Original Pitches, Arguable Calls
Maybe you’ve heard that catchy showbiz line “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” It was repeated by a number of actors, all now departed. You hope they were right about the easy part. Here’s another take on comedy: “Bad comedy is easy to recognize. In the opening minute or so, you don’t laugh. As the…
This presidential campaign should be interesting, as that annual Coney Island hot dog gorging contest could be called “interesting.” For that matter, you could call our national experience thus far in 2020 interesting. And why do drivers create traffic jams by slowing down to gape at a roadside wreck? They find the sight interesting. Anyway,…
From Harvard Square’s petitioners to California’s collective farms, good people everywhere are suffering disappointment. As we tried to warn our parents long ago, this is not our fault. Baby Boomers with worn-out knees. Geniuses with Ph.Ds in Film Studies Of Marginalized Countries, yet unable to get a six-figure job. Compassionate progressives who have so many…
When TV talking heads keep describing street violence as “protest,” they sound like the world’s worst parents. Replacing city police units with unarmed social workers might conceivably work, but only if those social workers are powerful, wise, fearless, and have superhero invulnerability. Politicians and pundits who argue that the harsh conditions endured by citizens in…
Here at GoliathWireless our first priority is the safety of our customers, our employees, and people who complain about our cell phone towers. Our President and founder Sterling Opulent, Jr. wants you to know that the entire GoliathWireless organization is dedicated to keeping you safe. During this challenging time, it’s especially important that our valued…
My friend (going back to 1965) Chris Brewster sent me an item from The New York Times Magazine of 3/15/20: 25 Songs That Matter Now. After listening to all 25, he offered a few comments and suggested I give the Times’ selection a try. You might find this exercise interesting, as I did. Just trying…
Richard Wayne Penniman, known as “Little Richard,” died on May 9, 2020. On one day in 1963, lighting up a stage studio in Manchester, England, Little Richard could be heard as more alive than any performer up to that date. Also after that date, I’d say. On that carefree day, Richard unleashed a glorious vocal…
graphic by Aaron Burden @aaronburden Composition Issues • You need an angle An angle is not a gimmick. It’s an approach to your topic that’s interesting and original enough to persuade the reader your piece is worth reading. A long-respected book of thoughtful advice to writers by Sidney Cox, first published in 1947, is introduced…
graphic by Aaron Burden @aaronburden We writers tend to produce our best work when we write with intellectual curiosity and some passion or joy. Writing this piece, I did experience those but also something else: dread. This “writing tips” project, proposed by a good writer, my son, and improved by another good writer, my daughter,…
The President has flagrantly and repeatedly conducted foreign policy. The President and his associates have deliberately refused to provide evidence for the impeachment inquiry, pressuring honorable members of Congress to uncomfortably revise investigated grounds of impeachment from “quid pro quo” to “extortion“ to “bribery.” Such continued presidential non-cooperation could compel even more far-reaching and laborious…