Don’t blame me, they’re are only song parodies — With all due respect to Don McLean, music didn’t die at all in 1959 (the tragic plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valen), or in 1971, the year he released his historic hit “American Pie.” And it will probably go on for a long, long time, despite how strongly readers may feel that I’ve killed music with my song parodies, including a great collaboration with Mike Range in which “American Pie” takes on a whole new meaning.

What doesn’t kill you makes you grateful — We have so much to be grateful for, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. This Thanksgiving, I’m not writing another long-winded, psuedo-academic analysis of politics, popular culture, and the human psyche. I’ll just do it in song, with the help of the Bangles! COVID THURSDAY (sung to the melody of Manic Monday) … Tryin’ to get ready I worked out, had a schvitz and a steam I was…

Your little criminals have better than a one in three chance to hold public office — If children learn they can get whatever they want by holding their breath, there will be hell to pay. This immature behavior has to stop! Not the breath holding, the caving in. The United States is like that frazzled housewife who lets her kids buy whatever they want in the store to shut them up or the abusive dad who turns his kids into bullies.

The search for high-quality writing took me from the most unknown blogger to the CEO of Medium — Content Warnings: This is satire, so it is supposed to be funny. Proceed at your own risk. Side effects may include snorting up your coffee, peeing your pants, or the more common reaction of clicking on another article while muttering, “Shit, that was five minutes I’ll never get back.” No…

You won’t believe what I saw on the home page — Content Warning: This is my first story written at the 4th grade level, per the Hemingway editor. Please keep this away from 4th graders. I have a true love-hate relationship with Medium — I love to write and Medium hates it. When you consider how much I have poked and prodded the site, trying to game a system designed to be the online version of National Enquirer…

Even the Russkies know to “trust but verify” — We have two responsibilities as writers. As I tried to write a subhead, I thought of President Reagan. Remember his famous quote during the 1987 nuclear disarmament discussions with Mikail Gorbachov? Trust, but verify. Did you know that Reagan picked up that phrase from Suzanne Massie, his adviser on Russian affairs? She taught him to say…

Adidas cuts ties with Kanye West over antisemitic remarks — This is a highly unusual 500-word rant in that I’m not the one ranting, but congratulating a corporation for a job well done. I come not to bury Caesar — let other people do that. Ye, the artist once known as Kanye West, finally went too far. It was insane that he got away with wearing “White Lives Matter” t-shirts and Confederate…

This shaman’s books can take you on a spiritual journey without LSD, Peyote or Ayahuasca — The great thing about books is how they can open our minds to perspectives beyond our life’s experiences. Near the end of Walter Mosley’s novel Fortunate Son, a simple sentence blinded me with its brilliance. And it reminded me how I could learn more from one book by a real writer than the last six years of reading content.

If House of the Dragon makes you yearn for Game of Thrones, let this be the cold shower that jars you back to reality — The Game of Thrones (GOT) Diaries is a series of essays remembering the most epic fantasy show ever. As I watched the beginning of George RR Martin’s new spinoff show, I started to remember the chills I got during Game of Thrones’ first six seasons. Maybe you’ve had the same kind of feeling about a past relationship.