Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of May 1, 2022
While the two things are mutually exclusive, I can’t help find humor in my pregnant wife debating anti-abortionists on Facebook.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 24, 2022
Mastering disappointment is the most important skill a person can have.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 17, 2022
One day, Paul McCartney will be dead and that’s a fact I can’t wrap my head around.
My Authoritarian Rabbi Ruined Judaism for Me
“I am the rabbi. You are the student. It is not your role to question me.”
It was clear to me in that moment that I wasn’t going to get my answer. Either I had accidentally exposed a blind spot in Rabbi Goldstein’s knowledge and he was embarrassed or he was an authoritarian asshole who hated having to adjust his lesson plan for his students. I chose to assume the latter.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 10, 2022
I have come to dislike and disagree with the phrase, “A writer writes.” Because some people who write are just typists.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of April 3, 2022
I’d like to create a corporate event that is subtly “Severance” themed. Waffle parties, baby goats, violent art installations, Patricia Arquette’s teeth chewing scenery…
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 27, 2022
Roxanne Gay’s guest column in the New York Times about being thin skinned and not having to take a joke is the best April Fool’s joke I’ve ever seen.
The Unhinged Prince of Hollywood (…Or, How Will Smith Auditioned for the Brett Kavanaugh Biopic)
Smith displayed the most overused and exhausted Hollywood trope in real time in real life: toxic masculinity. Swooping in to defend the honor of his fair maiden. There was nothing valiant about it. Maybe Jada thought so, but the rest of the world didn’t. So maybe it’s best to keep their antiquated gender dynamics in their bedroom.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 20, 2022
The GOP sure does talk about pedophilia a lot. I talk about sailing a lot. Because I love to sail. So, you know… Maybe there’s some interest in kid-sex from the GOP.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 13, 2022
There is truth in stereotypes. Do your best not to be a stereotype.
The David Himmel Method for Getting Over Breakups
You’re going to be okay. You’re worth more than your broken heart has you believing. You’ll live to love again. Or you’ll live. And that’s enough. Because you are enough. Be it for yourself or someone else. Someone who won’t leave you in a puddle of misery the next time around. And if they do, you’ll be ready for it.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 6, 2022
There’s a cop who lives down the street from us. They fly a Blue Line American flag. This week, they swapped it out for a green American flag with one of the stripes replaced with four leaf clovers with the Ireland flag colors in them. So, not only does this officer of the law degrade the American flag by flying ones with manipulated colors, they’ve incorporated another country’s flag into our own. Patriotism is strange. But what should I expect from an Irish Chicago cop?
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 27, 2022
One of the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to sedition. Could be going to jail for the better part of a decade. Boy, those antifa folks sure are committed to the mission.
The Forgotten Woman in the Gold, Oval Frame
The woman stood in a gold, oval frame. The frame hung above the small desk in my grandparents’ bedroom for at least since I was born. This was the desk where my grandmother, Nonny, wrote notes and cards and checks. The desk where she kept things like pens and stationary and correspondence and a few important documents.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 13, 2022
I read a comic book to my son the other night at bedtime that I wrote. I haven’t read it since it was published six years ago. It’s not very good. Too wordy. When we finished it, the kid said, “I like that story.” He has terrible taste but is very kind.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 6, 2022
I wish I had more time to iron my clothes, write my stories, and read more books. Instead, I fart through the wrinkles reading work emails with the TV on.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 30, 2022
It’d be funny if Biden appointed Anita Hill to the Supreme Court. Of course, it won’t happen. She’d never accept. But it’d be funny in the most tone deaf, hateful way imaginable.
Love Story for Sale: Wordle and the New York Times
Part of the charm was that it was one word for all of us. You get one shot at it a day giving us all something to look forward to in moderation. Anyone with access to the internet could play. Wordle was connective tissue in an otherwise disconnected world.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 23, 2022
There are only seven stories in the world. And the storytelling community continues to think we’re not bored with all of them.
![Holding My Son as We’re Violently Burned to Death [REPOST]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1580565403490-JCYKP1F40GF6OIQNO5V5/heart-on-fire.jpg)
Holding My Son as We’re Violently Burned to Death [REPOST]
But, son, I was not lying when I said I’d do anything to protect you.
Anything to keep you safe.
Sometimes that meant watching you put yourself in harm’s way.
Life is pointless without risk.
Sometimes it meant watching you get your heart broken
or hearing your bones break from the bleacher seats on the sidelines.
Harm and hurt, you see, are unfortunately, required of us.
The Universe demands it.
They are two of the many ways we learn and become stronger, better people.
Or so I always tried to be better
and I hope that I instilled that desire in you.
How do you want to be defined? By one action? By some opinion that could evolve? By a mistake, regrettable only with hindsight? Or by the sum of your parts? Okay, do that for other people. Start the trend.