David Himmel 3/28/25 David Himmel 3/28/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 23, 2025

Emotions are the greatest challenge we face as a people. Sociopaths have it easy.

Don Hall 3/26/25 Don Hall 3/26/25

Hiding Behind Alf: Masks, Work, and the Death of the Real Self

You are not your real self at work—you’re a character version of yourself with all the edges sanded down.

Elizabeth Harper 3/25/25 Elizabeth Harper 3/25/25

Deep Exhaustion

Don Hall 3/24/25 Don Hall 3/24/25

I Believe… [Balancing Anxiety & Grit]

...that anxiety and grit are like two characters in a dark comedy—each one flawed, but when they work together, they can create something powerful.

David Himmel 3/21/25 David Himmel 3/21/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 16, 2025

The descent to hell is easy when the road is paved with alcoholic tolerance.

Don Hall 3/18/25 Don Hall 3/18/25

We’re All a Bit Body Dysmorphic, Aren’t We?

body dysmorphia isn’t about what you look like. It’s about what you think you look like.

Don Hall 3/17/25 Don Hall 3/17/25

I Believe… [Nudist Freedom]

...that being naked in your home is liberating and suddenly makes you feel better about your body.

David Himmel 3/14/25 David Himmel 3/14/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 9, 2025

A Montessori education is child-led and parents shamed. And judging by the classroom toys and décor, it’s an education opposed to color and joy.

David Himmel 3/11/25 David Himmel 3/11/25

She’s Not My Type, but She’s Totally My Type

She probably has a twenty-something daughter. Her daughter is stupid hot. A spitting image of mom twenty years ago. She was a teen mom. Divorced. Never remarried. Has had the same boyfriend for fifteen years. He’s a UPS driver or a dock worker. She can change a tire but can’t tie a tie. She definitely snuck backstage and blew the Puddle of Mud frontman. She got a butterfly tattoo a week after her dad died because, “life’s transitions.” She loves Adam Sandler films and the poetry of Mary Oliver.

Don Hall 3/10/25 Don Hall 3/10/25

I Believe… [The Reward for Bad Behavior]

...that if you reward people screaming at you by giving in to their demands, you train them and others to scream at you with impunity.

David Himmel 3/8/25 David Himmel 3/8/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of March 2, 2025

There’s no S in “Daylight Saving.” But there is one in “You’re all idiots.” Why is this so hard for people?

Don Hall 3/5/25 Don Hall 3/5/25

When the Babysitter Becomes the Bully

A former reality TV star, a former best selling author with Netflix money, and a former actor famous for playing an actor with ambitions to become president walk into the Oval Office and all hell breaks loose.

Don Hall 3/3/25 Don Hall 3/3/25

I Believe… [Spring of Deception]

...that the fake Spring (always around the end of February or beginning of March) in Chicago is something special. All of sudden people are out in shirt sleeves and walking the lakefront. A week later, it’ll be like a dream we all had but a really good one.

David Himmel 2/28/25 David Himmel 2/28/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 23, 2025

Is it misogyny that I get nervous speaking to women who are taller than me? Because I feel the same way when that person—of any sex or gender—is younger than me. So, am I an ageist-misogynist? Or am I just self-conscious about my very dull, very average height?

Don Hall 2/27/25 Don Hall 2/27/25

America is Exceptional (Even Though Most Americans Aren’t)

But America itself is exceptional precisely because it does not need the majority of its people to be exceptional. It only needs enough of them—just enough—to keep pushing forward, to keep inventing, to keep driving the story of human progress forward.

Don Hall 2/25/25 Don Hall 2/25/25

MOSTLY LIVE FROM NEW YORK

I was reminded of a quote attributed to Lorne Michaels when he was pitching the show—it should feel like the television studio had shut down for the night and had been taken over by a bunch of kids. As the show unfolded, I started to notice that the ‘bunch of kids’ are as old as dirt.

Don Hall 2/24/25 Don Hall 2/24/25

I Believe… [The Stink of Neighborhoods]

...that one can make a lot of assumptions about the neighborhoods in Chicago but there is no escaping the fact that the Red Line smells like piss and weed and the Brown Line does not.

David Himmel 2/21/25 David Himmel 2/21/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 16, 2025

Hell hath no fury like a bored housemom who experienced a microaggression.

Don Hall 2/17/25 Don Hall 2/17/25

I Believe… [Special Purpose]

...that there must be a purpose of living beyond simply surviving despite the fact that survival is a heavy lift for most people. To find your purpose, look to the things that bring you the most joy and pursue.

David Himmel 2/14/25 David Himmel 2/14/25

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of February 9, 2025

We’ve abandoned Freud. Nothing is nurture, it’s strict nature. Who we are is no longer defined by our experiences or our relationships with our parents or friends, but by our neurodiverse ailments. It’s no longer survival of the fittest, it’s survival of who has the most diagnoses. And with all that, so goes accountability out the window.