Attribution: Charles Marion Russell , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper hopes to avoid professional therapy as he adjusts to the new—to him, historical information that the Lewis and Clark expedition bought and ate 193 dogs as a source of protein, and in a diary, Meriwether …
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Add it Up: The Nature of Bidenomics
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
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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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to the Best Valentine’s Day Movies
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Top Ten Romance Films By Geoff Carter It’s Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air, but those of us who choose to enjoy a warm and cozy evening inside, finding that perfect romantic movie is the perfect way to enjoy that special someone. So, rather writing one of my garden variety …
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Kickass and Old Valentines
Attribution: Chordboard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis on this Valentine’s Day to contribute age-appropriate material that is immediately in the public domain and therefore up for grabs for “old” friends use. *Roses are red, violets are blue, I love you through covid and …
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Kickass Remembers a Valentine
Attribution: Amada44, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, on this eve of Valentine’s Day, indulges the keeper as he recalls how he once spent hours using a new pocketknife to carve “BS & AH” into the bark of an oak tree in the most remote corner of the cow …
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Mighty Love
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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Kickass and Wisconsin Winter
Attribution: Richardfabi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observations as he and Phyllis drove to a Mauston lunch date with Phyllis’s son Todd: This cannot be Wisconsin in mid-February, this brown, snowless land with its clusters of naked trees and exposed expanses of dead …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “American Fiction”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo True Stories: Film Review of American Fiction The buzzwords inclusion and diversity are common these days. Through DEI and other programs, they have been touted as necessary tools to establish cultural equity, yet racial stereotyping, cultural expectations, and insipidly clueless racism continue. They are everywhere. The film American Fiction delves into issues of …
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Can’t Buy Me Love
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
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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Kickass and the Fox Hunts
Attribution: Photo by Amanda Frank on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper recognizes this time of year as the season of the great fox hunts when he and country cousins and comrades in northwest Wisconsin spent Saturday afternoons slogging through deep midwinter snow as they followed the track of a fox that …
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