Michael Rene Zuzel

I have a sebaceous cyst that’s smarter than this walking pustule.

So we fly a pride flag in our front yard in a very conservative neighborhood and it’s been there for the last few years. Someone put this in our mailbox and my goodness…

Anyone know what’s up with the website bookbrief.io? This summary of Tom Robbins’s Villa Incognito is accurate in general but way off in specifics: incorrect character names, a mythical creature identified as a bird instead of a rodent. Is this A.I. hallucination or some kind of literary sabotage?

Check it.

She says she is. The president says she is. So of course, she is not.

After a while, even throwing shit against the wall to see if it sticks gets exhausting.

The problem is not fraternity parties. The problem is fraternities. https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/10/13/university-of-chicago-sexual-assault-alpha-epsilon-pi

The A Team of volunteer ticket takers said farewell last night to another season of outdoor shows at #OSFAshland. Later, Lizzie.

"Risch is a poster boy for all this corruption and incompetence. He’s been there for all of it. His silence is his most damning characteristic. His hubris and arrogance are his most prominent features." "Give Jim Risch a push. He deserves it." #RetireRisch #idpol www.lmtribune.com/opinion/risc...

Celebrating John Prine today on what would have been his 80th birthday. Consider joining me in honoring him with a donation to his nonprofit foundation. https://www.thehellointherefoundation.org

Six months ago:

👇

Holy shit.

No more conversations about what consent means or educating boys that no means no…

This. My dad made me watch it with him. I was two months shy of my 4th birthday. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gal...

Our two weeks in France were glorious. But our humble Rogue Valley gave us a warm welcome home.

After many postponements, finally got to see Midsummer Night’s Dream at #osfashland. Spectacular, even better than my previous favorite, the 1997 production directed by Penny Metropulos with Ray Porter as Puck. That one was magical, this one dazzling in rich detail. Also hilarious. And beautiful.

Amazing what our planet can do when humans—in this case, literally—get out of the way. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...

I enjoyed Mike Luckovich for years, and then he created this cartoon. I sat and cried for several minutes. Then I cut it out of the Los Angeles Times, and I've kept it ever since. Thank you, Mr. Luckovich.

A small #9/11 remembrance in the burbs. All three dates, including Jan. 6, were times our country was under attack.

Pretending the days after Sept. 11, 2001 were some kind of gauzy Hallmark special when we came together as a country is nauseating and ahistorical. The country went completely insane and has not recovered

oh come on

Stop stop stop treating this $5k check thing like it’s real. It’s just…not.

The cyborg king in David R. Bunch’s “Moderan,” written 60 years ago, sounds exactly like a certain current idiot tyrant—right down to the bullshit promises and random capitalizations.

On this Labor Day, let us remember that it wasn’t the CEOs and billionaires who saved us during COVID-19. It was the janitors, nurses, cleaning crews, grocery and food workers with their hard, often invisible labor.

The most absolutely massive flex from the state fair exhibit. This quilt is made of 40 years of prize ribbons from various categories at the New Mexico State Fair won by Carol St. Clair Johnson. She also won a prize for this quilt.

Dumb and Dumber, A.I. edition

Hi, I’m Michael Rene, a writer, musician, photographer and voiceover artist. Annie Lennox’s “Into the West” from “The Return of the King” soundtrack never fails to give me chills—she sings “What can you see …” and then her voice soars “ … on the horizon?” Brilliant symbiosis of lyric and melody.

Your bad art is better than AI slop.

They hate him. They really hate him.

Hegseth has taken out more American generals than Iranian ones.

Said farewell today to a woman who, despite a 10-year fight with metastatic breast cancer, embraced joy and brought happiness to all those around her until her dying day and beyond. This is the way to live, however long or short our life is.

Every day I wake up later I'm afraid to face the sun I want to hide from everyone Memory is bitter Tell myself I'm no quitter But the gold no longer glitters babe The hardest thing for me Is true simplicity But it's the only thing That's good enough for you — Tim Curry

One thing that's been bugging me today: people who claim Dolly Parton wasn't political. False. She was very political. Her art and life's work were about interrogating power + amplifying the powerless. You only think she wasn't political because she did this by example, not bullshit slogans.

34 years a couple, a team, a force to be reckoned with

There are going to be Democrats who say we shouldn’t rip it all out — it’s already built, we have other priorities — but removing the visible signs of Trumpism is absolutely necessary.

One of my work-study jobs in college was walking out to Capitol Boulevard first thing Monday morning to change BSU’s reader board. I’ll never forget the day when the campus was cloaked in dense fog and I heard, but could not see, a lone bagpiper somewhere on the quad, skrilling his or her heart out.

"This incurious and inexperienced person, armed with little more than a threadbare resume and no shortage of hubris, has been vaulted into a Senate vacancy and doesn’t seem to have any qualification for it beyond direct nepotism."