Attribution: Archives Branch, USMC History Division, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are hurting. …
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Month:December 2023
The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments
Attribution: Marek Slusarczyk, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. We are lucky to be able to …
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Kickass and Santa Assignments
Attribution: John Malmin, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper on this pre-Christmas day as he–the keeper, speculates on just what crazy assignment the late State Journal city editor Glenn Miller might have hatched up were holiday things in place as they were back in Madison in the 1960’s. Once …
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“Just Like the Ones I Used to Know”: The Pen in Hand’s Guide to Vintage Christmas Movies
Photo by Geoffrey Carter (Originally published, December 10, 2021) By Geoff Carter Well, the Christmas season is upon us in full force. The commercials are everywhere. We’ve seen that ad for the car—or Energizer Bunny, wrapped in a bow and sitting in the driveway on Christmas morning at least one hundred times. Sometimes it’s hard to find the …
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Kickass and Willie’s Birthday
Attribution: Robbiework, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper and Phyllis in watching the parade of old country music stars celebrate Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday on Sunday night TV, and proclaimed the time well spent considering the age group involved and alternative entertainment options. As a symbol of …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: An Embarrassment of Scrooges
Attribution: MGM, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally published December 18, 2022) By Geoff Carter It’s only about a week until Christmas, and we’re into the full swing of the holiday season. Shopping, decorating, traveling, baking, wrapping, entertaining, and all the other painfully joyous activities are part of the annual hustle and bustle of the …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “The Wonder”
Attribution: Fernando de Sousa from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Little Girl Lost: Movie Review of The Wonder By Geoff Carter The beginning of Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder, an historical drama based in post-famine Ireland, is—strangely—framed with a shot of the movie set on which it is being made. A female narrator speaks directly …
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Kickass and Roger’s Dream
Attribution: Robert William Buss , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in asking, what are friends for if not to admire and envy, and such was the case with him and Phyllis in a post dinner conversation with Sandra and Roger about dreams and dreaming in which …
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Dialogues on Getting Schooled: The High in Higher Education
Attribution: Tichnor Brothers, Publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Found this insightful, if not entertaining. Gail and Brett…and others have been espousing the value of the 3 year college degree—fits like a glove with this Economist value centric …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted December 2020) As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the …
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Kickass and Sister’s Birthday
Picture by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in wishing the keeper’s younger—by only 15 months, sister Norma a very happy birthday as she greets this day and every day with typical independence, alone in her Cherry Valley house with family nearby ready to celebrate with a …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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