Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, cheered the keeper and Phyllis on as they used the flawless sunny Saturday to soak up some spring and some youth in the vicinity of the UW. A walk out onto picnic point made the points that leashed dogs think the day is all …
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Dialogues on a Return to Sanity: Blue is the Warmest Color
Tony Patt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter ….Hail to the Victors…bl, bl, blah… First off: Apologies in advance for the volume lately. Below story is the sudden Democratic dominance in Michigan, a state I thought had swung hard right. …
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Kickass and Chicken Trouble
Adriel anv00, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is unable to offer meaningful help to the keeper as he struggles to sort through a long lifetime of memories, a case in point being just whose chickens was it that, as a toddler, he frightened into a destructive panic by …
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Kickass and Hummingbird Soup
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, has some doubts about the keeper’s project of teaching hummingbirds to eat sunflower seeds so he can stay within the “only hummingbird feeders rule” on the balconies at Vista West where he and Phyllis reside. So far the finches and sparrows, while demonstrating a …
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Kickass and the Anniversary
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper today in the anniversary celebration of Phyllis and the keeper as, in this season of love and nesting and mating, they mark their four treasured married years while the birds tweet sweet nothings and the creatures all murmur to each other …
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Spirit World
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Last week, my wife and I traveled down to visit my brother and his wife in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s a long drive, but after we get past the rolling hills of Iowa and the endless horizons of Nebraska, we were awed by the sight of the …
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Kickass and Oldest Sibling
Attribution: personal archive, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that both the keeper and Phyllis are the first born in their respective families which gave them special authority on the recent national sibling day–April 10–to pass along the following guidelines for the proper treatment of an older sister …
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Kickass and the Rancher’s Daughter
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, has fond lets-pretend memories of being a cowboy in New Mexico, and later of naming a book–“Hi-ho Silver Anyway,” as part of that recall; and always there was a love interest in which the keeper rescued a beautiful rancher’s daughter and rode off into …
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Kickass and Jessy’s Gifts
Photo by Phyllis Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, marvels at the keeper’s good fortune in having grandchildren like Jessy who wisely and kindly anticipate his “equipment” needs and provide him with the means to do whatever activity is important in his life at the time. So, Jessy came bearing a gorgeous Afghan that she had …
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And Justice for All: The Cultural Work of Film Violence
Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash By Geoff Carter Movies are by far the dominant popular art form in American. Books have become nearly passe. Theater is hanging on, not quite dead yet, but definitely not the force it used to be. Sports, particularly football and basketball, are still popular, but the laconic and deliberate former national pastime—baseball—has …
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Dialogues on Corrupting Influences: My War Was Better than your War
(Special Feature from ChatGPT: “AI, AI, AI, Ohhh…”) Sgt. Felicya Adams, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Bots, Ross Douhat, conservative columnist for the New York Times, asks the question in his most recent column: Was Iraq a Worse …
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Kickass Takes Morning Off
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper will be taking this Beautiful Easter morning off from his duties of saving the world and making Phyllis’s life perfect; to wish everyone well, and to rest up for the intimidating daily task of putting on his shoes. Photo by …
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