dailyprompt

  • My ’77 Heart Throb

    Yeah, I know, in retrospect, the red and white ’77 Cadillac Eldorado was a classic pimp-mobile. But what can I say? I was fifteen—a tasteless teen who had yet to develop any sense of sophistication. I grew up in inner-city Philadelphia in a neighborhood whose curbsides were littered primarily with Chevrolets. But my around-the-corner neighbor

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  • Often, inspiration can hide in plain sight. Our minds take in thousands of images per day, and our ears pick up clusters of words, whole thoughts, and fragments. Amid such a mishmash, it’s difficult to determine our true influences: that which stands at the forefront of our minds or what lurks in the depths of

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  • Catapulta!

    Tap or click below to watch this Roadrunner/Wile Coyote short:

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  • If you think the poor bastard above choking his steering wheel is having a rough day, imagine a day in the life of the cave dude below: You might come away with a whole new perspective of the term Door Dash. It took the entirety of the Pliocene Epoch and a portion of the Pleistocene

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  • I don’t have three pet peeves. I have one overarching vexation that I turned into a mantra for my life, and it goes like this: My Time Isn’t Yours to Waste. Those who always arrive tardy, flustered, bedraggled, and armed to the teeth with excuses, have one common trait: there’re a pain in the ass.

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  • The Statesman was a Bad-Ass

    Imagine riding from Braintree, Massachusetts to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania… on a horse! Then imagine embarking on such a journey in the dead of winter, during a snowstorm. Who would do such a thing, and why? The “who” was John Adams. The “why” was because that’s how vital Adams’ presence was to the Continental Congress. Adams, Jefferson,

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  • The 50/50 Club

    Many years ago, alone, I drove from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to meet my wife, who had flown there days earlier. In Delaware, I merged from I95 onto 495 (Veteran’s Highway), a spur that subtracts several miles from the trip. It was a Saturday night at twilight. I had churned up many

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  • If Only He Knew…

    Kathryn: “Rocky, Daddy forgot to take the trash to the curb this morning, and we missed the collection. Now the garage is gonna stink all week. Bad Daddy!” Michael: “Rocky, Mom forgot to pick up the dry cleaning, and now Daddy has to pull a pair of pants from the dirty clothes. Mom has really

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  • Call Me Mister McSplurge

    Some people haunt bookstores. Others haunt coffee cafes. I am incapable of walking past a bicycle shop. It was the autumn of 2019. I strolled into Manayunk Bikes in Philadelphia, my wife, Kathyn, by my side. For years, I pedaled a Cannondale Caad 8—a race-red road bike trimmed in black and gray. Kathryn told me,

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  • A Jungle of Swinging Elbows

    For years, I used to recite the quip, “My dentist recommended that I stop reading The Philadelphia Inquirer because it was causing me to grind my teeth.” Once upon a decade, the media used to be a sense-making apparatus that did its best to call balls and strikes. Then the primetime cable news shows burst

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