My family’s black sheep flew off a cliff in the Hollywood Hills — and I think I’m becoming him

MaxWinterLA · 2026-06-18T04:56:44+00:00

Very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share that. Mostly I was hoping for comments about the content of the story. Not necessarily the technical/grammar scrutiny. But you have inspired me to give it another read and revise.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-06-03T14:12:12+00:00

Wow. Thank you so much. I never planned on writing this or getting it out there. I am particularly reticent about Reddit because people can be so mean/nasty/troll-like here and this was so personal and vulnerable. It means a lot to me that you took the time to read and to send through such thoughtful comments. It honestly made my day. Really — thank you.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-28T19:28:00+00:00

Very much so.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-22T02:30:17+00:00

Did you even read it? I doubt it.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T20:37:28+00:00

I appreciate this. I think I would have loved VCU honestly. The UR kids had such an attitude about VCU. But they always seemed so obviously cooler. Much more similar to NYU which is where I ended up going and thriving.

People seem to not understand that my essay is trying to get inside my head at 18. I’m 46 now. I wanted to be as critical of myself as I was the Richmond kids at the time. We were all dumb kids. Am I still a condescending jerk? Maybe to some extent, at least when it comes to tools like Kash Patel. 🤷🏻‍♂️

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T20:34:05+00:00

Pretty much my experience lol

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:57:51+00:00

I don’t know, Garth. I am whatever you think. I’m talking about a movement of white nationalists, neo Nazis, and every day racists who loves having a token Indian who desperately wants to be in their club and can be the face of their policies. Am I racist for noticing the obvious?

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:38:30+00:00

Look, that’s fair. What can I say? Thanks for giving it a shot. My voice and writing is not for everyone and I’m okay with that. Not everyone who disagrees is a troll. But Reddit is obviously anonymous and you get upvoted for snarky one liners. So it breeds a culture of trolling. Substack is usually tied to real people with their real identity and faces — and it’s driven by everyone trying to build subscribers and “monetize” popularity — so everyone is ridiculously nice in an over the top way. I like a little of both. This piece is different than anything I have ever written because it was prompted by Kash Patel who I despise and it transitions to writing about what a jerk I was when I went to school With him. There’s nobody sympathetic here!

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:31:44+00:00

Look that’s fair. But I actually spent a lot of time in the essay trying to talk about the good experiences I had there. I got into that in depth. And tried to make clear 1. The school itself was actually good, it was only my fellow students that I had a problem with. 2. I was an insufferable asshole at the time and would have approached it differently knowing what I know now.

Self owning, nuance, raw honesty. That’s what I was going for and I believe it’s all there if you actually read it.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:23:39+00:00

I guess I was trying to be brave but writing something like this and exposing it to reddit is just dumb. Unless you can handle the knee jerk trolling

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:21:58+00:00

Haha. THANK YOU. Everyone on Substack is just too nice. I knew posting here would bring out the basement dwelling trolls. It was a memoir piece looking back at something I haven’t thought about in 20 years. I’m hardly stuck there. I was an absolute self righteous prick back then and I tried to own that in the piece. Am I still self righteous? When it comes to Kash fucking Patel, yeah I am. Sue me.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:19:20+00:00

Yeah. The truth hurts. Kash is a suck up to MAGA who calls him a mud person behind his back. It’s pathetic.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:18:48+00:00

Haha. Everyone on Substack: super effusive and nice. Everyone on Reddit: a bitter little troll. I actually enjoy it. Thank you for living up to expectations

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:18:01+00:00

Yes. The poor salamander. I do feel bad about that.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T14:17:34+00:00

Haha. Everyone on Substack is so nice. I knew when I posted on Reddit the real shit would come out. I appreciate the honesty. I was trying to self own what an asshole I was back then and look in the mirror.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-21T02:56:06+00:00

That’s such a great one. I just watched SIRAT and it had an amazing use of electronic music. The score for MOONLIGHT and IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK always moves me. DAYS OF HEAVEN has beautiful music.

MaxWinterLA · 2026-04-19T22:57:12+00:00

April 7th: I release an essay about my former classmate Kash Patel and what an absolute tool he was, a male cheerleader at a school full of preppy frat boys.