In yesterday’s post, The Unfortunate Choice of Words, I mentioned a lawsuit against the City of Whitewater, and a now-former police investigator, among others. There’s much that’s interesting in Whitewater’s reaction to a lawsuit. There are a few simple goals in a small town like ours: (1) avoid litigation at nearly all costs, (2) dispose…

Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. The Prisoner, in the form of AMC’s new series, ends with epispde six, Checkmate. Much of what one might have suspected is confirmed: The Village is a place in one’s mind, we learn that Number 6 has the chance to run The Village,…

Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. In this episode, the Prisoner meets a version of himself, a version of The Village Administrator, and learns that The Village is a a created place. By the end of the episode, he has enough information to how The Village is artificial in…

Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. The fourth episode of the remake involves the effort of The Village’s administrator to sign Number 6 up with a dating service. The theory, one supposes, is that it will help to learn more about 6. Fortunately, I know of no analogous program…

Here’s commentary on the third episode of AMC’s The Prisoner. Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. A man called Number 6, rather than a name, finds himself in a community called The Village, wondering where he is, how he got there, and trying to return to a place called…

Here’s a review of episode two of AMC’s Prisoner. Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. There are differences from the original series and this remake, the first involving the administrator of The Village, Number 2. In the original series, there was a different Number 2 in each episode; in…

The first two episodes of the new AMC series The Prisoner were televised last night. I expected only one; two episodes were a surprise treat. I will post a review of the first episode today, and the second tomorrow (a change of plan, as I didn’t know that there would be two episodes last night).…

Some months ago, at the suggestion of a particularly sharp reader, I created a weekly feature called Prisoner Monday, in which I posted video excerpts from the British television series The Prisoner. The series describes the adventures of a man who finds himself in a mysterious place called The Village, and his quest to find…

Somewhere, there must be books that describe how one should properly and appropriately set table, with the correct and approved position of plates, glasses, knives, forks, and spoons. I have never read any of those books, nor felt that I should. When I go to a restaurant, I assume that the owner has figured all…

I have written a few overview posts, these past two weeks, highlighting unusual and curious aspects of life here. I will resume a more conventional posting schedule, with a daily morning feature, beginning next week. In the meantime, I will finish highlighting some of the ways that we’re just not the rural town that the…

Whitewater, Wisconsin has a common council form of government. There are seven members to the common council, five elected from districts across parts of the city, and two elected city wide, from across the town. Together, they are both the legislative, and executive, authority in town. We have not merely a common council, but also…

One of the attributes of many small rural towns is that they risk stagnation, and thereafter decline, either relative or absolute. For many in America, the idea of any decline seems absurd. Residents of a Maryland suburb may worry about too much growth, and crowding. Believe it or not, we have some who share the…