Saturday, September 12, 2026
My Saturday Haiku for Bluesky, 9-12-26
Saturday is just
one more morning where the sun
screams "Get back to work!"
Friday, September 11, 2026
My Friday Evening Music
"Old Cape Cod" by Patti Page is the only logical choice to end this week. The music and the soundtrack are worth your attention. RIP Anthony Bourdain.
The "Other" 9/11
Poet Luis Lázaro Tijerina recalls another thing that happened today more than twenty five years ago. Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine this week.
Annoying Thought of the Day
How long will it be today before THOSE Hulk Hogan photos are published?
Some of you know what I'm talking about.
What I Wrote in 2004
I was working at Legal Seafoods in 2001. Two years prior to that, I was swept up in Y2K mania. I did my damndest to get New Year's off, because, to probably misquote myself, "I don't want to be serving salmon at the end of the world." I ended up getting the holiday off and it felt great, even when it turned out I was worrying about nothing.
When 9/11 happened, I was pretty much broke and gearing to recover what I lost from apartment problems and vacationing with my girlfriend in spite of apartment problems (I have not taken a vacation for almost three years now, not wanting to repeat past mistakes). That Tuesday morning, I was training a new group of servers when the bartender came in with his bike and gave the news. I thought he was joking, of course. I changed my mind when I got to the TV just before the last Tower fell.
I had only one theory: someone was taking revenge for Timothy McVeigh being executed (read about The National Alliance, The Turner Diaries and how he's connected to them before you judge me as nuts).
But what was my first actual action? Going back to teach the class.
Going over the fine art of...serving salmon.
When the world ended.
At least as I knew it.
The boss actually had to stop me, I was so mindlessly loyal to a job and class/service system I hated with all my heart.
Yep, I Still Have This Issue Too
So much summed up in one cover by Tak Toyoshima for the post-9/11 issue of The Weekly Dig on September 19, 2001. Somehow, I also managed to hold on to the jpeg from the site back in the day.
Never Forget
The Weekly Dig had the best weekly comics page during the early 9/11 era Thanks to Tak Toyoshima. This was from the issue published on September 19, 2001.
Leopards Eating Faces Update!
Poor Maria Bartiromo. Not only is she the latest woman to be allegedly fired for loving Trump too much, but I had to skip her last week to cover the bigger monster Milo Yiannopoulos.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Stone Soup Poetry All Open Mic, 9-9-26
From this week's online gathering. It's good to be back! More coming!
About Time We Have a Wave
Stone Soup returned! Thanks to everyone who showed up to last night's all-open mic. Hope to make some announcements very soon.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
We Are All Sisyphus
I'm really glad I wrote this piece. Check out my review of Coyote Vs. Acme over at The Ugly Monster.
Songless
Poet Savannah Manhattan and artist Kelly Sauvage Moyer close out Oddball Magazine this Wednesday. Thanks for reading us today. Please stay safe the rest of the week.
Pride Perspective
An essay by Asher Bomse with artwork by Robert Fleming kicks off Oddball Magazine the Wednesday before some kind of anniversary. I like how this day is shaping up.
School's In
The September issue of North of Oxford by Editors Diane Sahms and g emil reutter is fully loaded with poetry and reviews for your consideration.
Steffen Up
Hastings Room Reading Series Coordinator Michael Todd Steffen steps up for this week's Lyrical Somerville poet, up now at The Somerville Times.
New Graffiti
Spotted near the old Boomerangs location. I am both confused with the specifics of the message and impressed with the directness.
A Moment of Comics
Much of America is filled with seething anger over decades of having no clear-cut enemy to overwhelm from their armchairs. I've been thinking about that this week, and I've been thinking about a certain comic by Skip Williamson. Below is the final page from "Conflagration" in the Fantagraphics anthology Zero Zero.
American Haiku: Trump's Safe Space
When I started my Sarcastic Haiku series, I wrote my first American Haiku.
An American Haiku doesn't care about tradition, formality or history. it takes as long as it wants to make its point because America. You can read
others I've written since by clicking here and scrolling down.
September 9: Stone Soup Poetry Returns
Stone Soup returns with an all-open mic. Am I ready for the grind again? No. Am I doing it anyway? Yes. Am I hoping you join me? God, yes.
Join us on Wednesday, September 9, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM ET by clicking this link.
The meeting ID is 825 1058 4516
Password: stonesoup
Your Wednesday Morning Poetry
Because there's at least one anniversary this week that people are going to make about themselves, here's the late Amiri Baraka's infamous poem "Somebody Blew Up America," a poem targeted for calling out Irsael while overlooking when the poem brought up persecution of Jewish people. Given that a lot of writing after 9/11 hasn't aged well, this poem still merits a read. Thanks to the Black Agenda Report website for posting the poem.
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
A Week of...
Poet Susan Isla Tepper and photographer Glenn Bowie unite for another Tuesday at Oddball Magazine.
This Week's Most Distinguished Network Name
It's amazing what people will name their online networks. I'm always
trying to hijack Wi-Fi when I'm commuting, so I often come across a
number of interesting names. Every Tuesday, I post the most impressive
and/or cringe-inducing names.
 |
| Hopefully we all learn on the first day of school. |
Plea
For all intents and purposes, it's fall.
Can we please stop screwing around?
I've made way too many mistakes this summer.
I've had way too many jobs this summer.
I've done most of them terribly.
I need a return to some semblance of normalcy.
Please.
Monday, September 07, 2026
Already a Busy September
See what Anne Skove's been seeing in her latest comic.
"She Who Laughs Lasts" is up now at Oddball Magazine.
Bully!
Mike Mesterton-Gibbons starts Monday off ugly at Oddball Magazine.
Hope your week only gets prettier from here.
My Monday Morning Music
Saw the movie Tony a couple of weeks ago. A docudrama of Anthony Bourdain's time in Cape Cod, Tony had a pretty good soundtrack. Here's one of those songs.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Another Anniversary
Went through some old photos. Came across this one taken outside of a Southie restaurant from September 2016. Kid Rock was still seen as semi-relevant ten years ago. What a difference a decade makes.
Your Weekly Dose of God
I have been too busy and tired to find new things. Here's one more image from the inside of Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal.
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