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Falling off the Pedestal
You have been steeling yourself for this conversation, for this moment. Actually, the right time was two years ago, when you had been caught. Maybe neither of you was ready then, hard to know. Yet you...
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Problem Child with a High Salary
You had lofty titles: Executive Creative Director, Chief Creative Officer, even Executive Chairman. You were on the board of directors at the most famous advertising agency in Chicago, supposedly the...
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Chasing Windmills
Continued from previous post… Looking back, the corner office and all its trappings could be summed up via the old expression: be careful what you wish for. You’d gotten the carrot only to find out...
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Wheels Off. Tire Fire. Burning Bridges. All The Cliches…
Continued from previous post… You began acting callously and with impunity. Courting the trade press, you would say whatever came first, seeking credit and taking it. You then collected these stories...
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Epilogue: Recovering what you have lost.
Continued from previous post… So, has your definition for winning and losing changed? Maybe. Money and position don’t beguile you as much. Fortunate, given you have less of both. Yet, you still crave...
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Be Devastating Young Lady.
“I’m going to tell you a true story, okay?” Callie is looking at her phone but you know she is listening. You are driving her to rehearsal. She has a big part in Les Miserables. She plays the grown-up...
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This I cannot give up…
If we place instincts first…we will be pulled backward into disillusionment. The line is from the Twelve & Twelve – a book Bill Wilson authored some twenty years after writing the Big Book of...
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Reverse Engineering Your Humanity
The girls. Despite your many defects, or just the one, the girls still wanted you home. You had evidence to support this. They didn’t mind nor were embarrassed you were a recovering alcoholic. They...
View ArticleParagraphs from the Edge
ONE “Hi sweetie!” your mom warbles. Abruptly, she asks you to hold on while she adjusts her hearing aids. A clattering of noises the dog yipping and she’s back. “Sorry about that!” Like always, her...
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The Endless Friendless
Chasing friends was humiliating and losing them even worse. Yet, the pattern of loss was real. And you were the common denominator. Was Sarah right? Were you too sensitive? Are you an asshole? Your...
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The Lizard King
Long, curly hair framing an impetuous, sensuous face; a chunky, beaded necklace clinging to his lean torso like the serpents he so often rhapsodized about, this was Jim Morrison in his prime. The...
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The Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing
Continued from previous post… Even though it was only a few blocks from your father’s house, the next day you both drove his car to the coast. The Missing Persons song on the radio was accurate:...
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Juice
The summer after you finished high school. Having recently moved into a small apartment, stressed out by her own demons as well as yours, your mother indicated you find someplace else to live. She’d...
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Iowa
Distracted that hot summer, you’d done the minimum to prepare for college in the fall. At the last minute you ended up accepting the lone invitation you’d been lucky enough to receive: from a...
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Whiz Kid
After Mt. Vernon, Madison was a revelation. Surrounded by three beautiful lakes, the campus was an oasis of cool, the nucleus of a progressive city also the state capital. The population could not...
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The Lost Child. The “role” of a lifetime.
Coming from the proverbial broken home (parents divorced at a very early age), I first identified with the role of Lost Child. I felt alone and rudderless. Obviously, the negative impact...
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Sometimes, I feel like I don’t know what the f–k I’m doing. Sometimes, I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing. The operative word is “feel” because that is the variable, the thing that changes....
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This I cannot give up…
If we place instincts first…we will be pulled backward into disillusionment. The line is from the Twelve & Twelve – a book Bill Wilson authored some twenty years after writing the Big Book of...
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Still out to lunch. Here’s why.
Been over a month since I posted anything here. 45 days to be exact. In 15 years, this is by far the longest stretch between posts. I gave it a rest because, well, I’m not in advertising business...
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