Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter There was a time, not so long ago, when Wisconsin was considered to be a national leader in conservation. We had a long and storied tradition of vigilant stewardship for our lands, waters, and wildlife. Former Wisconsin Governor and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, a longtime environmental activist, was …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Big Leagues
By Geoff Carter I sighted my first robin a few weeks ago. The daffodils and crocuses are peeking through the earth. After possibly one of the longest winters in the history of the modern world—at least subjectively speaking, spring has arrived. We can enjoy walks in the sunshine, digging in the garden, and talking to …
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Cheeseheads
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I used to be proud of being a Wisconsinite. There was a time when our state was a national leader in education, clean government, and public works. We used to have one of the country’s best state-run university systems. Wisconsin had a progressive tradition reaching back to the …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Blood Money
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Film Review of Judas and the Black Messiah By Geoff Carter Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah is not only a gripping biopic about the betrayal and assassination of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, and William O’Neal, the FBI informant who betrayed him, but it is also a thoughtful work that examines …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Getting Even
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Film Review of Promising Young Woman By Geoff Carter It’s the woman’s fault, right? If they dress provocatively, flirt, drink too much, or go out by themselves, then they get what they ask for, right? Unfortunately, this neanderthal mentality still persists in frat houses, bars, locker rooms—and boardrooms—everywhere, and indeed, has …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Road Less Traveled
Film Review of Nomadland By Geoff Carter Nomadland is a movie that, like the people that inhabit it, travels unmarked roads into strange new territory. The movie is based Jessica Bruder’s book detailing her experiences traveling the country with a group of itinerant workers, mostly older Americans forced to go on the road in order to …
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Left Out in the Cold
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoffrey Carter A polar vortex descended upon the lower United States last week, bringing freezing temperatures across the South. While the entire region had to deal with shoveling snow, cold temperatures, and relearning how to drive, the great state of Texas found itself in a full-blown crisis. The extreme cold …
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Injustice For All
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch, a young boy, is shocked when, in the face of overwhelming evidence proving his innocence, a white jury convicts a Black man of raping a white woman. It seems, however, as if nearly everyone else in the novel (with …
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Divine Intervention
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter During the Spike Lee movie Jungle Fever, the character Gator is so badly addicted to crack that he breaks into and robs his parents’ apartment. For his father, it is the last straw in a prolonged and agonizing struggle to wrest his son’s soul from the clutches of crack …
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MAGA Land
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoffrey Carter American culture has entered what might be called a fractured state, divided along splintered planes of competing realities. A majority of us are still living in the real world, but a substantial portion of our population is living in a carefully manipulated alternative existence—a sort of ideological twilight …
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The Politics of Paranoia
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoffrey Carter We’ve reached a strange crossroads in the American experience. Homegrown terrorists threatened to violently disrupt a presidential inauguration. As a result, over 25,000 National Guardsmen were stationed at the Capitol Building. The FBI is investigating possible collaboration between members of Congress and violent factions of the far-right, allegations …
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Conditional Love
By Geoffrey Carter Artwork by Michael DiMilo It’s almost over. We’re just waiting for Donald Trump to be done with his tantrum. I’m sure he’ll file a couple more lawsuits, but that’s just posturing. He lost the election. Despite his promise that “you’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming” from the White House which—hopefully—won’t …
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