10,000 Hours Courtesy of Family and Friends

Recently, I’ve been a bit more explicit about what I'm trying to accomplish with Sometimes Weekly, now that the first decade of operations is in the books. Those explanations are spread across SometimesWeekly.com, conversations with family and friends, typewritten letters, and other words and developments shared along the way including this very website, TICKER TAPE.

In an effort to further cement Sometimes Weekly's emergent status as an Independent Publication On The Move, I would like to take a moment to share more about what I've been up to the last ten years, as it relates to Sometimes Weekly, and where I might be headed from here. 

I started Sometimes Weekly in February 2015 during the last semester of my senior year of college (or, if you're among my Loyal British Followers, university). Given my lifelong affinity for American politics -- which started in the late 1990s when I first learned what the president was -- I naturally studied political science. 

Was this a smart move, with regard to potential employment? Well, when I started college (university) I wanted to work in politics, so maybe it was a smart move in 2011. But by 2014 I had decided, after experiencing Albany's corrupt construct then controlled by Andrew Cuomo, that I'd take my talents elsewhere, potentially somewhere that didn't require me to abandon my conscience, and shifted my focus toward higher education policy. My experience in student government and university governance, as a student representative, made this transition rather natural. Plus, there's politics in everything. 

At the exact same time I created Sometimes Weekly, I was also serving on the University at Albany's University Council, which acts as its Board of Trustees. I was the only elected voting member of that body, with the rest of its voting membership having been appointed by the Governor of New York. This was a fact that I rather enjoyed, and still do to this day. 

So, despite my transition into education, my decision to launch Sometimes Weekly certainly signaled an intention to remain "In The Arena." But, the arena was not just politics: it was also humor. That's why my first entry into Sometimes Weekly was An Open Letter to Men's Wearhouse. 

But a month after that Open Letter, Sometimes Weekly truly became Sometimes Weekly. 

Entirely unrelated to Sometimes Weekly and having nothing to do with my Letter to Men's Wearhouse, I received a Cease and Desist Demand from Donald Trump's attorney threatening me with a $100,000 lawsuit for "cybersquatting." 

It was March 2015 and Donald Trump was then, as he is now, a national joke, though with much less of an impact on the lives of most Americans. The cancer caused by Donald Trump in subsequent years, it should be said, has less to do with his polices (or lack thereof) and more to do with his bigot-producing permission structure clothed in thinly veiled mythical past and white supremacist rhetoric. Students of history, does that sound familiar? 

Anywho, after deploying the Art of the Deal, I settled out of court and soon enough received a check from the Trump Corporation for $39.99 (conveniently dated six years to the day after I coincidentally met Barack Obama on the South Lawn of the White House).

From that moment -- the moment Donald Trump threatened to sue me and I extracted $39.99 from him -- I knew my credentials as a bonafide satirist were cemented in stone. Then, a few weeks after I received my Trump Corp check (which surprisingly didn't bounce) Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for president I assume out of spite. 

And so, naturally, my humble publication focused, momentarily, on Mr. Trump. I published 6 Crazy Theories about Mr. Trump and then Fox News accidentally advertised my fake Trump dating website that I set up so members of the Trump family could meet and date other members of the Trump family, pending proof of citizenship or bankruptcy. But, by the end of 2016, I had enough of Mr. Trump and pivoted back toward humor. 

Now, why was I doing all of this? Why did I start an actual superPAC called "Don't Approve This SuperPAC" and then create two ads before never doing anything with it ever again? 

What the fuck is Sometimes Weekly?! 

Well, for eleven years now, it has existed as a way for me to share strange stories with my family and friends. 

In this atmosphere, I felt comfortable making mistakes, going to far, or not going far enough, and so on. I can remember early on in 2015 or 2016, I shared some of my work with a Democratic congressional staffer who worked in Communications -- someone I knew and looked up to, but not someone known, just a person dedicated to the work of politics. 

I asked what he thought. His response and advice? Be careful about using the word "fuck." 

So, I ignored that advice and continued on with my ideal audience in mind: my family and friends. And by continued on, I mean I posted a total of five times from 2017 and into 2022. 

During this lull in output, I started my Very Professional Career working in Education Technology and, additionally, started my doctorate of education in January 2021 a few weeks after the first attempted diet coup by a disgraced and traitorous president who just a few years earlier had threatened to sue me. 

It was my continuing education, no doubt, at the University of Dayton, that encouraged me to once again step foot In The Arena. 

On August 24, 2022 I published my first entry in nearly two years to Sometimes Weekly, apologizing to the director of District 9, Neill Blomkamp, for stealing his Twitter account back in 2009. The following day, August 25, two things happened: first, Neill Blomkamp kindly accepted my apology; and second, I met Joe Biden for the third time at a rally in Rockville, MD shortly after he described the MAGA Movement as "semi-fascism."

During President Biden's remarks -- having heard him speak twice before: in Scranton, in July 2012; and in Buffalo, in October 2018 -- I listened closely to his words. Here's the part that caught my attention, in particular, at the conclusion of his speech: 

I'll close with this: We're at a serious moment in our Nation's history. The MAGA Republicans don't just threaten our personal rights and economic security, they're a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace—embrace—political violence. They don't believe in democracy. This is why, in this moment, those of you who love this country—Democrats, Independents, mainstream Republicans—we must be stronger, more determined, and more committed to saving America than the MAGA Republicans are to destroying America.

With this clear diagnosis and direction, I was stirred to action. Unfortunately, I knew, I would need to re-enter the Political Arena, and in a more direct way than I had previously. This was, given our fraught political moment, not an easy thing to do. But it was necessary. 

This was not an easy transition, and I want to be very clear about that. Even within my relatively walled audience -- my family and friends -- I encountered turbulence: not everyone wants to hear what you think about politics, and that makes sense! But even with that knowledge, I was surprised by some of the response. Still, I carried on.

At the end of 2022 and through 2024, I published more explicit writings On Politics. In October 2023, I attended RFK Jr's third-party announcement in Philadelphia to observe the undercurrents of American politics that have turned our reality into a circus, and our politicians into entertainers, frauds, and grifters. By July 2024, I was exhausted and didn't have much left to say, and so I didn't write again until after the election. Then at the beginning of 2025, I transitioned back toward a focus on humor. The arc of my publishing is available for your review. 

Since 2025, I've been further positioning Sometimes Weekly as the life-long vehicle for my writing and creativity. This work is ongoing and includes efforts like Letters from the Back Row of History and a soon-to-be-released self-printed, self-produced, and self-published collection of my writing from the last 10+ years. This work will be available for Members, but I'll also be sending copies out to notable individuals I've crossed paths with, like Tom Hanks and Warren Buffett, along with an assortment of other folks who I think might enjoy its content. 

Recently, I've decided that I have sufficiently reached the Malcom Gladwell's dumb "10,000 Hours" rule and so, if you can believe it, I'll be redoubling my efforts to advance and grow Sometimes Weekly. 

Before I proceed, though, I had to reflect on these first 10,000 hours. Throughout the past ten+ years, I've the best audience possible: my family and friends. 

It's within these boundaries that I was able to explore, make mistakes, and try new things. From these experiences, I've honed my craft, without even realizing I had a craft to be honed. Truthfully, Sometimes Weekly is mostly a result of my anxiety and my inability to keep my mouth shut, or fingers from typing, more than it is anything else -- except perhaps the encouragement and support I've received along the way. But from that anxiety, and that support, emerged a collection of work, a brand, that's now positioned well for the future. 

Because of your support, my journey truly begins now.