Category Archives: The Everyman Chronicles

Valley Hymn

Valley Hymn

They laugh
when I say I like it here—
like I’ve confused heat with holiness.

But there’s something
about a place that doesn’t lie.
The Valley never pretends.
It just spreads itself—
wide, cracked, sweating—
beneath a sky that doesn’t give a damn.

It’s in the way the sun leaks
down the liquor store wall at 6:42 p.m.,
in the power lines
holding hands across boulevards.

Out here,
no one chases dreams.
They work beside them.
The dreams drive for Instacart.
They sell roofing.
They play synth in a band
still deciding what to call itself.

God lives
in the hum of a laundromat on Tuesday afternoons.
No one notices.

Keep your oceans.
The Valley doesn’t need a view.
It is one—
burned and aching and alive.
All blister and bloom.

What You Feared

What You Feared

You are not what you feared.
You are the answer
to a question
you finally asked.

The voice inside
is your own,
lower now,
more sure.

You once named yourself
by absence—
now you walk in full sentences.

The world didn’t change.
You did.
And when you learned to stop flinching,
it lost its aim.

Bezos Blinks. Again.


Amazon nearly did something brave. It was going to show us the truth: how much Trump’s tariffs are jacking up the price of everyday stuff.

Not in a footnote. Right next to the price tag.

That kind of honesty doesn’t go over well in politics.

The White House called it a “hostile and political act.” Trump called Bezos. A day later, Amazon folded. Transparency lost.

So did we.

Bezos has tried to make peace with Trump. He went to the inauguration. Made the Washington Post cross the line into boosterism.

Didn’t matter. Trump wanted control, not courtesy.

And when Amazon even considered telling the truth about tariffs, Trump threw a fit. Bezos backed off. Like he always does.

So let’s say Amazon hadn’t blinked. We here at The HollywoodBowles prefer facts over fascists. So here’s what you’d see:

  • Bluetooth earbuds: $20 → $49
  • Phone case: $10 → $24.50
  • Desk lamp: $30 → $73.50
  • Wireless charger: $15 → $36.75
  • Power bank: $25 → $61.25
  • USB-C cable: $12 → $29.40
  • Smart plug: $18 → $44.10
  • Laptop stand: $40 → $98
  • Headphones: $50 → $122.50
  • Fitness tracker: $35 → $85.75

That’s the price of policy. Not inflation. Not greed. A 145% tax on Chinese imports, passed right to your cart.

Temu and Shein are already showing the tariff hit. Their prices are spiking. Amazon almost did the same. Almost.

Instead, we get silence. A few whispers from the Haul division. A phone call. Then nothing.

Bezos didn’t want a fight. But Trump picked one anyway. And the guy who built the world’s biggest retailer backed down without a word.

So next time your cart total feels off, remember this moment. The truth was almost right there, in black and white.

Then it vanished.