Artwork by Michael DiMilo In a story that recently went viral, an ad agency employee was summoned to a meeting with his human resources supervisor, presumably to be terminated, and was told that he would be able to have a “support” person accompany him to the interview. The employee elected to bring a clown as …
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Tag:Michael DiMilo
The Sounds of Silence
Art By Michael DiMilo A couple of weeks ago, during one of our late summer hot spells, my wife and I were sitting on our front porch sipping a fine chilled French rose. We live on a relatively busy city street, but even with the traffic and other ambient noise, we were still able to …
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Giant Steps
Giant Steps Toni Morrison, one of America’s great visionary authors, passed away last week. We lost not only a supremely talented writer, but also a woman of profound courage, incisive vision, and sublime sensibilities. As an African-American woman, her writing enveloped and embraced the marginalized in our society—her society. Novels like Sula, Beloved, The Bluest …
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Civil Obedience
CIVIL OBEDIENCE I heard a great story the other day at my barbershop, that time-honored venue for a good conversation and the occasional bawdy tale. Things have changed, of course, and the barbershop is now not always a stronghold for the masculine sensibility. And that can be a good thing. The story I heard concerns …
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The Blurry Line
Artwork by Michael DiMilo This last week, my family and I took a mini-vacation to the family cabin in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The cottage has been in our family for a little over fifty years and sits on a beautiful spring-fed lake. After my father passed away, my mom—as she’s fond of telling—used to …
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The Part You Won’t Recognize
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The controversy over the freshmen Congressional members of the “Squad”, ginned up by President Trump in inflammatory tweets last week, reminds me of how prominent black athletes who spoke out for black rights in the ‘60s and ‘70s were condemned by mainstream American culture. Muhammad Ali is the archetype for this …
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Deja Vu
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Since 2002, including sequels, remakes, and reboots, there have been a total of seven Spiderman movies featuring three different actors in the titular role: Toby McGuire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland. Since 1989, there have also been a total of seven Batman movies featuring Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian …
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Brooding Parasite
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The brown-headed cowbird has a notorious reputation as a brood parasite, a bird that relies on other species to raise its own young. A cowbird will find a host nest, destroy or evict one of the original resident’s eggs, and replace it with one of her own. The host bird will …
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Ticktock, Ticktock
Artwork by Michael DiMilo In the 2016 movie Arrival, linguist Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is called upon by the military to help communicate with enigmatic alien visitors who have mysteriously arrived on Earth. During the translation process, Banks slowly pieces together meaning from a language that is almost entirely alien to any type of …
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Won’t Get Fooled Again
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Everyone is familiar with the term “the one percent,” our name for the ultra-rich of American society. These are the ones who control nearly fifty percent of the wealth in this country, a figure that has been consistently and perniciously growing. Some projections suggest this elite club will control almost two-thirds …
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Full Measure
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Ah, Memorial Day: the harbinger of summer, the first family picnic, and the grill master’s opening day. Memorial Day also happens to be the holiday recognizing and honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending our nation and Constitution. It is a national salute to all the soldiers who have …
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I Walk the Line
Artwork by Michael DiMilo When I first started writing this blog, I informed my family over dinner one night that I was planning to post one semi-lengthy piece every week and that I was not going to restrict myself to a any specific subject area or genre. I was going to go where the keyboard …
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