A Decade in Chicago, Ten Years of Mastering Disappointment
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

A Decade in Chicago, Ten Years of Mastering Disappointment

Finally, after a decade of imagining it, I had arrived in Chicago. The Big City. Home. Although I didn’t look the part, I was ready to take the place by storm. Within three months, it was clear that instead, Chicago was going to bend me over its knee and spank my ass red with the rotten corpse femur of Daddy Daley while I helplessly, and more and more self-destructively, took the beating like a frightened little bitch.

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Our Two Children
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Our Two Children

Yet, there’s a part of us that will rejoice in Donnie’s failure. It will cease further damage done to our nation, and in a way, it rights our wrong. But we still have Hillary to worry about. Hillary is the kind of daughter who loves her parent just enough to put us in an old folks home so we won’t get lonely in our dying days. But it’s the old folks home right off the highway with the orderlies who sweat in our soup.

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This New Job is Making Me so Emo, I Could Cry
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

This New Job is Making Me so Emo, I Could Cry

In less than one week, I will show up to an office with lots of cubicles and paid time off for its employees, a Human Resources Department and company-wide team building events. This is a full-time gig. It’s a W2 kind of gig. I haven’t had a gig like this in almost seven years. And I’m looking forward to it in the way 16-year-old David looked forward to going on a date with that girl who finally showed some interest in him. And I’m an emotional goddamn wreck over the whole thing.

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The Illinois-Missouri Derby
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

The Illinois-Missouri Derby

I could have made the drive inside of two days had I been alone. But I had the wife and the dog, and when you’re driving the 1,164 miles between Chicago and Austin, Texas with souls on board other than your own, it’s best to make pit stops along the way.

Springfield. Kate was unimpressed with Lincoln’s home. “It looks too nice for being that old,” she said.

“You would have been even more unimpressed if they’d just let nature take its course for these past 152 years,” I told her.

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Obama Making that Paper the American Way
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Obama Making that Paper the American Way

I don't wish heartbreak on anyone, but I can’t help to laugh at the outrage and sadness that former president Barack Obama is going to collect $400,000 to speak to a Wall Street investment bank. We don’t know what he’s going to do with the money. Build his library? Invest in Chicago Public Schools? Buy Michelle a shitload of sleeveless dresses? Donate it to the Carter Center?

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Today’s Writer’s Life—Heroin Would be Better
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Today’s Writer’s Life—Heroin Would be Better

I stared at the computer keyboard for a while. I reviewed some notes. I sharpened a few pencils. I drank half a pot of coffee. I chewed seven pieces of cinnamon Trident gum. I read half a chapter in one of the eight books I’m actively reading. I made some administrative phone calls. I went on a refreshing walk with the dog.

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David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Passover: The 11th Plague

This is an important week for those who celebrate and follow the traditions of the Judeo-Christian Way. This week marks what Christians call Holy Week and what Jews call the week they can’t “enjoy a goddam Jimmy Johns sandwich.”

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