I Believe... [Soupy, Soupy Night]
...that, if the goal was to destroy a Van Gogh, the children failed. If it was gain attention for themselves and their stated cause, they knocked it out of the park. Effective protest is effective theater.
Compassion and Deference Rarely Mix Well...
For the same reason elevating the status of children to functioning adults in deference to some need to validate ideology it is likewise counterproductive to infantilize racial minorities as if they are simply too burdened by historical horrors to know the difference between right and wrong.
A Tale of Two Malls: At Least We'll Still Have Dildos and Plastic Vomit
When I was in high school in the 80’s, it was Spencer’s Gifts that provided the Whoopee Cushions, the palm-sized squirt guns, and anything you could imagine covered in glitter. It was like a Nirvana for Morons.
I Believe... [Free Shasta Grape!]
...that the Chicago Sun-Times announcing that they’re giviong away their articles for free and sans paywall is sort of like Shasta Cola announcing free soda for anyone interested in C-level drinks.
Negative Gender Stereotypes?
There are negative stereotypes out there we should want to avoid but a giving and thoughtful partner is not one of them.
I Like to Watch | Blonde (2022)
I mean, Jesus Christ, we can't appreciate the horrors of existence if they all blend together like a banal and mundane black parade.
I Believe... [Asteroid Dreams]
...that if we can redirect the course of an asteroid by hitting it with a spaceship the size of a Volkswagen—7 million miles away—it doesn’t seem a stretch to put Donald in the clink or surgically sew up Marjorie Taylor Greene’s gaping hole. I don’t dream big but I dream.
"Here, Take a Pill," said the Pushers of Pills
I believed Fauci, knew that vaccines were coming from Big Pharma, but was also watching Michael Keaton deal with the pernicious greed of that corporate monster in Hulu’s Dopesick and I had a hard time squaring the fact that the villains in the opioid crisis would come to our collective rescue with a vaccine.
I Like to Watch | The Streaming Stories That Prop Me Up Through Chaos
I couldn't find a single documentary or program or book that deals explicitly with a husband finding out his wife of a few years embarking on a nearly three-year campaign of infidelity with a lover plus a new vocation selling herself for sex to strangers so I do my best.
I Believe... [COVID Hangover]
...that, while I finally got COVID, it was far less awful than the amazing “Hey! Kansas has pollen and rain” head cold I endured after. I attribute these to the vaccine and the midwest.
Dear Literate Ape—My Kid Wants a Tattoo
I have a sinking feeling that he's going to get some huge tribal symbol on his back and by the time he's ten regret it awfully. Isn't that more damaging to his mental health than taking the word of a seven-year-old and running with it?
You Don’t Have to Watch Anything You Don’t Want to Watch
There is a lot of censorious shit going down in America these days.
I Believe... [Historical Self Righteousness]
...that the probability is overwhelming that if we had belonged to the generations we despise on moral grounds, we too would have behaved like moral troglodytes. The next generation will see this one through the same historically self righteous lens as well and it will not fare well.
You Wouldn't Have Owned Slaves But You Probably Wouldn't Have Done Anything About It, Either
The probability is overwhelming that if we had belonged to the generations we deplore, we too would have behaved deplorably. The probability is overwhelming that we belong to a generation that will be found by its successors to have behaved deplorably. — Wendell Berry
The End of the Wild Wild West
A day after fully landing in Kansas I received notice that Station Casinos, the WWW's parent company, had announced the entire property was to be closed, demolished, and the land developed for something a bit more upscale (presumably to cater to visitors of the still pretty new football stadium a quarter mile away).
I Believe... [In Colonizers]
...that, speaking of colonizers, I’d have to say I’m basically in favor of the endeavor. Without the successful colonizers (because every single ethnicity has attempted colonizing their neighbors) no one in America would have the opportunity to get a meaningless degree in Post-Modern Politic Theory or Gender Studies while making Tik Toks on their pocket-sized super computers in their air-conditioned homes with running water.
Why Older Men Date Younger Women: A Defense of DiCaprio
Seriously, have you met women in their forties and fifties?
The Life of a Peripheral Character
The burning question I've been circling around like toilet water swirling around a turd that simply won't flush is what, exactly, is the point of my continued presence on the planet?
I Believe... [The Hypocrisy of Online Activism]
...that if you are really pissed about capitalism as a system yet are reading this online on a computer or smartphone requiring WiFi, you’re a full of shit. That goes for anyone “protesting” capitalism on Twitter or Tik Tok.
In Search of... A Circus Gig?
So many people get stuck—in dead end careers, in cities that suck the life out of them, in stagnant, painful marriages—and I’m the exact opposite of stuck. I’ve become unmoored, set adrift, with no defined direction to sail. I’ve been discarded before I need any replacement parts. Hell, I could join the circus if I wanted to.
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.