Back in May, I talked with Detroit rapper Invincible about the reasons why her video ‚ÄúRopes‚Äù was pulled from MTV (read story here). During our conversation she introduced me to the Hip Hop Mental Health Project (HHMHP), an organization that seeks to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and act as an informational¬† resource. The difference between the HHMHP and other mental health organizations however, is that it was founded to help those in the hip-hop community. Read More »
Photographs of boxing legend Mike Tyson‚Äôs abandoned 1980s mansion in Southington, Ohio, have been widely circulated on the Internet in recent years (see here). Last August, however, photographer Danny Wills ventured to the vacant Ohio property for an impromptu photo session and has given new life to Tyson‚Äôs former home in a haunting new series of portraits. Read More »
A new series of personal essays about job loss, mental health, and the undying pursuit of art.
When I arrived that morning, the magazine offices were nearly vacant. Nothing but the dull hum of a thousand overhead florescent lights and the distant clicking of a few phantom keyboards registered a sound. A stack of empty boxes had been left on my desk. Looking at them, they seemed to tell the true story of the last 24 hours: We care, we really do. But please take your shit and leave, it‚Äôs time for us to move on (Read: ‚ÄòFear & Self-Loathing‚Ķ‚Äô Part I). I looked at the boxes, then over at the woman from Human Resources who had escorted me from the entrance of the building to my cubicle. ‚ÄúTake all the time you need,‚Äù she said. ‚ÄúI‚Äôll check back with you in 10 minutes.‚Äù Read More »
A new series of personal essays about job loss, mental health, and the undying pursuit of art.
When we drove out of the mountains that morning it was hot, the sun climbing higher in the sky, heating up the plants and the air around us and the metal of our car as it barreled down a neck of Lincoln Highway woven like thread through the Pennsylvania Laurel Highlands. Ethan was in his car seat, chatting away, my wife Michelle and I both quizzing him about our weekend stay in the mountains ‚Äî often asking if we had seen a black bear while hiking two days earlier.¬† ‚ÄúYes we did!‚Äù he kept answering, a certain electricity in his words. Read More »
Steve-O (Photo: Terry Richardson)
After a suicidal freefall that landed him in the Cedars-Sinai psych ward last year (following an eight-person intervention that included Johnny Knoxville), post-millennial stuntman Steve-O is attempting to put his life back together. I only learned of Steve-O‚Äôs addiction-fueled meltdown after flipping through the current issue of Spin magazine and stumbling across this article ‚Äî ‚ÄúThe Last Temptation of Steve-O‚Äù ‚Äî by David Peisner (I just don‚Äôt keep up with Jackass like I used to I suppose). Anyhow, as a fan of human redemption stories, Peisner‚Äôs article pulled me in. Here‚Äôs a quick and dirty recap on where Steve-O is today, with some fairly insightful commentary from TV‚Äôs Dr. Drew: Read More »
