Artwork by Michael DiMilo We’ve watched statistics spill off television screens and scroll across newsfeeds each and every day—for months. Milestones have been acknowledged, marked, and noted. One hundred thousand Americans dead in May. One hundred and fifty thousand in July. Four hundred and five hundred thousand, then six hundred thousand. And yet we still …
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Kickass Does the Milking
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper’s observation that Wisconsin numbers work out to mean that for every dairy cow in the state there are five people; and none of those five will have anything to do with milking the cow. As it now stands, while there is some movement …
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Kickass and Fitting In
Doug Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes one of the character traits shared by dogs and humans and birds is the lifelong challenge of “fitting in”– to a pack or a flock or a tribe; and this verity came home to roost in recent days as the …
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Highlights of The Pen in Hand Graphics: The Michael DiMilo Gallery
Volume II RBG by Michael DiMilo Over the past two and one-half years, The Pen in Hand Blog has been lucky enough to have obtained the services of free-lance artist Michael DiMilo as a contributor. While his unique style has provided a provocative and edgy feel to the blog, DiMilo’s pieces–obviously–stand alone as works in …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Swamps of Jersey
Not the Way it Used to Be: Review of The Many Saints of Newark Stephen Hanafin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter After watching The Many Saints of Newark, HBO’s celebrated prequel to its blockbuster series, The Sopranos, I can only imagine how much more disappointed the average fan is with this production than with …
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Kickass and Red Light Capitol
Anjaneyadas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observation that from their new location, he and Phyllis have a distant nighttime view of the lighted Capital Dome showing it to be in the proximity of several blinking red lights. The obvious conclusion was too easy for …
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Kickass 10/24/21
Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper had one of those negative narrative dreams before awakening very early to realize with great relief that it was indeed a dream, and his life was not ruined after all: Phyllis had not in fact made off with his 10-ton gravel …
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Books & Beer
Geoff Carter discusses his novel Thicker Than Water with the Books & Beer Book Club Click on the following link to access Valerie Biel hosting the Club with her Geoff Carter, author of Thicker Than Water The Beer and Book Club featuring Geoff Carter discussing his novel Thicker Than Water
Kickass and Moving
MoveON moving, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is rarely challenged by over-work, but it has been happening the past several days as the keeper and Phyllis engaged a small army of professionals to move them and their clutter to a new West Madison location. Never has Kickass been put …
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Sick and Tired
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter People are tired. Exhausted. They’re tired of COVID-19. They’re tired of masks and distancing and washing hands and being careful. They’re tired of other people not wearing masks—and screaming about it. They’re tired of schools closing and having their kids home all the time. They’re tired of not …
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Kickass and Silent Spring
NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and Z. Levay (STScI), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s solution to being totally incapable of understanding most of what occurs on planet Earth was a misguided attempt to …
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Kickass Makes Autumn Move
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that in this season of great changes–migration and hibernation and falling leaves and wholesale harvesting, the keeper and Phyllis are joining in the autumn upheaval by moving from one independent living facility to another for reasons as mysterious as the monarch butterflies deciding …
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