Attribution: Jonathan Trobe, M.D. – University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s latest vision issue is seeing double, which is one thing in seeing two images of Phyllis but quite another when it comes to watching the TV news showing multiple …
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Category:Social Commentary
Kickass and Chicago Irish
Attribution: Natasha Jelezkina from Chicago, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that thanks to his father’s “Yankee” genetic handoff he can come up with identity to almost any given ethnicity even including Irish. It was not enough, however, to keep him out of trouble with the Chicago …
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Get Up! Stand Up!
Attribution: Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash By Geoff Carter No living American has seen anything like it. We’re being invaded. From within. Our government is being dismantled by a gang of billionaires, white supremacists, and radical Christian Nationalists. Veterans, park rangers, teachers, scientists, doctors, federal workers, and many other hard-working Americans are suffering. Because of thoughtless and …
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Kickass and Plastic Bags
Attribution: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sometimes joins the keeper in the morning as he watches the students walk across the parking lot from their parked cars to Memorial High School on the other side of Gammon Road. It is the keeper’s observation that the students …
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Kickass and 75-Year-Old Compliment
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, obviously understands the “Good boy” compliment but is not sure about the keeper’s reaction to what was intended as a compliment to him when a young woman said, “You don’t look a day over seventy-five.” Perhaps the compliment is in a class with the …
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View to a Drowning
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In November of 2024, a disturbing incident was reported at the River Ouse near Yorkshire, England. According to the Sun, a man had fallen in the freezing water and a crowd gathered to watch as he struggled in the water, seemingly drowning. No one moved to assist him. Members of …
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Kickass and Relating to Chickens
Attribution: Roy E. Plotnick, Jessica M. Theodor & Thomas R. Holtz Jr., CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has concluded his research on which came first the chicken or the human and in keeping with the benevolence of great scientists before him is ready to …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: An Oscar Rubric
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter . In sports, winners and losers are determined by how many points they score. Some measure success by the size of a bank account or fame, but there are other more subtle metrics. When I taught English, it was a requirement of the job to develop a rubric, …
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Kickass and Dad’s Wagon Rides
Attribution: Photo by Luismi Sánchez on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, turns it over to the keeper on this very windy day to remember a story his dear old dad told of his own boyhood in North Dakota when he hooked his coaster wagon to big tumbleweeds and let the wind pull him across the …
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Kickass and Complaints
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper who never aspires to “Good boy!” status, was gratified recently with proof that some of his communication efforts are succeeding in reaching readers. Fellow Vista West residents B and C were among those who took the trouble to respond to …
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Taken for Granted
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “Don’t it always seem to go/ That you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone/” –“Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell Humans have a peculiar tendency to become quickly accustomed to surrounding circumstances—particularly good circumstances—and then to subsequently take them for granted. The excitement of getting a …
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Kickass and VA Eye Clinic
Attribution: Marianne O’Leary Creative Commons Attribution 2.0, Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stays home this morning as the keeper and Phyllis trot off to the VA eye clinic to learn more about the recent changes in the keeper’s AMD–Age relatd Macro Degeneration. After years of careful monitoring and treatment by the …
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