Attribution: Mennonite Church USA Archives, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons by Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis, acknowledging their cellular kinship with all living things—trees, creatures, insects, etc., note the preparations for the coming winter that are hard wired into the evolutionary survival programs of most life forms—except for humans. …
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Month:October 2025
Kickass and Birthdays
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis, fresh from the keeper’s great-grandson Tyler’s 11th birthday party in his parents Mazomanie garage, are impressed anew with the significance of the annual ritualistic celebration we use to mark the passage of our personal time. For one day each …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Friendship”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Cringeworthy: Film Review of Friendship ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Comedies like The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Flight of the Concords can be almost unbearably uncomfortable to watch—which is the point. Focusing on narcissistic characters whose social ineptness gets them into cringeworthy socially awkward situations, these programs produce moments that make the viewer simultaneously …
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Dialogues on Political Dissent: Armed and Dangerous
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter Bots, Some thoughts on the Kirk assassination. There has clearly been an uptick in political violence in the last few years, and the perpetrators follow the typical American pattern. They are men, …
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Kickass and New Calendar
Attribution: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, endorses the keeper and Phyllis’s explanation for the prevailing summer-in-October: it obviously is the result of “Only I can fix it, Trump” redoing the calendar to eliminate Christmas as being overstaffed, symbolized by a jolly fat …
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Kickass and Milking Cows
Attribution: StanCoFair, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper extends his and Phyllis’s unfailing efforts to be helpful to those ICE cowboys who are now rounding up the immigrant farm hands who milk the Wisconsin cows. Well, WHOA, all you masked rearrangers, doesn’t anybody among your deep …
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Kickass and Cop Horses
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis, impressed with what they at first thought might be ICE on horseback but turned out to be a couple of Madison cops riding their big gentle mounts around the westside neighborhood in a relaxed get-acquainted patrol. Curious residents, among …
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Kickass and Shutdowns
Attribution: Seattle Municipal Archives , CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, gives the floor—and the couch, to the keeper to recount his experience when the government shut down Camp Atterberry in Indiana where the keeper was impatiently riding out the post-Korea part of a three-year enlistment. At the request—order—of the …
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Blind Eye
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter As a people, Americans are pretty good at ignoring things. Typically, if we see a couple creating a scene on the street, we’ll ignore it. If we see a child having a major tantrum in the store, we’ll ignore it. If we see someone peeing on the subway, …
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Kickass and Closed Government
Attribution: Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, as a service to his species, works with the keeper and Phyllis to provide specific tips for dogs in coping with the shutdown government. 1. Dog walkers will now be “dog runners” during the shutdown as they function …
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