We are new piece at the Knee-Jerk.

Super geeked we are to have a new joint up at the Knee-Jerk, one of our most favorite Chicago lit zines. The piece "Notes for the Honorary Oscar Speech I'll Never Give" was first conceptualized, or is it conceived, for the CCLaP "An Evening with Nathan Rabin" event and will also make an appearance in our upcoming collection thing This American Life, and while we think it has the potential to offend we remain quite thrilled with the reception.

"It’s not like I haven’t suffered – the days and nights lost to alcohol and drugs, the ratty hotel rooms, the hookers, the suicidal urges, sleeping on the street, not to mention desperately doing blow off of John Belushi’s sweaty ass in the driveway of the Chateau Marmont, hands shaking as the last specks of coke either of us possessed drifted off into the haunting Hollywood night.

But, as they say in Al Anon, “Trace it, face it and erase it,” and I am happy to erase it, all of it, and I think you are as well or I wouldn’t be here tonight, right?

You don’t need to answer that.

That said, is it not also true that great art can happen in spite of the chaos and confusion in our lives, and that from our darkest moments real beauty can emerge like that of a roaring Phoenix manifesting itself in life-changing bursts of creativity that speak to some higher power, be it God, Allah, or Harvey Weinstein?"