Charlie Cat & Company

19/10/2024

Should we celebrate Halloween. Of course we should? Why? Check out my last name, Ween(e). Our holiday! As it should be.

The Weene family comes from Transylvania, where we were loathed even more than Vlad the Impaler. So, when we pulled up stakes (including those through our hearts) and got out of town just before the pitchforks of our neighbors, there was a celebration. “Hallelujah, the Ween(e)s are gone,” people shouted. As the party and the fires (burning down our castle) roared on (fueled in part by Țuică, that wonderful plum brandy, and other spirits, the cry of delight was abbreviated, “Halloween” was born.

At any rate, to celebrate such an auspicious beginning (We did escape to America), we Weenes have ever since enjoyed stories of monsters, terror, and fear. So, let’s celebrate by sharing our ghastly, ghostly, and gasping tales.

Check out my Two Tales of Terror at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FHZIKE6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i5

Only 99¢

Two stories that reach into the primordial well of terror. Who among us can laugh at death? Who can hear the strange noises of the night and not hug their blankets just a bit tighter? "Bela" and "Sometimes You Can Hear 'em": totally different tales, but both hit the human panic button.

18/10/2024

I have been discovering something fascinating about myself. I gather that most people set out to learn how to do something. I on the other hand start with questions like why, and what is the principle behind this method. Recently, I've been helping my wife cook. Now, she is an excellent cook and I am at best a novice. The result is that each time she tells me to do something, I start questioning. For example, we were blooming gelatin. She wanted to use water from the refrigerator. Why? It turns out that what she wanted was to have filtered water. Now, I would have to do an experiment to see what would be the best temperature and try to figure out why. She sees that as questioning her. Not really, but I understand how she feels.

At the end, I am less interested in the food—in this case panna cotta—than I am in the idea of gelatin and how it works. For me, it is always concept first before doing. So, am I strange? I don't know and I surely don't mind if I am.

Feedback, please.

16/10/2024

If you enjoy really great music, check out Joe Symes and the Loving Kind. Monica Brinkman and I have know these guys for years and love their music.

04/10/2024

If you believe this is the behavior of a competent human being let alone a potential POTUS, please do us all a favor and don't vote. Trump is a vile bully who can't resist attacking Jimmy Carter, an old man who has lived a good and faithful life.

Even on former President Jimmy Carter’s centennial, former President Donald Trump could not pass up reprising his longstanding jab at the Georgia Democrat.

02/10/2024

During tonight’s VP debate, JD Vance said there was a Federal Reserve study that showed that illegal immigration was driving up the cost of home ownership and contributing to a major factor in inflation. He also said the report would be posted on his website right after the debate. I have gone looking for such a report. First, there is a housing cost report that in no way mentions immigration, legal or other. Second, there is a formal hearing in which Vance asked FR chair Powell about that relationship. First, Powell pointed out that the FR does not comment or study immigration and then made it clear that while there may be some communities in which immigration may for the short-term drive-up housing costs (rents), in general immigration reduced inflation. So, I am hoping that all Americans demand that Vance show us that report. Seriously, the chair of the Federal Reserve already told him he was wrong in his position.

14/09/2024

This sounds like voter intimidation to me. What a sad state of affairs some of our states have entered. Florida has once again become a national disgrace. Remember, we are talking about sending police around to the homes of people who have signed a petition. Even if you would vote against the measure in November, what do you think about this tactic? How about if were an initiative that you supported and the cops came to your door?

Activists say investigation by agency set up by Ron DeSantis into whether fraud took place is voter intimidation

11/09/2024

When a child believes that aliens are eating dogs, that is sad. Let us reassure the kid. When it is a candidate for POTUS, that is downright scary. We should either be grabbing our AR15s to protect our pets or our ballots to protect the sanity of our nation.

28/08/2024

This is the kind of abuse of power and tactic of intimidation that I found offensive years ago as a child watching the Army-McCarthy and HUAC committee hearings. I had hoped that the GOP had learned from those embarrassments, but no, here they are again trying to intimidate decent people into turning on others, in this case an employee. Shame on Jim Jordan, shame on the Republicans, and shame on America for tolerating such actions.

The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed the company that employs the daughter of Juan Merchan, the New York judge who is overseeing former President Trump’s hush money trial. The subpoena esca…

28/08/2024

I am delighted that my essay "Reflections on a leaky raft" about Mark Twain has been accepted for publication by The Bookends Review. I look forward to sharing the link when it is available.

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....