Thoughts of a Common Man

I honestly don’t believe it. The criminal convictions. The blatant disregard for the constitution. The anger and rage. The stupidity. None of it mattered. A rich, white man beat a black woman. And the rich will get richer as nonsensical wealthy men like Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy Jr., and the guy with the wig and the makeup golfs and rages and sleeps and makes life miserable with his dark, dangerous rants. Covid didn’t matter. Storming the Capitol had no bearing. He mimicked a sex act on a microphone! Women are dying because they aren’t being treated for a simple miscarriage. It is dark as I write this and wake up to the news. I honestly wonder if the sun is going to even bother to come up. The shining light on the hill? It’s shuttered and boarded. Not sure we can survive 4 years of this. Seriously.

I didn’t want to watch the returns. Most of what I was hearing, all day on Tuesday was that the winner wouldn’t likely be known by bedtime on Tuesday anyway. And I simply couldn’t fathom that we are even doing this. I’m not egotistical enough to believe that someone can have an opinion that is vastly different than mine. I’m sure that there is plenty I don’t see, but the official credo of this great land is that: “All men are created equal.” Yet here we are in 2024 and that isn’t remotely true for some factions of the population. Such a stupid moment in time. We appear driven by greed, ruled by division and fear, and in the middle of the hugest divide since the civil war. So, instead of watching the returns, I went to reruns of ‘Two And A Half Men’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ The more I thought about states going red, the less I wanted anything to do with any of it. So, here we are at 9:22 p.m., New York was just called for Harris… …there will be a long night ahead for a whole lot o

I most likely won’t watch the returns come in tonight, and that is kind of sad. I have a very clear memory of watching the Carter-Ford election news come in, with Dad. I was just 12 years old, and Mom was concerned that I was up late, but Dad said:  “This is educational.” I have always recalled Carter saying: “I don’t intend to lose.” And I was pretty excited when he was declared the winner. Ford was a gracious loser.  I remember thinking how cool the entire process was, and my appreciation of Jimmy Carter has never waned. He has been an exemplary American. Tonight, the process won’t be what it was less than 50 years ago. One of the candidates is going to declare himself the victor before the polls even close, and then he’s going to try to sue everyone even though he doesn’t have anything to base it on. The media is treating it all like a tough decision that is too close to call, but even the most balanced of reporters (on the legitimate networks) can barely pretend that it hasn’t turn

The commercials are endless. Of course it’s been a consistent wave of garbage as the candidates try and make their case for the office of President. There is talk of gloom and doom - particularly from one side - but at the end of the day… …the changes in the country will be immense - depending on who gets the chair. You know where I stand - I know where plenty of others stand - we all get one vote. So use it. Stevie Nicks was interviewed last week and she spoke of great regret because she did not vote until she was 70 years old! I have friends who don’t vote, and there are plenty of youngsters who think their vote doesn’t matter. “I’m in New York- Harris is going to win that anyway.” Probably, but it’s still about your vote being counted, one way or another. I can’t wait for it to end. The last 4 years has been more peaceful than the previous 4 and I’m hoping that someday we won’t have the endless garbage of the political media game. There also is a true fear that the validity of the e

Writing and releasing a book is always a crazy endeavor. “Are You An Idiot?” was written with a singular goal - make people laugh. I’m 17 published books in and I have to confess to something: I never truly know if it will hit the mark. That’s the thing about doing something creative. There’s a confidence in your ability to tell a story, but every single time there’s been a nagging sense of doom. “Will they like it?” This time, the question was: “Will they laugh?” And I don’t need to have my ego stroked. Once the book is released I can only hope. When I get a message from someone who enjoyed the story, it makes me smile. There’s relief and there’s the thought: “They read it and didn’t want it to end.” I can’t imagine not reading. When I find a book that I love reading there are days where I think: “I can’t wait to go to bed so I can get back to that book!” The fact that I, as a writer, can give a reader that feeling is honestly my favorite part about being an author. I was really young

LeBron James put out an endorsement for Kamala Harris and he started it with a great question: “What are we even doing here?” He’s absolutely right. It’s a choice between hope and rage. Anger and inclusion. Love or hate. The other day, one of the candidates rode around in a garbage truck… …just spreading more nastiness. A brilliant friend of mine summed that up perfectly: “He got in the wrong end of the truck.” I can dream about a day - and I hope it’s in the next week or so - when I don’t have to see, hear, or think about him. He’s brought absolutely nothing other than rage, division, hate and idiocy to the national discussion. James is absolutely correct… …what are we even doing here? There’s simply no choice… …unless you are all for hate and rage… …if you are… …it’s not about either candidate… …it’s how you choose to live your life. Looking forward to that garbage truck driving away with its huge orange load.