THAT MAD, MAD MAGAZINE

For a full generation, as the world teetered on the brink, the lone voice mocking in the wilderness was truly MAD.

WITSThe AtticNovember 19, 2020MAD Magazine, Satire, Humor, 1960s, Mort Drucker, Alfred E. Newman Comments

THE ONE, THE ONLY -- HARPO!

Shy second grade dropout. Struggled onstage with one-liners. Without a further word, he became a clown for the ages.

WITSThe AtticNovember 13, 2020Harpo Marx, The Marx Brothers, Comedies, Groucho Marx, Mime Comments

WOODY'S "OTHER NATIONAL ANTHEM"

On a winter night, alone and adrift, he checked into a fleabag hotel and began a new song. This land is your land, this land is my land. . .

FOLKIESThe AtticOctober 15, 2020Woody Guthrie, This Land is Your Land Comment

THE OTHER COLUMBUS DAY

After centuries of smooth sailing, Columbus ran into the shoals of history. And Indigenous Peoples’ Day was born.

History, REBELSThe AtticOctober 8, 2020COLUMBUS DAY, Indigenous People's Day Comment

WATCHING US WATCH TV

Others saw TV as mindless, but George Gerbner saw it as mean. And he had the data to prove it.

HOW HERBERT HOOVER SAVED MORE LIVES THAN ANYONE ELSE IN HISTORY

During WW I, when famine loomed, Herbert Hoover masterminded a global relief effort that saved millions.

History, HEROESThe AtticSeptember 17, 2020Herbert Hoover, World War I, Hunger relief, Belgian relief Comments

GOOD WILL ROGERS

“There’s no secret to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

Humor, WITSThe AtticSeptember 10, 2020Will Rogers, American humor, Wit, 1920s Comments

OCTAVIA BUTLER -- SCI FI, SLAVERY, AND SEEDS OF THE FUTURE

Reading science fiction, Octavia Butler saw no one like herself. So she vowed to “write myself in.”

ROBINSON JEFFERS AND "THE ANSWER"

Turning his back to the continent, Robinson Jeffers offered an answer for our own troubled times.

BOOK-ISHThe AtticAugust 27, 2020Robinson Jeffers, Big Sur, California coast, American poetry, Poetry Comment

THE MOHAWKS AND 'HIGH STEEL'

Builders offered jobs on the ground, but the Mohawks soared. Soon these “Fearless Wonders” were building the American skyline.

HAMILTON'S OTHER HALF

Broadway’s biggest hit celebrates the Founding Father, but without Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, there would have been no “Hamilton.”

JOE AND ELIZA -- AN A.I. LOVE STORY

He was a computer whiz. She was his creation, programmed to debunk AI. So why did people keep “talking” to ELIZA?

THE NUN WHO WENT POP

When Pop Art flared in the 1960s, Sister Mary Corita saw the light. Her brilliant colors soon preached love, peace, and hope.

JAMES TURRELL AND THE LIGHT DELICIOUS

Light dazzled the ancients but it took James Turrell to use everyday radiance as a paint brush.

ART-ISHThe AtticJuly 4, 2020James Turrell, Light, Roden Crater, Light art Comment

THE DECLARATION -- FARMER STYLE

Income equality? Unions? Co-ops? Busting up corporations? The radical left? Nah, just American farmers.

REBELS, DEMOCRACYThe AtticJune 26, 2020Populism, Declaration of Independence, American Farms, AgricultureComment

SCIENCE FARCES ON

A Wasabi Alarm? Astrology Charts for Bacteria? Scheduled Earthquakes? The Ig-Nobels are science for wise guys.

KINDER, COOLER, SMARTER

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