David Boles: Human Meme

We can buy the banal, or we may invest in Beauty. We examine the idea of Beauty, and invention, by using reading glasses design as a theory exemplar. We can settle for ordinary, or we may celebrate the functional Divine.

The time for crushing Hate Speech is now! We tempt grace against ferocity -- as the world around us is divided between winners and losers. Humanity is cleaved into the moral and the immoral -- and knowing the difference is the key to spinning a right world.

A small town is defined by its passions. We share the story of his William Henry Vodehnal, a small town pharmacist from North Loup, Nebraska, who made a difference in every life he knew. Plus, you'll learn the real perils of sandlot golfing, and what it really means to die alone. 

How much value do we place on a human life? Are all lives created equal? Or do some lives deserve more money, attention, love, and support? We share the story of a wounded life that died too young -- and what was done to make the unpredictable end, bearable, in sorrow. 

How do Hackers find you? We share the experience of thwarting identity theft. There are methods and motives you can use to create a Black Hole and not a honeypot. Nothing is foolproof against dedicated intention -- but you must always try to prove you are not the fool. 

How do we know when we are a fully realized Human Being? How do we know we are not just a ghost of a person, or the suggestion of a living thing? We unravel our soft code for the hard-boiled truth!

Sometimes, your best ally in fighting discrimination, is information. Have you ever been mistaken for someone else and then had to pay the social penalty for the mislabeling? There are several ways to redefine your accuser. We explore what we know, and how we know where to fit its finest exposure.

Who can predict what stays and not what will change? We take a look at predictions. It's easy to guess the future, but it takes more insight, and longing, to understand what will never change, knowing what stays, and accepting what remains.

Who killed Irving Catlow? We investigate the homicide of a beloved member of the Jersey City Heights community. Irving Catlow owned Catlow Movers, and he found his undeserved end in a chrome gun pistol-whipping, a smashed eye socket, and a busted up nose. A blood clot put him in a coma, and the rest, killed him. With your help, we can solve this Catlow Killing! Please listen; and make goodness win one for the day!

In the Hilltop neighborhood of Jersey City, a new king of the skyline emerges. Known as the "Journal Squared" development, by the Kushner Group, we take you inside this new monolith in the sky for an insider look at what makes an aesthetic great in filling the empty space. Journal Squared 1 is currently the tallest building in Jersey City, and in this moment, you'll begin to discover why.

If you’re a freelancer, you know well we now live in a, "Pitch Me!" Culture. We reason why some people expect other people to give up their grand ideas for free -- all without any money, fame, or gratitude, applied!

We only appear to be what we are not. We take to the skies of the scalpel to wonder how we can change who we are in the facade, and never think how our infrastructure may never be modified or laded.

If you’re Twentysomething, the world appears set against you, and it is! We share thoughts on the young, who are and abandoned into a world that has lost patience for the doctor's note afterthought.

There are always unknown, underworld, perils to the spirit. We examine the careers of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Charles Strouse, J.D. Salinger, and Truman Capote to decipher the dangers of becoming the new, mainstream, standard of excellence -- and the trap it sets for the aesthetic of the True Artist. 

"If I were to write a subtitle today, it would read this: 'When You Pay Horrible People to Teach You!'" We share the story of an old foe -- an Ivy League Playwriting Instructor -- who, on the first day of class, declared he would "rather drink his own urine" than to have to "teach another section of new Playwrights." Salud!

Freedomland, USA was an idealized experience of what a true melting pot the United States had become; it lasted four years. We dig into the murky depths of the Baychester salt marshes in the Bronx -- where "White Flight" became a social test of turning. 

Small things fester into big things that kill you. We take a look at the tiny insults we hold onto for 40 years, so that we may feel better, later, about the first betrayal. Who knew a small town, Doppler Weather Radar system -- overlay idea! -- at a small, Midwestern, radio station, could cause such dishonesty and longing?

There is no right to privacy when you ask people to follow you, and you then take their time, attention, money, and admiration, in the exchange. We wonder why Richard Simmons, and even Dr. Drew, appear to feel besieged by the very bespoke fame, and attention, they bespake while starting out on their Hollywood careers.

Kayfabe -- can be dangerous -- if you don’t know the game is fixed right from the first bell. We apply -- The Art of Kayfabe -- to the modern world, and the Evildoer Presidency. If Kayfabe is the fourth wall -- what happens when that suspension of disbelief, is never believed?

Marcus Aurelius spent time alone to think about the world. Because of that rightful introspection, in writing, from one of the last five great Emperors, we have insight into the history of what fed us. We share some favorite quotes from Marcus' "Meditations" in examination.