On Valentine’s

NOTE TO READERS: Here it is again: the famous Valentine Vic wrote and sent through the Darton College campus to the female faculty and staff, an act then-VP Joseph Kirkland termed “sexual harassment.” Vic’s lawyer condescendingly defined the term so Kirkland and President Peter Sireno had to contend themselves with a letter of reprimand for [...]

Ode to General Jane, Patron of the Arts

by O. Vic Miller My muse and me, we sing of little Gen’rl Jane, Who asked politely that a symphony be sane Or fair. Or failing that, at least to keep their promises. Instead of crawfishing retroactively from what they said. That’s Willson with two L’s, whom we applaud. Oh happy hour when our heroine [...]

Vic’s Article in Vintage Magazine

Open December 2010 and go to page 12

Manifestation of Male Hysterphilia in American Football

Now American football, the most purely masculine of team sports, strikes a responsive chord in the male psyche and has been described by psychoanalysts as an oedipal drama in which the sacred mother earth (end zone) is defended from the aggressive father (the offense). Players’ uniforms exaggerate male characteristics: oversized head, broad shoulders, narrow waists, [...]

Spared Rods and Spoiled Children

By O. Victor Miller In memory of Dan Fowler “O ye! Who teach the ingenious youth of nations, Holland, France, England, Germany or Spain.  I pray ye flog them upon all occasions, It mends their morals, never mind the pain” – Byron, Don Juan  The other day young Michael Brooks, publisher of Albany Magazine asked [...]

Graveyard Dead

By O.Victor Miller The thunder of a magnum revolver reverberates through the cypress pond in sync with the rocking canoe.  John and Brent, marginal English students, stare into the fizzing swamp water where the eight-foot alligator disappeared. Their awed faces, illuminated by a spotlight held down in case a game warden should happen by, seem [...]

Comic Shorts from an Albany Upbringing

Mr. Slappey By O. Victor Miller   One personality epitomized Slappey Drive and a tourist‑eye view of Albany, Georgia, more than any other who frequented the sidewalks of the Good Life City– a singular old codger who wore a gray wool overcoat winter and summer. Mr. Slappey, a tall, crane‑like apparition presumably named for Slappey drive, [...]