Author Archives: Justin
About Justin
Justin Kern pays the annual bill to own this domain that contains his name. What you see here is a sampling of how he chooses to use that online space. He lives in Milwaukee and still plays Sega Genesis.The World of the End
The most persistent nightmare I’ve had involves the end of the world. This is not the end of my world, as in, say, I’m chased off a building by a clown or driven off a cliff in a Ferrari. Both … Continue reading
Phony Conferences and the One That Really Mattered
During one particularly dull conference a few years ago, I had a daydream. The daydream – more of a bizarro scheme, really – involved setting up a circuit of pretend conferences. Online and in marketing hogwash, the conferences would exist, … Continue reading
Four-Minute Brags
Four-minute brags, a few minutes to write about writing that took hours to accomplish … Over the next two months, I’ll have a whole mess o’ words printed for other people to see. For starters, I’ll be at the Milwaukee … Continue reading
Groans on Film
I’ve been privileged lately to be part of two satisfying film projects, and one utter failure. First, the failure. It is a mistake to think that media at your fingertips is under your control. One of the great tricks of … Continue reading
Friendly (2006-2016)
Friendly (2006-2016) Rest in Peace
The Paradise of Reality on Pentimento Island
“This, the past, is never fixed but is, rather, the product of a consequent activity of adjustments, of pentimento.” –on a collection of paintings by Myrna Baez from “Puerto Rico: Puerta Al Paisaje” Step onto the plane in Chicago with … Continue reading
2015 in Personal Entertainment Consumption
I do not consume entertainment immediately. For whatever reason, I wait on certain books, albums, TV shows, movies, articles, experiences. This seems out of sorts nowadays, though I have a hard time understanding how the hell people find the time … Continue reading
Jonestown at 37: A Day to Reflect on Mania & Reality
Jonestown Day doesn’t read cute on a calendar. Sweetest Day or Grandfather’s Day or Jefferson Davis’ Birthday, all of these offensive benchmarks I’ve seen printed on mass produced calendars. For the last 14 years, Patriots’ Day has marked Sept. 11, … Continue reading
“We’d Never Need to Pay for Comedy”: Outtakes from a Talk with Poet Matt Cook
In a faded blue T-shirt and house-paint splattered jeans, Milwaukee’s recently anointed poet laureate, Matt Cook, shared a pitcher of beer with me during a ranging and refreshing discussion on poetry’s place in the world and, well, the world at … Continue reading
Tanning Through the Ice Age with Keanu Reeves
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to spend nearly two weeks with Gas Chamber, a band made up of four exemplary humans (and my friends), then write about the whole thing for Utne Reader. The outcome of the article … Continue reading