It must be the time for old, classic silent movies. “The Artist” and “Hugo” won a bushel of Oscars between them at the Academy Awards; and after many years of waiting and wanting, I finally got to view Buster Keaton’s…
Rioters burned and trashed downtown Athens, Greece, this past week, protesting the severe austerity measures that the country’s Parliament is being forced to take to obtain a European Union loan and avoid national bankruptcy. Protesters raised seven kinds of hell…
What’s an “epigram”? Well, it’s a short, pithy saying with a surprise at the end, some wit, and a kernel of truth. Like Oscar Wilde’s, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Or Will Rogers’, “I belong to no organized political…
Has Newt Gingrich stolen the Republican presidential nomination right out of Mitt Romney’s hand, just as the former Massachusetts governor seemed about to grasp the gold ring? It would seem that way at this writing, shortly after the closing of…
The U.S. unemployment rate is still far higher than any president wants it to be in the year he’s seeking re-election. Public unhappiness with the direction the country is heading is astronomically high. Americans are worried — REALLY worried —…
A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine was telling me of photos he had shot, late at night here in Madison. And he made one remark that led me to say, “I think you just gave me an…
(I wrote this short story, about a young boy and girl in modern times whose fascination with the “Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry leads them down roads they never imagined, several years ago. Hope you enjoy it.) —— “Who’s Gene Autry?”…
American newspapers from larger cities tend to reflect their regional peculiarities, likes and dislikes, and so on. That’s true of even the New York Times and Washington Post, which are considered national news media outlets as well as ones reporting…
They’ve made another movie about Shakespeare! That’s the good news. Now the bad news: Once again, as in “Shakespeare In Love,” The Bard himself plays second fiddle to someone else. In “Shakespeare In Love,” it was a 16th Century feminist…
The Jefferson County Public Library finally has a new director, announced today. He’s Brent Stokesberry, currently at the La Porte County Library in La Porte. And he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, that last fact may seem like…
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas came late to the ranks of Republican hopefuls for the right to face President Obama next year for president. But once in, he zoomed clear to the top of the polls. If one goes by…
Fewer and fewer Madisonians nowadays would recognize the name “Gavin Lodge” if you said it to them. But I’ll never forget him — he was my best school pal, the guy I was closest to from, oh, about the fourth…
Our venerable guardian, our Jefferson County Courthouse, is back up and running. And looking better than ever. The May 20, 2009 fire that destroyed the cupola and roof and heavily damaged the third floor couldn’t keep the grand old building…
Until about a year and a half ago, I didn’t think I could write poetry. (Who was that out there who just said, “You can’t!”?) But anyway, early last year I started gingerly trying to pen some verse, for a…
OK, here’s the plan: You and me find the biggest, nastiest paddle that’s ever been made. We take it down to Washington, D.C. And then we use it to whip about 536 asses. Yep, you guessed it. I’m talking about…
Imagine two modern, very powerful locomotives on one railroad track. They are still about 10 or 12 miles apart, but they are barreling pell-mell toward each other. Soon, if someone doesn’t pull a switch to shunt one onto a side…
The Stranger within my gate, He may be true or kind, But he does not talk my talk — I cannot feel his mind. I see the face and the eyes and the mouth, But not the soul behind. “One…
Jimmer Fredette is coming on strong, looking more and more like a high NBA draft pick. The “too slow,” “can’t play defense” (translation: Too White) jibes are growing fainter and fainter. “The Book of Mormon: The Musical” walked away with…
“We cannot have the same America, with different people.” If one had to sum up Jared Taylor’s incisive, riveting new book, “White Identity: Racial Consciousness in the 21st Century,” in one sentence, the one above in Mr. Taylor’s own words…
President Barack Obama offered Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deal that he apparently thought was a good one in a speech this week: “Let’s you give back all the land you won in the 1967 Middle East war, then…
I knew a man Bojangles and he’d dance for you In worn out shoes … He called himself Bojangles. But that wasn’t his real name, you see. That name seems to be lost to us, over all these years. He…
Barack Obama’s administration pulled off a tremendous coup Sunday when it finally rubbed out Osama Bin Laden, the evil master of the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans 10 years ago. This piece of sub-human scum had evaded capture for…
We have a multitude of regional accents, or even dialects, in the United States. I loved listening to all of them when I was around guys from all over the country, in the Army. But I wonder if these regional…