We needed tough lessons as children. An occasional playground fight was expected as the norm, and if we complained to our mother that we were being teased, we were treated to this glorious aphorism: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” My mom used to say that all the time, one of the seemingly endless adages she had at her disposal to deal with any of life’s problems. To this day I think long and hard about the practical application that dogma had on my life.
The idea that you could actually choose whether or not to be hurt by words: that was huge for me. Even though it has been repeated ad nauseam for generations, “sticks and stones” really is a powerful bit of philosophy to a kid. That’s one of the great things about being a parent: you can spout nothing but clichés, and yet, to your child, you come off as one of the great thinkers in Western culture.
–from MEAN DADS FOR A BETTER AMERICA, by Tom Shillue
we got bumped last night (but it will air tonight)
Please use the term media cave, - I hate the phrase man cave - it’s reductive and derogatory. As Sebastian Maniscalco said “my father had a man cave it was the house”
Thank you for reminding me. I wanted to talk about our post-show hangout in Memphis and here it is:
“End of an era”
One of my favorite ‘dirty jokes’ as a kid;
“Why don’t old ladies like to go to the beach?
They don’t like getting sand in their ‘Schlitz’.”
Schlitz brewing companies’ last batch of Schlitz beer, will be brewed Saturday, 23 May, 2026.
It was founded in 1849.
‘The beer that made Milwaukee famous.’
