David Himmel 2/19/21 David Himmel 2/19/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 14, 2021

Poor white people love people like Trump because they’re two sides of the same coin. They both live completely sheltered lives and both believe the lie of American Exceptionalism. The wealthier side of the coin believes that they were born into that exceptionalism because they deserved it and the poorer side believes that one day, they, too will be exceptional.

Jenni Thurston 2/18/21 Jenni Thurston 2/18/21

The Blessing: A Novel Excerpt

Today Sol will either die or be Blessed with magic. It all depends on the quality of her sacrifice.

Please enjoy Chapter One of my current project, Scorned.

Joe Janes 2/17/21 Joe Janes 2/17/21

New Pandemic Toys for Kids!

Speak ‘n’ Spell ‘n’ Eat or Die Spell words correctly and get a small meal-replacement treat.

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?

Elizabeth Harper 2/16/21 Elizabeth Harper 2/16/21

I Love You and I Want You to Suck My Dick

I hate all your ugly, stupid, too fat, too thin, too short, too tall,
too rich, too poor, too humorless, too pathetic, too unintellectual,
too pedestrian, too suburban, too mainstream, too short-sighted,
too ignorant, too conniving, too dishonest, too two-faced,
TOO UGLY girlfriends.

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.”

David Himmel 2/12/21 David Himmel 2/12/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 7, 2021

The joy I get from ironing is what I imagine heroin feels like.

Joe Janes 2/10/21 Joe Janes 2/10/21

Trump’s Defense Lawyers Strategies

Other countries do it.

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.

David Himmel 2/5/21 David Himmel 2/5/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 31, 2021

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s masks are to anti-Semites and racists as Judah Friedlander’s hats are to liberals and feminists.

David Himmel 2/4/21 David Himmel 2/4/21

The Tragic Genius of Dustin “Screech” Diamond

We all wanted to be Zack and Kelly. Maybe some of us wanted to be Slater or even Jessie. But we should have wanted to be Screech. Screech was the best of them all. They best of all of us. Screech was a progressive television character before we knew what that was supposed to be. And that is solely because of Dustin Diamond.

Joe Janes 2/3/21 Joe Janes 2/3/21

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Newest Theories

Tapeworms are the only thing holding Mitch McConnell together.

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.

Paul Teodo 1/31/21 Paul Teodo 1/31/21

Sixty Bucks a Week

The phone on the wall rang. The long, knotted cord dragged on the floor as she listened carefully to the distant voice. He had collapsed. She stared out the window where he’d usually park, the space empty. It was 95°, but it wasn’t the heat. Not a heart attack, a stroke, or a seizure.

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.

David Himmel 1/29/21 David Himmel 1/29/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 24, 2021

Hedge fund managers are the real welfare queens and kings. But they’re way lazier.