Monopoly with Brandon
David Gillette of Twin Cities PBS’ “Almanac” opens up about his internal pile of emotional damage, mostly from playing a certain board game with a certain “confusing” friend named Brandon.
David Gillette
David Gillette is a Special Correspondent at Twin Cities PBS, where he spends his time rummaging in the crawlspace between reporting and cartooning.
Life lesson: Don’t burn the tank
How almost burning down a small part of Aitkin helped David Gillette become the man he is today.
Laying siege to the stiff upper lip
How foolish is the cultural inclination we all have, especially when it comes to mental health, to pretend nothing is ever wrong.
No room for risk: ‘It’s all because of kids’
“Dad” is an acronym: “Don’t allow danger.”
Beyond the panic stage
As someone who made several failed leaps at the system, if I can save even a single other person from that whole experience, that’s a good day at the office.
It should be cool
Give David Gillette just 20 years to decide unilaterally what’s cool, and you’ll be riding a Segway on the moon.
Top of the pyramid
Everyone’s always focused on the top of life’s pyramid. But it takes a lot of building to get up there.
Macrotrends
Once you acknowledge them in your life, you can see them everywhere.
We see what we see
When current events disrupt our sometimes-narrow perspective on life, through fear and doubt, we all must choose a path forward.
A fallback plan if life becomes too much
In trying to lessen life’s anxieties, wherever you go, there you are.
Success is fleeting, humiliation is forever
Gillette shares a valuable life lesson from his college job.
In tribute to new dads: I hope we’re doing okay
There will still be tears, even if you do almost everything right.
The most expensive salad ever
Never go grocery shopping hungry, and definitely don’t hit the deli’s $6/lb. salad bar. And misread the sign.
Huge air: the essential teenage social commodity
The chase is almost always more fun than the destination.
What is snow?
In Minnesota, snow is the best psychological indication of whether you’ve surrendered child-like joy and become a grumpy old man.
Stress veggies
On the day the CSA box arrives, the countdown clock starts on the pounds of broccoli and cauliflower that need to be consumed before they turn into compost in the refrigerator.
Cry, get over it and get back in the game
New father David Gillette shares the wonder of the indestructibleness of babies.
Trying to get away from it all and the ‘second best effect’
Online information and ratings have zillions flocking to national parks. David Gillette volunteers a few alternative “second best” locales.
New Horizons, retail DNA screening, self-driving cars: Let’s keep going
Nine years ago David Gillette crafted an essay about the launch of the New Horizons probe to Pluto. How far we’ve come since then.
When a germaphobe becomes a father
Boogies on the sleeve? Spit-up on the shirt? When you’re a parent, viruses are just another form of love.
