2025 year in preview
By Reader Staff Even if you’ve never read any of the works of 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, you’ve probably heard someone repeat his famous line: “A pessimist is an optimist in full possession...
Category: Humor
Festivus for the rest of us
By Ben Olson Reader Staff For the uninitiated, Festivus is a holiday invented for an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld called “The Strike,” which involves the airing of grievances; feats of strength; a celebratory...
When Christmas was spooky season
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff We’ve all heard the reference to “scary ghost stories” in the Christmas carol “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” but most of us probably don’t give it...
Emily Articulated: The holidays
By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist What if “the holidays” were more than a handful of weeks — a series of events strung together like pearls at the end of a single year, full of...
Why are there no Thanksgiving bangers?
By Ben Olson Reader Staff There are a lot of hills I’d die on: hot dogs aren’t a sandwich, litterbugs should spend the weekend in jail, those who don’t use turn signals are the...
The best inside jokes in the history of television
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Television shows have often been filled with cliches, tropes and overt jokes written for a broad audience. Even the plotlines to some shows are so overdone, the mere inclusion...
Bruce Willis, I am not
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff My intense fear of crashing into the ocean and being eaten by sharks has never stopped me from having a good time on an airplane. All my experiences —...
A fool’s paradise
By Ben Olson Reader Staff It’s a wild time to be alive. In an age when information is so readily available, it takes seconds to answer a question with an online search that might...
Emily Articulated: U.S. history, 2050 edition
By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist Flipping open to a glossy image of Barack Obama, the iconic “Hope” poster filled the page, with the former president’s calm, resolute expression etched in hues of blue, red...
Dumb of the Week: Now we’re eating pets?
By Ben Olson Reader Staff It takes a special brand of dumb to make it into this column. Today’s topic reaches a whole new level in the stratosphere. The Sept. 10 presidential debate between...
