The Uplifting Empire: Chris Rathje

The old saying goes if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  It is so true.  However sometimes life gives you way more then a bitter fruit.
Sometimes life gives absolute garbage and sometimes you don’t deserve it.  It happens to everybody.  The people who truly figure out how to make crapade are the people who rule [...]

Waking up this morning two images were dominant in my head.
First the final slide in my presentation at Northwestern University
“You will see no one has any idea what they are doing. You can allow this to scare you or liberate you.” – Conan O’Brien
Choose Liberation!
Second I realized that life really is like the movie [...]

A couple weeks ago I was very blessed to talk to a group of undergrads in an Integrated Marketing Communications class at Northwestern University. The favorite question I received after my presentation was “What movies are you looking forward to?”
At the time my answer was Sunshine Cleaning. I wrote the corresponding piece after [...]

I am probably the angriest I have ever been. It is because I have had to deal with everything in my life up to this point.
People staring at me in malls, kids making fun of me from when I was five years old and that was the easy part!
Taking ten years to learn to [...]

I’m just sitting here in my apartment and man do I feel like an idiot.
I have a ticket to a party that I spent a pretty penny on and I’m not going. I’m so filled with anger I don’t want my toxic feelings to affect others.
Most days I am so f-ing lonely [...]

This post is dedicated to John C. Mayer of Bridgeport, CT.
He has inspired so much over the last eight years and has written at least half of the soundtrack to my twenties.
I am so honored to be able to follow him on Twitter. John is witty and wise. I could easily write a [...]

I am just testing out a theory in this piece and am open to input from the outside world to test my hypothesis.
I heard somewhere in the last seven to ten days that trying too hard to be smart can be stupid. I definitely agree with that statement. In my younger days I [...]

I had plans to write two pieces tonight, but it’s just not going to happen.
I’m tired.  In years past I would have pushed through, but my body is telling me to chill out.
I must say in the last few weeks I am taking better care of myself and it feels great.  Its really pretty simple, [...]

Writing the last piece was EXTREMELY liberating for me, I have worked hard, played by the rules and I still haven’t gotten a sniff of what I’ve desired.
I’m okay with that because I work in God’s time not my own. I am flawed and I don’t understand why I have to struggle so much [...]

I’ve got some recent criticism for not being as happy as I usually am, but I’ve also gotten some praise for being honest. So I am going to continue to speak my truth.
Back in 2001 I was having a philosophical conversation with my friends Grant and Stouty. Grant (T12) and Stouty (T6-T7) happen [...]