By Geoffrey Carter Artwork by Michael DiMilo 2020 began badly—and quickly worsened. In early January, devastating brushfires in Australia ended up killing wild animals by the billions and destroying millions of acres of land and property. About a week later, scientists first detected the coronavirus in Wuhan. It swept across China, Europe, and began its …
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Category:Politics
Kickass and the Third Insect
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper hesitates to repost a photo, but after several sharp-eyed viewers—Jan and Gene among them, pointed out the presence of a third insect in the keeper’s butterfly-wasp photo, and Gina claimed to have photographed an invisible wasp, it was obvious that …
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Little Monsters
by Geoffrey Carter Artwork by Micheal DiMilo One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, “It’s a Good Life”, tells the story of Anthony Fremont, a small boy with extraordinary psychic powers living in the town of Peaksville. Anthony can cause people, cars, and whole towns to disappear using only his mind. But because he is only a …
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The Cost of Freedom
By Mark Mamerow Artwork by Micheal DiMilo “Freedom Isn’t Free!” It’s a potent bumper sticker, conjuring up images of GIs slogging ashore through heavy machine gun fire at Normandy, saving our American freedoms from the fascists. Freedom sets America apart from other nations: freedom of thought and expression, freedom to assemble, freedom to worship, freedom to petition …
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The Things We Carry
By Geoff Carter Artwork by Michael DiMilo America is sick—sick at heart, sick in the mind, and sick in the soul. And the worst thing about it is that we’re in a state of denial about our illness. We know something’s wrong, but we’re like the guy who keeps putting off going to the doctor …
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Colorblind
I’m a native of the greater Milwaukee area, infamous for being one of the most segregated areas in the country. According to a January 8, 2019 Brookings Institute study, “three out of four black residents in Chicago, Milwaukee, or New York would have to move in order to live in fully integrated neighborhoods with whites.” …
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Devolution
Artwork by Michael DiMilo This past weekend, my brother and took a trip to the family cabin in order to take in the pier, an autumn ritual. It’s a long ride to get up there, just under a four-hour trek, but the fall colors were just reaching their peak, so it was very scenic, although …
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The Big Burnout
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter After Donald Trump was elected—and even before then (during the non-stop drama of his reality-TV campaign and election)—I was an avid consumer of political news. On cable TV, I followed Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Anderson Cooper, Bill Maher, Joe Scarborough with Mika Brzezinski, and even, for as long …
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The Big If…
Artwork By Michael DiMilo Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would be commencing an impeachment inquiry against President Trump based on whistleblower evidence alleging the president had pressured Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden. After speaking to the urgency of the situation and the …
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Better than What?
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Earlier this month, in the course of one twenty-four period, thirty-three people were killed during two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. According to CBS News, as of August 5th, there have been over two hundred fifty-five deaths resulting mass shootings in this country since …
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The Part You Won’t Recognize
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The controversy over the freshmen Congressional members of the “Squad”, ginned up by President Trump in inflammatory tweets last week, reminds me of how prominent black athletes who spoke out for black rights in the ‘60s and ‘70s were condemned by mainstream American culture. Muhammad Ali is the archetype for this …
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Brooding Parasite
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The brown-headed cowbird has a notorious reputation as a brood parasite, a bird that relies on other species to raise its own young. A cowbird will find a host nest, destroy or evict one of the original resident’s eggs, and replace it with one of her own. The host bird will …
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