The Hubris of American Anxiety
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

The Hubris of American Anxiety

Anxiety is the thing that’s ripped our country apart. It has divided us, caused us to fear and hate those who think and live differently than us, and even caused us to hate those who only slightly disagree with us. It has led to panic and overreaction. And I worry that American Anxiety is only going to exacerbate the social and political divide in this country to the point that there is no coming back.

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Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of October 20, 2024
David Himmel, Post-It Wall Notes David Himmel David Himmel, Post-It Wall Notes David Himmel

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of October 20, 2024

Sometimes, life feels like you’re eating a delicious bucket of perfectly popped movie popcorn. It’s fresh, hot, buttery. Other times, it feels like you’re eating a bucket of the kernel shells. The ones that get stuck in your teeth, buried in your gums, suction cupped to the back of your throat. And everything tastes burnt.

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Revisiting the Saddest Thing to Ever Happen to You 15 Years Later
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Revisiting the Saddest Thing to Ever Happen to You 15 Years Later

We shared the same boiling passion for knowledge, action, adventure, living life hard, fast, and for the sake of the story. We also shared a boiling disgust for hypocrisy, hubris, mean-spiritedness, and, at times, for ourselves. We were constantly brawling with the crazed beasts living within our psyches and our guts. We came from very different places with very different experiences, but when we arrived to one another, we found that we’d been forged in the same style and together, we’d have to do better personally, professionally, and in a way that could leave the world a better place.

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Mastering Disappointment: A Kamala Harris Love Affair
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Mastering Disappointment: A Kamala Harris Love Affair

Kamala had the great benefit of a fantastic summer romance working in her favor. A short lived, white hot affair that would end before it could burn out. With about three months from candidacy to Election Day, I wouldn’t grow tired of Kamala. Neither would America. The joy she and her campaign were trafficking would carry us to a victory. Then we could settle into the day-to-day doldrums of romance. Probably fall out of love and elect someone else in 2028.

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Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of September 29, 2024
David Himmel, Post-It Wall Notes David Himmel David Himmel, Post-It Wall Notes David Himmel

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of September 29, 2024

My 2-year-old is in this phase where he points to every woman he sees on the street or on TV or in books and says, Mommy!” He does the same thing with men, exclaiming, “Daddy!” Yesterday, at the grocery store, he picked up a Star magazine with Diddy on the cover, pointed to Diddy and shouted, “Daddy!” My son doesn’t see color, wealth, or crimes against humanity. He sees only gender. To prove this theory, I will show him a photo of Rachel Maddow to see if he says, “Mommy” or “Daddy.”

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Running Through Your Past
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Running Through Your Past

I wound through parts of Flossmoor I didn’t even know existed, despite growing up there. Oh! That’s where Flossmoor Hills Elementary is. I just never had any reason to journey to that part of town. In the familiar parts, I found myself thinking about my childhood. Acknowledging all the landmarks with memories. That’s where I ditched school that one time and smoked cigarettes when I should have been in math class. This is where my high school friends and I would meet before school to smoke cigarettes. There’s where there used to be a church where I once tried to woo a girl by playing her punk songs as we sat in her car—it didn’t work—and would sometimes smoke cigarettes. I wasn’t a teenage smoker, but, apparently, when I did smoke, I did it all over town.

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