Congressman Mike Pence (R, Indiana) has issued a public apology for a comment in a closed door meeting that compared the American Dental Association's twice-a-day teeth-brushing recommendation with Nazi genocide that killed an estimated 5.7 million European Jews between 1933 and 1945.

"I am so… Read full post »

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer. Not a writer of advertising, but rather of great novels or great entertainments or great, lucid explanations of scientific wonders for laypeople. Serious fiction, plays, journalism--I'm not sure what specifically I wanted. It was all interesting to me… Read full post »

How do you feel about suicide?

Can you imagine the pain, the despair, the utter helplessness a person about to take his own life must feel? Can you imagine that the only way out of your problems is to cease to exist? That you've done something so shameful, so embarrassing, that… Read full post »

A old man walks up to a woman in a bar. "I'm sorry to bother you, but my doctors have given me only two weeks to live," the man says. "I'm very wealthy, and I was wondering if you would sleep with me for a million dollars."

"Well," says the woman,… Read full post »

As I write this, I'm sitting on a third-floor deck of a house on St. George Island, Florida, looking out at the Gulf of Mexico as the sun rises. The sea is calm, almost glassy. There's no chill breeze, no sound except for the gentle lapping of the waves. The horizon… Read full post »

Advertising may be the ultimate "what have you done for me lately?" business. You're only as good as your last idea and, if you slip, there's always somebody--some other copywriter, some other agency--ready to give you an extra shove and walk over your prostrate body to show the client somethi… Read full post »

When I was seven, I was going to be a poet. I'd just written my first poem, entitled "My Boy Al and the Egg"; it was based a story I'd read about Thomas Edison. I was asked to recite it at a second-grade assembly. The applause was intoxicating. I could look forward/… Read full post »

I have to admit: as skeptical as I am about religion and politics, when it comes to relationships, I'm a complete naif. I am, in fact, I'm a bit of a pollyanna; it's against my nature to see the bad or deceptive in people.

For example: big ad agencies are breeding… Read full post »

There's a great scene in "Far Away Places," Episode 6 of Season 5 of Mad Men, in which Roger Sterling and his wife Jane are about to drop acid at the end of a dinner party at Jane's psychiatrist's house. "How long does it last?" asks Roger.

I could have told him… Read full post »

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.” That’s from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.

That used to be me.

It was what I told myself to feel better about my desolation, anyway: that at least I was… Read full post »

I was a little surprised to read the other day about the demise of Viewshound.com. I wasn't surprised that they stopped doing what they were doing, but I was surprised by how quickly it all fell in upon itself. I figured someone doing something that ambitious would try to hang on a little/… Read full post »

Hi, everyone. I'm crossposting this as Punchnel's in OS. Please make Punchnel's a favorite if you want to get these updates.

One more note: we have a great photo essay by Barry Doyle you'll want to see if you're a fan of his work here. And you isn't? 

Greetings,… Read full post »

Hey, all. We're alive and rocking at Punchnel's. I'm going to post updates on OS once a week as Punchnel's, so please make Punchnels' a favorite (http://open.salon.com/blog/punchnels) if you want to see what we're doing. Here's what's happening this week:

Hello, OSers. Just stopping by to tell you wh… Read full post »

A little over nine years ago, I was sitting in a northside bar with a woman I worked with. We’d been out for a drink with a client, who’d left early; he lived in Lafayette and had another engagement there. Neither my woman friend nor I had anyplace to go, so… Read full post »

For a while now–maybe forever–it’s been popular in marketing circles to talk about generational differences and how they affect people’s behavior. Baby Boomers are self-involved and idealistic and competitive. They’re goal-oriented workaholics. Gen-Xers are indivi… Read full post »

When I was a kid, I loved The Hardy Boys. Not the terrible TV show starring Shawn Cassidy and that dude who was married to Kirstie Alley when she was still super-hot. No–I mean the series of books penned by Franklin W. Dixon. I was enamored of the boys and their chums B/… Read full post »

If you’re a creative writer, the Internet Age has been a mixed blessing. The opportunities to get your work in front of an audience have proliferated. You don’t need to win anyone’s approval to have a public forum; just start a blog and publish yourself. It’s great&ndas… Read full post »

Progress has always been a double-edged sword. Inventions intended to save us time and make our lives easier can have surprising downstream consequences.

Take, for example, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, patented in 1794. This handy little gadget gave cotton growers a simple way to separate cot/… Read full post »

This morning on the way to work, I was listening to Mikes Golic and Greenberg, hosts of ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike Show, chatting with former NFL player and coach Herman Edwards about Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and the “stupid” thing he said on th… Read full post »

My Beautiful Wife and I just got back from a trip to Italy. My father bought our plane tickets and arranged for us, along with my brothers and sisters and their spouses, to meet in Rome, where we spent five days walking among the ruins and splendors of the ancient world… Read full post »

When I was a kid, I used to read the comics in the newspaper. We called them “the funnies.” Does anyone still call them the funnies? Even the ones that weren’t funny–Rex Morgan, MD and Brenda Starr, for example–were “the funnies,” and I read/… Read full post »

Lately I’ve felt the need to be in closer touch with poetry. The best way I know to achieve my goal is to read a lot of poetry–and to reread Edward Hirsch‘s excellent How To Read A Poem (And Fall In Love With Poetry). You’ll get more out of the book if you know/… Read full post »