Life Ghost Stories: Scary Sleepovers

Then Amanda began telling me a story unlike anything I’d heard before. The sincerity of the story, the lingering fear that lived her words, could only lead me to believe she was telling me the absolute truth.

Don Hall 12/2/19 Don Hall 12/2/19

I Believe… [Chaos Is Less Fun Than Revolution]

…that those who seek revolution would be wise to have some sort of vision of what will take the place of the system destroyed. Without that vision, the house burns down and chaos reigns. Sounds good until you have to face chaos.

David Himmel 12/2/19 David Himmel 12/2/19

Hope Idiotic | Part 27

It was hard explaining to Lexi why he hated going to Indiana so much. To her, Indiana was where her heart was. But she had a lovely family; one that got along and didn’t live in filth or rely on a broke, recovering alcoholic to support it. Chuck and Lexi were from the exact same place—grew up just two blocks away from one another—but they were from completely different worlds. She would never see Cayuga from his point of view, and he would never see it from hers, even if he wanted to.