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Yes, I Took A Week Off

It was a bit overwhelming last week. I had five columns to write for Urban Milwaukee and my commitment to Two Many Wives' screenplay. All writing and no play make Jeff a confused old man. 

The columns for Urban Milwaukee are all previews of Plays opening up in Milwaukee regional theater this fall. Not only were companies touting their opening shot at live in-person theater but announcing their season selections. I don't care if you're looking for edgy drama or a frothy musical; Milwaukee has some great stuff coming. 

I addition to writing, I took my pencil in hand and resumed my sketch-a-day habit. Primarily gleaning my subjects from posting on Instagram. 

This leads me to another subject. That is the daily emergence of myself into the evil empire of social media. It got me thinking about my use of Facebook, Google, Instagram & WhatsApp. 

I know my comments will sound like the people who blame the opiate-addicted instead of the big Pharma and their marketing for the problem of Opiate Addiction in our society. However, I'm using Social media for my benefit and am pretty critical of the content I consume from my perspective.

First of all, I do check in with MSNBC every day. I do see political commentary on Facebook. I did quit reading on Twitter. I like the reasoned arguments of Robert Reich. I read online, The Guardian, BBC, and Urban Milwaukee. I'm a many-year subscriber to The New Yorker. Finally, I consume Aaron Nagler on Cheesehead TV, an obviously biased website devoted to our beloved Packers. The most bias of my news sources is Cheesehead TV, and even they are often critical of their subject.

What do I like about Facebook? I like that my family members often share photos and comments about their activities. Many would say that I don't have a family. A fair observation would be that I'm the patriarchal head of a herd. Nonetheless, keeping up with the family scattered all over the country would be almost impossible without Facebook or something like it.

I use Instagram, as noted above, to find photo's to base my pencil sketching on.

One of my sons, Brad, travels internationally, and I have another friend, Lawrence, who has moved to Europe, so there is an excellent reason to use WhatsApp.

I think one of the most important things I've learned is from Weightwatchers. Watch what you eat. Eat what you want. Everything is in moderation. So with Facebook, be critical of what you see, look closely at what you disagree with, and admit you're not always right.

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