Attribution: Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting that under the heading of “gifts-that-keep-on-giving” is the chest cold that Phyllis gave the keeper about three weeks ago and which has settled in as a cough that promises to stay with him on into his next life when …
Read
Kickass and 2024 Tomorrow
Attribution: Kvasir at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in realizing that there are only two days left to make something of 2023 before 2024 comes barreling onto the scene like the Dalton gang. Since its inception 363 days ago, it has been the …
Read
Kickass Endorses Dumbness
Attribution: Shakib khan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in suggesting that those days between Christmas and New Years take on the official designation of “Dumb days” when dumbness is celebrated collectively and personally as befits its global prominence. An exchange of dumbness as in the …
Read
The Possibilities Book
Photo by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter Christmas is a time that, for most of us, evokes fond childhood memories. Who doesn’t sit around the tree on Christmas morning, watching their adorable children tear violent swaths through reams of wrapping paper, and remember their own visions of sugarplums, bikes, road race sets, Barbie dolls, board …
Read
Dialogues on Mr Jingles: The Highs and the Manilows
Attribution: PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Listening to Fresh Air again—the dark days of December have arrived. I’ve always cringed, punched the buttons to escape, (back when there were buttons on the car radio), whenever Barry came …
Read
Kickass Goes North
Attribution: Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis have returned from their attempt to travel to the North Pole, after getting only as far as Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield where they were hosted by Phyllis’s family members, four dogs and several cats. Two small boys—Maverick …
Read
Dialogues on Crossing Decency’s Border: Refusing the Wretched Refuse
Attribution: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark O., Mark M., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter The Biden Administration is trying to shepherd through a Ukraine military aid package. By most accounts, this aid is critical in order to give Ukraine a fighting …
Read
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Pen in Hand Blog!!
Artwork by Michael DiMilo
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Maestro”
Attribution: Fernando de Sousa from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Asking the Right Questions: Film Review of Maestro By Geoff Carter To say that a creating a biopic of one of the most revered figures in the history in American music is an ambitious undertaking is a bit of an understatement. Yet Bradley …
Read
The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: The Christmas Truce
Attribution: Frederic Villiers (1851–1922), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The Christmas Truce By Geoff Carter The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are …
Read
Kickass Goes Shopping
Attribution: Musyajackson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper will be doing his Christmas shopping today, since everyone else obviously did theirs yesterday. In what can only be defined as a total lack of judgement, the keeper planned a brief shopping stop yesterday afternoon and was …
Read
Kickass and White Christmas
Attribution: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, accepts the keeper’s assessment that a gray or a brown Christmas is as good as a white one, except as it comes to singing about it in the mode of Bing Crosby. (Who is Bing Crosby?, you …
Read