Fox News Readers’ Choice
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

Fox News Readers’ Choice

From this unofficial and institutionally unsponsored study and collection of evidence, it can be determined that Fox News readers—enough to set the trend for online news—are kings and queens of perversion and avoiding the hard truth that their president, their country and their world are going to absolute hell in a weighted handbag that is already engulfed in flames. But hey, at least Sofia Varga is posing completely nude at 45. (And that’s her age, not President Trump, you sickos.)

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The Burning of Bad Leroy Brown
David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel David Himmel

The Burning of Bad Leroy Brown

The heat was impressive, a near 1,700 degrees. He pushed Leroy into the oven. Before Leroy was halfway in, his feet burst into flames. Black smoke from the cardboard rose up the flue. Three more shoves and Leroy was in, his entire body now consumed with flames.

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Now Playing: Light and Echoes from a Dark Room
Guest User Guest User

Now Playing: Light and Echoes from a Dark Room

Back in college I took a film class. This wasn’t about how to make movies, but how to appreciate them as an art form and as visual literature. It was a dope course. We watched Clerks.

This academic pursuit like most required writing papers. Fortunately, it was only one.

Herr Professor needed to know you understood what concepts had been conveyed. So you could choose to apply these critical reasonings to either: a scene from a film of your choosing watched out of class or a music video.

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You Are Not What You Wear But We Think You Are...
Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall

You Are Not What You Wear But We Think You Are...

What we wear—our fashion sense and decisions to purchase clothing from Hot Topic or Eddie Bauer or the local Thrift store—has consequences, as well. The case made that these consequences are unfair as subjective as those of the Rage Profiteers on both ends of the sociopolitical spectrum: fair has nothing to do with it. We judge each other visually first almost every single time.

In some cases, it doesn't really matter. In others (like when the prejudger is an officer of the law equipped with authority, a pistol, and the lack of accountability reserved for those hired to protect our property over our lives) the consequences of prejudgment based on the uniforms we choose to display can be deadly.

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Too Much Jelly!
Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall

Too Much Jelly!

On any given day in the City of Chicago, I can choose from among hundreds of live events—concerts, staged readings, poetry slams, storytelling nights, improv shows, sketch shows, dance performances, plays, musicals, performance art, stand up comedy, movies—it's kind of fucking ridiculous.

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Stalin Plucked a Chicken and It Was Us
Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall

Stalin Plucked a Chicken and It Was Us

The natural conclusion of the identity politic trend is to have each and every individual representing him and herself as a fully independent political organization.  After all, I am of the Angry White College-educated, Middle-aged, Heterosexual Males with Mothers less than Twenty Years Older than He named Don Hall political demographic, right?

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Hello and Welcome to Vegetarian Confessions
Guest User Guest User

Hello and Welcome to Vegetarian Confessions

I get asked about this a lot: “You’re a vegetarian?” Yes. “How long?” Since college. I’m dating myself here, but it’s been well over a decade.

I was trying to meet the vegan I was dating at least halfway, as I did not care to go vegan. Vegan meaning no animal products of any kind whatsoever.

The last thing I ditched was the addictive breaded chicken patty sandwiches I was noming from the cafeteria at least two times a week. I looked them straight in the buns and said “Damn. Is this all that’s holding me back?”

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Optimistic or Just Stupid? | How Fragile is The American Experiment?
Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall

Optimistic or Just Stupid? | How Fragile is The American Experiment?

“I’d like to think that I’m an optimist but it may just be that I’m stupid.”
— My mother

The 2016 election was not an anomaly.

We want to believe it was. We were so goddamn certain that Hillary would win. Even Trump didn't really believe his almost impenetrable brand politics was capable of actually taking the Big Chair. It felt, and feels, like a huge step backward. Here we were, planning out our road to Universal Healthcare and Environmental Rollbacks while casually ignoring the drone strikes on civilians and the eight-year refusal to prosecute against those bankers who put us in the Recession—and suddenly, the fucking guy with the orange spray tan, bad hair and loud, unapologetic, insult-laden maw won.

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fights we will never win
Contributing Writer Contributing Writer

fights we will never win

There's a lot of talk about eliminating cancer. The thing is, that just can't be done. It's a fight we will never win. Cancer is a cellular defect, life jacked up to an exponential degree, and while we may be able to kill cancerous cells, we'll never really be free of cancer, really.

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Just Do the Goddamn Thing Already!
Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall Don Hall

Just Do the Goddamn Thing Already!

In my day-to-day political reading and writing, I'm really trying hard to channel my inner Spock. Rational, thoughtful. Logical. It's a dicey transition because of my natural tendency to let my anger sort run wild like a hangry kid with a hammer or a modern day activist. It's a change in perspective and a self-discipline that some who've known me for years are unwilling to accept.

In just about everything else in my life—get engaged on the third date, strike out on my own in a dwindling economy, wear Uggs slippers in plain sight—the inner Kirk wins hands down. Get enough information to be able to make a decision and go for it even if I don't have all the information or a sense of what the roadblocks ahead might look like.

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Wisdom of the Creatives
Contributing Writer Contributing Writer

Wisdom of the Creatives

Long perched upon my living room table is a book gifted to me by an old friend called The War of Art, a play on Sun Tzu’s Art of War—only geared toward the creative process. Glancing through it once again this New Year's Eve, putting it down I resolved to seek more inspiration in my life, which in turn makes me more creative in my own life. “In pursuit of joys untasted,” from Verdi’s La Traviata sums it up nicely.  With this in mind, I thought it might be interesting to ask some of my more creative friends their viewpoint on the subject. Impulsively, phone calls were made and emails were sent to a group of people that make my life richer with their presence—musicians, inventors, photographers, chefs, record producers, authors, filmmakers, scientists and then some. Tasking them to give me a comment/thought/impart wisdom about creativity-their responses are below.

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Vengeance or Justice / You Decide
Paul Teodo Paul Teodo Paul Teodo Paul Teodo

Vengeance or Justice / You Decide

A busted nose, missing teeth, a fractured eye socket, and a broken jaw. My face looked like ground chuck.

Ronnie was short tempered. Me too. But different. I went off on guys. Ronnie went off on anybody. And on New Year’s Eve 1972 he went off on his girlfriend Marie, in the bathroom of my house.

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