skepticlysm

Category: The Black List

  • Add Title Here

    Add Title Here

    • I look like an escaped lobotomy patient right now.
    • Mwhahahahaha
    • Sup.
    • I’m sitting here on the couch listening to “Planet Caravan” by Black Sabbath.
    • The original, not that Pantera cover.
    • Not that the cover is bad, but …
    • I’m touchy, philosophically, about using things created by other people attached to whatever it is I’m doing.
    • Like the Oatmeal comic, or that cross-stitched thing.
    • I’ll attach that stuff because I love it, and I want other people to see it and follow whoever created it.
    • Here’s where I’d go on another AI rant.
    • I don’t want shit created by AI.
    • I don’t want AI writing or art or music.
    • If you’re a creative who uses it as a tool to help you with your end product, fine.
    • If you’re using it to think for you, you’re hastening the downfall of humanity, and making some rich tech fuck richer.
    • I’m sure you can use it to create dumb shit like bad action flicks and soap operas.
    • I’m sure they will.
    • But you get what you … pay for?
    • This is where I’d get into my movie critic argument.
    • The one where I say “just because you like something doesn’t mean it’s good.”
    • I have a lot of guilty pleasures, too.
    • I just know they suck.
    • And Knowing Is Half the Battle.
    • I guess the end game I’m struggling with.
    • If they have AI takeover creative endeavors, humanity will flounder.
    • We’re not meant to produce things for consumption other than food.
    • Not meant to spend our lives on assembly lines or in factories.
    • We’re meant to think and create.
    • Creativity is where our species advances.
    • You don’t solve problems without creativity.
    • Asking AI to do it for you makes you reliant on it for your thinking.
    • At some point, you’ll ask shittier questions.
    • And get shittier results.
    • Doesn’t anyone think about this?
    • Then again, I’m fed up with humanity’s continued inability to come up with a system to benefit everyone.
    • We don’t need to have poverty.
    • Or hunger.
    • Or homelessness.
    • They fling the word socialism at anything that can benefit the many these days.
    • And people believe it.
    • It’s bullshit.
    • It’s protecting the rich and greedy.
    • Hard to get away from it when they’re throwing “productivity” hacks at you every day.
    • This one’s a rant.
    • I guess.
    • I just work here, man.
    • We finished White Lotus season three yesterday.
    • Good stuff.
    • By far the prettiest show I have ever watched.
    • Started Andor season two.
    • Excellent.
    • I should’ve watched the finale of season one first, but I remembered as we tripped along.
    • For those of you new to the List, Mondays often end up as weekend recaps.
    • I started this one yesterday, so part of it isn’t.
    • I have been waking up at 4ish and unable to go back to sleep because the brain is flipping to ON mode.
    • I can brain.
    • Last night, I lay there doing FMLA math on how long I had to make progress on my book, among other things.
    • Kinda.
    • Brains update:
    • My left temple has been swollen and numb since the surgery.
    • I’d been wondering exactly where they’d opened the skull.
    • Figured that out Saturday trying to unload the dryer.
    • That repeated bending over stuff …
    • Oh, hey, there’s the crack.
    • Lol.
    • Still.
    • Not bad.
    • Still taking nothing for pain.
    • And I looked up without double vision for the first time since April 2022.
    • I never thought that would happen again.
    • It was in and out, but it happened.
    • The miracles of modern medicine.
    • Wish everyone had access to them.
    • And with that, I’m going to go take my IV meds and go for a walk.
    • You have the Monday you deserve.

  • Be The Light

    Be The Light

    • Compulsion.
    • That’s what it is.
    • Even when I’m not at a computer, my brain makes these Lists.
    • Started notes for one by hand this morning right before the IV treatment.
    • (Which The Wife handles.)
    • Where it started …
    • Pouring the coffee this morning, I had a flashback.
    • When I was a kid, on the weekends, we’d make coffee for the parents.
    • I’m sure it was Folger’s or something I’m way too bougie to drink now.
    • We’d pour it in these brown Frankoma coffee cups and carry it to them in their bedroom.
    • I’d walk slow, like carrying a landmine, desperately trying not to spill it.
    • Both of them drank it black.
    • (I did not inherit that, though I did get the coffee addiction.)
    • We also had this shot glass-sized Frankoma mug my Sister and I would drink coffee out of.
    • Just the one, I think.
    • Memories, man.
    • I can still walk around that house in my head.
    • I can still walk around almost everywhere I’ve ever been in my head.
    • Weird, right?
    • My memory … I wish I had more control over it.
    • There are times where it’s photographic.
    • Like, once in college during a test, I closed my eyes and read the answer off my study sheet that was crammed in my backpack.
    • The words were down at the bottom right, and curved up the side in my shitty handwriting.
    • Obviously, it doesn’t work all the time.
    • Especially these days.
    • What else?
    • People have been bringing us food on account of my surgery.
    • I keep getting overwhelmed with gratitude.
    • And am trying to figure out how to process it.
    • I bought a ton of blank thank you cards I get to start working on this weekend.
    • And if somehow I miss you, I’m telling you now.
    • Thank you.
    • For all your positivity and support.
    • You people are amazing.
    • Transitioning to randomness in 3 … 2 … 1 …
    • Have you had Sapori yet?
    • On Cherry St?
    • Everything I’ve had there is great, and the lasagna is the best I’ve ever eaten in my life.
    • Put it on your list if you haven’t been yet.
    • I could start making you Tulsa people a List.
    • Heh.
    • Hole Mole, right?
    • That poblano sauce is amazing.
    • Seriously, I’m going to make a website that’s nothing but Lists.
    • Or maybe I leave it parked on the one I already have.
    • We’ll see.
    • Take 2 has the best drip beef sandwich I’ve ever had in my life, and that place is a cause you can get behind.
    • I’m not even hungry
    • It’s Saturday morning, I’ve had my coffee and donettes.
    • Oh.
    • Here’s a thing.
    • This eye/brain stuff did not start in my eye/brain.
    • It started in my cheek, worked its way through my jaw, up my temple, and then crawled in behind my eye.
    • Along the way, it inhibited the movement of my jaw on the left side.
    • I could not really open my mouth.
    • Not enough to take a straight bite of a Hostess Donette.
    • We usually have those around the house for the Teenager.
    • So Thursday morning during the pre-School ritual, we sat down for some.
    • I pulled one out of the bag and stuck it in my mouth without thinking about it.
    • My mouth opened far enough to do it with no trouble.
    • Was an OMG moment.
    • Things are working.
    • Hope is a helluva thing, right?
    • I’ve been dealing with this shit for so long and like a typical GenXer, I roll with whatever happens.
    • What’s the point of whining when it is what it is, right?
    • Hope scares me.
    • I don’t relax well is what I’m saying
    • But good things are happening.
    • Oof.
    • I still desperately want an Old Fashioned.
    • Sigh.
    • This one’s a little self-indulgent.
    • I’ll do better next time.
    • It’s not a freaking journal after all.
    • What else?
    • No, I have not started season two of Andor yet.
    • It’s on a List.
    • I have a ton of lists of things to talk about.
    • Like getting the old Gang back together.
    • And physical media vs. streaming.
    • Mountain biking.
    • (Holy shit I cannot wait to get back in shape and ride my bikes.)
    • (That’s going to be a huge chunk of the list when I get finished up with all these meds.)
    • (Like, OMG I need to run and do push-ups.)
    • I’m avoiding politics as much as I can, though honestly, the Black List exists so I can talk about that shit.
    • I write these as discourse.
    • I want anyone who reads to feel like commenting, and to build a community where we get along and chat.
    • Online, because F all that in-person extroversion bs.
    • And you know, community is the thing that extends your life.
    • Enjoy the sunshine today.
    • Pockets full of it.

    I do not know who embroidered that molotov in the pic, or I would give them credit. But it made me smile enough to save it forevah.

  • Random Shit Per Usual

    Random Shit Per Usual

    • Medicine.
    • Both awesome and awful at the same time.
    • Mine’s effing with my sleep.
    • What’s up.
    • How’s everyone this fine Friday?
    • Literally perfect outside.
    • I filled up the Mouse mug with coffee, chased the cat around the backyard.
    • Got a runny nose.
    • Glorious.
    • So.
    • Some of you know I “manage” the social media for my place of employment.
    • What that means is I hired a young millennial to run it for us, and I stay out of her way.
    • However.
    • It means I have to keep up with social media even when I don’t want to.
    • Except for that TikTok bullshit.
    • I’m a Reddit guy personally.
    • One of the many things I hate about Facebook for normies is … no metrics.
    • Like, I know people are reading this bullshit, but unless you click the like button, I have no idea you’re here.
    • People keep responding and I had no idea they’d even read it.
    • Thank you for reading.
    • Trying to build something here.
    • …
    • One of our friends, who is awesome, sent the Wife a text in the form of bullet points.
    • Made me laugh.
    • Welcome to the party?
    • Lol
    • A List is easier for people to read.
    • Appeals to our dopamine-addicted brains.
    • Short. Sweet. To the point.
    • Anyway.
    • The numbers matter to my brain.
    • How big is the audience?
    • At work, that’s all I care about.
    • How many people saw it?
    • How many clicked the thing?
    • Data!
    • Give me data, Watson.
    • Data’s going to factor into my future plans quite a bit.
    • I’m a many splendored nerd is what I’m saying.
    • The Teenager just sent me “Carry Me Home,” by Royal and the Serpent.
    • It is spectacular.
    • (https://open.spotify.com/track/48ccwX9wv8bSSOdb2nKRBK?si=f9265c97c4814dc0)
    • They have songs on the Arcane soundtrack.
    • So good.
    • Like most everything I’ve heard from them.
    • You watched Arcane, right?
    • Might be the most beautifully animated show I’ve ever seen, and it’s loaded with great characters.
    • We’ve watched the whole thing at least twice.
    • I need to get watching Andor.
    • I loved the first season of that show.
    • Might be my favorite Star Wars property ever.
    • F them Jedi.
    • George accidentally made a cool sci-fi universe.
    • Yeah, those laser swords are cool, but … the world is the thing.
    • Man.
    • I am so tired.
    • I let Spotify roll after that song, and now I’m listening to “How Villains are Made,” by Madelen Duke.
    • Good stuff, too.
    • I gotta add stuff to my Femmes playlist is what I’m saying.
    • I keep getting lost in space.
    • Trying to figure out the car, still.
    • Probably going to have to haul it to Edmond for a total engine replacement.
    • What the actual fuck.
    • I just want my car back.
    • Haven’t had it since February.
    • Sigh.
    • Now that my brain’s settling down, it’s time to focus on other bullshit.
    • More debt!
    • Huzzah!
    • This world, man.
    • That’s a little bitter.
    • I get it.
    • But it’s cheaper to fix the car than buy a new one.
    • My forever car at this point.
    • Until my hips won’t let me operate a manual transmission anymore.
    • I love driving manual.
    • I hate doing it around Oklahoma drivers.
    • But that’s another story.
    • I’ve had a five- or six-speed manual car since … like 1997.
    • I will not willingly go into automatic transmission land.
    • Do Not Go Gentle.
    • I’m getting that tatted.
    • I have always wanted one.
    • The brain mass and surgery has changed my attitude on life.
    • Getting a sleeve on my upper left arm.
    • I have a list of elements.
    • I need a gifted tat artist to put it together and give it a unified style.
    • I’m kinda giddy thinking about it.
    • YOLO.
    • Seriously.
    • I know it sounds like all talk, but these lists are just the beginning.
    • I’m changing my life.
    • Buckle up.
    • Heh.
    • You don’t have to pay attention.
    • Honestly.
    • I’m just bullet journaling this shit and Change is coming.
    • Tick tock, mfers.
    • I’m going to need a logo to brand The List.
    • The Discord server is going swimmingly, btw.
    • Nice blend of people in there.
    • I expect it to grow a bit.
    • I’m not sure what’s it’s going to become, though I love the idea of having it when I become a published author.
    • Yeah, I said when.
    • Lol.
    • Enjoy your weekends.
    • And the … pockets of sunshine.

  • But What About Oregon Trail?

    But What About Oregon Trail?

    • My Grandpa Fillmore was the first computer geek I ever knew.
    • This was back when I was like 11 or 12, mind you.
    • He’d had a ton of different jobs, but did tax prep then.
    • So he had one of those early PCs with the two giant floppy disk drives.
    • The first time I used a word processor, and tried to write a fantasy story, was on his computer.
    • He bought me my first computer in college.
    • Hell, he bought me a TI-99 way before that.
    • I learned how to code in BASIC.
    • I’m saying I’m a long-time, hard-coded PC guy.
    • Windows has never inconvenienced me.
    • But then …
    • Up until this year, the last time I bought a PC was in 2014, a Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
    • Pure Windows.
    • No shitty software from another company.
    • Loved that thing
    • But then I didn’t buy anything else for more than a decade.
    • I found myself surfing around on my work laptop, which is no bueno.
    • Thing is, two years ago I got a MacBook Pro for work.
    • I have not worked on a Mac since junior high.
    • And I kinda like that thing.
    • A lot.
    • I have been converted is what I’m saying.
    • What. The. Fuck.
    • I now own one.
    • A MacBook Air.
    • And a PC, but that’s a different story.
    • Kind of like my Grandfather.
    • If you noticed that last name, we’re descendants of President Fillmore.
    • I know jack about that guy.
    • Never really looked him up.
    • The same way I do not know my biological dad, which again is another story entirely.
    • My grandfather was one of the best, greatest men I have ever known.
    • Hell, I lived with him most of my senior year of high school.
    • I miss that man so much.
    • I wish the Teenager had gotten to meet him.
    • He was about 5’9”.
    • Always wore slacks and a button-down shirt with a white tank top beneath.
    • Had a pocket protector with all manner of things in it.
    • Big glasses.
    • Balding head.
    • Used to work for the State employment agency.
    • And own a garage in downtown Sand Springs.
    • Had a yellow Ford Ranchero for a long time.
    • He died while I was in France.
    • …
    • This is a weird one, right?
    • Not a lot of pop culture.
    • I really just started typing to talk about computers.
    • I do not control the stream.
    • I just saw this AI ad on the book of Faces with this tagline: “Working to live? Try living to work!”
    • F You.
    • I am so tired of all this “productivity” bullshit.
    • All these tips on how to make you a better worker … for someone else.
    • I’m sorry, but that’s the Indentured mentality they want you to have.
    • That your worth is what someone else says it is.
    • And all this AI shit.
    • AI can help you as a tool, but it isn’t making you better.
    • Go find those early studies on its effect on chronic users’ ability to think.
    • I can use it to brainstorm.
    • And that’s about it.
    • It’s not better than I am at writing anything yet.
    • And the day it becomes that, the day AI takes over most white collar jobs, they’d better have UBI figured out or they’re not going to like the world version of the French Revolution.
    • …
    • Hi!
    • Goddamn ad.
    • Back when I worked at Urban Tulsa, I had this idea for a screenplay about … a middle class Dr. Marten Luther King/Malcom X thing.
    • Would’ve been the height of middle class white privilege.
    • However …
    • It would’ve been prophetic.
    • That was late ‘90s mind you.
    • Imma stop with that at the moment.
    • Cause we’re getting back to my theme song.
    • You know what I love?
    • Poorly Drawn Lines
    • If you’re not following that comic, you’re missing out.
    • I stick one at the bottom of the TCC student newsletter every week.
    • I hope the guy’s gotten follows and sales from it.
    • It’s funny almost every damn time.
    • Between him and The Oatmeal … I’m in comic heaven.
    • The Oatmeal is fantastic, though he is wheels off.
    • If you can get offended, maybe don’t fan the Oatmeal.
    • I mean, you should anyway.
    • Expand your horizons.
    • Okay, so update:
    • Staples are out.
    • Scab is gross.
    • Doc says everything is healing well.
    • That’s the whole update.
    • We’ll have to wait on the Mayo for diagnosis stuff.
    • What else?
    • The Wife and I sent to Savoy for lunch today.
    • Thursdays are the Turkey special.
    • If you haven’t had it, you’re missing out.
    • Fucking amazing.
    • What else?
    • Got The Terminator on 4k Blu-ray.
    • Glorious.
    • Feeling good.
    • Thank you for all the support.
    • I’m leaving with my pocket full of sunshine.
  • Whiskey in the Jar O

    Whiskey in the Jar O

    • Dear lord, I want an Old Fashioned.
    • One of the things I can never write about at work is alcohol.
    • I’m not an alcoholic, mind you, but I like a good drink or beer from time to time.
    • Old Fashioneds serve as my drink of choice.
    • That or Rye whiskey, neat.
    • More than a decade ago, I went with the Wife to a conference in San Diego.
    • While she was conferencing, I got to hang out with LBSUTKE and Gaius, two of my Halo buddies who live in the area.
    • They took me to the Aero Bar, which has more than 700 whiskeys and bourbons.
    • The bartenders hand you a three-inch binder when you come in, and there’s a wall of bottles behind them.
    • Gaius picked for me because I was not a whiskey guy.
    • One of them was Japanese, and I don’t remember which it was.
    • The other was the Thomas H. Handy rye from the Buffalo Trace antique series.
    • It melted my brain it was so good.
    • And he’d only let me drink it neat.
    • Everything else pales in comparison.
    • The closest I can get is the Midwinter Night’s Dram from High West.
    • Which is damn good, mind you.
    • I think Tulsa only gets like 13 bottles of the Handy every year, so those fuckers are snatched up by Liquor Store employees.
    • (If you know anyone in Tulsa or anywhere who can help me get a bottle for under $200, lemme know.)
    • But yeah … Whiskey.
    • I love the complicated taste of it.
    • How each is different.
    • And the burn does not bother me.
    • None for me for … 11 more weeks.
    • Sigh.
    • Margaritas are in there, too.
    • And a selection of beers.
    • But no gd IPAs.
    • Those are the fucking worst.
    • I found this Hawaiian shirt with skulls all over it.
    • I’m inclined to buy it.
    • I used to wear Hawaiian shirts all the time.
    • Mostly because I hate tucking things in.
    • I know, I know, if I want to move up the corporate food chain, I have to tuck shit in.
    • The struggle is real.
    • Anyway, I showed it to the Teenager.
    • She said, “I hate Hawaiian shirts.”
    • So does the Wife, apparently.
    • I’m like, you guys have no idea about male attire.
    • We get either t-shirts or things with collars.
    • Polos.
    • Button-downs.
    • Things that will accommodate ties, which are a level of hell-on-earth.
    • That’s kinda it.
    • And as we reviewed yesterday, I don’t do well with … rules.
    • Then she (the Teenager) told me she never really likes my wardrobe choices.
    • What. The. Hell.
    • I did not get far enough to see what she’d prefer to see me in.
    • Probably dressed like a British gentleman.
    • I want the Hawaiian shirt for two reasons:
    • 1) Because they’re hella comfy, especially in the summer;
    • 2) I want it to wear under my jacket at work.
    • I’m a Creative Director now for F’s sake.
    • That’s why I wear Van’s.
    • Cause I can.
    • Cause it’s expected.
    • I did get a TSR shirt this week, which is noice.
    • IYKYK.
    • I still have a jonesing for a pair of Doc Martens.
    • Why am I talking about stuff?
    • I got nothing else to do?
    • I’ve been reading book four of The Wheel of Time.
    • They have fucked up that show.
    • Anyway.
    • I know Barry provided me with Italics instructions, but … I can’t be bothered.
    • It also won’t let me hyperlink copy.
    • I can add the web address outright and it’ll give you all something to click on.
    • Again, go to the blog (skepticlysm.com), sign up for the newsletter.
    • You’ll get these in your inbox and never have to come here.
    • I have some fiction up over there, too, if you haven’t already read it.
    • I have plans.
    • I have had epiphany after epiphany since the surgery.
    • Shit is in motion.
    • Stay tuned.
    • The other day, when talking music, one of my Halo buddies sent me a song from a band I’d never heard before.
    • “Shakin’ Off the Rust,” by The Blue Stones.
    • (https://open.spotify.com/track/5MKtQtz40BsJZvqkS5FmC6?si=e5899226f9c143a8)
    • It is freaking spectacular and literally every song I listened to from them was good.
    • Insane to have never heard of them.
    • They may not have a pocket full of sunshine, but they’re damn good.
    • Okay, here’s the truth about these lists.
    • They are procrastination.
    • I should be working on the novel.
    • I’m not.
    • Yet.
    • My brain’s not 100 percent back yet.
    • Just you wait.
    • Or something.
    • I got a …
  • To A Certain Degree

    To A Certain Degree

    • And we’re back …
    • We’re going to run through some updates from yesterday, and then I’m tackling something serious.
    • Head’s up, peeps.
    • Let me say how annoyed I am Facebook won’t let me use italics.
    • Style guide: Book, movie, and album titles should be italicized.
    • Song titles and poems get quotes.
    • This morning, I woke up early and laid there for an hour planning.
    • Lots of things.
    • One of them …
    • I’m not supposed to climb stairs, but Kaia’s room is upstairs.
    • I queued up “A Pocket Full of Sunshine,” climbed the stairs.
    • Turned the volume up loud on my phone and stuck it in her door.
    • She did not recognize those opening notes and said, “What’re you …”
    • Then the lyrics kicked in.
    • She shut the door in my face.
    • Mission: Accomplished.
    • Then I sent it to a friend, ‘cause screw him.
    • SitRep: Mostly, my head does not hurt.
    • Now, I have had literally agonizing pain in my head since 2020.
    • My pain calibration is … skewed.
    • This isn’t awful.
    • However, I am exhausted.
    • Prone to passing out at any moment.
    • And I sleep like poop because 1) 45 staples in my dome; 2) the goddamn dogs; 3) the PICC IV in my right arm.
    • None of these things make bedding easy.
    • When I’m awake, as long as I’m sitting, I kinda do okay.
    • Walking comes a bit challenging.
    • Random dizziness happens.
    • I have the doc appts coming up in another couple of weeks.
    • And then treatment.
    • We’re not out of the woods.
    • But fuck it, I will prevail.
    • Okay, let’s be serious for a moment.
    • I put up that pic about degrees the other day.
    • I have worked in higher ed for all but four of the last 25 years.
    • My job has been to sell it.
    • I know the data.
    • And when I don’t, I know both Librarians and IR.
    • Short version: Degrees make communities more successful.
    • The more bachelor’s degrees a city has, the more financially successful it will be.
    • Full stop.
    • What we’re running into, however, is the death of the American Dream.
    • Personally, I do not believe in it.
    • Companies no longer treat us as people.
    • You’re just a number to check a box to do something.
    • And they’re trying to kill even that with AI.
    • Let me ask you a question: What’re you worth?
    • I don’t mean net worth.
    • I’ll answer for you: your hourly wage.
    • Companies will get away with paying you as little as possible.
    • And they’ll get away with devaluing your position as much as they can.
    • At our college, there’s an initiative to promote those degrees that provide the most life-sustaining wages.
    • Not things you’re aligned with from a personality standpoint, mind you.
    • But things that pay you and generate revenue for companies.
    • You know, the ones that get away with paying you as little as possible and get away with providing as few benefits as they can.
    • Because their responsibility is to the stakeholders, not you.
    • Enjoy that few weeks of leave, and paying part of your health ins (which is tied to your job, mind you).
    • Enjoy that lack of pension.
    • You ever want to know how free you really are?
    • Who can you say no to?
    • You have a choice of when to arrive at work?
    • When you can leave?
    • What about your dress code?
    • Or what you’re allowed to say to your manager, based on who they are and what their leadership philosophy is?
    • And work from home has largely been stomped on my employers because they want to control you.
    • The data supports working from home.
    • Hell, the data supports a four-day work week.
    • America has always flown the banner of freedom.
    • Are you?
    • Back to that degree thing.
    • Degrees, all of them, make our lives better.
    • Let’s say “you” don’t want to fund a theatre degree.
    • How is it so easy for you to dismiss the contributions of a creative to your life?
    • They are responsible for all the books you read.
    • (Sorry, the books you listen to.)
    • The shows you watch.
    • The concerts you attend.
    • The art on your walls.
    • The design of all the marketing materials.
    • The gardens and parks you visit.
    • Creatives make your life livable.
    • But hey, don’t help them get started, right?
    • (Before running your mouths, go research how scholarships are funded for every degree that exists.)
    • They’re all paid poorly because fucking companies are in it for profit.
    • The whole fucking country is about profit.
    • For the few, not the many.
    • Do you ever stop and think about why so many cities are based around roads?
    • It’s because the government has funded so many companies that make cars and oil.
    • I don’t want my taxes going there.
    • I want my taxes making mass transit a thing.
    • Making it easier to cycle and walk.
    • Making everything greener.
    • Because literally ALL of that is better for people and the environment.
    • You know what I don’t want my taxes doing?
    • Bailing out the rich.
    • Bailing out corporations that have more freedom and resources than any of us.
    • That greener thing.
    • Is it better for profit?
    • Not right now it isn’t.
    • Okay, so let’s talk about why you think some degrees are “less than.”
    • What do you watch?
    • I know you don’t read.
    • (Go check out the stats on functional illiteracy.)
    • Now, before we start this conversation, let’s discuss my credentials.
    • I have a bachelor’s in Journalism (news/editorial) with a minor in Creative Writing.
    • I have a Master’s degree in Mass Communications/Media Management.
    • Before you want to argue with me about media, just know what you’re getting into.
    • Right now, our mass media (newspapers and television stations) are largely owned by billionaires.
    • Those assholes are in it for … profit.
    • The content on those stations, particularly the broadcast stuff, is chosen to maximize profit.
    • What’re you watching?
    • Have you checked the bias chart?
    • Have you looked up the research on the shit you’re spouting?
    • (And before you go running your mouth on me, just know, I know an Army of Librarian Ninjas and I swear to the Lort I’ll sick them on you.)
    • I’ve heard a ton of you say stuff to me that is 100 percent bullshit.
    • You didn’t look it up to verify.
    • You just repeated it.
    • Cut that shit out.
    • You are being manipulated.
    • And don’t tell me what I think because you’re making assumptions based on the fact you know I disagree with you, but you don’t know why.
    • If you are friends with me, you know (or are going to over the next few months) I care about you.
    • I’m disinterested in fighting.
    • I’m interested in better relationships and a better reality.
    • And we can make it together.
    • But it requires you to let go of the bullshit.
    • To avoid it.
    • To free your mind.
    • To work toward freedom.
    • Because unless you work for yourself, you are not free.
    • So let’s leave off there because I did not make a bunch of jokes or talk music today.
    • Our freedom is being taken from us.
    • Don’t be distracted by the shit you can afford to distract you from that fact.
    • Love you all.
    • More words tomorrow.