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grin and bare it

A blog by Matthew Dicks

Tattle tails cause even more problems

By mattyd | March 18, 2024

When you complain about a colleague’s behavior to a supervisor with the intention or even suspicion that the boss will then speak to your colleague about the complaint, you’ve done a very stupid thing. Exceptions…

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A back bend changed my life

By mattyd | March 17, 2024

I told the story of my first backbend at Speak Up last night. If you missed the show, you missed a good one. Here’s what I wrote on May 5, 2018, about the moment, including…

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Benjamins

By mattyd | March 16, 2024

A fact that astounds me: There are more $100 bills in circulation today than $1 bills. Also: Of the total value of all currency in circulation today, 80 percent are $100 bills. Admittedly, cash is…

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Academy Awards for other people

By mattyd | March 15, 2024

I think the Academy Awards are great. Acting is great. The movies are great. Even movie popcorn is great. I love it all. Truly. My life is better because of great filmmaking. Yet I also…

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Crocuses are back!

By mattyd | March 14, 2024

First crocuses of the spring. Every year they emerge from the same spot on our front lawn. I adore these tiny purple flowers. They are lovely. but it’s what they symbolize that I love most:…

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Opportunity taken. Outcome outstanding.

By mattyd | March 13, 2024

This is a parking sign in the lot behind TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT, where I performed my solo show this summer and last week in “Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared.” I love this sign. I…

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Star Trek stinks

By mattyd | March 12, 2024

Sometimes I encounter a person who claims Star Trek is better than Star Wars. While there are many, many ways to refute this utterly ridiculous claim, I like to point to this video clip. It…

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Confidence is key. Also elusive.

By mattyd | March 11, 2024

The more I work with people—students and adults—the more convinced I’ve become that confidence is the most important quality a person can possess. Confidence is often the difference between performing well and stumbling along. It’s…

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Museum of Endangered Sounds

By mattyd | March 10, 2024

The Museum of Endangered Sounds is a website dedicated to preserving the sounds made famous by my favorite old technologies and electronic equipment. Dot matrix printers. Dial-up internet. The Windows 95 startup music. All the…

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Backronyms!

By mattyd | March 9, 2024

I learned a new word this week thanks to one of my favorite newsletters, Numlock News: Backronym Definition: An acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words…

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