So here’s a fun story as we come to the end of the Xmas shopping season. Back in the mid 1890’s when department stores were just beginning to become the shopping norm, they very often had dull, uninspired window displays that did little to attract customers into the stores. This is ironic as once inside the shops, storekeepers did everything they could to keep their customers, mostly women, happy and content. They offered amenities such as complimentary tea service and lounges to rest in. Very nice of them, but those amenities were useless if no one was coming through the … Continue reading Follow The Red and Green Road To Xmas
OK – I promised myself a mental health week, so I stayed away from Freeperville – but I did go over to my old haunt Glock Talk to see what’s been going on since I left them 10 years ago.
I’m a handgun owner, and a Glock 21 owner, and I used to hang out there for amusement. They have many forums, and one is a political forum. Now there’s some liberal Glock owners, but they’re far outnumbered by the right-wing nutcases. I always had a bit of fun letting the air of reality into their lead zeppelins of bubble-think.
“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting… …equipment. General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service!”
Discussion?
Personally I’m sad to see him go he was one of Trumps best cabinet member
After having his carefully considered advice ignored several times, he got fed up. Funny how no quality people will stick with Trump. Trumptards will continue to rationalize, but “the truth is out there.”
Sad to see Mad Dog go so soon but on the other hand, I like how Trump switching out his Cabinet members and other staff positions. Making sure that nobody thinks that they’re indispensable and can afford to rest on their laurels.
Jim Thome made the Hall of Fame this week in the same way he began his career: As an afterthought. Baseball pundits flocked to Larry “Chipper” Jones, writing stories about him “headlining” this class of inductees. Or, as one writer noted about him, he “feels” like a Hall of Famer. Vladimir Guerrero had more votes, so he deserved more attention. Edgar Martinez didn’t get ENOUGH votes, so people were talking about him as well. Oh, and let’s not forget talking about the steroid guys who we are somehow either too soft or too hard on. Thome? Mmph. OK. For all … Continue reading Thome, my homie
This is one of the loveliest meditations on style — and everything else — that I’ve ever read. I want to show you this photo of an old man walking out of a building into the street with his hands full. He seems to lean to his right-hand side, which holds the bigger piece of luggage. In his left hand he holds a slightly more compact suitcase whose handle he hooks with his three smallest fingers so his thumb and forefinger can pinch some kind of stick—a broom maybe or baston. I love his bright panama hat with its clean flat … Continue reading Mistaken Identities
The plane touched down at O’Hare early Sunday morning, jolting me awake. I looked around to see other passengers in varying states of awareness. I flipped my phone off airplane mode and noticed I had no messages. I checked my email quickly. Same thing. Everything was quiet. What a difference two years makes. The last time I touched down on the first leg of a trip back from a college media convention in this metropolis, my life had gone from bad to worse. I had just traded some labor for airfare and a room so I could head to Austin, … Continue reading My Hill
Dear Sen. Darling, Rep. Nygren and other members of the Joint Finance Committee, News reports have indicated that your group has included in its most recent version of the state budget some “controversial language” that would “require the University of Wisconsin System to monitor the teaching workload of every professor and adjunct instructor on campuses.” As a faculty member of one of these institutions, I can assure you that this is definitely an important measure and a valuable first step in eliminating governmental waste and employee sloth. As many of you know, having received degrees from some of these state … Continue reading An open letter to the Wisconsin JFC in support of counting professors’ hours and trimming waste
One of the best jokes about jumping to the wrong conclusion is that of the scientist and the frog. The scientist tells the frog to jump and the frog does so. The scientist then cuts off one of the frog’s legs and repeats the command. The frog continues to jump until the scientist has removed all four legs, at which point, the frog remains still. The scientist then makes this entry in his notes: “After removing all four legs, frog goes deaf.” An equally disgusting and yet not nearly as funny series of answers emerged this week in regard to … Continue reading A Deaf Frog
Fifty years ago tomorrow, two scared 20-somethings gathered with family and friends in a cathedral-esque church on the south side of Milwaukee to pledge their lives to one another. Her father thought the man wasn’t good enough for his daughter. His father thought the woman was far too strident and interested in a career to be a good wife. Nobody, least of all these two kids, knew if they’d make it, if they’d be OK. Still, there they were in front of a three story slab of pink and white marble with a giant crucifix, saying they would live together … Continue reading A Golden Anniversary Explained
The reason this post is late is because I spent the last hour and a half looking up everything I could find on Carry-Lite Duck Decoys manufactured in Milwaukee. Am I a hunter? No. Do I care about becoming a hunter? No. What the hell is wrong with me? A lot, it turns out. I picked up six of these decoys at a rummage sale today, so duck decoys have become my obsession of the moment. A friend in California is a hunter and mentioned how to locate interesting and valuable decoys at one point. A friend here noted that … Continue reading Rummage sales are life. The rest is just details.
(IMDB’s description of “Blazing Saddles” begins with “A corrupt politician hires a black sheriff…” which is all that film and this situation have in common.) News broke Wednesday that Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke was taking a position in the Homeland Security Department, leaving me to recall a line George Carlin once uttered about Ross Perot’s challenge for the presidency in 1992: “Just what a nation of idiots needs: A short, loud idiot.” Coming up with a descriptor for Clarke is like trying to catch a fart and paint it green. It’s also as pleasurable. Many news organizations relied … Continue reading If “Blazing Saddles” were a Bizarro-land, post-apocalyptic horror film…
I was working the newsroom this week, when my wife sent me a photo with the caption, “Who are these people?” It turned out to be a “Save the Date” card from two of my former students who found love while finishing off their degrees here. The editor in chief of the paper poked her head over my shoulder and asked what was up. “I just got a Save the Date card from Ashley and Isaac,” I explained. She had a blank stare on her face. “You were here when Isaac was the managing editor, weren’t you?” Again, a total … Continue reading Remember the 32
The young woman sitting next to me scrunched up her face as she looked at a resume I would have killed for at her age. She had three internships, including one at a major media outlet and a second at a center for investigative journalism. She was the editor of her paper and had earned honors and awards along the way. Still, she had that look. “I just hope I get a job,” she said. “It’s rough out there…” I half smiled as I shook my head and told her, “You’re going to be fine. You have a ton of … Continue reading Seeds of Hope
Of all the gut-wrenching, out-of-the-blue, kick-in-the-balls moments that happened this year (and I admit there have been a lot of them), it took my kid’s school project to break me into a thousand pieces. She came home from school with a piece of cardboard, wrapped in festive Christmas wrap, a gift she had been working on for my mother-in-law. In years past, my wife and I have been the gracious recipients of cellophane ornaments, macaroni artwork and various wads of hardened clay that required long and detailed explanations. In each case, the thought was what counted, and the items went … Continue reading Sometimes, My Kid Just Wrecks Me
Column writing is a lot like comedy: Everyone thinks they can do it and that it’s easy, but only a few people actually have the chops to do it well often. For every Richard Pryor or Erma Bombeck who breaks ground and creates timeless moments of social awareness, there are thousands of people who think dropping N-bombs or coming up with theories on how socks get lost in the dryer will land them a comedy Grammy or a publishing deal. And for every Mike Royko or Leonard Pitts who captures the essence of a place or people and shines a … Continue reading “It’s Not About You” AKA- Stop writing shitty columns
Once upon a time on this blog, I was accused of creating “haigiography of a gas guzzling testament to why we don’t have widespread public transportation” in my tribute to Betsy, a gold, 1968 Mustang that saved me as much as I saved her. If that reader is still around, I’m sure she would be horrified of my most recent purchase: a 1966 Ford F-250 Camper edition with a 460 engine that gets about 10 miles to the gallon on a good day. I’m not thrilled at the impact I’m having on the environment, which is why we own a … Continue reading The more I see Donald Trump, the more I love my car
In my experience, the most difficult thing about surviving a trauma has been the dark, grim sense of how I felt I was supposed to react. When it comes to other successful endeavors in life, people are always looking for positive things they can tell you: “Hey, congratulations on the big promotion!” “Way to go! Your home run won the game!” “Nice job on this paper! 100 percent! A+” Positivity oozes out of everything we like to tell people for whom we are happy or grateful. However, in surviving horrible colleagues, baseless inquisitions, heavy bouts of depression and other issues, … Continue reading Survival is beautiful
So I get that you are VERY against trump… Are you as vehement when on Facebook and see anti trump stuff?.…. Just wondering… One of the guys I know who has been a lifesaver when it comes to helping me keep Betsy tuned up posted this on my Facebook feed this week. It came after about the third time I posted a “Snopes” link on his, debunking some meme his cousin Cletus or somebody sent him about something. This time, it was the Trump retweet of the “black on black” crime graphic, which had some journalists trying to verify … Continue reading Don’t Hate The Donald, Hate the Lame
I decided to post this under the FOH rubric because I'm feeling a bit foggy this morning. Actually, most of the articles linked to are about stuff in the past so I think the history thing works. It does for me. Geaux Tigers: LSU Prof Bob Mann wrote a swell piece about how Hubert Humphrey's time as a grad student in Red Stick imbued him with a passion for civil rights. After all, there weren't a lot of black folks in either his native South Dakota or Minnesota. Historical News of the Weird; The WaPo had an oddball story about … Continue reading The Fog Of History: Reading List
While I’ve been following the events of Ferguson as closely as I can from three states away, I haven’t felt like my white ass has had a lot to add on the subject. Clearly I’m speaking up today, but I’ll still just keep this short and to the point: As the world watches the events unfolding in Ferguson, many people have thought “how can I help?”. As a public school teacher, my first thought is always about the children involved in any tragic situation like this. When I found out school had been canceled for several days as a result of the … Continue reading Feed Ferguson
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media?An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes and … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Administrators in the Fond du Lac, Wis. school district this week implemented a policy that guarantees them the right to review all content of school media prior to publication. Any article that the administrators deem “poorly written, inadequately researched, false, defamatory or libelous, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or biased or prejudiced”will be yanked from the publication or otherwise censored. The root of this heavy-handed approach to student media? An article written by the Cardinal Columns editor in chief, in which she points out that a lot of people in her school have made and heard rape jokes … Continue reading Wisconsin School District Institutes Censorship After Student Newspaper Points Out Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny
Hadley Freeman writes about fashion, popular culture, and whatever else strikes her fancy for the Guardian This graph comes from a piece calledThe Elan Gale internet hoax sums up all that is rotten about our online lives: Gale is a TV producer from Los Angeles. He is also the proud winner of “Most tragic display of attention-seeking neediness of the week”, beating evenKate Moss posing in Playboy with a pom-pom pinned to her rear end – so you’re already getting an idea of the depths of idiocy here. Last Thursday, while many Americans were trying to escape their families and … Continue reading Paragraph Of The Day: Hadley Freeman Edition
This hasn’t got anything to do withAmerican Horror Story:Coven or other witchy/voodooy curse nonsense but with a survey about which state curses the most. My current home state, Louisiana is number 4. Fuck yeah, fuckin’ A, Louisiana is also the fourth most courteous state according to this click bait driven (it worked with me obviously) survey. Thank you for moving out the fucking way. We’re the only motherfuckers to make both goddamn lists thank you very much. They’re not polite in Jersey? Who the fuck knew? Everyone… Here are some swell looking charts courtesy ofMarcex; Continue reading Louisiana Curses
The geniuses who gave us TP Street and a confusing publication schedule have struck again. This time on the editorial side. There was a lurid story on the front page of Wednesday’s dead tree edition, which claimed to *protect* the identity of one of the story’s protagonists: A New Orleans taxi driver was arrested Monday after allegedly using his cellphone to record video underneath a woman’s skirt without her permission, then using the footage to try and bribe her. Hervey Farrell, of Metairie, was arrested near the intersection of Canal and Carondelet streets on Monday about 12:40 p.m. and booked … Continue reading Stay classy, Sometimes-Picayune
