Author Archives: louisprofphillips

AMERICA/ AMERICANS            Mr. Pennhollow is the symbol of something that Americans, with their instinctive faith in human perfectibility, have always refused to acknowledge. The presence in the world of evil that is not accidental or caused by defective environment but is achieved by deliberate choice over good; evil that wears the calmContinue reading “BITS &PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE”

  MOVIES     The easiest movie to  cast and get made is a sexual thriller set at a resort location in the tropics. Every movie star wants a paid vacation, tropical sunshine, swimming in he moonlight. Every movie star wants to have real sex on the beach with his co-star.        GUY McELAINE .Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE”

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others have been tried. Winston Churchill (1874-1965) COMEBACKS   When longtime Boston Mayor James M. Curley was speaking during one of his many political campaigns a heckler shouted,     “I wouldn’t  vote for you if you were St. Peter.”  CurleyContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:POLITICS”

For all those who attempted my name game challenges: BELIEVE IT OR NOT’S ROBERT RIPLEY once received a birthday greeting from a Chicago resident named Zeke Zzzpt. NEW ANALOGY IN TOWN: William Barr: Justice::Aaron Burr:tap dancing. IT IS DIFFICULT TO PREDICT THE FUTURE The following sentence appeared in The Quarterly Review in 1825: “What canContinue reading “BITS &PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE”

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE WHITE HOUSE:   WHERE’S TRUMP? In order to boost sagging poll numbers and to relieve stress caused by the pandemic, protests, and failing economy, President Trump and his loyal White House staff  are publishing a puzzle and family fun book in the Where’s Waldo tradition. Voters, non-voters, and children  atContinue reading “WHERE’S TRUMP?”

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE WHITE HOUSE:   WHERE’S TRUMP? In order to boost sagging poll numbers and to relieve stress caused by the pandemic, protests, and failing economy, President Trump and his loyal White House staff  are publishing a puzzle and family fun book in the Where’s Waldo tradition. Voters, non-voters, and children  atContinue reading “WHERE’S TRUMP”

THE SAURUS — The dinosaur that is a synonym for another dinosaur designed by Lilly Krongard ** Loot (n, hence v, whence looter): Hind lut denasalized from Sanskrit lunrati, he plunders. Eric Partridge. Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (New York: Greenwich House,1966 Dear Editors:    Looting is very destructive to community andContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE”

One of my all-time favorite books is What’s in the Names of Wild Animals by Peter Limburg, illustrated by Murray Tinkelman’ (Toronto: Longman Canada Limited, 1977). Here is the opening paragraph: ANIMAL is a word imported directly from ancient Rome, where it meant “a living being.” The word comes from anima, Latin for “soul” orContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE”

A BASEBALL MEMORY FROM RUSSELL HILL, author of THE DOG SOX and GHOST TROUT When I was a boy (of ten) I used to go to the Oakland Oaks ballpark in Emeryville, on the Oakland side of San Francisco Bay and watch the Oakland Oaks play. took the C electric train that was bound forContinue reading “Some Bits & Pieces of A MISPLACED LIFE”

 ON COOKING                               “You have a map of flavors, and then you                                    dance.”        Ali El Sayed, quoted by David Kortava       in The New Yorker (September 2, 2019)       THE LETHE MARTINI POEM   I have already forgotten what this poem is about. ** COCKTAILS   DRINK/DRINKING                      The rightContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE #16”