Category Archives: history

20 years since Shock and Awe? ‘Good God, y’all!’

Posted on March 26, 2023 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit examined the playlist of protest songs I compiled to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the Second Persian Gulf War. He played “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and started laughing. “That song came out in 1971, during the Vietnam War,” … Continue reading →

Posted in apocalypse, history, humor, Iraq war, mainstream media, pop music, terrorism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fifteen spirituals to help you get through 2022

Posted on January 12, 2022 by oddmanout215

“They ain’t spirituals,” Swamp Rabbit said. “Elvis was a rocker. Blind Faith don’t belong on no list with James Cleveland. Matthew Sweet got ain’t got nothin’ to do with Mahalia Jackson. You got gospel mixed up with rock ‘n’ roll.” … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, history, humor, mainstream media, pop music | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Watching ‘Wonderful Life’ but not getting it

Posted on January 4, 2022 by oddmanout215

“How come you like that corny movie?” Swamp Rabbit said after watching the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) for the first time. “I thought you were one of them too-cool-for-school guys.” I told him Wonderful Life transcends its … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, history, humor, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Food and gratitude, in that order

Posted on November 25, 2021 by oddmanout215

I wished Swamp Rabbit a Happy Thanksgiving, knowing this would set him off. “What’s so happy about it?” he said. “This supply chain problem is making me crazy as a chinch bug.The Dollar Store is charging the same price as … Continue reading →

Posted in food, history, humor, mainstream media, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Strange days have found us

Posted on November 3, 2021 by oddmanout215

It was a spooky weekend here in the Tinicum swamp, but not because of Halloween tricks or seasonal changes. “So why was it spooky?” Swamp Rabbit said. I told him I’d watched a movie called Strait-Jacket, with Joan Crawford as … Continue reading →

Posted in history, humor, mainstream media, movies, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Goodbye, Columbus? Not in South Philly.

Posted on October 12, 2021 by oddmanout215

This is a follow-up to a column Odd Man Out wrote last summer. A bizarre psychodrama was unfolding in South Philadelphia while Swamp Rabbit and I worked a dull sales event in the suburbs. Hundreds of people had gathered to … Continue reading →

Posted in history, humor, immigration, mainstream media, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Farewell to rock ‘n’ roll’s coolest timekeeper

Posted on August 29, 2021 by oddmanout215

“All the great ones are checking out,” I said to my neighbor Swamp Rabbit after hearing that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts had died Tuesday at age 80. “It’s the end of an era.” Swamp Rabbit sipped whiskey and shook … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, history, humor | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

OK, I give up — why were we in Afghanistan?

Posted on August 17, 2021 by oddmanout215

America’s 20-year war and nation-building experiment in Afghanistan came to a predictably bad end over the weekend. Since then, foreign policy “experts” have been speculating what went wrong, but few are admitting the effort was a colossal mistake from the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, humor, Iraq war, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Year of the Yahoo

Posted on August 11, 2021 by oddmanout215

“What exactly you mean by yahoo?” Swamp Rabbit said, sounding defensive. I’d just finished telling him that yahoo-ism is a syndrome that’s been trending for years in this country. That the yahoos among us became louder and more conspicuous when … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, history, humor, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wishful thinking, a.k.a. bipartisanship

Posted on August 4, 2021 by oddmanout215

I told Swamp Rabbit that the country is in a one-step-forward, two-steps-back historical loop, and there’s no reason to believe things will get better anytime soon. He didn’t want to believe this, so I summarized some news stories for him … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, history, humor, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment