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.

Joe Janes 1/27/21 Joe Janes 1/27/21

A Pandemic Theater Prepares

St. Mark’s Community Theater makes sure Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” is as safe as possible.

David Himmel 1/27/21 David Himmel 1/27/21

Hell in a Handbasket

Before she was Jane Hadley, the rock ’n’ roll singer/songwriter—the Goddess of Rock, bigger than Taylor, Adele, and Beyoncé combined, she was Jane Hadley, the folk ’n’ roll singer/songwriter who never sold more than a thousand albums and a few hundred t-shirts. Before she had a #1 album flying off the shelves and being downloaded to the Cloud by millions, and an entire merchandising department, she was just a girl who played in a few bands: the Stargazers, Rosie’s Dream Catcher, Jane and the Jaded Cowboys.

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.

Don Hall 1/23/21 Don Hall 1/23/21

Advice Unsolicited | It’s OK to Pretend Because Everyone is a Fraud

We are currently in an epic defined by people pretending to be someone they are not.

David Himmel 1/22/21 David Himmel 1/22/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 17, 2021

Of all the damage the Trump Presidency did, it’s important to remember that the most egregious was that under Trump’s watch, we were attacked by Thanos. Twice.

Don Hall 1/22/21 Don Hall 1/22/21

The Angels of Our Better Nature Are a Lesson Away

Reframing it a second and it looks like the vast majority of people are not engaged in conflict, violence, and overt racism in the country.

Elizabeth Harper 1/21/21 Elizabeth Harper 1/21/21

What's Your Poison?

All revolutions squashed or co-opted.
Capitalism's rejects find solace
in the community of 12-Step programs,
addiction as group identity.

Joe Janes 1/20/21 Joe Janes 1/20/21

President Joe Biden’s Other First 100 Days List

61) Climb Mount Rushmore in a yellow jumpsuit and dangle from Teddy Roosevelt’s nose

Don Hall 1/19/21 Don Hall 1/19/21

The Phrase That Pays in the Age of Massive Conspiracies and Tribalism

In order to be shared values, people within the culture have to find agreement on the fundamentals of the narrative. No agreement, no shared values, and the result is a series of competing cultural narratives. The result is a whole room full of people screaming at each other their sometimes bizarre, sometimes lunatic tribal memes.

Don Hall 1/18/21 Don Hall 1/18/21

I Believe... [in Public Dildo Stories]

...that the problem with telling a dildo story in a off-shoot casino bar and grill is that there might be a kid somewhere in the room who will overhear it. On the other hand, any kid today who hasn’t heard about dildos is far too sheltered with the ideological plastic helmet to survive past ten years old.

Paul Teodo 1/16/21 Paul Teodo 1/16/21

He Served

The guy had a silver chain that dangled from his left front pocket to his right, perfectly outlining his brief-less testicles. He looked at The Buff, smiled, and yanked out a pocket watch the size of a hockey puck from his faded Levis and said, “ten… p.m., fat boy.” His droopy white walrus mustache did a lousy job of concealing his shit-eating grin.

David Himmel 1/15/21 David Himmel 1/15/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 10, 2021

The life hack to being a better person is to wake up every day determined to prove your spouse wrong.

Guest User 1/14/21 Guest User 1/14/21

Three Graces At Beggar's Monument

A cigarette appeared in Cy’s mouth like a jump cut.

“I’m like Peter Pan and ya’ll are my misfit toys.” He scratched his gut over the smoothed down 4x t-shirt.

“The lost boys.” Jetta corrected him thru her own cigarette. “This is what we do when we come back from running away.”

She sat and bolted one from the freshly opened bottle.

Joe Janes 1/13/21 Joe Janes 1/13/21

Suspicious New Forum Member @HelloFellowYoungLadyTaylorSwiftFans

The China Flu would be much worse if Trump had not taken SWIFT action.

Don Hall 1/12/21 Don Hall 1/12/21

The Rise and Fall of Free Speech: What Big Tech Giveth, Big Tech Taketh Away

Zuckerberg and Dorsey have the power to melt our faces off with their laser eyeballs and we either trust that they won’t use that power on the wrong people when their having a rough morning or regulate their power in ways that no longer leave it up to their whim. Because that’s why Trump has been de-platformed. The whim of two men in charge of the most powerful communications networks in the history of mankind.

Don Hall 1/11/21 Don Hall 1/11/21

I Believe... [Switching Out Identifiers Exposes the Game]

I believe... that if changing “white” to “black” or “men” to “women” in your polemic makes you suddenly sound like a Southern politician from 1950, you’re a bigot and a sexist.

Don Hall 1/10/21 Don Hall 1/10/21

Advice Unsolicited | STAY AWAY FROM THE HOUSE!

The movies are fiction. Most of us know and accept this. While they are fiction, many can be instructive in our own non-fiction lives…

Contributing Writer 1/9/21 Contributing Writer 1/9/21

Tilly’s

I could see him as he talked. The mouth surrounded by the scraggly beard, moving at a thousand miles an hour. Him walking and talking at the same time since he never sat for too long in any one place. Medium height, medium build, and large hands with fingers, which had been broken years ago. The hands hid the story of a man feared by many when he was much younger.