Culture Archives - Page 12 of 30 - Postcards from The Pug Bus

Postcards from The Pug Bus

Lifting a satirical leg on popular culture

Persons in the Ether

Question of the Week

Passion or stability?

Mavis Drouk, emotional escrow officer

Believed to be near Harrisburg, PA

Stability. Passion is what people choose when they still believe a staircase can be made entirely of sparks. Stability may not sing outside your window, but it does remember where the insurance cards are.

Rufus Clenn, freelance thunder consultant

Last reported west of Tulsa, OK

Passion, obviously. Stability is just boredom wearing shoes with arch support. I want life to arrive late, smell faintly of lightning, and explain nothing until several lamps have been broken.

Nora Vell, deputy curator of small regrets

Possibly sheltering in Eugene, OR

Passion is useful for beginnings, stability for the paperwork afterward. I prefer both in moderation, which is another way of saying I would like to be ruined briefly and then driven home safely.

food arranged on a fancy table in a restaurant

"Sustenance, where you say your penance before meals."

Culture

Sustenance and the Rise of Gastro-Penance

philmaggitti 9 months

(✨ The following appeared in County Culture magazine. By a former food columnist who now identifies as an “epicurean confessor.”) Philadelphia has birthed many trends—moral… Read More

"Poor me. pour me another round ..."

Culture

Morgan Wallen Secretly Married

philmaggitti cultural commentary, Morgan Wallen 9 months

Morgan Wallen might have traded in his barstool for a wedding band – at least if the internet’s rumor machine is accurate. Whisper campaigns, blurry… Read More

"Blessed are the pure of heart."

Culture

GoFundMe or Go Top Yourself

philmaggitti jesus 9 months

In a world where people will crowdfund anything from elective toe surgery to psychic dolphin communication, it takes a certain kind of idiocy—or audacity—to get… Read More

"You're not married, are you?"

Culture

KISS Cam Catastrophes

philmaggitti 9 months

What could be worse than getting caught grappling with someone who is not your wife (but is somebody else’s wife) on a KISS Cam at… Read More

"Testing ... testing ..."

Culture

Five TED Talks We’d Like to Hear

Biff Scuzzy 10 months

(But probably never will for reasons of decency, national security, or fear of spontaneous combustion.) “How to Ghost Your Responsibilities and Still Get Promoted” –… Read More

an oldish looking man wearing a hat, He has a long goatee and an elaborate mustache.

“I don’t always grow a beard, but when I do, it’s to show off my manliness.”

Culture

Beards Are for Blowhards

Chip Hilton 10 months

Beards and goatees are the facial equivalent of distressed jeans. They are worn to project rugged authenticity while quietly being curated with an artisanal beard… Read More

a charmin bear sitting on a toilet enjoying the go

"Here I sit, broken hearted ..."

Culture

National Wipe Front-to-Back Day

philmaggitti cultural commentary 10 months

(Cleansing the nation one directional swipe at a time.) In a country that celebrates National Cupcake Day, National Talk Like a Pirate Day, and something… Read More

Beep, beep! Beep, beep!

Culture

Top Three Roadkill Air Fryer Recipes

philmaggitti air fryer 10 months

Crispy panko-crusted possum poppers are Appalachian tapas for today’s palate, featuring possum, the marsupial you didn’t know could pair so well with a pinot noir.… Read More

The Pug Bus Breaking News

The Pug Bus Breaking News requires no email address, no mother's maiden name, no first pet's nickname, and no DNA sample. You simply mash the link below and read.

Deliver It

⚡ Scholars at the Royal Institute for the Advancement of Obvious Things have concluded, after eleven years of exhaustive inquiry, that people who speak at great length in meetings do not thereby become more correct. The findings have been submitted to a committee for review.

⚡ It has been determined by authorities in several jurisdictions that the phrase "I just want to be honest with you" reliably precedes the portion of the conversation one would most prefer not to have. Legislation is pending.

⚡ The Bureau of Perpetual Reassessment has announced that this is not, in fact, the most divided the nation has ever been, a distinction that continues to belong to a prior era when the disagreements concerned rather more consequential matters and people occasionally died over them.

Adverse Effects

The following lines of prose cleverly arranged as poetry may induce brief clarity, misplaced certainty, and the sense that something has already been decided without your approval ...

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

Read It All

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

The years do not accuse.
They simply pile up like newspapers you meant to read,
each one carrying news that is no longer news.

You think: I should have said that differently.
I should have stayed. I should have gone.
The mind is efficient this way,
filing the same cases under the same wrong headings,
finding them again at 3 a.m. in perfect order.

What surprises is not the weight of it
but the patience —
how regret waits,
how it has nowhere else to be,
how it sits across from you at breakfast
and asks for nothing,
knowing you will offer it everything
on your own.

The body slows.
The catalog does not.
You carry the unlived lives
the way old houses carry
the smell of people who are gone —
not haunting exactly,
just present,
just there,
just refusing
the simple courtesy
of leaving.