Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS Literature: Merciless Judging of Parents by Their Children (Georges Simenon)

“Today I realize that a couple with children is not just a couple. And sometimes they forget it. Near them in the house, almost always present, there are children who watch them and, in the measure of their own intelligence, judge them. The parents think of themselves as simply a father and a mother. ButContinue reading “RKS Literature: Merciless Judging of Parents by Their Children (Georges Simenon)”

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): “The Unofficial Mission”

The Unofficial Mission Sleek And silent The 52 birds knife up through Da Nang tropical air And when over their target Spawn the hot roe of doom Upon the suspecting unsuspecting below Leaks to the Fifth Estate “NAPALM BURNS AND MAIMS 700” In a private conference the generals and politicos are Most Disturbed Shouting “GodContinue reading “RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): “The Unofficial Mission””

RKS Literature: Harlem’s Sense of Community Before Its Collapse (James Baldwin)

“When I say I was luckier than the children are today I am deliberately making a very dangerous statement, a statement that I am willing, even anxious, to be called on. A black boy born in New York’s Harlem in 1924 was born of southerners who had but lately been driven from the land andContinue reading “RKS Literature: Harlem’s Sense of Community Before Its Collapse (James Baldwin)”

RKS Literature: Can a White Person Ever Know What a Black Person is Talking About? (James Baldwin)

“I hit the streets when I was seven. It was in the middle of the Depression and I learned how to sing out of hard experience. To be black was to confront, and be forced to alter, a condition forged in history. To be white was to be forced to digest a delusion called whiteContinue reading “RKS Literature: Can a White Person Ever Know What a Black Person is Talking About? (James Baldwin)”

RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: Your Horror at the Communists’ Intention to Do Away with Private Property

“You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us therefore, with intending to do awayContinue reading “RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: Your Horror at the Communists’ Intention to Do Away with Private Property”

RKS Literature: The Last Wishes of a Dying American Hobo (Jack Kerouac)

“I’m sick. I’m alone, I’m dying-see my hand up-tipped, learn the secret of my human heart, give me the thing, give me your hand, take me to the emerald mountains beyond the city, take me to the safe place, be kind, be nice, smile-I’m too tired now of everything else, I’ve had enough, I giveContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Last Wishes of a Dying American Hobo (Jack Kerouac)”

RKS 2026 Portuguese Wine: Morgado Silgueiros 2021 Reserva (Vinho Tinto) from Portugal’s Dão Region

I was fortunate a few years ago to benefit from a five-day media trip to Portugal’s Dão region relatively close to Porto. The wines and cuisine did not fail to impress. Our base in Viseu was a charming town with a fascinating medieval centre. It is worth a visit as is the Dão wine region.Continue reading “RKS 2026 Portuguese Wine: Morgado Silgueiros 2021 Reserva (Vinho Tinto) from Portugal’s Dão Region”

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM SQUIRREL HUNTING!

I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM SQUIRREL HUNTING! Oh what puppy pain! I have been banned from backyard squirrel hunting. And I’ve come so close! I bark at the sliding door when I see the varmits but Bob says, “NO! When you learn how to come to me when I say COME perhaps you can resumeContinue reading ““Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM SQUIRREL HUNTING!”

RKS 2026 EURO Documentary Film Review: “We Are Stardust”

Let’s be frank. A documentary about a jazz musician/record producer hobby scientist searching for micrometeorites doesn’t galvanize interest other than for those guys with plastic pocket inserts with pens jammed in them……the Elmer Fudd crowd? Micrometeorites, in non scientific terms referred to as “stardust”, are tiny extraterrestrial dust particles that survive atmospheric entry that landContinue reading “RKS 2026 EURO Documentary Film Review: “We Are Stardust””

RKS Literature: The American Hobo is on the Way Out (Jack Kerouac)

“The American Hobo is on the way out as long as sheriffs operate with as Louis-Ferdinand Céline said, ‘One line of crime and nine of boredom’ because having nothing to do in the middle of the night with everybody gone to sleep they pick on the first human being they see walking. They pick onContinue reading “RKS Literature: The American Hobo is on the Way Out (Jack Kerouac)”