Wayne Lerner 9/20/23 Wayne Lerner 9/20/23

The Donor

If I’m dead, how am I talking and to whom?

Don Hall 9/19/23 Don Hall 9/19/23

Disconnecting from the Cacophony

This is not to state that competition is the source of our current divides but how we perceive competition and specifically for what you compete is the problem we face.

Don Hall 9/18/23 Don Hall 9/18/23

I Believe... [Weed Your Mom's Garden]

...that spending a morning helping my mom clean up her extensive gardens, pulling weeds and trimming back overgrowth, and then organizing the garage as my dad sits in his chair supervising his need for order in one of his few places left is worth more than most things I do on any other given day. My mom singing nonsense songs in her pleasure at her garden and my dad’s satisfied grin as the garage comes together is gold.

Don Hall 9/16/23 Don Hall 9/16/23

If Al Capone Had Been Elected President...

David Himmel 9/15/23 David Himmel 9/15/23

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of September 10, 2023

After seven years of marriage, I can confidently say that I’m fine with the farts.

Don Hall 9/15/23 Don Hall 9/15/23

Choosing to Not Share the Pain

Who in this scenario is to blame for non-striking workers (below-the-line people) feeling the pain designed to be inflicted on the Big Money class?

Don Hall 9/11/23 Don Hall 9/11/23

I Believe... [AI is a Sex Doll]

...that AI will eventually end up simply pretending to love lonely men and women like emotional sex dolls.

David Himmel 9/10/23 David Himmel 9/10/23

Bon Voyage, Jimmy Buffett

“Margaritaville” hit our ears in 1977 but by 1978, it was already being played to present depression and self-destruction to be as much fun as a conga line. Jimmy Buffett turned that into a billion-dollar business. Misery loves company, especially when there’s boiling shrimp, regrettable tattoos, and frozen tequila concoctions involved.

Don Hall 9/9/23 Don Hall 9/9/23

Two Kinds of Pain: Useless and Useful or What I Learned from Frank Underwood (Archived)

“There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.” — Frank Underwood (House of Cards, Season 1)

David Himmel 9/8/23 David Himmel 9/8/23

Cicada’s Swan Song

It’s a deafening sound.
The screams of passion belted out
from the bugs with the giant eyes
and wingspan of a Prius.

Jenni Thurston 9/7/23 Jenni Thurston 9/7/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 8

I turned back to the window. The drones hovered only a moment, then toured to the right to spy through another apartment window like hornets trying to find their way into a hive. Some bored dudes in quarantine were probably trying to score a peep show.

Brett Dworski 9/6/23 Brett Dworski 9/6/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 7

“Those motherfuckers—spying on me again,” I said.

“Who’s spying on you?” Sarah asked.

Joe Janes 9/5/23 Joe Janes 9/5/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 6

Sarah was gone. All that was in the hall was a big box full of boxes of Product 19 on its side. I hate Product 19, but she wants me to eat it because it’s healthy. She must have bought it to make up for forgetting the cereal. “How is this my wish?” The genie was gone, too.

Don Hall 9/4/23 Don Hall 9/4/23

I Believe... [Pretending to Work]

...that there is a clear difference between being busy and working. The first is about perception, the second about results.

Joe Janes 9/4/23 Joe Janes 9/4/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 5

I wake up lying flat out in the entry hall closet we never use because we are too lazy to open the door. I’m lying on boxes of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios I had wished into being. There are even some extras to make a pillow for my head. Melted chocolate is streaming out of the boxes like cookie blood. I can hear Maggie snuffling at the doorway.

Contributing Writer 9/3/23 Contributing Writer 9/3/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 4

As you have already learned, I am a quick thinker. Like, how I used my second wish to live inside of the classic sitcom Cheers. Yep. Everything is going to be smooth sailing from here on out.

It’s true that I’ll miss my girlfriend, Sarah, but as Dave Matthews said in a Facebook post in 2018, “What a great ending of a great tour!”

Norm walks over to me.

Don Hall 9/2/23 Don Hall 9/2/23

The Best New Eldercare

He understood this as he was in his eighties and that’s what happens to humans even when they take good care of themselves and have, as he did, top tier health benefits.

MT Cozzola 9/2/23 MT Cozzola 9/2/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 3

“What can I do for you?” asked the funnel of incense as it materialized into a small-boned woman in a red Chanel suit.

David Himmel 9/1/23 David Himmel 9/1/23

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of August 27, 2023

Having spent much of my life being told I’m “too much,” being told that I should be more myself—more David in his natural state—is a strange pill to swallow. And I’m afraid I don’t recommend it. Then again, these are strange times, and perhaps it’s time for stranger things to happen.

Guest User 9/1/23 Guest User 9/1/23

The Cereal Wish | Part 2

And there I was, twenty minutes later out trucking with Maggie four blocks away now from our place down Algren Street. It seemed to be nap time for the rest of the world while I took the much-needed air.