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Greg Schwem
Standup comedian, author and technically challenged family guy Greg Schwem thinks everything is funny. Whether he’s writing about the pope’s first tweet, smartphones that make him feel dumb or any of the many ways that modern society can drive a person nuts, Schwem plucks chords of hysteria that resonate with all readers. See Greg's take on technology vs. baby in this video.
His column is distributed as part of the Humor Hotel feature.
Greg Schwem Samples
To my child, I bequeath the blade
I am a nervous wreck as I write this column. Several hours ago, I heard the garage door open and the engine start. My teenage daughter rolled down the driveway piloting a piece of machinery that I warned could cause serious injury to herself or even innocent bystanders if she isn’t careful.
True, she’s nearly 16, but she still seems so young to take on this much responsibility. Was she really listening when I explained, in the simplest terms possible, how the engine operates? When I showed her how to read an oil dipstick, she kept rolling her eyes and repeating, “I know, I know.”
Running the country from the three-point arc
Like most of the country, I spent the past week reading Jodi Kantor’s revealing portrayal of our nation’s first couple. By “reading,” I mean I skimmed “The Obamas: A Mission, A Marriage” in my local bookstore, searching for any sentence that contained “Kardashian” or some form thereof.
Isn’t that how most of the country reads today?
Burying Barbie . . . and other depressing parental duties
I am a firm believer in the “Death Comes in Threes” adage, not only for celebrities but also for children’s toys. It happened again recently.
First to expire was the backyard plastic pool. Nobody could say it didn’t have a long, happy life. From its birth in 1998 when my oldest child turned 1, until 2007 when my second daughter mastered freestyle just enough to swim at the park district pool, it was the highlight of summer. Fill it up with a hose and in minutes it provided refreshment for as many as four squealing kids. I sometimes used it to cool off after a particularly rigorous lawn-mowing session. Sure, my legs protruded over the edges, but who cared? It’s hard to be uncomfortable when your children howl in delight as they dump buckets of water on your head.
Imagining the first Papal tweet
Pope Benedict XVI recently sent his first message via Twitter. Here’s how we imagine the Holy Tweet might’ve gone.
Before this monumental event, the leader of the Catholic Church had been interacting with his followers via speeches, written by hand and sometimes composed entirely in Latin. But apparently the Information Superhighway now goes directly through the Vatican, as evidenced by a video that showed Benedict seated at a table and tapping out his message while a few other religious higher-ups stood by and nodded in approval.
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