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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Category:History
Kickass and Republican Party
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis in Ripon for a Phyllis family reunion that went off without a hitch—no fistfights or political shouting. Following enjoyable family affairs, the keeper and Phyllis struggled with tech navigation in trying to find the historic Ripon “Little Red Schoolhouse” …
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Kickass and Uncle Ralph
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Sheldon Dick, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_Co.,_PA._Enos_and_Herbert_Royer_and_farm_hands_eat_dinner,_Royer_farm,_1938_by_Sheldon_Dick.jpg
Founding Fathers, Lost Sons
Attribution: John Trumbull, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter About a month ago, my brother, a historian himself, gave me a copy of Rick Atkinson’s The British are Coming, the first volume in his American Revolution trilogy. Mr. Atkinson is a renowned historian, having penned another series, The Liberation Trilogy, about the Allied Victory in …
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Kickass and July 21, 2025
Attribution: Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper likes to start the week off on a positive note and passes along the information that on July 21, 2025 both he and Phyllis got up, got dressed, got coffee, got into …
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A Fourth of July Memorial
Attribution: Photo by Alex Martinez on Unsplash By Geoff Carter Every Fourth of July, we celebrate and honor an idea, a hope, and a dream which has survived more than two hundred and forty years. It seemed to be an impossible dream, that a nation could function as a free democracy, with lawmakers elected by the people to …
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Kickass and D-Day
Attribution: National Archives and Records Administration , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stands with the keeper and Phyllis in trying to imagine how the world was focused on this day—June 6, in 1944, to repel the one-man cruelty crusade of unspeakable narcissistic horrors with its “Super Race” and concentration …
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Kickass and the Delaware
Attribution: Emanuel Leutze, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper stuck in a patriotic mode as he climbs down from the North Church tower and pauses at the George Washington Crossing Park on the Delaware River as part of his bicentennial series for the Milwaukee Journal. As he …
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Kickass and Old North Church
Attribution: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper and Phyllis joining in the 250thanniversary celebration of Paul Revere’s famous ride, and the keeper remembering when he traveled the country in doing a bicentennial series for the Milwaukee Journal and talked a young sexton into …
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Wisconsin Strong
Photo by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter I’m a Wisconsinite, born and raised. I’m usually pretty proud of that. Not always, but usually. We’ve had our missteps and our black sheep, but generally Wisconsin does the right thing. I’m especially proud of the progressive traditions and stubborn idealism evident in our state. Just last week, in …
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Kickass and Isabella POWS
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis were honored to host Isabella Lyste and her parents Lacy and Dave from the keeper’s hometown of Barron as part of Isabella’s UW Superior project of researching the history of German POWs in Wisconsin toward the end of …
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Kickass Remembers December 7th
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that on this day that “will live in infamy” in FDR’s famous words, it lives on in the keeper’s memory as a ride in the family Model A Ford to stop at Riven Clark’s Standard Oil gas station on Highway 8 to hear …
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