Charlie Cat & Company

21/08/2024

I love to share my poetry. Here's one piece from my collection Coursing. Please enjoy the video and the reading.

Boxes in the Attic is the opening poem in Ken’s new collection, COURSING, which can be found at https://amzn.to/3nAph4VWritten and Narrated by Kenneth WeeneV...

18/08/2024

Sometimes we forget how wonderful trees are. Check out this one tree—yes one tree—from India.

A single tree's 2,800 aerial roots give the appearance of a complete forest.

15/08/2024

I love a bit of horror now and again; how about you? Here is one of my favorites: The Twenty-Fifth Hour. Enjoy this YouTube read and be sure your kids are safely locked away.

Freddie is growing up happy with his adopted parents, who have rules they follow nightly until one night Freddie decides to change the rules.Visit http://www...

14/08/2024

Today, they are replacing our storm-damaged roof. A crew of workers pounding, thumping overhead. Tap, tap, ratcheted rap of hammers. The occasional shouted word in Spanish. Was that the crack of a revolver or just— We try to ignore. A louder noise. The overhead fan shakes with concussion. Absolutely no likelihood of writing. Stop, stop, stop: the voice in my head screams. At best, I’ll knock out this not-quite plaint. Seriously, how can I complain when necessary repairs are being made. Thud, thunk. Will he come through the roof, showering us with new shingles and all?

I need to do something, something to relieve the tension of the noise, something to relieve the frustration of accomplishing so little when I should be working on a new scene. Ah, I know. Chocolate cake, the comfort food of necessity. Time to go online and order a piece. No, not to stuff in my ears. For that I can use cotton. To stuff in my mouth. Ever notice that food has a way of turning off commotion, aggravation, and yes cruel rackets?

If you, on the other hand, are not being inundated with noise, why not invite some words into your mind. Here’s a link to one of my poems. I’ve chosen it to remind myself that while my home may seem inhospitable this day, I do have a home.

Poetry may not solve the problem of the world, but it can remind us to try.Visit http://www.kennethweene.com to learn more about Ken and find some free stori...

13/08/2024

First, I am not from Africa. Second, to the best of my knowledge any heritage I have from Africa goes back to the earliest times. Third, I have never been to Africa. Still, the continent has always held a strange attraction for me. Perhaps it has to do with my antipathy to all colonialism. Years ago, when I read The Heart of Darkness, I screamed with pre-adolescent outrage. In more recent times, that outrage has found other expression. Here is the audio (illustrated) of a story I set in Africa. I hope you'll take the time to listen to this tale. (Warning, it is a long piece.)

In My Father's House, There Are Many Murders, a short story of repression, rebellion, and pain.Visit http://www.kennethweene.com to learn more about Ken and ...

10/08/2024

Those who would push for law and order must also recognize when it is the system that is the actual perpetrator. Will the judge be held accountable? The DA? The failed defense attorney? The police? Of all of them, it is especially the judge I would have punished. Shut up indeed.

At his murder trial, Arvel Marshall pressed prosecutors to turn over surveillance footage of the crime scene. He knew it would show the truth.

05/08/2024

I am so proud of my friend Umar Okewu Abdul's students who produced this video of a song from the play we all worked on. Please check it out and think of ways we can all help such motivate youth to move forward.

Please contact me if you can help Umar and his students in their journey to making more plays, movies, and music. Yes, this is student work. Yes, they wrote ...

30/07/2024

Is there a God? What is the nature of God? These are questions I wrestled with as an adolescent.

I was the only person in my high school class from a Jewish background; and to be honest, I wasn’t much of a Jew at all. I had been brought up thinking of Judaism as a marketing tool. Our family business catered to the Jewish community. At home, we practiced nothing, and my parents never went to a temple except when invited by customers for bar mitzvahs.

Then, there I was at what is now called Governor’s Academy, a traditional New England prep school, a place where liberal Christianity was the linchpin. On Sunday mornings I went to church, sometimes Unitarian and sometimes Methodist. Sunday evening, we had a school vesper service, which was what I would call humanistic Christian. In senior year there was also a religion discussion group which met weekly. Just to add to the mix, we also studied Greek and Roman mythology in English classes and read Plato.

One more thing to consider: this was just after the Second World War and for me, again as a person of Jewish descent, I had to reconcile the existence of God with the Holocaust.

I give this background because I do not want anyone to thing that I enter discussions of religion lightly. For me, questions about the nature of God are existential; they are required for my own being.

Sadly, in America today we have many people who want to preach, who want to declare their views of God to be the only acceptable ones, who want to deny others the freedom that I had to wrestle with those questions. This note is directed to and against them. I do not refute their faith; indeed, I honor it. However, I deny their right to tell others what faith to follow and what truth might be.

If we consider the Old Testament, we know that it is filled with the conflict between submission to God and the need to fight him. Nowhere is this theme clearer than the story of Jacob (Israel) fighting with the angel of the lord. For those who would say the New Testament replaces that combat with pure submission to God’s love, I would point out Jesus’s wandering in the wilderness and even his question God’s will in the Garden.

Of course, other faiths have such battles. Indeed, the very beauty of that Greco-Roman mythology is the way humans and gods are wrapped together in ongoing dramas.

It is in that tradition of battle that I take my place. I hold that is my right to believe (or not believe) what I chose. It is my right to sculp God with my thoughts just as it is another person’s right to believe the images and ideas they have been taught. In this position I continue the reverent irreverence of many New England thinkers.

So, when I see “Christians” deciding that a tableau intended to be reminiscent of the Greek god Dionysius, intended to depict a Bacchanalian rite, is somehow a mockery of their faith, I want to scream my outrage. Not only because of the solipsistic thinking that underlies their judgement but because they once again people are trying to tell others what to believe.

So, is there a God? What is the nature of God? Well, I’m not going to give you the answers. I know what I believe, but I don’t need to convince you that I am correct. On the other hand, I will say if you are interested in my ideas about God, you should read my novels, poetry and plays. I suggest you start with my poetry collection Coursing.

COURSING

25/07/2024

Wow, what a month so far in America. An assassination attempt, a POTUS stepping down from the nomination, riots that included graffiti on the Liberty Bell (YUCK), hottest days in world history (more yuck), an explosion at Yellowstone, massive wild fires in California, and the list goes on. Time to crawl into a quiet place with a good book and hide. That's always been one of my preferred ways to deal with stress.

In high school, boarding school, I took refuge in the little library. Having already read Conrad, Sinclair, Dos Pesos, Steinbeck, and more, I started that year with Tolstoy's War and Peace. Why that one? Because it was the longest so would give me the best hidden world in which to take up residence. Besides, what adolescent boy doesn't enjoy a good war?

Do you take emotional refuge in books? Which were some of your favorite hiding places?

Are you looking for another good read to get lost in, to shield you from that maelstrom that's surrounding us these days? Might I suggest Red and White.

During the years after the Civil War, Lonely Cricket, a Native American boy, strives to learn his people’s ways and traditions and to grow to manhood. This is a difficult task for any youngster, but Lonely Cricket is coming of age in a world that is changing. One in which Euro-Americans are deter....

08/07/2024

is dangerous. No longer will you have any voice at all or protection from those who break laws or work against our Constitution and Bill of Rights. One person, a loyalist to Trump - family or friend, will be put in charge of our Judicial System. our Military, our Financial Divisions and so forth. One man doing the bidding of a dictator. Gone will be medicare and medicaid, public schools, as they get privatized within corporations who will deny claims, as is done so often with Medicare Advantage. Project 2025 is a declaration of loyalty to Trump only; not your country or people. It will take away all rights and as Trump will dismantle our governmental departments, we will have no recourse or way to have protection - from anything. Not from polluted air, water, military assault or whatever demented thing they wish to do to take from all of us. You must care. Doug is disgusting because he took this oath of loyalty - to the filthy rich - the corrupt - those who will turn us into a complete dictatorship with no say at all. Hope you people who are so gleeful about Trump and your GOP's realize it is you who will destroy our entire nation; never to return again. Love you country and people more than Trump and the lying GOP. Do not let them control you any longer for they are nothing without your vote, and your vote for them is a vote for fascism and dictatorship. Read Project 2025 - it's all there; all the horrifying plans they've been crafting for decades, but only because they have your vote. Care about your country more than Trump and the MAGA's. It is our last chance.

28/06/2024

According to the Supreme Court the administration of our government has limited authority over huge companies that might be befouling the air we breathe but local town administrations can deny the least among us the right to camp on their streets and in their parks. Hmm, we are getting closer to the point where we will have populist uprisings which hopefully will stop all the crap about differences in skin color and religion and help us as a people to recognize that the wellbeing of the least among us is as important as the wellbeing of the richest.
If you are an angry American, don't rage against refugees and homeless, against people whose skin is a different color, against those who worship differently. Save your anger for the entitled, those who perceive themselves as the nobility among us, those who want more than their share while some have far too little.
When did "we the people" mean corporations, financiers, and board members?
It is time for a new, a hopeful and purposeful, political movement. One that values the happiness of citizens and that encourages individuals to flourish, one that prizes education for all our children and health care for all our people.
Oh well, so I get to spend another day banging my head against the wall and just praying that one person might actually be listening.

18/06/2024

I you like things that go bump in the night, I present this great anthology in which I have a story.

Children of the Night: A Collection of the Macabre

18/06/2024

The world is crowded with FIVERS. They are all looking to make a buck here in the meta-world. The saddest thing is many of them honestly think there is a future in pestering the rest of us. How many of them are living on the edge in large cities in the third world? Oh, I know they say they're in London, Paris, New York or wherever, but do you believe those claims? Seriously, how can they support themselves in those cities? Nope. In these times of gig labor, they would be better off driving for Uber or Lyft or doing Door Dash or some other gig. But, there they are in that electronic maelstrom called the internet desperately looking for somebody who wants a book trailer or a review or someone to keep posting useless ads for them. So sad. Let us pray that we find better use for humanity than the non-profitable ponzi world of Fiver.

06/06/2024

04/06/2024

I have been called for jury duty a few times but never empaneled; shrinks tend to be quickly rejected for probably good reasons. That said, I have known many people who have served on juries. The vast majority have considered it a great responsibility which they have taken seriously. In some cases they have reported it as life changing. It certainly is one of the highest responsibilities we can meet as citizens, to help make sure our society is just and that all follow the rules.

I do not claim that the courts are perfect. I do not claim that wrongful convictions can occur; in fact, we know they do. However, to claim that the members of a jury in this country have been part of a conspiracy is, in my view, to insult every citizen.

Do I know how I would have voted had I been on the Trump jury? No because I wasn't in that courtroom or part of the deliberations. What verdict I might have wanted or not is irrelevant. I know those men and women put their lives on hold and knowingly took on the responsibility for judging a case fraught with political implications and on the quick of America's emotions. Taking such a responsibility makes them, again in my opinion, good and true citizens.

I have few litmus tests for political figures. Let's be honest, they are a scurvy lot at best. However, I will never vote for or support any politician who attacks the Trump jury or subscribe to any media content that suggests those men and women were less than our best, not as individuals but as the collective attempt to render justice in an imperfect world.

Are there conspiracies in the world? Yes, some conscious and some simply based on underlying prejudices. But when we start out assuming that those who have made a judgement must be part of a conspiracy, we are impugning the very notion of society.

I want to thank those eighteen citizens of New York on served on the jury and as alternatives for their real service to our country.

03/06/2024

We kitties need homes too.

01/06/2024

Come out to the art center today. Steve will be there doing his caricatures and lots of great items for sale. View the gallery while there. We are doing all we can to fund the repairs of the Art Center, so any contribution would help.
I'll also be at 5021 Arden Way in Paradise today, live painting of landscapes and such. Stop by and say hello.

13/05/2024

How seriously do we take the responsibility of writing? For me, it is a sacred act, one requiring effort and care. Three weeks ago, I started thinking about a poem to connect climate change in the United States, both geological climate and social, to my earliest awareness of such issues, which was rooted in the work of John Steinbeck. This poem, now in its fourth and hopefully final version is the result.

Besides my love of Steinbeck’s work, I have a special connection. His favorite book store, was Canio’s Books, in Sag Harbor, NY. I gave the last public reading there before Canio retired. The store, of course, remains. I haven’t been there for years. It was a wonderful hodgepodge labyrinth of new and used. Canio knew where every title was housed, but I’m sure no one else did. Waiting for the not-expected crowds, I wandered about from stack to stack, shelf to shelf. As I recalled that evening cost me quite dearly—no, not for any fees but for the multiple titles that found their way into my Datsun.

Anyway, here is the poem.

In the plains

They prayed for rain which came too fierce
and washed their hard-hoed dreams away
along with fresh sown corn and wheat.
The earth turned to mud and slipping clay—
silaged for the summer’s unforgiving rays.
Parched, the next week’s wind blew and with it flared
dusty poverty’s storm—undrinkable water, unbreathable air.
Heavy hail tattooed roofs with the indignity of despair.

Old Chevy and Fords piled with their lives’ remains.
No pilgrim dares to moan or complain as warily
they head to the promise-filled west. Anxious
parents with terrified children try to explain,
“Sometimes life waxes and sometimes it wanes.
Tomorrow gives back what has been lost today
if we love one another and always obey.
Just mind what you ask when you’re daring to pray.”

09/05/2024

Earlier today I read a statement form a group identifying as Jewish students at Columbia University. I was moved to write a comment on that Facebook post. Then, I decided to share that comment beyond that particular thread, which had originally been posted by Shai Davidai, whom I do not know, and then shared by my friend Gary Grossman.

Here is what I wrote.

When I was at Columbia, I put down on my registration that I was Jewish, which is how I was raised. I was called into the Hillel office and told that I could not identify as a Jew at Columbia unless I paid Hillel dues. At that moment, I understood that Columbia's Jewish student body had a serious problem. That was many years ago, but I think it still does.

To be fair and having graduated from Princeton, which was another experience, I think that problem is historical. For a long time Columbia was the "Jewish" college in the Ivy League. As such, it was the butt of much not-so-subtle antisemitism when my fellow tigers discussed the league's athletics and values.

At any rate, I remember as a child in 1948 being excited that Israel was being recognized and simultaneously being worried that its recognition might somehow make me less of an American. Now, I fear that Israel's behavior forces me to be more concerned about being a Jew and expressing clearly that being a good person and a decent Jew does not, must not, involve the destruction of others.

Perhaps it is the result of having gone to a very Yankee boarding school and being indoctrinated with Christian values as I understand them, but I do not and cannot accept the Old Testament's stories of Israel wiping out other nations as instructive of how Jews should act now. It is bad enough that Hi**er held such values and that the European colonizers of much of the world held such values. We must make a new covenant now and for us all, one that finds expression in valuing everybody.

To accomplish that, it is time for us all to stop identifying ourselves by nation, ethnicity, religion, race, or even gender. Instead, we have to start with the most basic identity of all, human. If you are a human then you are my sibling. It is my responsibility to value you and to help you achieve security and wellbeing.

With some hope for humanity,

01/05/2024

29/04/2024

Every now and again, I find a writing prompt that resonates. I hope you enjoy.

BENCH

Rain, shine, snow, fog: every Sunday I return. I sit on our bench and recall that first spring Sunday when we met. The world redolent; the delicacy of awakening.

I remember our first kiss; did we really wait until summer? Why so, so long? Ah, but it was delicious, sweet as the fresh ripening berries pushing life through the rock wall.

Come autumn, the leaves yellowed and fell. Delighting in the crisp air, we held hands and vowed that love would never fail.

Then, in dread, dead winter, you found another. I could barely take breath as we kissed goodbye. We left our bench deserted. You walked away. I followed.

I buried you just beyond the pathway’s bend. A place to match your beauty. A setting to share my solitude.

26/04/2024

On College Encampments: Gaza, Israel, and humanity

For years my second career was teaching psychology at the college level. I won’t bother naming all the colleges whose campuses I graced. I was always looking for a new challenge, the possibility of a new course, the fun of a new student body.

I also have to admit that I’ve always loved politics and social issues. I have strong opinions and I have on a number of occasions taken time to canvass and otherwise take part in political campaigns.

One rule I created for myself early on was to keep those two interests separate. I did not bring my political positions into the classroom. That doesn’t mean we didn’t discuss related concepts such as prejudice, authoritarianism, peer pressure, and the like. We did. However, I never took a position that tied the research we discussed to the politics of the day.

Given that personal rule, I have lately been wondering how I would navigate the current minefield erupting or encamping on so many colleges. It isn’t that I don’t know my own feelings, which are conflicted, or that I don’t understand the complexity of the issues. Quite simply, I wonder should faculty take part in such public discussions that are outside of their areas of personal expertise. Also, should members of a faculty take stands that will leave scars and schisms going forward?

A few thoughts then on what I would urge were I on a faculty today. First, I believe that every college should encourage students to speak out and to debate issues of the day. However, I also think that colleges have a responsibility to make sure that presentations are duly fact-checked and “peer reviewed.” The right to speak does not include the right to disseminate falsehoods without their being refuted. In times like this, I would encourage a college to provide a place for moderated debate. I would also allow audience interruptions as long as the time consumed is taken from the speakers of the side initiating the disruption. This might involve turning off microphones, which in a large hall effectively cancels a speaker’s time.

I think the gathering to gather and creation of encampments is a positive way for people to experience and show solidarity and that providing a decent place for an encampment is desirable as long as it doesn’t interfere with the rest of campus activity. Since such encampments necessarily will be at a distance from the best demonstration localities, I would also recommend setting up selected demonstration sites. Both the encampments and demonstration areas should be provided not only with sanitation but also first aid and whatever food resources the school can provide. In other words, better that the barricades be safe and non-restive than that chaos be the norm.

While faculty and administration are free to express their points of view on an issue, those expressions have no more place in the classroom than do those of students. For those offering some form or expertise, especially faculty, there should be a location for ongoing discussion and seminars. Indeed, I would encourage a college to give a certain amount of academic credit for taking part in those discussions and to pay faculty for their time in providing that leadership. When students are motivated enough to take to the “barricades,” it behooves academia to turn those times into leaning experiences.

For those colleges with established alumni organizations, I also recommend that the alumni who have something relevant to add to the discussion be invited to do so.

At the same time, the college should make certain restrictions clear. The safety of people, the protection of property, and the right of the community to engage in its normal ongoing activities must all be established.

Finally, I would encourage any college facing political protests set up a media program to offer support and encouragement to all sides. In additional to personal blogs, vlogs, Tic-Toks, and whatever, the institution has a responsibility to clearly and fairly report the activities that are going on and to authentically represent the students, the faculty, the administration, and most assuredly all sides.

18/04/2024

How do creative people work together? The May session of RoundTable 360 explores collaboration in the arts. Starting with a panel discussion and then welcoming participation by the audience; our hope is to help creatives see their world differently. This episode will be moderated by author, playwright, poet, Kenneth Weene. Join us Thursday, May 30, 1:30 PM in the East, 10:30 AM in the west and 6:30 PM in London. For your reserved space, please sign up on Eventbrite at

Have you ever wondered what makes creative people creative? What is it in our lives that causes us to express ourselves the way we do?

16/04/2024

"Have you ever wondered what makes creative people creative? What is it in our lives that causes us to express ourselves the way we do?" ...

16/04/2024

31/03/2024

Some great news. The Funeral, a short play by Umar Okewu Abdul and I has been accepted for a virtual play festival. Now we just have to get a YouTube reading of the play mounted. While we work on that, Umar and I are celebrating this first opportunity to showcase our work.

27/03/2024

Sadly, there is so much anger about Gaza and the suffering of its people and so much disgust over the attack by Hamas against the Israelis that many are forgetting the most basic issue of all, the use of civilians as pawns of war. Once armies arrayed themselves on a field and tried to kill one another off. I'm not a fan of war, but that format at least had some notion of honor. The Good Mother notwithstanding, soldiers were killing one another. However, that notion of warfare is long gone. Attacking people as they sleep, starving people in need, expropriating land, killing crops, defoliating the land, spewing land mines: the mind is boggled by the evil that lies in the human heart.

The worst part of it all is that were we humans to stop killing one another off, cease trying to control one another, learn to accept and celebrate difference, we could provide a far better life for all of us.

For my part, I want the Netanyahu government to fall and Hamas to disappear. I'd like to give the people who believe in peace control over the process and help them to find the honey and the wine (alcoholic or non as they wish) with which to celebrate a new day.

25/03/2024

24/03/2024

15/03/2024

Join the discussion, share the ideas. I'm excited to be part of this gathering of creatives on March 28, 1:30 ET; 10:30 AM PT. Get yourself on the list. Get your ticket here.

Have you ever wondered what makes creative people creative? What is it in our lives that causes us to express ourselves the way we do?