book review
Books reviews on workplace, corporate, and business driven books.
What District Of Columbia Did..!
Games Of The Court, is a 132-page non-fiction paperback that stems directly from my real-world legal action, Case No. 1:25-cv-00079-RC (Seale v. DowntownDC Foundation). I filed that case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in January 2025. It chronicles my personal experience working as a Safety Maintenance Ambassador for the DowntownDC BID / Foundation before the company unjustly terminated my employment. After filing this case in the federal court, I formally reached out to President Donald Trump with this information to request for him to complete a investigation on that company and take executive action against them. I requested that he publish a General Statement with the National Park Service's yearly budget manual. Although there may not be enough power with just myself to see a greater organization manage the cleanliness and activities of Franklin Park right away, I believed that the National Park Service might have wanted to place the DowntownDC BID / Foundation under investigation based on the allegations of the discrimination and discrepancies they have created. I specifically, in typed letters, communicated to President Trump that he should think highly about speaking with both the National Park Service and Google to get their recommendations on new technological advances and projects for the District of Columbia's DowntownDC BID. Some people just might see this book to be somewhat of a placemaker for the future policy or direction of that specific part of the District Of Columbia’s Business Improvement District in the future.
By Gabriel Seale13 days ago in Journal
Confession Is Not a Performance
Confession is not a performance. It is not a speech you rehearse so the priest will be impressed. It is not a therapy session with a stole. It is the sacrament in which a baptized person names their sins out loud to a priest and receives absolution. The Church has kept this practice because it does what private regret cannot do. It restores the soul. That is why ordinary Catholics still get in the line, even when the line is short and the hour is inconvenient.
By Overdrive Records15 days ago in Journal
The Mass Is Not a Meeting
The Mass is not a meeting. It is not a weekly gathering where Catholics share thoughts and then go home. It is not a lecture with better music. The Mass is the sacrifice of Christ made present. The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of the Lord. That is why ordinary Catholics, including those who grew up with cassette decks and parish basements, still come back for it. They are not there for the bulletin. They are there because something happens that does not happen anywhere else.
By Overdrive Records15 days ago in Journal
The Saints Are Not Museum Pieces
The saints are not museum pieces. They are not statues you walk past on the way to a better exhibit. They are not names on a calendar that exist to fill empty dates. They are men and women who lived, died, and now stand before God. The Church keeps their memory because their lives still argue with the way we live. Most of the time the argument is simple. They did the ordinary things we avoid. They did them long enough to become holy. That is why ordinary Catholics still learn their names and still ask them to pray.
By Overdrive Records15 days ago in Journal
The Rosary Is Not a Background Prayer
The Rosary is not a background prayer. It is not a string of beads you keep in a drawer for emergencies. It is not a Catholic version of a short verse you can scroll past and still claim you prayed. The Rosary is a full way of walking through the life of Jesus with Mary. Each decade asks you to stay with one scene long enough for the story to do its work. That is why it still teaches the Gospel better than a line on a screen.
By Overdrive Records15 days ago in Journal
People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: Clive Barker
So it’s the summer of 1997 and yes I'm only four years old at the time. I’m over my dad’s house for the weekend and me and him are a couple of movie buffs, especially when it comes to horror and slasher. For me he rented the movie Terminator: Judgement Day like he was always did because it’s one of my all time favorites, but for himself he ended up renting this movie that took place in deep space with this pale skinned monster who had needles sticking out of his head. The movie was Hellraiser: Bloodline, the fourth entry in the Hellraiser film series. The series came from one of the greatest storytellers in horror history, Clive Barker. Today is his birthday and I wanted to pay tribute to him and tell you how he inspired me as a writer.
By Joe Patterson24 days ago in Journal
Creed and Nickelback Paid the Bills. That Is Part of the Story
The polite history of late 90s and early 2000s rock has a punch line ready before the needle drops. Creed. Nickelback. The format villains. The bands you are supposed to apologize for knowing. That punch line is easy and incomplete. Active rock after Seattle still needed songs that could live on a shop radio, a night shift, and a daytime hour. These two paid those bills. The sneer never killed the catalog because the catalog was never asking the sneer for permission.
By Overdrive Recordsabout a month ago in Journal
The Cassette Was the Real Record Label
The official history of heavy music likes labels, catalog numbers, and the day the CD showed up looking like the future. Fine. That history skips the actual distribution system a lot of us used. A TDK. A Memorex. A handwritten spine. A second-generation copy that already hissed. The cassette was the real record label. It got Slayer across a county line before the shop had the jewel case. It got Metallica out of a bedroom and into a dash. It turned thrash into a chain letter with better riffs.
By Overdrive Recordsabout a month ago in Journal
Load and Reload Were Not the Crime Scene People Pretend
The official story is a funeral. Metallica cut the hair. Metallica bought new clothes. Metallica made Load and Reload and the faithful called a priest. That story is tidy and mostly useful for people who need a villain. The tapes are messier. 1996 and 1997. Two records from a band that already owned the suburbs and decided to write like a hard rock band that still had a heavy right hand. Some of it is bloated. Some of it is costume. Some of it is songs that still work after the purity test got tired.
By Overdrive Recordsabout a month ago in Journal
Jason Newsted’s Metallica Years Still Get Argued Wrong
The argument about Jason Newsted usually starts in the wrong room. People talk about the mix on …And Justice for All . People talk about the cliff he had to stand on after Cliff Burton. People talk about the way he left. All of that is real. It is also a lousy way to hear the years he actually played. From 1986 in the live room through Justice , the Black Album, and the touring machine that followed, Newsted was the floor under a band that was changing address. Gen X heard that floor even when the first studio pass tried to hide it.
By Overdrive Recordsabout a month ago in Journal
Ozzfest Was the Last Shared Heavy Room
The tidy history of 90s and early 2000s metal likes scenes with fences. Nu metal over here. The old guard over there. The kids on the second stage. The veterans under the pavilion. Ozzfest refused that map for a few summers at a time. One parking lot. One brutal calendar. One bill that made people who did not agree on anything else stand in the same dust. That is why Gen X still talks about it like a place instead of a brand.
By Overdrive Recordsabout a month ago in Journal
