I began writing publicly on this site in 2014. At the time, it struck me as a bit over-the-top having a website of my own, but then again, how else would a writer make his presence known? Back then, I didn’t know any magazine editors or other writers to call friends—which now, I’m very lucky to say, is not the case—nor did I have any idea what kind of writer I even wanted to be. Fast forward six years, and I never could have imagined what my reality would be like in 2020. Nor could I have imagined the incredible people I would meet along the way. Two books, 15 magazine features, and 17 countries later, I remain truly amazed at the dramatic turn a life can take in such a short period of time. Which leads me to what this is all about: I’m burned out, folks. Too burned out to continue writing on here.

Napoleon was an “Enlightenment conqueror” ruling an empire of the proletariat. His invasions of kingdoms was the major catalyst that turned Europe democratic, and this was not unintended.

I suspect that one of the main motivations for continuing to promulgate this falsehood that the takeover of Eastern Europe caused the Cold War, is because the real reason an emergent world power and its smaller allies engaged in a 44-year-long silent conflict that cost an untold number of lives would be too embarrassing—too shameful even—to publicly acknowledge: that the U.S. Army first, and the CIA second, believed a series of lies about Soviet intentions that were fed to them by a captured high-ranking German intelligence officer trying to escape prosecution. An officer whose reputation during the war struck terror into the hearts of his enemies, and who was referred to by those enemies in hushed tones as “the man without a face”. This man was General Reinhard Gehlen.

There was no comparison between you and I; you in your black tea length dress and I in my blue jeans, and yet you held out your hand anyways and I kissed it. It was your right hand, which I thought odd for a second, until I snuck a glance at your left and noticed the lighter shade on your ring finger. Either you were married or recently divorced, but nosiness has no place at the Bar Hemingway at midnight, does it? In any case, let the record state before I continue that you were the one who broke Rule #4, not me, and that I was the innocent little lamb.

To be honest, I strongly considered not publishing this essay. Mainly because of feared personal cost. In fact, I’ve sat on this subject and have kept my feelings to myself for about a year for precisely this reason, until eventually I just came to a point where I thought the problem was getting so bad something had to be said. It wasn’t just that no one was speaking up for men, it was that no one thought men needed speaking up for.

Between 1949 and 1952, an estimated 50,000 Americans were lobotomized. Though the exact whereabouts and circumstances of most of these individuals still living today are unknown, you can catch glimpses of a few among the Democratic base who attend the rallies of these centrist politicians chanting “Vote Blue No Matter Who” thinking it’s clever advice because it rhymes.