Category:Social Commentary

Dialogues on Grumpy Old Men: Get Off My White House Lawn!

Posted on February 25, 2024Updated on February 25, 2024by Mark MamerowCategories:Aging, Capitol Riot, Politics, Social Commentary

Attribution: Joe Biden: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (source: Joe Biden); User:TDKR Chicago 101 (clipping) Donald Trump: Shealah Craighead (source: White House) Сombination: krassotkin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Bots, Last week’s biggest political …
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Kickass and Sunday Poem

Posted on February 25, 2024Updated on February 25, 2024by Bill StokesCategories:Humor, Kickass, Social Commentary

Attribution: David Castor (dcastor), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, doesn’t always approve of the keeper’s poetry fits but he is powerless to stop them… THIS SUNDAY Today is the day, For praying to stay On the gods’ good side Or they’ll take you away. Faith for the believers, …
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Clown Shoes

Posted on February 22, 2024Updated on February 22, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Politics, Social Commentary

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter He’s done it again. That Master of Marketing, the man who brought us Celebrity Apprentice, Trump Airlines, Trump University, ACN Communications, a series of failed casinos, his own line of urine tests, and of course, his name, his exclusive brand—his name, seen emblazoned in garish golden letters across …
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Add it Up: The Nature of Bidenomics

Posted on February 15, 2024Updated on February 15, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Economy, Politics, Social Commentary

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In the film Silence of the Lambs, serial killer—and cannibal—Hannibal Lecter says, “Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask what is it in itself? What is its nature?” (Silence of the Lambs). This advice helps FBI Agent Starling capture the notorious serial killer Buffalo Bill. If, like …
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Kickass and Gun Stupidity

Posted on February 15, 2024Updated on February 15, 2024by Bill StokesCategories:Guns, Kickass, Social Commentary

Attribution: Photo by Jay Rembert on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in appreciating the fact that they were among those who made it through Valentine’s Day without being shot. Some 100 or more people did not, that being the average number of daily gunshot deaths in the US: 54% suicide, …
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Mighty Love

Posted on February 13, 2024Updated on February 13, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Holidays, Michael DiMilo, Social Commentary

Artwork by Michael DiMilo Originally Published 2/14/2022 By Geoff Carter In her novel Surfacing, Margaret Atwood wrote “The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them, there ought to be as many for love.” She‘s probably right, although what passes for love today might not be as important to us as snow …
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Can’t Buy Me Love

Posted on February 11, 2024Updated on February 11, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Holidays, Social Commentary

Attribution: Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash By Geoff Carter When I was in elementary school back in the early 1960s, St. Valentine’s Day was the day that brought life and color—and candy—to the gray slushy doldrums of grade-school winter. Everyone would attach manila envelopes with our little names block-printed on the front —our “mailboxes”—to the fronts of …
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Kickass and Real Super Bowl

Posted on February 11, 2024Updated on February 11, 2024by Bill StokesCategories:Humor, Kickass, Social Commentary, Sports

Attribution: daSupremo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in insisting that a Super Bowl is one full of something good to eat, like Alpo or Phyllis’s “refrigerator” soup; and it is not a bunch of millionaires owned by billionaires banging against each other to possess an …
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Unbalanced

Posted on February 1, 2024Updated on February 1, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Politics, Social Commentary

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter There’s an old adage that the balance of power in American politics swings like a pendulum, and that as times and the needs of the electorate change the pendulum will swing from left to right—or right to left, as the case may be, implying there is a balance …
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The Pen in Hand Presents “The Writer’s Corner”

Posted on January 24, 2024Updated on January 24, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Books, Social Commentary

Attribution:Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash Featuring the Latest Publications, News, and Commentary for Authors and Readers Today’s New Book: “From Hardship to Hope: Crossing the Great Divides of age, race, wealth, equity and health” by Judith Gwinn Adrian and Jaylin Steuber Photo by Judith Adrian Book Description From Hardship to Hope: Crossing the great divides of age, …
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The Joey’s Song Concert 2024: A Night to Remember

Posted on January 18, 2024Updated on January 18, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Music, Social Commentary, Wisconsin

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I was recently invited to go to the recent Joey’s Song concert in Madison, Wisconsin, by my brother-in-law Michael DiMilo (also a gifted artistic contributor to the Pen in Hand). Michael had been asked to create some of his signature animations for the show, which is an annual …
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Catch-45

Posted on January 11, 2024Updated on January 11, 2024by Geoff CarterCategories:Politics, Social Commentary

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We live in perplexing times when an ex-president, presently under indictment for over ninety felony charges, is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. And—even more strangely, when his alleged crimes include (but are not exclusive to) instigating an insurrection against the very government he ruled and seeks …
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