hey friends! how are we doing this fine springtime Friday? [extremely the-annoying-guy-in-your-office voice] I hope this finds you well.
it’s been kind of a weird week this week, at least from my perspective. it flew by and felt incredibly jam-packed with shit, even though I don’t know what (if anything) I even really accomplished.
we had some unexpected shake-ups at work, I haven’t had the energy or inclination to run, and baby girl had a tough night or two of sleep, so it’s been a strange one. anyway, let’s dive right in.
OH. and keep an eye on your inboxes early next week. I’m gonna send out a survey in the form of a Google Form to get your anonymous feedback on Pour Me A Story and its contents. and now, onwards!
Different Day, Same Shit
three years ago this month, in mid-March 2018, my Denver Post colleagues and I were called into an all-hands meeting one miserable Wednesday afternoon. for anyone who’s worked in the newspaper business in any capacity, you know there’s an automatic ominous feeling that comes along with a full-staff meeting with little notice.
as it turned out, this one was worse than any I’d been in before, and worse than anyone expected. staff photographers managed to capture the emotions in raw detail as we found out that 30 of our jobs were being cut, more than a third of the newsroom.
(AAron Ontiveroz/Denver Post)
that same evening, as news of the layoffs hit social media and spread around Media Twitter, condolences flowed our way as people expressed their disappointment in Post’s hedge fund owners’ decision to cut costs. incredibly, cash also flowed our way as folks near and far sent us beer money which amounted to more than $2,000 when all was said and done.
those of us who survived the layoffs paid it forward when similar cuts happened at the Dallas Morning News later that year. and I’m sure the DMN staff paid it forward the next time there were layoffs at a media organization, because it has absolutely not stopped since then.
I bring this up because while I’m now safely out of daily journalism, and away from the volatile nature of the industry, I still have dozens of friends working in the business and they’re at risk every single day. earlier this week, the entire staff at MEL Magazine was laid off, and the publication put up for sale.
it’s incredibly disheartening because MEL (and Input, and other publications which have been gutted of recent times) is stacked with great writers and contributors and staffers. the more these outlets get folded up, the less places there are for them to write, and we’re all poorer for that.
anyway to wrap this incredibly miserable segment, I want to plug a newsletter whose writer inspired me to start this one. Alyson, who was MEL’s social media manager, writes Yes, I Was High When I Wrote This, which is exactly what the title says, and it’s tremendous stuff. when I was agonizing over whether or not to start this newsletter, I was worried that people wouldn’t be interested in it. Aly wisely told me, and I’m paraphrasing, “people don’t know what they want to read until you give it to them.” and here we are, 24 issues later. go subscribe and support great writers.
Anyway, We Have Company
this week we’re joined by TJ Finley, or as he’s best known online, humbleteej. or some variation thereof, given his frequent Twitter suspensions. our special guest is an attorney and a Houston Rockets fan, and I’m not sure which would be more difficult.
AC: what's up Teej? how's things in your world?
TF: Things are ok here. LA is slowly starting to open and I’m lucky and blessed enough to be fully vaccinated so I’m gonna start moving around a bit more. I’ll still be cautious but it’s a blessing.
AC: that's truly great news man, congrats on getting vaccinated. how'd you find the whole process, how are you feeling about making moves and re-entering society a little bit?
TF: My process was a bit weird bc I got the first shot in Texas but the second shot here in LA. But luckily I had no symptoms either time.
I’m super excited to move around a bit more. It’s been a tough year for me personally just like many others so I wanna take some trips and get back in the mindspace I’m used to occupying.
AC: that sounds like it could potentially have been hell to navigate, given the lack of consistency there appears to be in the process from state to state, but it sounds like it worked out okay in the end! are you from texas originally or was there somewhere else you called home before that?
TF: I grew up in Houston but I was actually born in upstate NY. Rochester to be exact.
AC: right on. that’d explain the combination Rockets/Yankees fandom. and now LA, where my last guest is also based — tell me about Mike’s chili recent distribution and how you got involved with that?
TF: So Mike makes amazing chili. And he makes it like every week. But he can’t eat that much chili, so I offered to give the chili away to some homeless folks that live near me bc I live downtown. I need to go do it again.
AC: that’s good stuff man. perfect example of people looking after other people, and the power of Twitter friendships as well. speaking of which — you’re a wild man on the bird app (though I’m certain you will feign innocence here!) and you’ve had more accounts than Wells Fargo. I’m sure shit is peaceful as hell for people who don’t tweet. what is it that keeps you coming back?
TF: I think what keeps me coming back is hearing people’s thoughts on any range of topics. It’s kinda fascinating as a concept to just see a literal sea of people’s thoughts. You see people who you like and gravitate to them and enjoy talking to them or seeing them talk to other people. And especially with a pandemic going on, it just feels nice to have some kinda pulse on how this is all affecting other people.
AC: for sure. "the people" is definitely the biggest drawcard for me, even though I've never met 90 percent of the people I bullshit with on a daily basis. but it's super educational too. like I learn something new every single day on here, from yourself included (especially during the election). alright man, last one. what’s something you’d like to plug? anything goes, sky’s the limit.
TF: Ummmm I have nothing to plug really! Just follow me on Twitter for wholesome tweets, puppy videos, and bible verses 😇 (Editor’s note: this is an deeply, incredibly inaccurate depiction of Teej’s output.)
And follow @1TakePod and listen/watch us! It’s fun!!
AC: hahaha man there goes all my subscribers. thanks for the time bro, much appreciated.
Worthy Consumables
for almost as long as I’ve been able to read, I’ve been into the fictional works of Stephen King. there are very few titles I haven’t read, and a lot of those have been read more than once. I did a ninth grade book report on The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition, which clocked in at 930 or so pages and considerably longer than anybody else in my class chose to read.
so it doesn’t make a great deal of sense that it took me so long to make a run at Castle Rock, a Hulu series based on characters and locations from Stephen King’s novels.
we finally got around to kicking it off a couple weeks ago, and we were pretty much instantly hooked. I feel as though it took a while to really get the gist of what was going on and where it was heading, but it was attention-grabbing all the way through.
the best part, for me at least, was the healthy doses of King references sprinkled through the plot line, from the niece of Jack Nicholson’s The Shining character to subtle references to Cujo and The Green Mile.
season one ended in a kind of vague manner, leaving us to make our own conclusions, but there’s a second season with a new storyline so I’m ready to dive into that. if you’re a Stephen King fan, it’s pretty much a can’t-miss.
Parting Note
you know the new rules. the special guest chooses the final song of the week, and here we have it. Teej did good, because it’s a banger.
thanks as always for hanging out with me for the duration, friends. I’ll meet you here next week and we’ll do it all over again.
— adrian ✌🏻