Upstate NY made its latest case to peel me away from NYC — I needed a break, more like an escape, from New York, badly. And so, I found the perfect place to make a return getaway for a week: New York. As a lifelong resident of Queens, NYC, with brief beginnings in Brooklyn, let’s just say I vastly appreciate removing myself from…

Tips On Being Brave and Smart — I find it comically tone-deaf when successful writers suggest new writers create workshops as an income option. A workshop? Some of these beginners haven’t even gotten their first five blog posts under their belt, and you’re trying to sell them on becoming teachers? Let’s look at things realistically. I’m not…

My fellow malfunctioning Homo sapiens, I’m announcing the release of my second poetry collection! — This one’s for those of us who feel powerless in society, begrudgingly being coerced into feeling this way. If you’re not familiar with my writing here on Medium or in my books, allow me to introduce myself: I’m the hunter/gatherer worshipper guy. I’ve become romanced by the lifestyle of our…

A Poem — I’m no Petty expert, nor am I a Petty fool All I know is The Heartbreakers calm — not break — my heart It could be while doing chores, cruising along the highway, or writing a poem about them while battling anxiety, they are the sound of “everything is ok” …

A Poem — From which circle of hell are they sent? Do giggling demons take turns whispering worries into my mind? Or am I assigned to just one liar? Incorporeal threatening premonitions set my body ablaze Jarring me into a cavity The demon(s) know which buttons to push which fear haunts me more than…

A Poem — I’ve had enough of fixating on what was ailing me and what could still be. Will the real threat please stand up?! I already know it, but do I really? Grant me resolution and no further mystery. It’s the waitinnnnng that suffocates, slowly ping-ponging my accelerated and booming heartbeat between…

When Counting Sheep Doesn’t Cut it Anymore — Insomnia is torture. I don’t know how I can describe it any better. If you’ve never had a serious bout with it, consider yourself lucky. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. The negative effects of sleep deprivation can be devastating. It impairs cognitive function, healing, and emotional stability…

This is What Despair — a Sign of the Times — Sounds Like… — In modern culture, many people struggle with finding their purpose and character, at least in the Western World. With a dystopian technocracy potentially on the horizon, those inner trials seem to be intensifying. No other genre of music encapsulates this mortal anguish better than dissonant death metal. Conventional death metal…

Or is this widely reported baseball story a hoax? — There very well may be another you in the world. Perhaps your Mama wasn’t being so honest all those years when saying you were special, one-of-a-kind. Two gentlemen are living through this humbling experience after they found out they have a real-life doppelgänger. Meet Brady Feigl and… Brady Feigl. They are two men who…