theLeftAhead

Friends S1:E10 – Hey there, Friends Nation. Did you miss me? I hope that your time off from reading this blog series has been as restful and relaxing as my time off from writing it. I can’t lie, it was quite a relief last month to have finally arrived at the first break from consecutive episodes of the series. While I’ve really enjoyed these past four weeks off, I must…

Friends S1:E9 – “Here I go, here I go, here I go again. What’s my weakness?” Snow…apparently. Let me explain. So I had driven up to Vail, Colorado this past Friday to do some research for this week’s blog post. My plan was to spend one night up in the mountains, finish my research on Saturday morning, and leave Saturday afternoon to drive down to Denver in time for a…

Friends S1:E8 – Hey there, girls and boys. I’m glad to have you back this week for another installment of my Friends blog series. It is really encouraging to see so many of you out there are already religiously reading the greatest experiment in pop culture since Saved By the Bell: The College Years. (Although it is a little less encouraging to find out that only about one-third of you…

Friends S1:E7 – Remember the nineties? Awe, the nineties. A time when a group of six single early-twenty somethings could live in New York City in nice apartments and survive on the income they generated from entry-level professional jobs without needing any support from their parents. Yep. Those were crazy times. The lifestyle that the Friends gang enjoyed seems like such a foreign concept for this generation’s young adults, but…

Artist’s Note: It seemed like the game was rigged. We were young, frustrated, creative, agitated, innovative, irrational, and determined. We were more energy than knowledge but that was a good thing. Fearlessness emboldened us to dare. We perceived evil in the world and we knew we needed an outlet to resist it. We reached new depths of cynicism but dug underneath looking for something pure. We weren’t necessarily searching for…

Friends S1:E6 – “Say hello to my little friend.” And that little friend is entirely Id, right Sigmund Freud? Apparently, mine is as impulsive as Tony Montana’s because in a fit of rage, I devoted almost my entire post last week to seeking the “immediate pleasure and gratification” of trashing on my boss. The good news is, as I predicted, Ted James (too busy trying to be a 36 year…

Friends S1:E5 – Well, that’s what I get for tempting fate. On only the fourth post of my illustrious blogging career, I was reprimanded by my editor, Ted James, for dancing on the line of acceptable conduct and then proceeding to cross my toe over it whilst baiting him to call me out. I’m not sure if it was the direct reference to the Bill Simmons situation or my contemptuous…

  Bullets beget bullets Bombs beget bombs Winter is never over Climbing higher Mount Certainty Reaching out for purer air Tree line blurred in the distance Pausing only to rest on laurels Looking down on tranquil canyons Echoed sensibilities offend Uninterrupted by sacrifice To be this high To have this view Stubborn knuckles hardened further Grander heavens scaled faster still No ropes Support not needed This is too noble a…

Friends S1:E4 – Hey there boys and girls, it’s your favorite gainfully employed writer, Kenny Adams back at your service for another installment of your favorite blogger’s favorite blog series. I hope that you had a good week and I’m really glad that you remembered to find a couple of minutes to squeeze me in to your busy schedule today because I’ve got quite a pita pocket of entertainment bliss…

Friends S1:E3 – What’s good, Friends fans? It’s your boy, Ken Adams back again for this week’s installment of my blog series. I’m back for the third week in a row to serve you some fresh takes on a 20 year old pop culture phenomenon that is near and dear to our hearts. My Friends revival is already taking the interwebs by storm. Indeed, boys and girls, you have stumbled…

This short video documents a large march organized by the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU-CWA 6186) to defend Texas public services and public employees. Workers came from across the state for a march and rally. Members of TSEU went into the Capitol and met with the legislators.     Texas State Employees Union (TSEU-CWA 6186) Lobby Day 2013 from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.     Our Future   We will…

Friends S1:E2 – Greetings, loyal TLA readers. You might be surprised to see me back, as promised, for the second installment of my Friends blog series. I’m sure some of you assumed that my commitment to write 236 blog posts about the hit television series, a post for every episode on the 20th anniversary of its air date, was just some empty cockeyed declaration that I made in order to…