Attribution: DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper, in his fumbling attempt to organize political information to make it as useful as possible, revisits the file that begins with the quotation, “I could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and it …..” In his assertion that he is …
Read
Kickass, Is He Alive or Dead?
Attribution: TV studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper’s experience with the question of “Is he dead or alive?” as the blunt inquiry was recently asked about the invisible Senator McConnelly. The keeper’s occasion was part of his news reporting on the climax of the two-day …
Read
Kickass Greets the Day
Attribution: Photo by alex lauzon on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the multitudes in greeting this sunny Monday, July 13, 2026 with enthusiasm and the irrefutable knowledge that the possibility of being shot and killed by an unidentified POTUS gestapo agent is as real as more ICE raids at …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Undertone”
Inner Demons: Film Review of Undertone ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter These are scary times—not only in an existential sense, but also in the world of cinema, specifically in the arena of the horror film. In recent weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to review Obsession, Backrooms, Companion, The Bride, Frankenstein, Weapons, Send Help, and Good …
Read
Kickass Dissects the News
Attribution: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathizes with Phyllis in her monumental task of untangling the keeper from the tech webs that ensnare him on what seems to be an hourly basis. Most recently, in an effort to pass along important “breaking news,” the keeper …
Read
Kickass Talks to Fish
Attribution: Paul Nute, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, having no regrets about anything in his wayward life, is at a loss to understand the keeper’s ambition to balance his account with the fish that shared his bounty of years. Those fish were mostly trout that the keeper met in …
Read
Kickass Rock and Roll Music
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, protected the couch as the keeper and Phyllis boarded the Vista West bus as activities director Caitlin drove it to Fort Atkinson for an afternoon show at the Fireside Dinner Theater. The feat of ticketing, feeding, seating and presenting a bang-bang rock and roll …
Read
Kickass and “Takes a Peek”
Attribution: A McCarron, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper remembering the experience of a relative who, with his wife, was being shown a for-sale house when the realtor pointed to a door and identified it as a closet. Interested in seeing it all, my in-law intended …
Read
Perspective
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter At times, it’s difficult to see what’s right under your nose, or to see change happening over time, like when you haven’t seen a niece or nephew for a few months and are amazed at how much they’ve grown or to see how much a beloved uncle has …
Read
Kickass and Wolves in Charge
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper on one of his “trips,” imagining how it might have turned out if, back when the earliest wolves and humans first began hanging out around the same campfires, just how it would have evolved if the wolves instead of the humans …
Read
Kickass and Long-Ago Summers
Attribution: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives from Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shares the speakers’ couch with the keeper on this post 4th of July morning to allow him to revive other such mornings when the rural communities across the Midwest measured them by: *Cavernous hay mows stuffed to the …
Read
Kickass and The Silver Badgers
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper announces to the world that living with Phyllis adds many dimensions to his life, and most recently he has been basking in the reflected energy of Phyllis’s identity as a founding member of the Silver Badgers, the lively protest group …
Read