This is Pat. Pat is a polar bear. I gave Pat that name because it is gender-neutral, just in case Pat decides to switch teams, like Caitlyn Jenner. Pat lives in the […]
Meet Pat, the polarized bear
Here’s not looking at you, kid
Note to readers: Jim Tortolano’s “Retorts” column is taking a week off. Here’s a classic column from a year ago when the pandemic was just getting underway. I am bored. Don’t get […]
A tale of two (or more) cities
If you want to find one, all-encompassing picture of Huntington Beach, Orange County’s fourth-largest city, you’ll have to dig further than just the image of a surfboard stuck in the sand, with […]
Bird Talk: some high-flying wings
By Jim and Marilyn Tortolano You’ve heard – or maybe used the term – “just wing it.” That usually means to improvise quickly or carelessly, the outcome of the finished product […]
A bird … a plane … a mistake
By Jim Tortolano Comic book iconoclast Howard Chaykin once quipped that the “Golden Age of comics is … 12.” By that, he meant that the art of sequential story-telling was forever trapped […]
All That I Know I Learned From …
Editor’s note: Jim’s brain is taking the week off. Here’s a classic “Retorts” from October 2019. At my deceptively youthful-apprearing age, I have collected a brain-full of witticisms, wisdom, old wives tales, […]
The Great Bunny Run of ’21
You may have read in The Tribune or elsewhere that Target made a profit of $15 billion last year despite the COVID-crippled economy. I think Marilyn and I, by ourselves, contributed […]
And maybe I’ll keep the mask, too
I went into a convenience store today to buy a bottle of soda. I caught a glimpse of myself in some glass: cap pulled down low (it was chilly), dark sunglasses (chilly […]
It’s time to cancel “cancel culture”
“He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” – John 8:7 Despite the admonition of Jesus 2,000 years ago, many folks are grabbing up stones and […]
The real meaning of January 6
“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” — William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming.” It certainly looked that way on Jan. 6. A mob of […]
