Attribution: Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper in his feeble efforts to “organize” the keep-safe treasures of his long life ran across his mother’s book of “One Hundred And One Famous Poems,” published in 1929 just a couple of years before the keeper was born. Mom’s small, …
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Kickass and Tax Revolt
Attribution: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, observes Phyllis working at the computer all day to file her and the keeper’s income tax forms, after which she suggested that perhaps a tax revolt might be in order considering how the government—particularly the current one, spends so much tax money on bombs …
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Kickass and Earth’s Fate
Attribution: Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper tuning in to his Outer Space frequency to hear the following: “Attention all those millions out there observing the quaint space experiment on Earth whereby the most advanced …
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Kickass and the Sucking Goat
Attribution: Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that in his tireless search for meaningful parallels in life, the keeper is convinced he has found one in the memory of “Snowball,” the useless Billie goat of his farm- boy childhood and the current occupant of the White House. Snowball, a hornless, …
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Our National Embarrassment
Attribution: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter She sat in front of the panel like an animatronic Barbie doll (Weird Barbie), glossy and blonde, but radiating an arrogant, overweening and disdainful vibe. She was there to testify to the House Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives about the status …
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Kickass and Jesse Jackson
Attribution: Leffler, Warren K., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s getting-acquainted-with-Chicago days with his old Army friend Bob Shepherd, a Black Southsider who was the keeper’s personal MLK and then some. As an essential experience the keeper and Bob were in the back row of a …
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Kickass Covers the Courts
Attribution: Brandonrush, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper in yet another deep dive into his newspaper clipping past with parts of an entry from his covering the courts in Stevens Point in 1958-59. The day-long hearing and trial grew out of an incident at the Parakeet Tavern …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Robert Duvall
Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally published August 15, 2022) By Geoff Carter One of our greatest actors passed away yesterday. He lit up the stage, the big screen, and graced our homes with his indomitable presence. From blockbusters like The Godfather saga, Lonesome Dove, or Apocalypse Now …
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Kickass and the One-Sentence Novel
Attribution: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s lament that there is risk to a writer in the simple act of walking through a crowded restaurant to get to an empty table. While the keeper uses a walking stick and his pace is not speedy he does manage …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Sentimental Value”
Family Values: Review of Sentimental Value ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Leo Tolstoy once said, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” and every unhappy family can show their misery in a myriad of ways—they’re only limited by their imaginations. Whether that unhappiness erupts in …
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Kickass and the Clippings
Photo by Samet Kurtkus on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper gratefully accepting the assistance of granddaughter Sarah in once again attempting to deal with the debris of a lifetime as an ink-stained wretch in the newspaper business. “Clippings” they are called. Thousands of them in drawers, files and boxes taking up space …
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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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