Oh Ick

Making meaning and delight.

  • Home
  • Prattle
  • Projects
    • Fiction
    • Music
  • Fictionary
  • Utility
  • Contact

Positively Ehrenreich: Bright-Sided (Part I, perhaps) [From the Archives]

06.19.2021 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Happy face balloon from the cover of Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright Sided.

When The Secret came out in 2006, I had already been dabbling in self-help lore. I was mainly interested in time management; my family and I had been through a lot of changes recently (moving, job changes, new kids), and I was trying to find strategies to make myself feel less overwhelmed. But since time management, at least in the many forms I found it, comes packaged with all the other self-help paraphernalia of goal setting and positive thinking, I had already come across variants of The Secret  and its focus, the “scientific” Law of Attraction.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // barbara ehrenreich, bright-sided, cancer, law of attraction, positive thinking, rhonda byrne, self-help, the secret

Making a difference, sometimes

03.06.2021 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Empty chairs in a classroom

In these times of isolation and distance, it’s easy to lose sight of what my work means. But in the past two days, I received two emails that have brought that into focus.

It felt good.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // gratitude, plagiarism, teaching

Imposing structure

01.01.2021 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Photo by Silvio Kundt on Unsplash

A lot of what I struggle with, in terms of work or creativity, boils down to one central tension: I need structure to get anything done, but I haven’t had much success imposing structure on myself.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // matt walker, parkinson's law, procrastination, routines, sleep, structure

RIP, Anton

12.31.2020 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Covers of Anton Strout's books

His novels aren’t among my favorites, and he wasn’t the greatest interviewer I’ve ever heard. But Anton Strout was the easily the most important author in my development as a writer.

I was sad to learn that he died yesterday.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // amber benson, anton strout, artist's way, dresden files, once and future podcast, simon canderous, urban fantasy, war of art, witches of echo park, writing

The best, etc., of 2020

12.21.2020 by Greg Kemble // 2 Comments

Red skies and tree silhouettes
Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

I ended last year’s “Best of, etc.” with a strangely quaint optimism: “here’s hoping for a 2020 that doesn’t suck.”

Cute.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // 14, comics, covid, curtis holtzen, goat rodeo, hp lovecraft, jay rosen, josh kemble, lala, lee child, peter clines, pressthink, privilege, reacher, stephen colbert, teaching, tiki bar tv, yo-yo ma

Marco Rubio, Snowfake

12.17.2020 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Marco Rubio, with words "I'm SHOCKED! SHOCKED, I tell you!"

Marco Rubio is sad that a Biden aide called Republicans in Congress a naughty word.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // alexandria ocasio-cortez, jen o'malley dillon, marco rubio, snowfake

What I’m reading: Tony Kushner’s Angels in America

12.10.2020 by Greg Kemble // 2 Comments

HBO Special poster of angel hovering over Prior Walter in his bed

One of the advantages of having a bad memory: when I re-read a book, it often feels like I’m reading it for the first time.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // 2020, al pacino, angels in america, aragorn, aristotle, catharsis, drama, gandalf, plays, sir ian mckellan, tony kushner, viggo mortensen, what I'm reading

Fact checking is dead

09.30.2020 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Trump, Biden, and Wallace on stage for the first 2020 presidential debate

Not long after last night’s “debate” ended, PolitiFact posted its “Fact Checking the First 2020 Debate” article.

What a waste of space.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // anthropomorphism, bothsidesism, fact checking, joe biden, politifact, post-truth, say anything

Another for the books

09.14.2020 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

Baby (me, newly born) in a crib bed at the hospital baby ward.
That’s me, about as close to my birth day as possible. The photographer was probably my dad.

Birthdays keep happening, whether I want them to or not.

[Read more…]

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // birthday

School supplies and nostalgia

09.12.2020 by Greg Kemble // Leave a Comment

College ruled paper

The Younger was given a list of school supplies which, in our pandemic-ridden world, I bought through Amazon.

I wasn’t prepared for the wash of nostalgia I’d feel when the supplies arrived.

gdkemble

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Prattle Tags // conan, robert e howard, writing

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • …
  • 11
  • Next Page »

À Propos

Greg in front of a wall sculpture at SFO
Mildly introverted.
Mostly harmless.

Popular Posts

  • The irony of irony: The Swirling Eddies' "Outdoor Elvis"
  • What I missed on my low-iodine diet
  • RIP, Dan
  • 10DMC #day6: The Aristocats
  • 10DMC #day10: The Matrix

Comment policy

Please play nice.

(If this is too vague, you can read my comment policy.)

Affiliate Disclosure

Links to products in this blog may be affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission, at no extra charge to you, if you make a purchase through that link.

(For more detail, see my affiliate disclosure page.)

Copyright © 2025 · Modern Studio Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d