Why School Should Be Cool

I was a school teacher for thirty-one years, and in spite of the immense amount of brain damage that builds up over time, especially as a middle-school teacher, I think I know what we’ve been…

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Being and Artistry

Being an artist is a matter of genetics, luck, and loads of practice.  I began drawing when I was only four or five years old.  I drew skulls and skeletons, crocodiles and deer on everything.  My k…

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Anita Jones, the Little Red-Haired Girl

Anita Jones is a character in several of my books, but she also represents a girl from my own childhood who was as much of a regret for me as she was for poor old Charlie Brown. Anita Jones, of cou…

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Retirement Is…

Retirement is… Watching old movies… Yes, good old movies… Casablanca with Bogey and Bergman… The Wizard of Oz with Judy… E.T. with that bug-eyed alien… No more j…

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A Collection of Rather Evil Men

You wonder how they do it, these corrupt and evil men. They fight for their own interests and act like clowns every now and then. And still, retain their power while holding the bloody knife They u…

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About Bruce Timm

“Today I thought I would tell you about Bruce Timm.” “Bruce Timm?  Who the heck is he?” “You know. That artist with that style… you know, the Batman guy.” …

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Simplicity

Today’s sermon is a further attempt by Mickey to say something coherent about religion. I am trying to be a humor writer, and religion is a difficult topic to commit acts of humor against. Pe…

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If You are the Villain

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A New Day Art Day

So, how do you follow up a thing like starting a new religion like Quackatoonity? Should you follow it up? I mean, this is Art Day. And I need a theme for Art Day. How about, “Art with no duc…

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The Case for the Clown

The criminal was led into the courtroom in chains and forced to sit in a box made of metal bars so his influence would not reach out and harm anyone by drawing their sympathy in. “Mr. Prosecu…

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Art Day Look-Back at 2015

This is artwork from this blog in 2015, a year after I retired from teaching. December … The Leap December… Annette Funicello November … The Singers November … Shannon Octob…

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Living in a Fictional World

My title for today has at least a double meaning, if not a triple or fourple one. “Fourple?” you say. Yes, four plus the color purple. Purple, after all is the dominant color used in th…

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Do Not Waste Another Day (a poem)

Do not waste another day, Even if you can only play, For each new day is a gift from heaven. Each new week, composed of seven, Is there for you to do something great, And that is how you work out y…

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Becoming

The classic line from the visionary poet Theodore Roethke; **** This is a look back at an essay from 2017**** But the truth is, before you can BE you must first BECOME. I know what you are probably…

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The Naturist (and other poems)

The Naturist I am a naturist… I need to be naked… There needs to be nothing… Between my skin, the wind, the water, and the sun. My soul has to flow… Into the world… In…

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More Art Smart

Susu in the cornfield. The girl from San Antonio The cat girl with the rainbow colors. Again, these pictures were made with the assistance of Picsart AI Photo Editor and AI Mirror programs.

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Three Blue Clowns

Well, here it is, my most recent work of art. But what does it mean? Why are they nude? Why are they clowns? I am asking you. It is always up to the viewer to decide what an image makes them feel. …

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“That Night in Saqqara I Was Taken By Surprise”

Life is never quite like the way it is in your head.  Things you don’t believe are true will constantly surprise you with the reality they belt you over the head with at the most inoppor…

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The Magic of Pez

In 1927 in the mythical land of Austria, where they seem to know how to make candy… a condensed form of peppermint was created in a lozenge form and then placed into a plastic toy dispenser. …

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How to Be a Farm Boy Without Really Trying (or Wanting To)

Farmgirl is adapted from a picture borrowed from the Belmond Area Arts Council. I was born in Mason City, Iowa (the original River City of Meredith Wilson’s Broadway musical, The Music Man). …

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Cooking More Futzbatter

“What’s this with the made up words thing?  You can’t just make up words!” “Why not?  I’m an English teacher.  Who better to make up words?”…

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What in the Dickens?

Life is full of crazy characters with silly sounding names. Pumblechook and Magwitch, Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher, Sydney Carton. Little Nell and Dick Swiveller. Uriah Heep and Mr. Murdstone. Bil…

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Conflict is Essential

The case has been made in an article by John Welford ( that English King Henry the VIII may have suffered from a genetic disorder commonly known as “having Kell blood” which may have ma…

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Thanks for the Memories, Frances Gumm

Little Frances Gumm from Minnesota She is older than both my mother and my father. In fact, if she were alive today, if she hadn’t died young when I was thirteen, she would be 101, passing th…

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The Angel Confronts Me

The angel of writing inspiration is angry with me. It has been too long since I buckled down to writing some WIP words every day. I used to do at least 500 words a day on the work in progress at th…

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Tarzan and the Timeless Valley of Nostalgia

There was a time when Tarzan was one of the ruling heroes of my boyhood fantasies of power and self-fulfillment. And, while Tarzan was a cartoon show on Saturday morning, comics by Burne Hogarth, m…

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Mickey Predicts… Uh, Oh!

I have lately been watching YouTube videos about science fiction writers like Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. These are visionary writers who predicted many things about future app…

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