Even being a famous, popular rich guy, you still have the wherewithal to pin this Horace Greeley quote to your Twitbox: “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures, and that is character.” And
September 29 – Kevin Durant gets a skeptical critique of an uncredible critic
“The Chicago Tribune says it’s the most original film of the year!” No it doesn’t. Michael Phillips does. A single person who happened to get a job or an assignment from the paper does. The blurbs are intended to lend
September 28 – Annie Clark gets overexposed
You don’t become a musician for the money. You become a musician because your love of music collides with practice, taste, hard work, expertise, originality, community. Learning how to play instruments, conspiring with your friends, capturing euphoria in the sound,
September 27 – Marc Maron gets a list of podcasts on my phone
Casting a pod from your garage gave you your second wind on a calm day. You get interesting people to willingly open up about their lives and struggles and successes and idiosyncrasies and complexities, and this minimizes the chasms we’ve
September 26 – Serena Williams gets an old one, unwittingly titled in parallel with a friend’s song
It startles me awake. Unmistakable. Your smile assures me I am not wrong. The sound of water trickling down to earth. We know what this means. The wells will fill up, the crops will sprout, we will be fine. We
September 25 – Mark Hamill gets the story submitted and subsequently rejected, prompting yesterday’s piece
[Author’s note: Today’s message was supposed to be the actual story written and rejected from the Arts and Letters Awards, the one that spurred yesterday’s piece. And normally I don’t mind releasing work from years ago, even if I can
September 24 – Nia Vardalos gets the first and last sections of a story curated for a judgy audience
It’s been over four years since I last saw Mom. Two years ago we all found out she had cancer. I should have visited then. But I never had enough money to come home. And I couldn’t get the time
September 23 – Ani DiFranco gets a repetitive issue impacting her hometown
There is a growing problem in upstate New York, and it is affecting its most important wild animals. Over the last several years, the region’s bison population has surged at a rapid rate, more than doubling over the last decade,
September 22 – Joan Jett gets a collaborative sonnet by @iansmitty and an aigorithm
Bending over Kendell’s highly secure questions. Step after the single take videos Cattle Productions What’s oreos? Cyril Sneer At least I’m not a fomophobaphobe The brewery in my bottle of beer Not wearing a bathrobe? Frizzy bits Him eat curry
September 21 – Stephen King gets a false alarm at the wrong Jack Ennises’s
So John Lou is in his den having a snooze before dinner, with the TV on. He wakes up when he hears the sirens coming off a firetruck. So he jumps up and runs to the door to look out