Welcome

Hi. My name is Joe Donatelli. This bloggy newsletter is where I write in hopes of bringing people together and offering them a moment of levity and connection during this fleeting time we’re all floating together on a spinning blue rock through space. A collective * bites bottom lip * Joyride, if you will. I know that’s broad. I’m sorry this is not one of those niche newsletters like the ones for making salads or understanding China. The specific contours of this newsletter are difficult to define, much like my waistline.

Who are you?

If you are asking about the self in the Cartesian sense, I don’t think this About Me page is an appropriate place for that level of digression. I will share some biographical information that lets you know I am a real living human. I am a journalist who lives in Cleveland and has a wife, two children and a dog, all of whom I love dearly but also go to great lengths to avoid when I get up before sunrise to write this newsletter.

Before moving back home to Cleveland, I worked for Los Angeles Magazine and Playboy as a staff writer and editor. Only one of which had a grotto worth mentioning.

What do you write about?

Whatever I want, really. I have written about raising my kids Gen X. People liked that one. Is Ohio actually a simulation checkpoint — you can find out here. What’s better than Fight Club? Men Who Brunch. The weirder your sense of humor, the more you will come to appreciate what you’ve stumbled into here. If I had to boil it down, I’d say I attempt to use humor to write about life, culture and meaning. Which sounds good, but then I go and write something like this.

You can read all my work here.