Pandemic Dance

By Carolyn and Bill Newcott The clock’s tired hands pull themselves toward 11 p.m. Our early evening was spent wallowing in distressingly repetitive TV news and high-calorie, low-nutrient streaming — and since 9:30, our heads have been buried in our laptops, our separate pursuits punctuated by occasional “huh”s and “take a look at this”-es.  And […]

Love Means Never Having to Say “Surprise!”

It is Valentine’s day. A Tuesday. Carolyn is at home, at the beach. I am at work, in Washington. Our plan is to skip the formalities and enjoy a romantic dinner the following weekend.  Correction; That is Carolyn’s plan. At 5 p.m. I am heading for Lewes. Riding shotgun are a blood-red Hallmark envelope and […]

Gray Cats I Have Known

For someone who is not a Cat Person, I’ve had an awful lot of cats, beginning with Fluffy and ending with Stimpy, both grays. Fluffy was my childhood cat, unremarkable aside from one memorable moment.  My sister Rosemary and I were in our living room when we heard someone shout, “Rosemary!” We looked at each […]

Me and the Blimp

Floating, Roaring, and Looking for a Seatbelt Above 1979 Los Angeles March 23, 1979—The Downey Southeast News/Huntington Park Daily Signal Story and Photos By Bill Newcott, Staff Writer They say it’s the most recognizable corporate symbol in the world. And, unlike most public relations hype, it’s probably true.  Goodyear’s blimps have flown above every state […]

Looking For Trouble

Memoirs of a 10-year-old Miscreant I don’t think I was a bad kid. I might not even have been mischievous. I’d say the fact that I can recall, in vivid detail, the handful of times I got into trouble as a child indicates I didn’t cross the line all that much.  My earliest recollection of […]

The Worst Movie President Ever: At Least It Hasn’t Gotten This Bad

Gabriel Over the White House (1933) Walter Huston played Abe Lincoln D.W. Griffith’s film biography barely three years later, and here was was back in the White House — this time in what has to be hands-down the most outrageous Presidential drama ever to come out of Hollywood. Huston plays Judson Hammond, a playboy ne’er-do-well […]

The Third Bomb

Story and Photos By Bill Newcott August 6, 2020 “Let me show you the gadget,” says James Walther. My eyes take a moment to adjust as we step from the glaring, hot air of an Albuquerque, New Mexico summer into the dark, cool expanse of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History — its […]

Moloch Feasts at National Prayer Breakfast

Moloch basks in applause at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton. Fresh from his surprise endorsement by the Organization of American Evangelicals, Moloch, the bloodthirsty god of the Canaanites and Ammonites, gave a spirited benediction at the end of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Few expected The Abomination of the Children […]

Breaking News: Evangelicals Shun Trump, Endorse Moloch For President

Breaking with long-standing precedent, the Organization of American Evangelicals has endorsed Moloch, the blood-thirsty god of the Caananites and Ammonites, in his bid to unseat Donald Trump as President. “We understand that this decision has seemingly come out of left field,” said OAE President Franklin Graham, who had in the past been an outspoken supporter […]

Unintended Consequences

In 1842, Viennese playwright Johann Nestroy penned a comedy, Einen Yooks Veel Er Sick Machen(He Will Go On A Spree).Audiences loved Nestroy’s elaborate Germanic word plays, but translators made a hash of them. As an unintended consequence, Nestor died unknown to most of the world. A century later, Thornton Wilder discovered Einen Yooks Veel Er […]