Eighteen Till You Die…
“Eighteen.” Vincent Furnier, aka Alice Cooper, was 23 when that song hit big in late 1970. It captures that messy threshold: no longer a kid, not yet a grown-up. The singer drifts between worlds, unsure…
Home »
August 2025
The Silent Machine Room Prayer
I really just wanted a coffee that Friday evening, not a sermon. The sign read, “All welcome,” so I assumed I was part of “all” and entered. A conscript’s first three-day pass is sacred. That…
Despondency: Language as Leverage in the Sludge.
Despondency is that shit feeling that resides in a post-apocalyptic crud-hole between hopelessness and apathy. As an emotion, it’s legit, and it’s a signal, but it’s a faint signal that can lead to horrible stuff…
The Language of Getting Sent to the Meat Grinder
The language of conscription is glossed over with words like duty, service, honor, and sacrifice, but beneath the shine, it stinks of rotten bureaucracy, drafting people into the meat grinder. Politicians say, “the nation calls,”…
THE DEATH OF CONNECTION: Commenting on the Menu, Ignoring the Meal
Do you know people who wander into a restaurant, glance at the menu, comment on every item, and then leave, telling everyone outside what they saw? Worse, some post it online, and the echo chamber…
The dirty secret of side-hustle culture. Part 2. The language of escape.
As a youth, my hair was routinely massacred by Adventure Barbers. A couple of middle-aged gents operated a lucrative gig on the outskirts of my community. No matter what style you requested, you always got…
The dirty secret of side-hustle culture. Part 1.
The dirty secret of side-hustle culture is that if your life is already crammed with stress and chaos, your creative hustle isn’t going anywhere. You can romanticize the beauty of the escape plan all you…
THE WAR ON THE SELF: Performing for the Narcissist. Breaking the Script of Emotional Labour
Brad was flushed with rage. The veins in his forehead pulsated. “I can work for a tyrant, but not a narcissist who needs a performing monkey.” Brad resigned a week later, found a great job…
Fluff kills!
“You will listen to your corporals. Their instructions will give you a better chance to survive.” I reckon the other rookies scoffed at those words, like I did. I was fresh out of university, and…
THE DEATH OF CONNECTION: He Posted His Divorce. You Scrolled. No One Listens.
Kris Kristofferson released that song To Beat the Devil. It boils down to not believing that nobody is listening. That stuck with me. We do still listen. But not the way we used to. There…