The start of the 2026-2027 NFL and NCAA football seasons come at a time where in both places there seems to be more news dropping about off-the-field shit than what’s happening on the field in both leagues. Whether that’s because of our constant need for content, the bad behaviors of some main players in both leagues, or a mixture of both, is up for interpretation and is probably a sign of the times.

We are all living in a hellscape and it’s bled into sports, except one could argue it’s always been a part of the sports world, too.

That said, we do have football to watch this week. Football that matters. Games that will help decide who will be playing for a national championship at the end of the year and who won’t.

Seeing as a lot of people create sports content online anymore, I’m going to keep my musings related to Montana sports. Be that Montana teams, Montana athletes playing pro ball, or anything that has a tie to Montana, no matter how close or distant it may be. I’m also reserving the right to talk about national sports too because this is my platform and I can do what I want, when I want!

However, let’s talk Montana ball first.

I’m starting with my Butte brethren and expanding beyond that. On Thursday, the Montana Tech Orediggers opened the year by destroying Ottowa, Ariz., 48-0 at Alumni Colosseum in Butte.

The defensive front held strong, led by Asher Feddes, who had six tackles, an interception, a tackle-for-loss, and half a sack. The Orediggers’ offense was led by Jarrett Wilson, who scored four touchdowns and led the team in both rushing and passing. WOW.

This Polson native was last year’s Frontier Conference East Division Offensive Player of the Year, throwing 30 touchdowns and amassing over 2800 passing yards and over 537 rushing yards. This dude’s special, and it’s clear to see why Tech is in position this year to play for a national NAIA championship, perhaps.

Looking at their schedule, next week’s game vs Carroll College is going to be huge, and another one to look forward to is the Sept. 26 match against the College of Idaho, who was ranked No. 4 last year, one spot ahead of Tech.

I LOVE seeing the boys from Butte dominating in NAIA football. It warms my heart, especially when you look up and down the roster and you see so many Montana kids on the field. Here’s hoping everyone stays healthy and they have another incredible year under head coach Kyle Samson, who seems like an all-around good dude in my book.

Now then, let’s talk about the UM Grizzlies and their upcoming first season under new head coach Bobby Kennedy. (Not that one, lol.)

The Griz open up their season today (Aug. 29) against Southern Utah. You KNOWWWWW Washington Grizzly Stadium is going to be poppin’ tonight and I honestly wish I could be there to take it in. The Griz faithful take new starts and important games seriously and this one may be as big as any in recent memory.

Kennedy is the first new coach at UM since Bobby Hauck returned in 2018. Under Hauck’s reign, UM amassed a 151-43 record in 14 seasons. Kennedy will try to make the transition as seamless as possible, and having a ton of talented guys on both sides of the ball will help him achieve that feat.

The offense is being led by MY MAN Keali’i Ah Yat, who returns for his senior season in good health. Last year he threw for 4,070 yards and 33 TDs with only nine interceptions.

The other big weapon on offense returns in Eli Gillman, who, before his upcoming 5th-Year Senior season, sits fourth on UM's all-time rushing yards list but needs just 394 more yards to pass UM Hall of Famers Yohance Humphrey, Chase Reynolds, and Lex Hilliard. He’s an all-time great folks, and we get to watch him do his magic one more year in Missoula. I’m PUMPED to see it happen.

The defense also looks strong this year albeit slightly different from last year’s squad due to the two top tacklers from the 2025 team, Caleb Otlewski and Diezel Wilkinson transferring to Colorado State and UAB, respectively. That’s life in the big leagues nowadays, and the Griz are no different than the other teams in that regard.

That said, UM has NINE incoming transfers just on defense alone. I’m excited to see especially how Senior Braeden Orlandi looks as a transfer from Carroll College in the NAIA. The Valley Springs, Calif. native last year Led the NAIA in tackles, and was second in the nation in tackles per game (11.3). He also became the first Saint since 2013 to record 100 or more tackles in a season with 136 total stops. The dude can ball, and it’s awesome to see him coming to Missoula to ball out for the Griz.

All told, the Griz this year are going to look a bit differently overall seeing as they are replacing 33 lettermen and 21 starters. That’s the nature of the beast, and especially with a new head coach the team will likely have a new personality which is both terrifying and exciting.

I for one can’t wait to see what happens to the Griz. I’ve been wanting Hauck to be gone for the past few years, so now that it’s finally happened, it feels like I’m able to enjoy watching UM play without having to tamper my excitement with the fact that the head coach is kind of, to put it nicely, a prick. He wasn’t a huge prick, mind you, and his last few years with the team were pretty uneventful in the off-the-field antics, and I know he was beloved by players going back decades, but, I just wasn’t a fan of his. I know I’m not alone in that either.

So, we get the Bobby Kennedy era starting this season. Southern Utah, honestly, shouldn’t be much of a test, but, seeing as the last time these two teams played in 2021 the Griz only won 21-19, there exists a possibility that it could be close. But, I wouldn’t bet on that.

I’ll be more shocked if it is close than if the score at the end of the game is 40-0 or something like that. Ah Yat and Gillman are just too talented and the defense, while untested as a new unit overall, has a ton of talent too and I think that’ll be too much for Southern Utah.

The biggest non-conference game this year comes with the Griz taking on Oregon State. The Beavers, a former FBS powerhouse, are in somewhat of a rebuilding year and are still kind of floating in the wind thanks to the fact that their entire conference, the Pac-12 (Rest in Peace) all left for greener pastures in the past few years, save for Washington State. That said, They’re still a formidable foe for the Griz and I expect that when they play on Sept. 19 in Corvallis, that the Beavers will be favored by at least one touchdown, if not more.

Moving on …

Now if you know me you know I’m not much of a Montana State fan, but I do respect what they do on the field and seeing as they’re the returning defending champions, I guess I’ll write up a short preview on what to expect from the Cats this year, too.

The Cats, like I said, won the FCS Championship last year, so you don’t need to remind me anymore after that. I’m just kidding, but, seriously, they’ll be good too this year, and they’re ranked No. 1 overall in the FCS for a reason.

Quarterback Justin Lamson returns for his fifth year, and will have returning stars Taco Dowler (WR), Adam Jones (RB) and Bruin Fleishmann (TE.) The Cats lost fewer players than the Griz to the portal, (8 vs 21), but, seeing as they’ve got one of the best head coaches in all of FCS in Brent Vigen, I’m not that shocked to see that. Players tend to want to stick with winners, and MSU has proven that they do indeed have what it takes to win.

This year, however, is a new season and I think if Bobby Kennedy and UM want to make a real big splash, their No. 1 goal should be to beat MSU at the end of the regular season. Especially after losing to them TWICE last season alone, the first time that’s ever happened.

The Griz will be playing with a chip on their shoulder, and rightly so. The Cats have the targets on their backs this year as the National Champs, can they handle the pressure, or will they fold when the chips are down?

That’s why we watch and why we love this sport, I guess you could say.

Anyhow this column is already way too long so I’ll just wrap up briefly with some notable Montana kids who are playing in the NFL this season.

First you’ve got Dylan Cook, who’s starting at OL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cook’s not only a Griz, he’s also a former Butte High Bulldogs quarterback who led the Dogs to the State AA title back in the day.

Then there’s Junior Bergen, who’s playing WR for the New York Jets. This Billings Senior grad and UM Griz alum should hopefully see some playing time for the Jets and it makes watching them a little easier seeing as they’re not likely to be very good this season.

And speaking of a former Montana star, sadly it doesn’t appear that Tommy Mellott, former Montana State all-time great quarterback and Butte native, is on any NFL rosters this year. Sadly it looks like his window for the NFL has closed, for now, but, it was fun all the same to see him get drafted and get a shot to prove himself last preseason. Maybe he’ll get a chance somewhere else, but if not, Tommy has nothing to be ashamed of in regards to his football career.

Personally, he made me want to root for the Bobcats, something no other player has ever done before. That alone should speak to his level of impact he had on Montana, the Cats and football.

And with that, I’m calling it a wrap. This is my first football column of the year, but it won’t be my last. Maybe I’ll write one every few weeks, I’m not sure just yet. If you’re subscribed to my Substack and don’t want sports, I won’t be abandoning the other things I write here, but I may perhaps start a second Substack channel where I write my sports content exclusively. We shall see.

At any rate, here’s to another great football season for us Montana fans. We’re small but hearty and we’re all here because we love the same thing. Great football, great atmospheres and great stories from the games.

See you soon!

It’s been way too hot outside to do much of anything lately, so I sat today and listened to old Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Glenn Miller performances on YouTube. What drew me in and what had me yearning for more was the simplicity of them all.

I didn’t need to know who wrote the songs they were playing. I didn’t need to know who the cats on stage voted for in the last four elections. I didn’t need to know the “lore” of the secret messages in their songs.

No.

I just sat. I sat, told my mind to shut the fuck up and enjoy the melodies exploding from their instruments.

That doesn’t seem like something enough of us can do these days. If we find a new musician we like on Tik Tok or Instagram we also need to know their entire life’s story, what opinions they share online, and what their “message” is in each song.

This doesn’t make them bad performers or people who you can’t aspire to become. It’s indicative of the times we’re in. You can either adopt the trappings of today’s world or get left behind. Political music, as well, has power and those who do it well can and will drive people toward a cause that they may never have been driven toward before. Please don’t think that I’m discounting something entirely here.

All I’m saying, dear reader, is maybe we don’t need to jam on that street every day, do we?

I keep going back to that video of the smoky jazz bar in black and white with Miles Davis and his crew playing the FUCK out of their trumpet, sax, piano, bass and trombones. While listening, I don’t need to know who Miles was dating, if he was ever dating anyone, or much of anything at all about him except that he plays a mean trumpet. One of the best to have ever done it before or since.

All I would do is LISTEN to what they’re playing and feel immediately enthralled.

The emotion comes out without anyone needing to say a word. The stories about the performers I would write in my head would maybe take me to places far beyond what anyone actually even really ever had experienced themselves.

The catalyst was the music, and the journey I went on is my own. Give it a try sometime.

Maybe it’ll be a trip you take through your memories. Maybe it’s a trip through the mastery that the performers exhibit. Maybe it’s a combination of both. Maybe it’s even just the vibration you feel radiating from your speakers as the sounds come out. Or something else entirely. Just let the music speak and shut your mind up for a while as you do it.

Similarly, I’ve been trying to simplify my presence on social media lately. Reduce my time on Facebook and Instagram. Avoid getting into petty arguments with strangers about something that nobody will be remembering or talking about in two months anyhow.

I do at times feel drawn to return to these places. But then I start to think that maybe, like Miles Davis in that smoky bar where he can just fucking SIT and watch his fellow bandmates throw down an incredible riff or solo before he himself matches them with something original and off the cuff, I think that maybe, just maybe I don’t need that in my life. I can exist in a world where I’m just the man in this moment, not a man with a constant online presence.

Without it, I can sit in silence, in reverence and peace while appreciating things as they are, not as I’d like them to be or how they appear online.

I’ve enjoyed taking a break from the bullshit we’ve all grown accustomed to these days and instead I’ve spent some of that time listening to musical masters create magic with their minds, bodies and souls that they laid bare for all to hear while at the same time revealing nothing about themselves, not really. Not how we think of it these days with words and meaning.

If you’re still here, give it a shot sometime. You might find it even more addicting than whatever other distractions your phone are pinging you with at every moment of every day.

Here’s a few more of the ones I watched:

Janicki broke ground this month on its new $800 million campus in Great Falls, which, once completed, will come with 1,000 jobs that the company owners have said are “good paying jobs with benefits.”

While we don’t know yet how many locals will be filling these jobs, there’s reason to believe that a portion of the positions will go to folks who aren’t from Great Falls simply due to the specific qualifications workers will need.

Just a brief sampling of the qualifications attached to a good number of the jobs on the Janicki website shows they are seeking people with bachelor’s or master’s degrees in engineering, and four years of industry experience.

So while all 1,000 jobs won’t likely be filled by out-of-state or out-of-town residents, there’s likely to be more than a few that will.

The next question, of course, is if we get new people coming here, where will they live? And … Will their being here drive up the cost of living, or how will it affect the rental costs or property mortgage costs for people already living here?

Anytime the issue of housing comes up, there’s always a portion of folks who want to claim that the answer is to just to build more housing, which will, the thought goes, lower the costs of all housing because it lowers demand.

I won’t deny that there’s something to that theory, but, I feel like it’s too simplistic an answer. There’s more nuance behind finding the way toward building a community that has affordable, sustainable housing that people feel safe and comfortable in.

If we want to be serious about fixing the housing crisis, I think we need to start asking hard questions about the type of housing that’s being built, and if there’s a way to look elsewhere to find how they’re trying to do it better.

For the purposes of this argument, I’m going to point to what’s happening in Seattle.

Seattle’s social housing development authority, since last summer, has been seeking to build mixed-income passive house projects.

This article from the Urbanist written by Syris Valentine states, “Passive house(ing) encompasses a set of high efficiency building practices that aim to create buildings that are as energy efficient as possible while ensuring comfortable conditions for residents. This is primarily achieved through four main principles: air-tight designs, continuous insulation, heat-exchanging ventilation, and high-performing windows. Altogether, these principles aim to limit the heating and cooling required, often the greatest energy drain in any building.”

With our new-found opportunity to fill the need for housing with the influx of dwellers coming to Great Falls, I feel it could be smart to try some of these ideas that have been adopted in the Emerald City, and elsewhere.

Later on in the Urbanist article, it also brings up how, “There’s also projects here in Seattle that show that affordable, passive house-certified apartments can be built without exorbitant cost increases. For instance, a three-story, 12-unit apartment building was recently developed by Red Door Sustainable Housing in South Seattle and, in a talk for Passive House Accelerator, Dan Whitmore, one of the firm’s founders, estimated that the cost premium for meeting passive house was likely between just 3% and 4%.”

Ensuring that the housing built in Great Falls has air-tight designs, continuous insulation, heat-exchanging ventilation, and high-performing windows, isn’t just a liberal pipe dream. It could be less expensive and more comfortable for everyone, too.

If you’d rather watch a video talking about what Passive Houses are, here’s a 90-second vid that breaks them down quick and dirty style.

But, let’s go back to Seattle.

The Madrone Passive House in Seattle was established in 2022. On its website it states, “Madrone is the Central District’s first certified Passive House building, meaning it uses 50% less energy than standard buildings. Our studio and one-bedroom apartment homes come standard with a myriad of eco-friendly features like triple-paned windows, draft-proof doors, innovative heating and cooling systems, and the highest standard in energy-efficient appliances. The lush, landscaped rooftop and courtyards were created to be extensions of your abode, providing refreshing spaces to relax, reconnect, and take pleasure in Seattle's green hills.”

The spaces available in the Madrone Passive House have studio/one-bedroom apartments between $1,299 and $2,000 per month, which is below the average cost of rentals of that size in Seattle by around 22 percent! (About that, anyhow.)

I’m tired of these kinds of solutions being achievable elsewhere, but when it comes to our community it’s never met with, “that COULD be maybe doable here,” instead it’s turned into, “Well uhhh, that’s just not how we do things here. How dare you even suggest that!”

Passive Houses are found up and down the east and west coasts in addition to the ones in Seattle. Why couldn’t we be the first ones to try it in Montana? When would we get a better chance at making it happen than right now?

Me, personally, I don’t have the money, the property, or the structural know-how to make this happen. But I will happily help research what it’d take to get started if the desire was there from organizations, property owners, or community leaders who see a chance to think forward instead of looking backward.

Now I know chances are high that you don’t think much about the words from philosophers from the 1800s. They’re never what you’d call “top-of-mind,” and a lot of times I think the reason for that is that we’re not given the space to think about philosophy. We’re too bogged down by current matters instead of philosophical morals established long ago by white, cisgendered men.

And while many of their views do not stand the test of time, I’d argue that some do, and the ones that do are important morals that maybe are more important today than ever before. Maybe you’ve heard of Immanuel Kant. Maybe not. But, the heart of this argument I’m presenting today is the idea that “you should never use people as a mere means.” I’ll break down what that means later, but, that’s where we’re headed.

And with that, I’m going to show today why the US Senate Race in Montana between Kurt Alme, Alani Bankhead and Seth Bodnar has been a morally bankrupt contest due to how a very simple ethical principal from Immanuel Kant continues to be breached.

But, before that, let’s briefly introduce our candidates. And preface this by saying I may not be shocking you all with this, but I still feel it’s worth saying.

This column is worth writing in my view because, as Albert Einstein once said, if you’re to believe the internet, anyhow, “If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity.”

I have no desire to do this, especially when you see how much morally bankrupt behaviors have been on display thus far.

So let’s get right into it.

The US Senate Race in Montana between Kurt Alme (Republican), Alani Bankhead (Democrat) and Seth Bodnar (Independent) has had a whole host of bad actors stepping in to influence the race. Even before the race started.

Instead of rehashing it all in detail, I’ll link to the story George Ochenski did for the Daily Montanan that breaks it down in a much cleaner way than I could here.

Ochenski writes, in part, “Montana’s political arena has had its fair share of bizarre campaigns, candidates, endorsements and swinging pendulums. But here in the “dog days” of summer, when thoughts turn more to enjoying our incredible state’s natural wonders than wondering about our states politicians and their promises, the political arena is boiling hot.”

Why is it “boiling hot?”In very short summary — Let us count the ways.

Firstly, Steve Daines dropped out of the race at the last minute and nominated Kurt Alme to be his successor. This removed the Republicans ability to nominate a pool of candidates to run in a primary. It made Alme the De Facto Republican to take Daines’ spot.

Super shitty, no?

If I were a Republican, which I’ve never been and never will be, I’d be disappointed in that the man I voted for decided that he would determine who would run in the state race for his spot rather than let the voters decide. There’s no other way for anyone to see it.

So there’s that.

Then Seth Bodnar. Ohhhh Seth Bodnar. The big monied University President with a lawsuit against the University of Montana alleging sexual discrimination hanging around his neck everywhere he goes. Some may say it makes him unelectable.

And the thing is, this suit can’t be waved away like it was nothing. The University of Montana PAID OUT $350,000 to 18 Plaintiffs in 2024. From the Montana Kaimin, “The lawsuit alleged UM and the Montana University System created a “good ol’ boys club” with President Seth Bodnar perpetuating a culture that continued to create “wage, promotion and opportunity gaps for women.”

That’s not something that’s going away. I don’t care how rich Bodnar is, how casual he dresses now, how kind he was to his staff, how much he cares about his family or wife. That lawsuit cannot, and should not be ignored.

That’s IN ADDITION to his completely skipping the primary process because he’s choosing to run as an Independent who’s not beholden to any party infrastructure. Why are we doing this, Seth? Why? History has not been kind to independent candidates in most all states except a few that prove the exception and not the rule.

DESPITE this, there are Democratic supporters and elected legislators who are calling on Alani Bankhead to resign so Seth can run against Alme himself because they feel, for SOME STUPID REASON, that Bodnar would be the best shot to beat Alme.

Alme, who is the Republican candidate despite the fact he’s not an incumbent and despite the fact that he wasn’t REALLY chosen by Montana’s Republicans in the primary. He was named by Daines at the last minute.

Bankhead’s hands aren’t entirely clean in this race, but, she’s got much less corruption to her name than the other two.

The Progressive Vet PAC that dumped a bunch of money into her campaign, $3 million during the primary, said bluntly last month they would not support her through the general campaign because they did not believe she had a path to victory.

WHAT? Come again?

The candidate whose campaign you dumped millions into during the primary is now suddenly not worth supporting in the general election? THIS IS MADNESS.

Especially considering they knew Alme would be the candidate from the GOP running. That said, Bankhead does not need the Progressive Vet PAC to win the race, even if their sudden about face on the surface makes absolutely no sense. There may be other reasons behind the scenes, but, regular Montanans who may not be in the weeds with politics in this state, aren’t aware of what those are.

Then, lastly, in what’s been written to death and talked about to death and overblown all over social media — are the reports that some Montana Democrats sent Bankhead a letter asking her to drop out of the race.

That they don’t feel like she can win so she should put her support behind Bodnar, who, again, was at the helm at UM when they paid $350,000 to 18 women for sexual discrimination.

They want a woman candidate to step aside so a man who has barely been on the campaign trail, barely has done any media interviews, and most concerning, barely has indicated he’d even support can be the sole hope to beat Alme. Who, if we’re being honest here, hasn’t been very out in the public either yet. I don’t know anything about him except that, again I repeat, he’s a Republican and Sen. Daines chose him to be his successor.

As a side note, is that all it takes now to get elected???????????

Is that the surface level qualifications that we’re coming to accept to determine who should be serving in the US Senate for Montana?

I hope not.

Anyhow, so here’s where my views probably differ from other people’s opinion pieces you’ve read. There’s a philosophical element to what makes this race a fascinating study in human behavior and how far our politics have fallen.

In Immanuel Kant’s “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals,” he published in 1785, he argued that every human being possesses an inherent dignity that must never be violated. To boil it down for the purposes of brevity, Kant says “never use a person as a MERE means” as I stated earlier. Using people as a means is fine, and it’s something we all do every day. But a mere means indicates that you’re using someone as a means to an end with or without their consent. Hopefully the dots are starting to connect here a little.

Going back to our original political battle between Alme, Bankhead and Bodnar, when you ask who, until now, has attempted to use the people as a mere means and who hasn’t?

Alme, even before the race began, clearly has done that. He skipped the primary and wants to waltz into Steve Daines’ seat because Steve gave him his blessing, not the people’s. That’s a blatant abuse without consent if I’ve ever heard one.

Now, let’s talk about Bodnar. How has he attempted to use the people as a mere means?

He’s been avoidance of consent from the people, too in his own way by skipping the primary race and joining as an independent where he gained a right into the race by gathering signatures. Thereby receiving consent only from those who signed the petition, and not the voters.

And with those voters he’s forcing them to accept that he was at the helm during a time when 18 women were paid out for having been sexually discriminated against. His staying in the race shows that he doesn’t think you will care that that happened because your mere means, a vote for him, is what he’s seeking.

And no, I wasn’t given a chance to sign the petition because I never saw any of the people who were out collecting them. I wasn’t given a notice of where I were to go to sign, or when, or how. Yet, if he chose to give voters the chance to choose him in the primary, I could’ve received my ballot and granted my consent in a way that wasn’t as difficult to do. Maybe you were able to find a place to sign to get Bodnar on the ballot, but, the fact that anyone was potentially frozen out of that choice is an attempt to use people as a mere means without consent.

Are we following still? I hope so.

Now we come to Bankhead. I’d argue that the Progressive Veterans PAC used HER as a mere means. They gave her $3 million to help her win the primary for their own reasons. But, they also chose to step away because of their own reason. A mere means. She had no consent in that decision, from what I’m hearing.

When it comes time to vote in this race, instead of asking yourself which candidate’s background and personality and exposure has impressed me the most? Try thinking about Kant’s Ethical Principal. Who’s wanting to use me as a mere means? Who’s wanting to help me? Can I tell the difference? If not, why not? If so, then the choice seems obvious, does it not?

And you might be able to argue that all politics these days is active violation of Kant’s principle. But, I’d counter with maybe so, but should we be so accepting of this? Why can’t we choose better? Why can’t we attempt to elect those who do not use the people who vote for them as mere means without any real consent into what they have planned for once in office?

I mean, have you seen how the country’s been run lately? Do I need to bring any more examples forward?

I think that when given the opportunity to choose better, we should always strive to do it, no matter if we always agree with a person on everything. It should be the lowest of bars that are cleared by a candidate and the fact that this is even a contest into our political sphere shows how toxic it has become. I do hope that if you’ve read this whole article that you agree. We can, and we should, choose better.

On Saturday, the New York Knicks won their first NBA Championship in 53 years. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard the story — Jalen Brunson led the way closing out most every game, along with some big help from OG Anunoby, Karl Anthony-Towns, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges while Victor Wembanyama, De’Anthony Fox, and others with the San Antonio Spurs failed to shut the door despite leading in double figures in every game, highlighted by their 29-point lead that they squandered in Game 4.

But, what’s interesting and telling is how hardly anyone in Montana seems to remember, or maybe cares to remember, how there once was a Knicks superstar who was a three-time all-star who, like Jalen Brunson, was a scrappy guard who had an aptitude for scoring, finding the open man in space and playing tough defense who also just so happened to come from the University of Montana.

Michael Ray Richardson in the late 1970s/early 1980s was a 6-foot-5 point guard/shooting guard who came to Missoula from Manual High School in Denver. He was drafted 4th overall in the 1978 NBA Draft by the Knicks. He’s also on a short list of University of Montana basketball players to be drafted into the NBA in the history of the school along with Larry Krystkowiak and John Stroeder. The original draft sent via email that I wrote, I mistakenly credited Richardson as being the only Griz drafted into the NBA. I apologize for the error.

Richardson played his first four seasons in the NBA with the Knicks until he was traded in 1982. After that he played a season with the Golden State Warriors and then three seasons for the New Jersey Nets.

The big difference between Brunson and Richardson, of course, was that with Richardson, the Knicks finished either in basement or close to it, save for a fourth-place finish in 1980 when they had 50 wins but lost in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Richardson, to his credit, was a three-time All-Star while with New York. His best season was in 1979-1980 when he averaged 15.3 points, 10.1 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 3.2 steals per game. His 10.1 assists and 3.2 steals led the league that year.

In a 2012 Grantland article, Michael Weinreb wrote of Richardson, “He was one of the most fascinating messes ever to sweep through the five boroughs. He was brash and sympathetic and restless and afraid of nothing; he would prance into the Detroit locker room and tell Isiah Thomas, I’m going to bust your ass up tonight.”

But, Richardson’s legacy was also complicated by the fact that he was the first player to ever be suspended for an entire season for using drugs when, in 1986, he failed the third of three drug tests. He later admitted that he had a difficult addiction to cocaine that severely harmed his life, both on the court and off of it.

He never returned to the league after being suspended, even though he was offered a chance to come back into the league by then-commissioner David Stern, but he did have a successful career in Europe, to the point where he played professionally until he was 46 years old.

He later admitted he did have a problem with drugs, but also made sure to mention that he never sold drugs and he never used them while behind the wheel of a vehicle.

“One thing about alcohol and drugs…they do not discriminate,” he once said in an interview.

Richardson, old sports-heads like me might remember, is also the leading scorer in University of Montana Men’s Basketball history. He was also the only African American player on the Griz during his entire career in Missoula.

According to Gogriz.com, “Richardson became a star as a sophomore, averaging 18.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Grizzlies. He increased his averages to 19.2 points and 8.6 rebounds as a junior. His senior season still stands alone in Montana history as the guard averaged a program record 24.2 points per game to lead the Grizzlies to the Big Sky Championship in 1977-78.

Richardson finished his Grizzly career averaging over 17 points per game in 107 appearances, ranking second only to Larry Krystkowiak in program history in total points with 1,827. His scoring average of 17.1 is the best by a four-year player in Montana history.”

I never saw Richardson play, but I do remember hearing about him when I worked as the Sports Editor at the Montana Kaimin at UM in Missoula. He was remembered fondly as a good kid, great player and mostly someone who kept out of trouble.

Richardson died last November at the age of 70. He’s set to be enshrined into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame next month.

He’s also someone who, in a perfect world, would get recognized somehow by this current New York Knicks franchise. His career with New York may have been a blip on the radar in terms of New York lore, but, for us Montanans, he reached the mountaintop that nobody else ever did before or since.

Even if he did have a drug problem that cut his career short, his on-the-court accomplishments should be remembered. His days for the Knicks, at least here in Montana, should be remembered as well. His personal struggles aside, he was a competitor, he was a maverick, and he was a Montanan.

While I doubt he’ll get a shout-out at the upcoming Championship Parade on Thursday, in a just world if he didn’t have his drug problem, maybe his career in New York would’ve ended differently.

It’s a shame, in a way, that he died before he got to see his former team win a championship. I guess sometimes that’s the way it goes. But, I won’t let his memory go and I’m writing about him now to help raise awareness about his contributions to basketball in Missoula, in New York, and the NBA overall. Sometimes even the most flawed among us still deserve a pat on the back and a chance to be remembered for the good things that we once did.

I bet, if he were still alive, he would’ve been there in New York taking in the sights and sounds and congratulating these Knicks for doing something nobody has seen for the past 53 years. And maybe, just maybe, they would’ve found a way to let him back into their family, too.

Today, May 10, 2026, is Mother’s Day. Call your mom if you have not already. You may even feel inclined to give your mom a nice gift. Maybe some flowers. A card. Chocolate. A visit to a spa.

Those are wonderful too. But, you don’t need me, a guy on Substack with an opinion and a penchant for writing, to tell you that.

I’d like to do one better than that today, though.

Instead, I’m writing out some easy-to-follow, yet often broken, promises we can give to all of our mothers. Not just surface level, “I promise to visit more often and mow the lawn and brush my teeth, mom,” promises, either.

I’m talking real-world, life-altering, truth-keeping promises. It seems like we’ve forgotten a lot of these and well, look at where we are right now. points generally around at the multiple fires roaring both locally and across the world.

How do we claw back? Let’s start simple.

If you’re still reading, commit to these promises to your mom. Work on keeping them. Don’t stop until you’ve fulfilled them, or have worked on fulfilling them enough where she appreciates them.

As a straight, cis-gendered man, most of these promises come from that viewpoint. They can apply to most everyone, although.

Promise # 1. (And I’m not speaking directly as ‘me’ but everyone for the rest of this.’

Mom, I promise I will treat all women with respect and recognize that no means no.

I know mom that we have done a horrible job with this one. Men, especially.

Just look around Montana. This week we had multiple women come forward and reveal that a prominent Democratic State Senator, Jonathan Windy Boy, had been harassing them, sending them inappropriate images and text messages. To other women serving alongside him, among others. We’ve had the Epstein victims speak up and stand up and testify in front of congress enough where it feels like it’s almost become window dressing. And that, I believe, is because the perpetrators continue to deny any wrongdoing and our focus goes to THAT, not the horror that these women have lived with for decades.

So mom, I promise you that I, and others, hopefully, will treat all women with respect, just like I’ve tried to treat you with respect and understanding. At all times. Not just women I find attractive when I think they have something I want.

Promise #2

Mom, I promise I will accept responsibility when I’ve done wrong.

We’re in a strange period of history where we’ve gotten used to never feeling like we have to admit when we’ve made a mistake. It’s seen as weakness to admit you were wrong, and like you’re less of a “real man.”

Spurred on, in part, by the Six Dark Lessons Roy Cohn Taught Donald Trump, (link to article above.) The first one being, (I’m lifting directly from the story above, “Never apologize or admit wrongdoing, ever. Cohn viewed contrition as weakness and would rather die (literally, as it turned out) than acknowledge error or fault. As journalist Ken Auletta, who covered Cohn extensively, noted, “The idea that you can admit a mistake is not part of Roy’s genetic code.” This principle would become so fundamental to Trump’s approach that even faced with irrefutable evidence—a recorded confession of sexual assault on the Access Hollywood tape, for instance—he would deny, deflect, and attack rather than offer the slightest acknowledgment of impropriety.”

Mom, you know, and I know, that this is foolish. We’re not always right. Nobody ever has been, and nobody ever will be. I promise, mom, to take responsiblity for my mistakes. Once I do that, I can do better. I can recognize where my failings are and how to improve. Embracing growth, not denial, is the true way to become an adult. I (speaking for adults everywhere) need to do better. I promise you I can.

Promise #3

Mom, I promise I will think about how my words and actions can affect other people before I do or say something (when I can.)

This concept, Some call the GOLDEN RULE, has lost its popularity too, lately. When you’re entrenched in your bubble (thanks social media, BIG SIGH) you don’t need to think about how what you do and say has direct impact on others.

Look at Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini. If you haven’t heard about who these people are, where have you been? but, in brief — Mike Vrabel is the head coach of the New England Patriots NFL football team and Russini was a beat reporter for ESPN and later The Athletic who covered the NFL. They’ve been caught getting handsy and lovey dovey together multiple times going back at least 10 years despite the fact they’re both married to other people.

These adults, who knew exactly what they were doing, clearly didn’t have any regard for their significant others, or their families for YEARS! They kept having an affair, kept meeting in public together, without thinking that anyone else would possibly find what they were doing to be hurtful. They did not care. And they’re not alone.

Anytime someone feels like what they might be doing might hurt someone else, they look internally and say something like, “Well, this wasn’t about them. This is how I felt. This is how I thought. This was for ME.” Which, let’s be honest mom. You don’t have to have a Master’s Degree to recognize why that’s foolish.

You know this is wrong, and I do too. You’ve taught us better than this, right? You know that anything I do or say absolutely DOES have an impact on others. Both positively and negatively. If you think about ignoring how your actions can hurt others, at ALL TIMES, you’re failing this promise. We can do better mom. I know we can.

Promise #4

Mom, I promise I will open my eyes to the world as it is, not how I wish it to be.

Now mother, you might disagree with me here, but I still think that nice wool sweater you sewed for me when I was 12 is too small, itches like hell, and smells like cigarette smoke, 34 years after I received it.

(Note, this is a fictional confession. My mother did make a nice blanket for me several years ago that I still adore even if it has a sports team’s name on it that I haven’t rooted for in a while (to her defense I did not tell her I stopped rooting for them!)

But, anyhow. Back to my premise. Mom, I know you wanted that sweater to be my favorite piece of clothing I’ve ever owned. But, it just wasn’t. And, while that’s a small admission, and one that I’m sure you never really were bothered by, (you just want me to be happy, after all,) it raises another point that’s bigger here. I need to be better (speaking globally) at accepting the world as it is, not like I want it to be. The sooner I can do that, and we can do that, the sooner we can work on fixing things.

Perception becomes reality. This is true. But, we’re all on the same planet together. I can’t perceive that gravity does not exist. I can’t perceive that laws do not exist or that I do not have to follow them. (Just search Soverign Citizen arrest on YouTube to see what happens when someone thinks they can do that.)

We’re all on this planet together. We can’t keep letting our political or religious or cultural biases overtake reality because it’s comfortable. I need to do better, mom, and what I think happens when I do that is that I will see things clearly in front of me. Call it “taking off the rose tinted glasses” or “touching grass,” but, in my view, too many of us have let our own egos get in the way of reality. We think we don’t need to follow the laws, or the laws of nature nature because we disagree with some of them.

Ths kind of ignorance cannot sustain itself and we are seeing the direct conseuqences. Try talking to any of your MAGA relatives about the war in Iran or the result of AI Data Centers overtaking our small towns. It will likely devolve from a disagreement of principles into a disagreement about facts and reality REAL quick. This is a failure of our promise, mom, and we can do better. For you.

And so there you go. Those are four promises we should all be able to keep for our mothers, right? Maybe? Is anyone still reading? Do I need to front load this with 2 second clips of men getting hit in the balls by a football? Is that the only thing we can focus on anymore? Short, bite sized bits of information that are superficial as they are fake? Is that another promise I need to make, mother? I won’t get suckered by AI anymore? Do we need to go there? I hope if you’re still reading this, you know that AI is a disturbing and life-threatening trend that we need to prepare for more. Let’s just leave it at that shall we?

Happy happy happy happy Mother’s Day to you all. Whether you are a mother, have a mother, or are to soon to be a mother, your value and the importance in our lives cannot be overstated. I (now speaking for myself) thank you with all of my being!!!

I’ve heard people saying how the shooting was “definitely staged,” and others saying things like “Don’t you DAREEEEEEE say that this shooting was staged or that anyone had any nefarious reasons for attmepting to do such a thing.”

I’m only writing about this to say one thing.

I don’t care. I mean, I’m glad nobody was hurt or killed. But, I don’t care if it was staged or not. If there was some kind of hidden agenda or not. I care that nobody was killed or injured. I care that they postponed the event and decided that they maybe shouldn’t act like nothing happened.

What I won’t do is claim to know what happened without any inside information or without having been there. Remember when we used to wait for facts before drawing conclusions? Even with the facts, it doesn’t really matter, does it?

I’d rather just forget about it and remember that while people are screaming about how “real” or “fake” this shooting was, there have been 121 Mass Shootings in the US this year and it’s only April. There were eight children killed in Louisiana a week ago. You probably didn’t even hear much about it, did you? Why don’t they get the same kind of attention as a shooting near you know who?

Why do we let this man consume our attention?

You don’t have to let him, his administration, the media, or the fucking algorithm decide what’s important to you or what you should be caring about in this moment.

Me, I had a wonderful weekend before this “tragedy” and I continued to have one afterward too. I spent yesterday listening to classical music, opera music, and a few of my favorite songs from musicals like Les Miserables and Carmen. I wrote a column about three Montana artists you should see. I went to my local independent bookstore and picked up two new books, one of which I’m already a few chapters in and am absolutely LOVING. I watched my favorite baseball team win and their best player hit a home run.

My main takeaway here is this: If you haven’t figured it out by now, here’s my telling you that social media arguments don’t matter. What the algorithms are feeding you don’t matter, either.

What is happening with the White House DOES matter, but, it doesn’t have to make you focus ALL your energy on it yet again. That’s what they want. That’s their only true accomplishment that they’re continuing to achieve. They’re grasping your attention and not letting go. They’re making you follow them, what they’re doing, what they’re not doing, and everything else.

I realize writing this column is my giving them my attention too. But, I’m stopping here. I’ve got a new song to practice on my guitar.

I’m calling it, “The Algorithm Is Not Your Friend.” It’s pretty self explanitory, wouldn’t you agree?

As with last time, I don’t really have a “theme,” per se, but I want to use this space to spotlight living Montana artists who captured my eye and aren’t SUPER well known by everyone. Because, let’s be honest, you don’t need me to tell you that Rudy Autio or Monty Dolack made fantastic art. They did, and if you’ve lived in Montana for any amount of time you’ve at the very least heard their names before and probably even have seen their pieces.

So, with that out of the way, here’s some of the living Montana artists I wanted to spotlight for April/May.

1. Amanda Kay Bielby

   

   Amanda is from Missoula and she seems as Montanan as they come. Her story is quite unique, as well. According to her website bio, she states “I was working in the building trades. I found myself unbalanced by developing painful arthritis in my back and shoulders. I desired my work and found that balance in Art. I used the techniques I learned as an industrial painter in my Art to satisfy my passion for building and healing.

   After establishing a thriving art practice with recycled building materials. I had to step in to care for a father with dementia. This took up all of my time. I needed more time to find time for my multiple-layered building material process.

   When playing with soft pastels, I could pick up a stick of color, make a swatch, put it down, and return to the grind on other things. This has taken over for now.”

   

   This piece of hers is a pastel titled A Dense Moment. I dig the way she uses handwriting to serve as elements in the piece. The clouds, the trees and the waters all appear to be handwriting of some sort, although it’s not quite clear to me what the words say, not that they need to say anything at all. I love it when an artist experiments with two different elements to create something new. I love this, simply put, and there’s nothing more to say!
   

2. Harry Koyama.
   Now Harry, born and raised in Hardin, is pretty well known across the art world in Montana. He’s extremely talented, his art is well loved, and his story also is quite inspiring.

   

   I actually met Harry back in 2014 when I was working as the Hot Ticket reporter for the Great Falls Tribune. I did a story on him and his artwork that served as the Sunday Centerpiece during Western Art Week. The story is not anywhere on their website anymore, sadly. I’ll link to the Newspapers.com story (Subscription required) BUT, the gist of it is the relationship Harry had with his mentor, a World War II POW Survivor named Ben Steele.
   
   Harry told me that Steele was not only a POW Survivor, and a teacher, but a talented artist and thoughtful man. As the two became friends, Ben opened up to Harry, who is a third-generation Japanese American, and said how their personal relationship helped him overcome his feelings of distrust and hatred of Japanese people that was leftover from his being captured during the war in Japan. It’s pretty awesome and shows how art, and personal relationships, can heal hate. Steele is also in the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame. He passed in 2016.

   

   
   There’s more to that story, but that’s not why I’m featuring Koyama in my column. I’m featuring him because I love showing poeple his amazing, amazing amazing artwork. I encourage everyone to check out his website and more of his art as well. I LOVE the way Harry uses color and blends it all so distinctly to make the animals jump off the canvas. The red-background paintings of bears are some of my favorite pieces of art just in general. All of Harry’s work is quite excellent and it’s worth checking out, especially if you’ve never seen it before!
   

3. Mimi Matsuda.
   Finally, I’d like to feature Mimi Matsuda. I LOVE her whimsy and humor showcased in many of her pieces. The piece I’m featuring here is called “The Natural.” And I mean, do I need to say anything else? It’s a bear flyfishing. It’s amazing. How can you not love this piece? Go check out all of her art on her website while you’re at it.

   

   
   Mimi did an interview with Outside Bozeman in 2019. In it she says, “So much of my whimsical animal art is outdoor-sports related because I draw so much joy from those sports. My aim is two-pronged: to draw people’s attention to wildlife and their importance as our neighbors, and to bring [animals] closer to our attention by having them do outdoor sports that we enjoy.”
   
   I’d argue even if you aren’t an outdoor sports person, you can find plenty of reasons to love her art! I picked this piece above, but, there’s probably five others I also could’ve added to my column too. Just check out her website and the interview, too. It’s pretty evident what makes her art fun and uniquely Montanan!

   

   
   And that’s it for this month! I hope you enjoy these artists as much as I do. I think these fine artists show how art has the power to heal, the power to make us laugh, to think, to feel and to move us to pick up a brush, a pen, a pastel or any other kind of tool of the trade and create something for ourselves. I hope these artists can do that for you, too!

Maybe it’s taking up a new hobby, maybe it’s going into nature and skipping rocks along a river. And sometimes, it’s just simply consuming weird shit.

Not consuming like eating or drinking (I’m not THAT wild) but consuming weird media. Be it music, art, books, etc. etc.

Why? I’m note entirely sure, but I think part of it has to be that it puts my mind on a new wavelength. It lets me think of things in a different way by opening the neuropathways from a different angle.

So, with that in mind, here is some weird shit I’ve been consuming lately that maybe you’ll find as helpful or useful as I have.

1. Throbbing Gristle — I could put any song of theirs here, but I think I’ll recommend in particular the song ‘discipline’
   
   How do you even describe Throbbing Gristle to someone who hasn’t heard them before in a way that does their absurd sound justice? I’m not so sure, but let me try — Imagine if you showed up at a Taco Bell and when you walk in all you see is an explosion of ingredients all over the kitchen, the dining area and the restrooms. Then you go outside and you see a band dressed in only Taco Bell hot sauce packets performing in front of hardshell taco sleeves made to look like people with toothpick arms, legs and necks. That’s just my interpretation, of course, and I’m sure you will think of something entirely different if you listen to them.

   

   DO I think this song by Throbbing Gristle is good? No. I do not. But, it IS fucking weird. It IS unlike anything you’ve likely ever heard before. It’s a great pallete cleanser, perhaps to set yourself up for whatever comes next. Or, you’ll just find it infuriating. Or both!
   
   Definitely avoid if you’re feeling anxious about anything. It could make you even MORE anxious since it’s steeped in that kind of energy. Unless you’re the type of person who can transform anxiety into calm afterward. The type of calm when you’ve just heard five minutes of someone hammering the wall nextdoor.
   

2. The 0-View YouTube videos curated by KVN AUST.

   

   
   Now while my YouTube algorithm tends to be fairly predictable these days, I do sometimes find something real strange get recommended to me.
   
   That’s what the KVN AUST channel is.
   
   Now, the content creator himself is smart, funny and engaging. But, what really separates his channel from everyone else’s is how he is able to dive the deep real of absurd that is the 0-View YouTube pit of randomness.
   
   So, what he does is he has a database of templates for video file names. Things like “4532.MPV” or “MOV352928” but he has a random number and date generator depending on the file format. Then he puts it into a YouTube search and dives into the random discoveries.
   
   As you can expect with anything random, there’s a lot of uninteresting garbage such as 18 videos from the same man showing three second clips of him putting on his socks,”
   
   But then, there’s the incredible gems that he will discover, which he puts into his curated YouTube videos. Rather than spoil the channel for you, I will link to it and let you find out for yourself some of the most hilarious and random crap that he has found, which have either no views or only several views due to the videos not having any names or descriptions on them.
   
   These videos are fun to relate to in a sense that you can feel the very essence of what it means to be human. Not only are we defined by our suffering, but also our unique ability to showcase our weirdness and the things that make everyone else just shake their heads when they see what it is you’re doing. The Cringe Factor, if you want to call it that.
   

3. The Most Insane Ski Run Ever Imagined
   
   I don’t know how to transition to this, so to take a page from Monty Python …. AND now for something COMPLETELY different.

   

   
   This one is less “bizarre” and more randomly unbelievable. In a given context, this could be seen as perfectly normal, but, in an extraordinary way. It’s not always cringe content that does the trick for me. Sometimes it’s seeing someone do something cool in something I’d never in a trillion years be able to even concieve myself.
   
   That’s the best way I think I can describe “The Most Insane Ski Run Ever Imagined” by Markus Eder. Which, honestly, I shouldn’t need to describe anymore but I’ll try to add a little more description.
   
   Markus Eder is a well-known extreme skier and one-time Olympian. In this Red Bull video, though, he does all the kinds of tricks and stunts on downhill skis you can imagine, but then he asks, “Yeah but what if I also did THIS.” And then you see him going through a tunnel in complete darkness as a miniature avalanche is headed toward him. You see him do a backflip off a makeshift mogul created on the flatbead of a giant truck.
   
   Then he gets onto a different truck that drives him to another part of a different hill that he then also skis down. Then he skis down paths so narrow that it doesn’t seem there’s any way ANYONE can safely make it, but he does it. If your jaw doesn’t hit the floor by the end of the vid, you’re not alive and you shouldn’t be watching it anyhow. This random find on my YT algorithm really gets me in a certain mood. I love it so much!
   

4. ‘The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs’ a nonfiction book you just have to read to believe

   

   This last one is a rather new discovery for me, but, I found it oddly bizarre, and freshly unique all the same. Now, firstly let’s talk about the title. “The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs” by George Singleton. You can’t tell me you’ve ever seen a book with a title anything like that, can you? That would at least get you to pick up the book and look at the back cover, right?
   
   But, once you DO start reading, it only gets more strangely addicting. Rather than try to sum it all up myself, I think I owe it to Mr. Singleton to simply echo what he said about his creation. On the book’s official website it states “Loosely linked by characters and themes, The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs follows shysters and schemers, film buffs and future ornithologists, unlikely do-gooders, and the men who make up Veterans Against Guns in North America, all doing the best they can with what they possess in smarts and cunning. With Singleton’s signature comic flair, these stories peer through the peepholes of small-town South Carolina into the lives of everyday martyrs—prodigal sons, wayward fathers, and all those who are a little of each.”

   
   That’s a weird premise with weird characters and a weird story that’s sure to get your mind opening up in new ways.
   

   
   And that’s it for this month’s column. Maybe I’ll make this a regular thing, maybe not. I’m sure that there will be maybe two of you who read this to the end.

   
   But, part of why I’m writing this is to break myself from the exepectation that eveyry single piece of content I create must be seen by X amount of readers or else I’ve failed. That’s not a very healthy way to live when you’re gauging your ability to create by how many other people see it, approve of it, or speak about it.
   
   This one’s for me, and if someone else reads this, too, great, but, I’m not going to lose any sleep when I see that only 3 people looked at it.
   
   Plus, we weirdos need to stick together, no matter how few of us there are, right? Know that I see you, and I appreciate you no matter how strange you might seem to the world!

There’s been some good news lately. It’s caused me, and hopefully you, to feel a little more inspired than we have in a while.

But you might be wondering, how do you get inspired when the world wants to crush your spirit at every turn?

How do you stay hopeful when any hope for the future, at times, gets evaporated by the horrible news of the day? And not only that, but the people who want you to know that you shouldn’t feel hopeful because X, Y and Z and because they’ve lost hope, that means you should too.

You can, and should, stay inspired by a few things that have happened just this week. If you can’t find inspiration from these things — I fear you may never find inspiration in anything and probably should seek professional help.

First, the biggest thing is the successful launch of Artemis II. The four astronauts aboard the Artemis II, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hanson, will be “visiting” the moon as one of their main missions.

It’s the first time since 1972, for one. NINETEEN SEVENTY TWO!

How has it been that long?

That’s probably another topic for another column. But, at any rate, I think this is something we should be getting inspired by. Let your guard down, please. This isn’t something that happens every day.

We’ve got four astronauts headed toward the moon! Again!

So that’s the big thing to find inspiration from. Science and research and NASA are undertaking a huge mission to, “test critical life-support systems, navigation, and deep-space capabilities, and set the stage for future lunar landings.”

Isn’t that cool???

The second big thing we should be inspired by happened just a week ago or so.

Sora was shut down.

Sora, if you’re not someone who pays attention to Artificial Intelligence, was an Artificial Intelligence system created by Open AI that focused on creating AI video. It was announced that Sora would be sunsetting on April 26 of this year.

It also was announced that Disney’s plans to invest $1 billion in Sora were being retracted.

Now, I’m not one to pontificate on the particular reasons for this, but I am one who can say that this is a great sign that the big tech companies who just a few months ago were puffing their chests out with everything to do with AI and how it would “Change the future” of things such as entertainment and gaming and movies and TV, may have gotten a little ahead of themselves.

The tech itself is as advanced as advertised. But, the energy it takes to create these videos, cannot justify the existence of the tech itself. Especially not when the soulless nature of the videos being created on platforms like Sora are clear to anyone with a discerning eye.

There’s a reason “AI Slop” is a common phrase that even the new Chief Executive Officer of XBox used in her introduction, saying that they would not be using “AI Slop” in their games.

That’s perhaps a dubious claim, but the fact that she uttered it shows that the term is sticking. And it shows that people don’t quite think that AI will replace human-created video, human-created writing, or human-created music.

At least not in ways that the tech bros at Open AI and Meta and X and Google thought it would.

If you do a web search for the term “AI Bubble,” you’ll start to understand what’s actually going on.

The amount of money these companies are spending is not going to be made back anytime soon, and they know it. They’re just trying to delay the inevitable and make as much money as they can before it all goes “pop.”

The third is perhaps the most evident one that we’re not quite steering down into the highway to hell that people want you to believe we are on and that we can’t find any hope ever again no matter what. And it’s happening RIGHT HERE IN MONTANA!

So what is it?

“The Montana Plan,” is a new legitlative initiative which would effectively neuter Citizens United.

Just today, in fact, according to the Daily Montanan, “The Montana Supreme Court dismissed a challenge from a coalition of business and industry groups over a proposed ballot initiative seeking to limit corporate spending in Montana elections.”

On the Transparent Elections Intiative website, they state that The Montana Plan, “Uses the State’s authority to define what powers corporations get, effectively bypassing Citizens United by removing the power to spend before the question of rights even arises.”

I-194 could make its way to the Montana ballot in November. Montanans, could, effectively, vote to make Citizens United irrelevant.

How fucking cool is that?

With the news today, Transparent Elections Initiative Founder Jeff Mangan said, “We’re grateful for the Montana Supreme Court’s swift and unanimous decision, which reaffirms the right of Montanans to participate in the initiative process and have their voices heard.

“Our focus can now return to what this effort has always been about: collecting signatures from Libby to Sidney and continuing to build a grassroots movement led by everyday Montanans. The Montana Plan is about giving people a real voice in their elections — not allowing big money to drown that voice out — and we’re proud to keep that work moving forward.”

So what comes next? It needs 30,121 valid signatures by June 19 in order to make it onto the November ballot. If it passes in November, it could be used as precedent across the country.

How can you NOT be inspired by that?

Hopefully you’ve read just a little of this and felt a tinge of hope. Deep down. Somewhere. Maybe you haven’t felt it in a while. Maybe you’ve ignored it, or shoved it down and tried to make sure it doesn’t come back up.

I’m telling you, right here, right now — it’s ok to hope again. It’s OK to find inspiration in the world and the good people living here. There’s still a ton of bad things happening that we may likely never solve. But, we can celebrate the good things that are happening too.

Western Art Week has come and gone and while my participation this year was neglegable, I was too sick to go see any art this year, I wanted to use this column to pull the camera back a bit and take a broader view about the role art plays on our lives.

Too many people, I’ve found, try to downplay the importance of art in society and culture. But, those same people are the ones who benefit from art’s existence. Just as we all do.

Looking at some of the biggest news stories from 2026 and you’ll see how art impacted them, and us, afterward.

For example, when Alex Pretti and Renee Good were needlessly killed by ICE officers, it was the artists who retaliated the loudest.

Hell, Bruce Springsteen even wrote a new song for the first time in forever. There was a huge concert in Minneapolis. People’s rage was shared on that stage and before you knew it, ICE had retreated and the energy was shifted back toward peace.

That was the biggest example, but many others prove my point just as clearly, if you really look into it deeper.

If it isn’t obvious already, when I use the term “art” I mean not just physical works of art, but also music, writing, performance art, and any other creative ventures. They’re all created from the same place and serve the same goal — methods for humans to express themselves in ways that serve to utilize the creator’s spirit.

But what we need to understand and the reason I’m writing this piece is to remind readers that art exists and it’s always political, whether you think it should be or not. And the artists’ personal politics can’t erase the overarching political nature of the medium.

You may be be a Trump voter creating art, you may be a Kamala Harris voter creating art, or you may even be a non-voter and trying to shape your art in ways that made it be known, without a reasonable doubt, what your political opinions are.

And yet, what you can’t do is erase the fact that your creation will speak to the world in ways you won’t ever get to fully control.

Art is bigger than your opinion, bigger than your personal politics, and even bigger than the propaganda for which you may want to confine yourself to if that’s your only goal.

How so?

I like to use sports metaphors to explain big topics sometimes, and I think this is probably the best way to start explaining what I mean.

In baseball, a batter faces a pitcher with the goal of hitting the ball away from fielders so as to drive in runners around the bases and “score” runs and win the game.

Pitchers, contrastly, wish to prevent batters from doing that.

Simple enough, right?

So what does that have to do with art and politics?

Just like when a batter hits a ball, the result of the play can be out of his own hands.

What I mean by that is that anytime something is created, be it a painting, a song, a sculpture, or even a bat against a ball, there’s a reaction to that creation that you cannot fully control.

A player hits a ball up the middle. Maybe the second baseman fumbles the ball and tosses it into the stands. Maybe the second baseman tosses it to the shortstop, who then tosses it to first and ends the inning with a double play. The batter doesn’t fully know what will happen next.

Just like when you create art, you’re not fully going to know how the world will react.

You may have a good idea — and you always have ways to nudge those in the direction you wish them to bend. BUT, and this is key, your creation leaves an impact on the world in ways that you cannot control. And that’s okay. That’s what makes art progressive, unpredictable and always political.

The only way to control people, their thoughts, their expression, their desires, and their minds from expanding beyond what it was before, is to stifle the creation of any art whatsoever.

Becuase, my friends, the simple act of creation is an act of rebellion unto itself.

Creation is allowing people to interpret your work in howevermany ways they see fit at any given moment. Maybe most everyone will interpret it in the ways you intended. But, they also may not, and oftentimes people won’t and will instead interpret it in a way you could never have expected. Or maybe it will change over time, too.

That’s the power of creating art. And that’s why nobody can fully be a “conservative artist” in my opinion.

You can’t conserve something that is eternally progressing through people’s thoughts and feelings. You can be an artist who also is conservative. But, that basic concept is what makes “conservatives” and “art” like oil and water.

Even if those thoughts and feelings are the ones you desire to spread, they’re still seeing a new creation that did not exist before. Even if it’s similar to thousands upon thousands of pieces of art, there exists the art and it will forever exist. The human will to interpret it and to feel something from it will always be there for as long as it exists.

In time, how it’s viewed may also change. In time, how it makes people feel, also may change. How the world uses that artwork can also change.

Of course every point I’ve brought up can be criticized or contested.

“Well Jake, what if nobody pays attention to my work? Then it never will have any impact, will it?”

Or,

“Well Jake, what if hateful propaganda forever only spreads the same hateful message that they’ve intended from the start?”

Or,

“Well Jake, what if one’s art inspires people to feel more of the same kinds of backwards ideas they always have? How is that ‘PROGRESSIVE’?”

I hear you.

But, just like a batter who makes contact with a ball doesn’t really know if he’ll end up on first base, you don’t really know if what you fear will actually come true. You must create it. Then let the pieces fall where they may.

Just like a batter must make contact and see what happens next.

Maybe nobody will pay attention to your work, but, there’s also just as much of a chance that people DO notice.

Hateful propaganda serves a very dangerous master. Yes.

But, my interpretation still does not have to stand in the same corner as the creator’s intent.

Maybe I will see something hateful and I use it to mock the creator. Maybe I see a hateful piece of work and I create something beautiful on top of it. Maybe a century from now it’s used to educate people about the dangers of letting hate influence others.

I am never going to fully emrace the idea that bad art serves no good purpose. It is still art. It is still capable of being used in ways for good.

You can take Nazi Propaganda and alter it in ways that change the original intent. Or, any propaganda for that matter. It exists in the universe, and you are allowed to interpret it in any way you see fit. Especially when the culture you exist in does not value its original intent anymore. That’s fuel to further spread the fire of using bad art to create good art.

What we all have to remember, though, is that self expression is power.

Art is power. Music is power. Writing is power. Performance art is power. You’re creating a political statement that others will interpret in ways you can’t fully understand. That’s why we cannot let our guard down and let those in charge tell us that art is dead.

Don’t believe the narratives that music has no meaning or that there’s no “monitary” value in creative ventures. That’s misleading at best, or a lie to prevent the spread of creative energy from spreading, at worst.

Don’t fall into that trap. We need your creativity more now than ever before. Whether you’re taking inspiration from Western Artists such as Charlie Russell, or simply typing words onto a page and hitting “share” with the hopes that maybe they’ll be seen as inspiration to someone, anyone, else, know that what you’re doing matters. It’s not hopeless. It’s not useless, and it’s never going to be as bleak as your inner critic may want you to believe.

I type this to myself just as much as I do to anyone else, but know that you have the power inside you, and you always did. Just don’t let it go to waste before it’s too late.

In a past life I used to interview artists for the Great Falls Tribune — when that was still a thing. I’ve still got some great friends who I’ve met over the years that are still killing it in the art world.

Of course March, as most of you likely know, is Western Art Week in Great Falls. As I’ve aged, I’ve come to better appreciate Western Art, even though my natural inclination has always been: It’s cool, but it’s not quite for me.

However — that said, you won’t see me turning down an opportunity to go see some of the best western art on display anytime it’s available. I just will probably never be able to afford any of it. Tis the world we live in: only the rich and powerful can afford to put art on their walls, yet the ones creating those pretty pictures, many of them are struggling just to survive.

Not all of them, mind you, but, many are literally “starving artists.”

So, this is my column to give these creators some love.

First up, here’s a piece by Elene Weege.

I don’t know much about Elene, but this is a breathtaking painting and you all should check out more of her work!

Check out her website, too!

Next up is a cool piece by my friend Nikci King in Missoula. Nikci used to live in Great Falls but now is kicking ass and taking names in Missoula. She’s a good friend and I love promoting her art whenever I have the chance!

This piece is called Teton Adams and has a dark, mysterious feel to it that I find captivating! Hopefully you do too. Take a look at her website.

Now while you may think that all Montana art is paintings (tsk, tsk tsk,) there’s lots of other types of art that Montanans rock at, too. I’d like you to pay attention to one Kelly Price. Her pottery is outstanding and you should all go check out more of her work. Here’s one that I chose that I really dig.

Kelly is based in Hamilton. She’s a rockstar and you can find out more about her on her website.

Now you might be saying, “Jake, these are great but why are you showing only women artists?”

I just so happened to start with the women. There’s some outstanding male artists in this state as well. Some whom I’ve met, others who I only have admired from afar.

Such is the case with Mr. John Isaiah Pepion. You’ve likely seen his work as he is quite prolific, but he is also a super cool guy. I had the chance to interview him many moons ago and came away very impressed and happy to help promote his work. Which, I will do here again, as there is never a bad time to talk about how great it is!

Here’s one of his Ledger Art pieces titled ‘Here Come the Blackfeet.’

Find more information about Mr. Pepion on his website. He’s seriously one of the best ledger artists I’ve ever had a chance to meet!

Now, my column would not be complete if I did not feature a Butte artist. Being a Butte boy, it would only make sense, right?

I came across Maria Falbo when I saw that the local news station, KXLF, in Butte did a story about her latest project. Falbo recently has started to paint 100 portraits of visitors as they enter or exit the Butte Silver Bow Library. She says it’s a project to “celebrate both the public space and the diverse community it serves.”

Seeing as I know a thing or two about libraries, I thought Ms. Falbo would be the PERFECT person to put in my first column.

If you’d like to see all of Maria’s works, check out her website as well.

All of the pictures in this column were shared in an effort to help promote the artists in which I’ve featured. I claim no rights or ownership, and I legitimately hope that this column, in some small way, helps raise awareness for Montana artists who are creating amazing things in our communities!

America, let’s hear it for the ladies.

The women athletes who competed in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, in particular. Six golds and 17 medals overall were won by, you guessed it, women.

That was headlined, I’d argue, by Alysa Liu in figure skating and Mikaela Shiffrin in downhill skiing. Although you could also say that the US Women’s Hockey Team winning gold also is an above-the-fold achievement.

The women on the US Olympic Hockey Team who won gold (and only counts as ONE medal in the count, somehow) were: Gwyneth Philips, Aerin Frankel, Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein, alternate captain Megan Keller, captain Hilary Knight, alternate captain Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Cayla Barnes, Abbey Murphy, Hayley Scamurra, Ava McNaughton, Hannah Bilka, Tessa Janecke, Caroline Harvey, Taylor Heise, Laila Edwards, Rory Guilday, Joy Dunne, Britta Curl-Salemme, Haley Winn, and Kirsten Simms.

Personally, I was in tears watching Shiffrin break down emotionally after winning her gold medal while she was speaking to her dead father. I was in tears again watching Liu talk about her journey and how just a few years ago she thought she may never skate again. Their stories are powerful reminders of how human experiences and human emotions tie us all together in ways we don’t really even fully comprehend.

Women are now, and forever will be, a foundational part of American athletics. We’ve come a long way; back in 1924, only 11 out of the 258 competitors were female in all of the Winter Games sports.

Now, 115 women were on the US Olympics team of the 232 competitors. If my math is right, that’s basically half of all US athletes on the team.

It’s this fact that makes the US President’s statement to the Men’s Hockey Team after winning gold against Canada where he said, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team,” he said. “You do know that. I do believe I’d probably would be impeached [if the women’s team wasn’t invited].” unbelievable and upsetting.

The future, as they say, is female. But that’s not just a saying, that’s the truth of the matter. In sports, especially.

According to the Aspen Institute, “The success of the National Women’s Soccer League has been driven by a female commissioner with female celebrities as investors. Female athletes have brought the WNBA to new heights by leading the way on racial justice themes in sports. New women’s professional softball, volleyball and lacrosse leagues introduced by Athletes Unlimited look nothing like traditional men’s leagues.”

Now I would be a hypocrite if I sat here and wrote that I watch women’s sports as much as men’s. I’m a 43-year-old guy who’s grown up watching MLB, NBA, NFL, Pro Wrestling, and boxing/MMA. My sports-watching habits have been set a long time ago, but I do watch WNBA, and I will watch women’s soccer at times, too. I love watching people like Becky Lynch or AJ Lee in the WWE, and women mixed martial artist fighters are some of the biggest badasses I’ve ever seen. Both in person and on television. I’ve always watched women compete in the Olympics as well. I remember rooting for Bonnie Blair and Jackie Joyner-Kersee back in the day. I even remember watching figure skating with my family when Sarah Hughes and Tara Lipinski were competing.

I will say is that you’re a fool if you haven’t noticed the bigger space in the sports world women are, justly, receiving. These Winter Olympics are a shining example of just that. Their stories are just as compelling as the men’s. Their glory, their pain, and their journeys are being celebrated just as much as the men’s, too, if not moreso.

I say it’s about damn time. Here’s hoping to even more in the future and we elect a leader who embraces this idea not just in sports, but across the country in all aspects of everyday life.

Just today, January 24, 2026, another man was shot and killed after being forcibly pushed to the ground by multiple Immigration and Customs agents.

In light of this, I’m doing something different today. I’m writing a checklist of things you can do today to start taking care of yourself and finding ways to stay sane in an insane world.

Many of these things might seem easy or obvious. Nobody is forcing you to read this, or to follow my tips. I’m simply sharing what I’ve noticed has helped for me and things that I’m trying to do better at myself, as well.

These also are in no particular order. Follow them all, follow one or a few, but, just know that if you’re reading this, I want you to remember that you are important, you are valued, and your mental and physical health are of utmost importance not just now while the shitstorm is in full effect, but every day from here on out.

Without further ado — Jake’s checklist for staying sane in an insane world.

1. Stretch.
   Seems small and unimportant. Stretch your arms and legs and joints and muscles. Like, what big difference can this make? I’ve found it to help lift my mood and my energy levels considerably, however. Every day since before the end of the year I will do around five minutes of squatting. Pictured below.

   

   
   I will do arm circles, and I will touch my toes. If I’m feeling up for it I’ll sit on the ground and stretch my calves and my glutes. I’ll loosen my shoulders and stretch my neck. All told it probably takes 15 minutes per day. What this also does is it gives me a reason to stay off my phone. If I’m stretching, I can’t also be doom scrolling. You’ll notice a common theme in each of these steps, and that’s by design.

2. Find time to get outside.

   Especially when the sun is out. Even if it’s just poking your head out for a few minutes, getting outside and feeling the sun on your face has a number of benefits that I probably can’t even fully explain here. Fresh air, fresh sunlight, and getting your body out of your inner sanctuary will help you feel more energized even if it’s only a few minutes per day. This will lead to good things, trust me.

3. Take a 15 minute walk each day if you can
   When it’s cold outside, the last thing you want to do is to spend time in the freezing weather. I get it. When it’s super hot out, you don’t want to be out in the extreme heat, I understand that too. But, if you can endure the conditions, whatever your limit may be, the benefits are worth it. You’ll burn calories, you’ll clear your head, you’ll feel like you’re starting anew on whatever it was that was consuming your thoughts. IF you step outside and do the next step.

4. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

   

   
   I went through a breakup with my girlfriend last year and I was having a horrible time getting stuck in my thoughts and feelings that would replay themselves over and over and over again. I would replay the same conversations, the same situations, the same disappointments repeatedly, thinking that somehow this next recall would change it somehow. That was until a good friend of mine sent me a video, which I’ll link here. The tips in that video don’t need to be repeated here, but, what I did find was that the more I could step outside of my thoughts and focus on the present moment, the easier it was for me to move on and live in the moment instead of the past or worrying about the future, which for at least a few months I was dreading. The thought of 2026 terrified me. I thought there was NO WAY I could survive or be able to find my way due to X, Y or Z. But yet, I did and I am still doing this because I’ve been able to focus on the moment.

5. Remove as many soul-sucking things from your life as possible
   Be as brutally honest as possible. If too many things are draining your existence, ask yourself if you need them or not. Remove if possible. Now, this is a bit of a complicated one because a lot of times the things that drain us cannot be removed. Maybe it’s your overbearing boss, maybe it’s your health problems, maybe it’s your family you take care of who rely on you, maybe it’s your money problems that you have no answer for due to, well, the state of the world right now.
   
   These are all things that can suck the joy out of anyone. BUT, be honest and think about the things that ARE controllable. Do you really need this job? Have you considered finding something else? Do you need to be around your family members every single day, or can you find ways to take breaks from them? Can you look for alternative ways to care for your health?
   
   Beyond that, are you doing things because you “think” other people want you to do them? Are you volunteering for things that seem important but realistically are just a drain on your soul? Are you being honest with yourself or are you trying to find reasons to make it sound like it’s not as bad as it actually is? Remember that YOU MATTER. Your own goals, needs, wants and beliefs are legitimate and they should be taken into consideration as much as everyone else’s.

6. List the things you are thankful for. When you’re having a bad day, say them out loud. Scream them if you must.
   I have times when I feel like I’m getting the shaft and I’m overlooked or I’m not as valued as X or Y person for X or Y reasons. I also have times where I think that my needs or wants aren’t as important to anyone, or that I’m not anyone’s priority.
   It’s in these moments when I will push back with thankfulness. I will remember what I DO have that I’m thankful for, what I have accomplished that I’m grateful for the opportunity and the wisdom that I’ve gained. It doesn’t have to be a LONG list. It can be one or two things. It can be things that are to come in the future. It can be things that have already come and gone. If you reset your mindset with thankfulness, you WILL feel better and you’ll start to reset your attitude.

7. Don’t feel like you have to react to the latest horrors immediately, or ever if you don’t want.
   I know sometimes when I’m on social media and I see people posting the latest shitshow and the horrible things that ICE or the President or the government or whatever has done, I feel a sense of guilt that I haven’t already written about it, I haven’t already expressed my rage or my plans of attack or my disgust or whatever like SO-AND-SO has and that somehow that means I’m not as engaged or I’m not seen as someone who’s a thought leader who’s to be trusted, yada yada yada.
   
   I’m telling you that’s bullshit. If there ARE people who feel that way, fuck em, they’re not important and you can ignore them. Nobody knows your situation, your feelings, your mindset or the other things you’re dealing with at the moment. Don’t let other people’s perceptions about what you SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be feeling saying or doing mess with what your path is. Live life how you want, do what you want, how much you can, and remember that progress isn’t a straight line. If you need time to rest, then fucking do it. If you need time away from social media, get off and stay away. If you feel the need to scream, yell baby, and use your chest. But, don’t worry what others will think or do or feel as a result. You’re taking care of YOU.

8. Start small and find habits that both distract and give you joy
   Story time. When I was knee deep in my breakup, I would especially miss spending time with her when I came home from work, or when football games were being played. I’d miss reading her texts. I’d miss joking with her, or hearing about her day or well, you know how it goes if you’ve been through that. This column isn’t about getting over a breakup, but the lesson I learned is one that can be used in other ways.
   
   I found that if I played 10 or 15 or 20 minutes of Tetris Effect, I would feel a sense of calm. I’d focus on the game, and nothing else. The longing in my soul would evaporate and I’d be consumed by the tetronimos (tetraminaminatos? tetrais? whatever they’re called) and stacking them as time sped up. I would get into a zen-like state and that’d help me reach calm and quiet my inner voices.
   
   Maybe you don’t like Tetris, you don’t have a way to play it, or you simply don’t see that helping you. Find something else that will. Maybe it’s Candy Crush, maybe it’s listening to a meditation talk (I recommend downloading Insight Timer on your phone) maybe it’s exercising, maybe it’s reading. Maybe it’s going outside with your dog. I’m sure you’ve probably already established one of these, but if not, try finding one, or a different one. Stepping outside your comfort zone AND developing a new mind-clearing habit kills two birds with one stone!

9. Vent to people who know have your back without judgment
   This one seems simple as well, but, if you can, vent to someone about your feelings, your fears, your anxiety attacks, your stress about what’s going on in the country. Whatever it is, having one or two people you can unload upon makes a HUGE difference. I’ve had my bacon saved multiple times by being able to be vulnerable with people who could see I needed help. If you don’t know anyone who is willing to do that, well you’re in luck because I’m here, you’re reading this, and my door is always open. I’m willing to listen, and I’m willing to help whoever needs it when it comes to feeling the need to vent your problems or fears to. It matters and it’s like reloading your brain by dumping out all of the hard things you’ve gone through. I don’t know why it works, but I’ve felt it work and I know it can for you too.

10. CREATE CREATE CREATE CREATE and CREATE some more

    This one might seem like it only applies to people who have the ability or the desire to create things. To that I say — bullshit! Everyone has the capability of creating things. Whether it’s music, art, writing, coloring, building legos, doodling pictures, reciting monologues, singing, dancing, building things with tools, ect. ect., the chance to create is as diverse as it is useful. If you don’t know how to do anything, make a commitment to try and learn. If you struggle to focus on learning, remember that small steps are still progress and even if you only take one half step into learning something new or doing something that pushes you toward creating something, that’s a win. But, you can’t sit around and not create, not try to learn, or not be open to the idea. That’s where stress and anxiety takes hold and will consume your life. I’ve found how music has scratched that itch for me. I’m writing Substack, I write poetry, I’ve drawn pictures, I’ve tried painting, I’ve tried basically everything I can and see what sticks and what doesn’t do it for me. If you feel like you don’t have the time because of work or health problems or family commitments, ask yourself what it’d take for you to make that time. What would it take to make it a small priority that you can try to build upon?
    
    Life is about choices and if you want to find reasons NOT to do something, you will always find them. But, if you’re someone who is perpetually “open” to things, you’ll build that habit and you’ll start to recognize how those excuses for not doing something are just that - excuses. They’re not actually keeping you from doing what you think you want to be. And of course all situations can be different and maybe what you’re dealing with at this very moment is not conducive toward creating, but, don’t stay locked in that mindset forever. I’m telling you, the benefits far out weigh the sacrifices.

11. Start a habit of “taking out the digital trash”
    It’s become cliche to say “STAY OFF of social media!” and I know there are various reasons why some of you are still plugged into your platform of choice. I think we all recognize why we shouldn’t be doom scrolling all day every day. So, I’m going to frame this a little differently.
    
    No matter where you live, you probably have a trash can that you put things in each day. You throw wrappers, discarded food, plastics, old clothes, junk mail, dirt and dust, dog hair, ect. ect. ect. When that gets full, you go outside and dump it in the outside bin.

    
    Well, think of unplugging from the internet or social media the same way. You’re taking out the digital trash and using that time for just you.
    
    Take as much time as you think you need and unplug and do other things on this list.
    
    Maybe you can take out the trash and keep it out where you aren’t going back, or find yourself going back less frequently. Maybe all you need is a half hour every other day where you can reset and feel better. Whatever it is, or whatever you can do to “take out the trash” you’re going to find that you hopefully will build up a habit of doing less of what’s destroying your will to live and feeling more alive as a result. But, don’t feel like you have to do it all at once, and remember the reason for doing it!
    
    I hope all of these tips can help you, or at least gets you thinking into ways in which you can fight the urge to roll into a ball and cry after hearing what’s just happened AGAIN and how our government has failed us AGAIN and how the world has gotten worse and how people are getting screwed over again, and how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting fucked over even more.
    
    By taking these steps, or some of them, you’ll also have enough growth to start working together with those who are fighting back. Maybe you’re already in a position to do that and are leading the way. Maybe you’re wanting to fight back but don’t know how, maybe you feel like it’s not for you because X, Y or Z. That’s okay. We’re not going to solve anything tomorrow. But, we do need to take care of ourselves. I hope these steps that I’ve found have worked for me can maybe work for you too. We need each other now more than ever. Take care and remember, you’re stronger and more capable than you might think. You’ve been through hard times before, and you will be through other hard times again, but you’ll find that you’re able to pull yourself out of this and get back into being the real, authentic you that you deserve to be!

The Trump Justice Department this week finally released part of the Epstein Files. They were just as redacted as people expected, and maybe even more so. All told there were 550 complete pages that were redacted.

What the Trump Administration will probably never realize, is that they’ve put themselves in a no-win situation, and they believe they’re protecting Dear Leader by redacting the files and saying it’s due to “ongoing investigations.”

That blanket defense, however, hits at a key problem with their tactic — the citizens of this country have been fed these bullshit lines so many times before that we’re all fed up with it.

If you know even just a little bit about US history and coverups, this follows along with those almost beat for beat.

Growing up in Butte, I’ve long heard about the two biggest coverups in Montana history — who burned down the Columbia Gardens and who killed Frank Little. The Frank Little Coverup is one that deserves its own column so I’ll save that for another time, but I will instead focus on perhaps the biggest one in Montana History, what happened to the Columbia Gardens. The Butte Archives have a brilliant page into what the Columbia Gardens were and why they were so beloved in Butte.

Both of these tragedies were never “solved,” but there’s been a lot of smoke that clearly pointed to the same thing — the Anaconda Company and their millionaire (at the time) directors.

The official investigation into the fire of the Columbia Gardens stated that an overloaded electrical transformer caught fire and spread without warning. However, it was later revealed that there was no electricity anywhere on site for two months.

The circumstantial evidence showed that there were people who were in line to benefit financially if the Gardens were gone. Once the park, built in 1899, was demolished, the Anaconda Copper Company could begin construction of the open pit mine on that location in what would eventually become the Berkeley Pit.

No further questions were pursued by anyone with any power to push further once the official investigation into the fire was concluded. It was a coverup, and we the people just had to deal with it.

As Dick Gibson put it in his episode on this subject in the Verdigris Project, which you can read here — “ The loss of the Columbia Gardens was arguably the greatest psychological blow to Butte at a time when the very existence of the city was threatened.”

But back to the present day, if one is to think to that somehow the Trump Administration’s coverup of the Epstein Files will somehow turn out differently or that people will feel differently about them and their actions is to ignore history and almost all of the past coverups that have ever existed in America before now.

The biggest difference in the Epstein Coverup, however, is the nature of the crimes; pedophilia and sex trafficking and the shape-shifting and lying of those in charge.

I was willing to remain optimistic until I saw the Report myself. People were speculating that much of it would be redacted, and while I thought that would probably be the case, I did not want my preconceived ideas get in the way of reality until it happened.

And it just did this week, and sadly, it appears that the number of fully redacted pages is quite massive and quite embarrassing for anyone who values truth, justice and any sense of vindication for the victims of Epstein and his clients.

That’s why nobody should be, and I believe nobody truly is, happy with this result into the release of the records, no matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican or not even that political at all.

When the Columbia Gardens were burned down, it sucked and it was a case of money, power and influence pushing out what the public truly loved, but, there were no lives forever altered, forever tainted, forever violated in the way that they were with Epstein and those on his client list. Their victims’ lives were ruined and ignored. Their stories discredited. It’s a tragedy, pure and simple.

Only the biggest MAGA supporters will deny this. To them, nothing the President and his administration can do will ever be wrong — no matter how objectively awful it is to the rest of the world.

That cabal is shrinking, however, and the reality is that as more and more people start jumping off the MAGA boat, the more those who are on the fringes will start to feel pressure to shape shift again as a form of self protection.

And yes, I’m talking about Montana’s elected officials such as Steve Daines, Troy Downing, Greg Gianforte, Tim Sheehy and Ryan Zinke.

They were elected by MAGA supporters in Montana. They were elected quite easily and some more than a few times. They have the power, the money and the influence, but what they don’t have is a backup plan if Montanans turn on the movement.

Some of them have shown brief glimpses of opposition to some of Trump’s worst impulses, but for the most part they’ve been yes-men who have been more than happy to publicly cooperate with Trump and his “Alcoholic Personality” as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles put it in the big Vanity Fair article this past week.

They can’t hide forever though. The coverup and the redacted pages of the Epstein coverup show that there are guilty parties somewhere in the GOP, in the Democratic Party, or elsewhere in that sphere. All signs point to Trump being in the files, too.

The more the public is kept in the dark, the more they all will look like they were in on the plan to keep it under wraps.

That might sound unfair to the ones who had no hand it what happened at Epstein Island. They weren’t there, they’ve argued, they were just leaning on the public sentiment of Pro MAGA forces to get into office and stay there.

I’d counter and say that it doesn’t work like that. If you’re going to reap the benefits of MAGA when it benefited you, then you must accept the responsibility for what happens when MAGA starts to crumble. That’s how it works.

I’m sure there will be people reading this who believe that I’m off base entirely. They will feel that I’m being unfairly biased because I’m just a confused Lib with TDS.

To that I say, why are you so comfortable with no justice served to those who abused children on Epstein Island? Why are you so comfortable with the government hiding any kind of evidence into who was involved with this criminal and disgusting display of pedophilia?

If I were only making these points because of my political bias, why are so many others who I have nothing else in common with who are on the other side of the political spectrum, also be among those in this chorus?

This isn’t a “left vs right” battle, and that’s where the cracks are starting to show and why it’s been such a detrimental thing for the Trump team.

I wish I didn’t have to write this column. I wish I didn’t have to focus on this stuff at all. I wish we could be focused on things that matter to humanity like how to address healthcare, how to best govern the country in a way that was fair and honest.

Yet, here we are and here we will remain because the coverup is just as corrupt as the crime. And again, I’ll end with this — almost every huge coverup in American history has had all the same tell-tale signs as this one.

You have an “investigation” that ignores key details. You have people in power who feel they have a lot to gain by releasing an incomplete investigation. You have people who are in positions to ask questions who didn’t, and you have the circumstantial evidence that won’t go away. It’s all designed to do one thing — keep the public in the dark.

While this surely isn’t the end of The Epstein Saga, it is the end of our thinking that we’d get anything different this time than we ever have before.

The United States Government set a record by shutting down for 41 days, which beat the old record of 35 days set in 2018. The end hasn’t even come yet, which means that we will surpass the old record by at least a week, if not more.

And I must ask — what has this accomplished? The Democrats were digging in their heels, rightly so I’d opine, demanding that if the Republicans in Congress don’t agree to extending the Affordable Care Act extended tax credits, then there would be no needed votes to reopen the government.

And yet, it appears that that demand has been lifted. It appears that they’ve capitulated with only a promise of a future vote.

If that was how this shutdown was going to end, why did it take 41 days to reach this conclusion? Haven’t we suffered enough?

There is rarely any total wins in politics. Compromise is often how things are made, laws are created, and needs are met. What did the Republicans negotiate here? What did they agree to give up on? A vote in the future? When the ACA Open Enrollment has ended? Meaning what, exactly?

The ending to this shutdown is a pittance and a shame. I’m ashamed of the way these Democrats who agreed to the terms set by the GOP so willingly gave up the ACA Tax Credits.

An argument can be made that opening the government means that workers will start receiving their checks again, the SNAP Benefits will return, and some normalcy can be returned to America.

And to that I’d agree. But, that was always on the table for whenever the shutdown would end. That could’ve been said if the shutdown lasted 20 days or 10 days or even 5 days. 41 days! We’ve waited 41 days for this?

You gotta be fucking kidding me, pardon my language.

I’m sure there are Democrats serving in DC who are upset at this, and I’m sure there are some who are relieved that it’s over. But, nobody, and I want to make this perfectly clear, NOBODY should be happy at how this ended.

NOBODY.

That’s my opinion, obviously, and I can’t make anyone feel a certain way, but, the writing is on the wall, again, and it’ll stay there. The more this happens, the more the ink in those letters start to become permanent.

The Dems will fold. That’s the belief across America.

It’ll happen, and it’ll continue to happen, and all you have to do is wait for it to happen, and it’ll keep happening again and again and again.

That’s what the GOP is saying right now.

The Dems folded, just like they did before, and just like they will again.

I’m sick and tired of it, and I hope you are too.

The health of our country relies on a strong opposition party. And, today, we just witnessed how we don’t have one. At least not the leaders of that party.

They need to go, and they need to stay gone.

That’s the least they could do.

In light of what’s happening in the world today, I’ve come across a discovery I need to share.

Sometimes you must see the world not as you’d like it to be, but as it is, even if you don’t agree with it.

And so, with that, I think what I’ve recognized lately is how much conviction matters. How much confidence matters. How the power from your words isn’t from what you say, but how confidently you say it. It’s always been like that, to a degree, but it’s even MORE of a factor now. Probably more than ever before, if we’re being honest.

I’ve seen people defend things lately because, I feel, they were struck by the confidence of the speakers and not the actual words being said. Think about what that means and who I’m talking about. I won’t hold your hand here, but, it should be obvious.

That’s a hard nut to crack, but, I think it’s worth exploring.

To be frank, I’m exhausted by everything right now. I’m exhausted by life, by politics, by other people, by everything that seems to be going on from day to day. By Charlie Kirk’s disgusting murder, by people’s reactions to the murder, by everything social media spews onto our newsfeeds on a daily basis.

But, I persist. Why?

Because I feel that my voice can be useful to the world. When I strip down myself to the very core and take away everything around me, all I have is my voice. And that will not be silenced.

But, and this is key, I feel like we all need to rethink how we use our voices. That might sound like a cliche thing to say, but, let me put it in this frame of reference.

If people are attracted to confidence and strength no matter what the words are, then we need to use those attributes to fight back.

That isn’t to say that facts don’t matter and that we all have to start lying in the opposite direction of the bad actors who ARE spreading misinformation.

No. It’s to say that because misinformation is eroding the internet, because it’s eroding the media sphere and our way of life, we need to accept that fighting it directly does not work. It does not work because if it did the liars would not be rewarded continually.

I know this isn’t a new revelation, but it’s importance has been lifted significantly.

Fighting misinformation with facts is useless. Fighting it with the idea that we must be “right” and that we must have receipts has failed us.

It’s not to say that we can start abandoning facts. That’s not confidence, that’s recklessness. That’s not what I mean. It’s just not where the power lies right now in this moment.

I mean that when we fight, we don’t use facts as our saving grace or the idea that they will be used to “win” anything. We can use facts to inform our convictions, but our strength must be on display above all else.

Facts don’t do shit these days. The sooner people realize this, the sooner we can adapt and move on. And I say that as someone who adheres to facts whenever I speak up about anything in public and will continue to do so, even so.

These two things can both be true. Facts matter, but they won’t change the world right now. That’s me seeing the world as it is, not as I’d like it to be.

And that’s me saying that the landscape is different now, much more than it ever has been.

If you want to fight misinformation, recognize that we must fight with confidence above all else. We fight with the idea that when we’re dealt a bad hand, we don’t fold, we don’t scream, we don’t criticize. We organize. We use strength. We use conviction. That’s the key. It must be used as often as possible.

We must believe our words, and we must share our words, even if others want to try and cut them off or stop them from being released. The words must be true, but we can’t let the truth do the work for us.

We don’t say, “BUT they’re doing this and this and this, and when this other person I agree with does it, they get in trouble.”

That’s not confidence.

That’s feeding on the idea that life should be fair and right. It isn’t. We know it isn’t. Let’s let that go. As hard as it will be. I know this as much as anyone.

No. we must stay strong. We must stay visible. We must stay consistent. We don’t react. We don’t let someone else set the agenda. We don’t let others tell us what we should and should not be discussing.

We set the table, and let others feed from what we serve even if they don’t want to go there. Don’t let them set the table for you. That’s you giving them power. That’s you letting them spread the misinformation.

These are all grand ideas with few specifics, I recognize this, but, words still have power, and ideas are the doorway to action.

Strength is needed. Strength is the weapon that will take down misinformation. How that’s used, well, that’s to be decided and one Substack writer will not discover this overnight.

But, I believe strength is needed above all else and it will break the misinformation over time.

I promise you this. How do I know? I don’t, really, but, if I can be strong and I can say this with confidence, then, others hopefully will too.

I’m just a small-time content creator with a small audience. But, the biggest creators were once small, too, and their confidence led to their growth. It wasn’t their facts. it wasn’t how many arguments they won. How many receipts they had on the bad guys. It was their consistency, their confidence, and their ability to gain ground using those weapons.

And yes, I chose the word “weapons” for a reason.

We can use our confidence as a weapon. We must. We shall. We will. And it’ll work, not because we want it to, but because it needs to happen. Sooner rather than later.

If you follow politics closely these days, this column is for you in particular.

Firstly, good on you for having the mental fortitude to survive this increasingly toxic landscape, and secondly, I think there’s some misconceptions in the political world that require some unpacking.

The misconception I want to talk about today is the way in which we men, and those who allegedly influence us, are categorized.

We’re led to believe, by the media and others, that ‘progressive’ men aren’t reaching young males enough, which is leading them all to be absorbed into the Joe Rogan ‘manosphere’ which they seem to believe is the only place in which young males can find comfort, appreciation, and understanding.

That simply isn’t true.

Why isn’t that true? Because I see so many positive male influences on a daily basis. I’ll name just a few — Jimmy and Jake from Jomboy Media. Tom Grossi and Brandon Perna, Cal Raleigh, Travis and Jason Kelce, CM Punk, Scott Wozniak, Jamie Clements, Mark Groves, Bill Burr, etc. etc. etc.

If you haven’t heard of any of these men, it’s because they’re mostly (not all of them) involved in the sports world and not necessarily the political one.

Back when I was younger, I used to think that I followed sports because I enjoyed the stories, the action on the field, and the rivalries.

In a lot of ways, I still do, but, as I’ve gotten older, I think I’ve started to understand what I actually enjoy the most.

I enjoy the amount of positive male role-models I find in sports and their authenticity. I enjoy getting to know the men who stand up and live their lives in a way that I both appreciate, I sympathize with, and I come to see as healthy in a world full of crazies.

So, that takes some unpacking here because I’m sure there’s people who are confused and thinking — wait a minute, sports have negatives all around and men in sports are known to beat their wives, they’re known to make huge amounts of money without giving any back, they’re known to think of Me, Me, Me and nobody else. Why do you find comfort in THAT world, Jake?

I’m going to stop you right there —

That’s the ESPNification of sports, and that’s another topic for another day. There’s more to it than that, and if you can’t see that stop reading right now. We aren’t talking about them. That all exists, but these are not the ONLY parts of sports.

I’ve found PLENTY of positive voices that not only make me love the sports I do more, but also show me that the world has not gone mad.

That I can love things in safe, healthy ways and not feel like I have to justify that love to people around me consistently because I’m not honed in on the latest shitty thing that the President did.

I hear about those too, but, I’m telling you, if you listen to that bullshit too much you’re going to get burned out. It’s going to happen. Don’t let it erode your inner loves and passions. There’s a time and a place for it, but it doesn’t need to consume your every ounce of who you are.

So let’s talk about the positive male influences in sports and how they’re blowing away everyone else and how, hopefully, more young men can find them too.

Firstly, lets talk about Jomboy Media.

I’ve never met Jimmy O’Brien, Jake Storiale (Yes he’s Italian), Trevor Plouffe, or Joseph Soleano in real life before, but I feel like they’re some of my closest companions some days.

Who are they and why should you care?

They create the best baseball content on the internet. Jomboy’s lipreading is second to none, and he does his “breakdowns” of baseball situations, usually in which someone gets ejected from the game. They do that extremely well, but they do more than that, too.

Deep down, they provide healthy, open and honest insight into what it means to be a man for free on the internet.

They talk about their emotions, they talk about their struggles, and they talk about their accomplishments in ways that don’t make you want to run for the hills. It’s all centered on baseball, and that drives a lot of people away, perhaps, because they don’t understand the game.

But, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to know the sport to appreciate what they do.

I’ve watched Jomboy videos for almost four years, and I’ve seen them as a healthy escape from the hard times I’ve faced.

So what does this have to do with progressives and healthy male influences?

Jomboy media is providing content that you can watch for free. They’re good people, and they’re all committed to sharing their lives with the world and I think that’s a much safer way to witness “influence,” than how most people think about “influencers.”

The same goes for Travis and Jason Kelce.

Now, you’ve likely heard of them, but, I want to stop you for a second and ask you how much do you know about them other than what you hear about them from social media or from stories you read online?

Have you ever watched them in person? Have you ever listened to their podcast?

You might be surprised at how authentic they are, and how down to earth they seem. Now it could be surmised that they’re just putting on an act and the “down home charm,” is all a way to get you to subscribe and watch them.

But, I don’t think it is. I think Jason and Travis are who they show themselves to be in their podcasts, on TV and at Taylor Swift shows. And that is another place where positive, healthy, stable male behaviors are being shown to young men.

This needs to be embraced, not discounted or ignored or hated upon. You might not like Travis or Jason, but you can’t deny that their influence upon young boys, girls, men and women has had a major positive impact on society as a whole.

I don’t watch New Heights every week (I’ll explain why in a minute) but every time I do, I appreciate how their authenticity shines through, and their openness to accepting the world as it is, not how they want it to be, is always apparent.

Plus, Taylor Swift is amazing, a true titan among pop stars, and I have nothing but mad respect for her, and her empire she’s created on her own.

Hopefully you’re starting to see how authentic, healthy, stable male behaviors are not confined to the political sphere, and how the world might seem like it’s gone mad, but we don’t need it to be that way. We don’t need think that the manosphere and the Joe Rogans of the world are the only outlets for men, and how men need to act.

We’re not that binary, and we never have been.

I’d like to end on some of my favorite men who are also sports-centered influencers that have given me so much hope, so many laughs, and so, so so many memories, even though they’ve never met me a day in their lives.

Let’s talk about Brandon Perna and Tom Grossi. I don’t watch New Heights as much because I’d rather watch Tom and Brandon.

Now by now I realize this column probably isn’t going to be read by hardly anyone because A) It’s not political enough, and B) It isn’t calling any politicians any names or accusing them of doing bad things.

Those are sometimes what I feel like people expect on Substack, but, this is my column so I can say what I want, when I want, and there’s nothing you can do! So nyah!

But back to Tom and Brandon.

They’re football “influencers” who have smallish audiences but the people who are fans are diehards, and I’d argue with good reason.

Beyond that, they’re healthy role models who show other men that you can be good to humans and stay in committed relationships, have families who love them, while being easily the most down to earth people you’ll ever see on the internet.

Tom’s a Packers fan and Brandon is a Broncos fan. They create videos mostly on football, but also expand into other sports now and then, too.

For example, Tom, earlier this year, raised $1,000,000 for the Children of Fallen Patriots nonprofit in just a week. He didn’t make any money of his own that entire week, and he donated it all to this nonprofit that sends children to college with full-ride scholarships who have parents that died in military combat.

Yeah. It’s that kind of charity, and it’s amazing.

If that isn’t a positive male role model, who is? And why aren’t we, as a society, embracing this kind of thing more?

Why can’t we have more people who are like this? Why does it feel like anytime I try to bring this up amongst people who don’t watch football all I get is a few shrugs and “There you go talking about your sportsball again, didn’t you hear that President Trump has outlawed flag burning?”

So, getting down to brass tacks, I’ve been at a bit of an impasse lately.

It’s not that I don’t care about engaging in political discussions, political causes or political necessities. I do. I am very much aware of how little the media lately seems to be talking about the Epstein files even though nothing has changed and people continued to claim that they wanted answers about the president’s role in Epstein’s illegal sex-trafficking ring.

It’s bothersome, and I think that’s the point. We all move on, we all give up on the last travesty and move onto the next that’s the worst thing ever. Remember the Iran attack? Remember people saying that it would be the start of WWIII?

I do. I’m sure you do too.

So, what are you doing? Why are we falling into that pattern? Why can’t we instead focus on what matters to us?

I am choosing to focus on my family, my friends, my girlfriend, and the positive male role models I find intriguing and authentically positive. They’ve helped brighten my day so many times it’s not even funny.

So, Back to Brandon and Tom for a second.

Brandon Perna lives in Denver, Colorado, and has a wife and a five-year-old daughter. He brings her on his podcast occasionally, but not to the point where it feels predatory. He loves his daughter, and his wife, and he wants to share that with his viewers, but doesn’t ever make them THE reason why they watch.

It’s the football, and his humor. Each week during the NFL season he spins his “Curse wheel,” and the number the wheel lands on is the NFL team that’s “Cursed,” and the wheel is scarily accurate. Last year it felt like almost every week the team Brandon cursed would end up losing.

It’s a sight to be seen, and really is quite hilarious, especially if you love football.

Brandon and Tom do a show three days a week called “GPS, AKA the Grossi-Perna Show, and they talk about sports, they talk about their lives, and they talk with their fans.

It’s better than anything you see on ESPN, or anywhere else on the internet.

I’m not here to convince anyone that you should watch or care or pay attention to these people. That’s not what I’m doing. You can if you want, but, what I really hope is that you recognize that having an opinion and sharing it about the difficult things happening in the world has merit, but, it’s not the only thing in our lives that does.

Sometimes I feel like we get caught up on social media sharing political takes that gain attention and that drives us to wanting to do more of that and gaining more attention and views and likes and clicks.

Around and around we go until that’s all we do on our phones — watch the insanity and those making fun of it on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (I refuse to call it X.)

I do not feel we’re built for this as humans.

We’re supposed to be building our best lives with those around us, and sharing our stories, our experiences and our values with those very same people. Never before in human history have we developed long-term friendships or relationships with people who only seem to hate the same political candidates as you do.

Why do we need to do it now?

And finally, I hope if you’re still reading you can understand that the media portrayal of men, of male “influencers,” and male behaviors is just a small window that often gets key details wrong.

Men are not a monolith, and we’re not all expected to be the same. Even if we agree on political candidates. Even if we agree on other things, we’re still individuals who are allowed to think for ourselves, and seek out those who best mirror our own values.

That’s the least we can do, and I’ll continue to do it even if there’s some who feel like it’s not doing enough.

That’s not why I do this, but, I do hope this clears up some confusion about my lack of political columns as of late.

Go Niners! Go Mariners! Go Griz!

I may have written about this before, but today I’m going to talk about control again.

Control is a unique concept. Some people seem to need it, others seem to avoid it, and others still yearn for it yet act like they’re not in control when they DO finally achieve the control they were seeking.

I tend to believe that you cannot lose control to someone, or some situation, if you do not choose to give it to them. We all have our own ability to control what we feel, how we act, and the ways in which we respond to outside stimulation, be it from people, places, events, or anything outside our own selves.

Our country is in a precarious situation these past few months where it feels like the powerful people are pushing their way into our lives in ways that they’ve never done before, at least not to this extent. The federal government is calling up the military to patrol cities and take over law enforcement. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has begun detaining US Citizens without any warrants, without any reasonable suspicion without identifying who they are or why the people they’re after are being detained.

It is, to put it bluntly, a shit show, and that’s being as unbiased and nonpartisan as I can.

What I’m writing about today, though, is how important it is to recognize how much control we still do have in our own lives. How much we cannot give up said control of our mindsets, our optimism or our strength to the powerful people who want you to feel as if you’re powerless.

When someone barks an order at you, there’s a place and a time to consider what you can, and should, do in response. That’s your power, and it’s one that those in charge want you to hand over willy-nilly like.

If you’re afraid, they will see you as easier to capitulate. If you’re brainwashed, you’re easier to take control from. If you’re beaten to exhaustion, they see that as a chance to swoop in and take your control over situations in which you’ve never been as vulnerable because you’re too ‘tired’ to fight.

But you still have control. I still have control. We stand together and we’re even more in control of our actions, thoughts, feelings, and outcomes.

Which isn’t to say that what’s happening today isn’t a threat or that we shouldn’t see what they’re doing as extreme actions that put our Democracy at risk.

They are. They most definitely are no matter how much one guy on Substack wants to try and claim that they’re not threatening our lives.

But if you’re reading this, please, remember, that you cannot give someone complete control without your own participation. Americans, especially, are protective of our rights. Let’s not be afraid and GIVE our control of any situation without a fight.

There’s too much of that happening these days, also.

Journalists are backing off reporting on the multiple scandals happening. News networks are caving in and cancelling programs or segments because of what the powerful people might not like what they say. Many politicians, well, the less I say about them the better, but, too many of them are bowing their heads and forgetting that the spines they once had even exist anymore.

WE DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS.

So what can we do?

The first thing we can do is ask if we’re doing any of these habits.

Are we,

1. Allowing negative thoughts to ruminate?

2. Complaining incessantly over everything?

3. Having trouble setting boundaries?

4. Letting someone else dictate your decisions?

5. Avoiding any decisions as long as possible?

6. Suppressing your thoughts and words?

7. Dwelling on past failures? OR

8. Ignoring your self care?

If you answered yes to one or more of those on a regular basis, you might be giving away your power, your control, your ability to regulate situations, without even realizing it.

NOW more than ever, we need to stop it. We need to take the power back.

As Rage Against the Machine once sang:

The rage is relentless
We need a movement with a quickness
You are the witness of change
And to counteract
We gotta take the power back.

It has to start somewhere, and it has to start sometime, what better time than now, what better place than here?

Right now in 2025 I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people are hungry for a revolution.

This, I hope, shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’re all tired of the lies, the bullshit, the torture, the pain, and the massive dump that’s being taken on regular folks on any given day.

But I think we’re also hungry for more than that, too.

We’re hungry for lasting change, and we’re hungry for an outstretched hand and someone to say “I know how you feel. I feel the same. Let’s focus on moving this tiny little piece of our world just a little before we start to worry ourselves with shifting the mountain of shit that’s piling up in front of us at an exponential rate.”

I went to the Montana Folk Festival over the weekend. It draws thousands of people every year, and this year was no different.

But what struck me this year was how joyous the crowds were. How so many people were dancing and exploring and singing with a purpose, almost like we all knew that this world hasn’t been normal for any of us lately, and damnit we’re going to make up for it during these three days in Uptown Butte.

Maybe that energy will make an impact in more ways than one this year.

Really, when you think about it, change doesn’t start with a grand gusto — it’s always a few people who take a few steps, followed by a few others who take some more steps and so on and so on and so on until before you know it, the powerful are scratching their heads wondering where their momentum went.

Maybe I’m naive, and maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I feel like every day we get closer and closer to the tipping point where enough of us are ready to spread change like a wildfire.

What was remarkable about the Folk Festival this weekend was how peaceful it was. How open everyone was to trying and hearing new things. How little everyone around us seemed to care about things like what party you voted for in the last election, what your thoughts were about gun control or abortion, or how many times you signed a Change.org petition in the last 18 months.

None of that really, truly, matters to people when we’re not all crowded around our phones, doom-scrolling about the latest awful event happening in the news.

It’s not that those things don’t matter and the simple solution everyone needs to do is to simply “NOT SCROLL YOUR PHONE ANYMORE!” because let’s be honest, that’s not realistic.

It’s more the idea, a simple one, mind you, that what it means to be human still is pretty universal. When we hear good music, we start to bob our heads, we start to feel it in our bones and we can’t help but feel like we’re having a good time, no matter what we just read about on Politico or the New York Times that morning.

You’re a sack of meat and organs and bones just like the other folks. You’re unique, yes, but you’re also a person with the same flaws and feelings and strengths as almost everyone else.

We CAN open ourselves up to change. Try to open yourself up to accepting those who you’ve never met can be done if you don’t let anything get too in the way of our natural need for human interaction.

Most importantly, remember that having your mind blown by something usually means that that same thing likely has a big impact on others, too. And where we don’t agree, we can at least recognize that our human DNA opens us up to the same stimuli than not.

We can work with that. It’s small, and it’s simple, and it doesn’t feel like it might solve a lot of problems, but, finding a kernel of connectedness sometimes is more than we feel for long stretches of time, if you’re anything like me, at least.

But, if you can remember that if thousands of other human beings who you’ve never met can be just as inspired by a Pakistani band named Khumariyaan as you are, maybe there’s other things we agree upon as well.

Things like hope — a hope that we can survive and thrive again but at the same time feeling fear about how fast our country has taken a hard turn into unchartered territory that maybe we need to back the fuck out from.

I think the No Kings Protest and the 50501 protests before that, attest to this idea. But, it’s deeper than that too.

We can survive by taking care of each other.

We can survive, but we need to remember that we’re not in this world alone.

That it’s OK to reach out to people who are struggling and ask them if you can do anything for them.

It’s OK to admit that you need help, too, sometimes.

You’re not alone, I promise you this.

The music in your life might be bleak right now, but, I promise you, the sad songs can’t last forever.