PODCAST

: lower black pain.

Jd Michaels - The CabsEverywhere Creative Production House

Life’s lemons into rich, dark chocolate. lowerblackpain.substack.com

society & culture performing arts

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7:07

ART CLASS.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/08/29

Back before she was here, when we thought about raising the baby, we felt we had a handle on the whole thing., or at least the general concept. We understood, for instance, that the child would be empty a great deal of the time, and our first job was to keep it filled with love and food (in that order).To that list we added the arts, which we started with right from the very beginning with music. Within her first 24 hours on the planet, our daughter listened to the jaunty jazz of Raymond Scott, the

4:27

Live Studio Audience.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/08/22

There aren’t many shows that I watch on television at the time that they are broadcast anymore.Five percent of the reason for this is that I am the kind of person who leans into new technologies. I embraced streaming video, navigating its twists and eddys as an intrepid explorer might, until it isn’t just the technology that’s new, but the way I am able to live, work, and communicate. I embrace the future, look it right in the eye while holding its shoulders, then make it a cup of coffee and offer

6:20

Saints Be Praised.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/08/15

I wasn’t a particularly fussy baby, or so I’m told. My mother says that I was an easygoing roommate who didn’t make trouble: a good boy, who made a lot of racket at night.My mother decided to comfort me with a radio in my crib. This worked - sort of. I did respond very well to music, but not the music she initially preferred… I only calmed totally down when one of the country music stations was on. Laden with sleep deprivation, she looked me right in the tiny eye and fairly pleaded for pop if not

4:06

Spirit Animals.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/08/08

The 2024 Olympic mascots are Phrygian Caps that look like gnome hats…the ones you’d see if I suddenly said “Hey! Look up! Are those GNOMES across the street?” and you looked out your window and indeed saw mythical creatures only about a foot tall with little hats on. These would be the hats they were wearing.As mascots, these hats are fully self-ambulatory, with eyes and mouths and so forth. They are triangular. I thought they were samosa.We took a house vote as to whether they were disturbing:

5:01

The Digital Harvest.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/08/01

We are halfway through summer.There is a heat advisory here today.The same sun we seek on the weekend seems disdainful toward us at work, either mocking us with a “come out and play” bright blue sky through our office windows, or broiling the world right at lunchtime when we try to grab a bite to eat.We expect heat in summer, but it’s been extremely hot in some places, the sort of heat that makes us sad when stepping outside. The sun is so bright and the air is so thick that if feels as if summer

4:35

You Can't Go House Again.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/07/25

Last weekend, my daughter and I navigated four cancelled flights due to weather to visit my Mom in Kansas City, which was a very nice treat. I played handyman, dabbling in plumbing and carpentry and wiring and computer programming. My daughter built a new affordable slow fashion aesthetic through carefully curated thrift store trips, and few extremely fortunate finds.I was a bit of the third wheel here…useful to hold the selected items, yet always a few steps behind she and her grandmother. “What

5:25

The Illustrious Middle

: lower black pain. ·

2024/07/18

If you attended American grade school you probably remember the blackboards, topped with long card stock banners depicting the alphabet in red letters as print and cursive, complete with little arrows explaining the best way to render each character. But just as ubiquitous was the bulletin board, usually filled with thematic collages depicting current holidays or collections of student work.The boards at my school also sported a rotating roster of GOOD EXAMPLES, cardboard cutouts of American Heroes,

5:55

Check Your Mailbox.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/07/11

You would open the front door to find a party, with TV cameras and confetti, and a man holding a gigantic check with your name on it (for a lot of money). This was the dream in the ‘70s, your entire life enhanced beyond imagining, not because of a lottery ticket but the value rich and somewhat educational gift that you were smart enough to give your family - MAGAZINES.Publisher’s Clearing House sent thick envelopes filled with magazine covers printed on colorful gummed stamps; you’d take the ones

5:00

Happy 4th of July July July July

: lower black pain. ·

2024/07/04

My mother and her husband wanted us to see a fireworks display. We’d only been married maybe a year, and it was our first Independence Day together in Kansas City. My wife is from Northern California and admitted that 4th of July seemed bigger and louder in the midwest, what with all of the legal explosives and whatnot.There were more than 20 displays scheduled in the metro area - we went to the closest, which happened to be in the parking lot up by the HyperMart (a gigantic WalMart with a full

2:14

Thunderwalking.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/06/27

the storm rolls in, like a boulder, like a freight train, and then there is the briefest of silences, when the air is still and warm and heavythen a drop. then another. then rain, which is different from a storm, we think, because rain is just water falling from the sky, all friendly-likebut then the drops somehow get bigger, each of them a separate splash of liquid fireworks on the rapidly darkening sidewalkthe wind picks up – suddenly howlsthen lightning +two (1000)three (1000)four

3:43

15 Hours of Daylight.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/06/20

By the time you read this, it will be summer.The solstice will have occurred, one of the two times each year the sun seems to stand still in the sky for a moment before continuing its orbital motion.Target™, in its trademark spirit of nearly intolerable seasonal anticipation, having been outfitted with inflatable beachballs since late March, will today begin shifting its display towards “Back to School” (if not Halloween).There will not be a “warm” day again until autumn… days will either be “really

5:21

Darn.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/06/13

I am a responsible adult. I am an example to the child person that lives in my house, and exemplify as many mature traits as possible each day. I try to be kind, work hard, listen, learn: I attempt not to “whine” and to eat all my vegetables and don’t slouch (except on the couch, because that’s the way to sit on the couch).It’s a struggle, not leaning into being a kid myself. For instance, I really love cornflakes – not just in the morning but for a snack or dessert or… y’know anytime, and because I

2:10

Dwowsy.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/06/06

Every weekday afternoonat 3 o’clockthe day becomes soheavythough its balance is far past the tipping pointthe last few hourslooming aheadare somewhat overwhelming and I just get sotired.I make a cup of caffeine free teawhich perks me up becausethe water is just fartoo hotthen back to work withwistful sighs forsimpler times whencomplex afternoonswere met with mats and window shades.I miss napsso much morethan i miss youth(which was exhausting)every dayat 3 o’clockwe’d all lay downand close our

6:31

A Nice Cold Glass Of Anything.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/30

Last summer, when visiting my mother, we discovered that all the ice from her refrigerator seemed to be made of epsom salt. She had gotten used to this, living her life with the understanding that during hotter months of the year all sodas and juices would taste like they were mixed with a spicy turkey gravy, but we immediately discarded all her old ice trays and sent her several replacements. I never realized that there were so many new variations on the idea of an ice cube tray. My grandparents

5:52

Hobby, or not Hobby?

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/23

Last weekend our family learned how to silkscreen on fabric, a new skill initiated by a school project my daughter was finishing. It turned out the assignment did not actually require her to silkscreen or sew anything, just turn in a sketch of a fashion design, but she felt that the extra effort would really illustrate her artistic point. We didn’t know that until after she’d already “turned it in”.So now we all know how to silkscreen. We have silkscreen tools and little bottles of silkscreening

9:38

Heading to Leather.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/16

Tis the season for flat hats and thin colorful gowns, balloons and flowers and relatives and sold out lunch reservations at family restaurants. Graduation. Streets filled with flocks of Jedi knights, all smiling somewhat nervously, making sure everybody’s together on the subway platform, a look on their faces of specific sweet relief topped with an overwhelming scoop of “what’s next?”.I am not a doctor or lawyer, so I haven’t seen my diploma in forever. It was comforting having those levels of

3:21

Grateful.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/09

The seven deadly sins get all the attention. They are the high school “bad kids” at the loudest lunchroom table, all switchblades and cigarettes, roaming life’s hallways like they own the place. The seven heavenly virtues are off studying at the library: prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity: also a very impressive group, who do a lot of volunteer work that will look great on their college applications, but in my opinion are missing one critical member.In all of human

7:43

boneless.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/05/02

I was never allowed to go boneless. I must’ve tried, once, but it wasn’t a viable option for negotiation. If you’re confused, boneless is that thing little kids do in the grocery store where they go incredibly limp, instantly doubling their body weight like a leaden water balloon supported only by a parents’ grip on their somehow-always-sticky hand. The boneless tactic is usually employed as a last ditch effort bargaining chip to either obtain something or avoid doing something. I wasn’t allowed

5:46

Flights of Better Angels.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/25

It’s been a rough week.Back in the late 1980’s, when people could still smoke on planes, I took a flight home from college at Christmastime. Someone had told me how to get to the airport very early so that I could give my seat to someone in a bigger rush than me, thus earning myself a free flight coupon. I did so, and later that afternoon found myself one flight wealthier and holding a tentative aisle seat on another overbooked flight.I don’t know what her name was (I know she told me later); she

6:44

AI, IRL.

: lower black pain. ·

2024/04/18

I have indeed fretted over the possibility of computers somehow “taking over” while listening to NPR through my smart-speaker over broadband wireless, working on my laptop.As a child, computers represented “logic and efficiency” when I was all about imagination and emotion. I didn’t see how our paths would even cross unless I someday worked in one of those rooms full of tall white metal machines with the big round spinning tape spools on them. Then came the irresistible bacon-like seduction of the

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