Archive for September 2016
Out to dejeuner
Out to dejeuner by David Benjamin “A good photograph is like a good hound dog, dumb, but eloquent.” — Eugene Atget PARIS — I follow, meekly, the footsteps of Eugene Atget. Atget was the original, essential Parisian, unable to get his fill of the City of Light. In the early days of photography, Atget fed…
Read MoreSuperego
Superego by David Benjamin “Hooray, excelsior and pow! The ship of state is sunk and dead, And we, the fools, are at the bow, From which the wise and good have fled.” — Benjie, The Id, 1966 PARIS — Bob Schuster was my first publisher. The imprint was SRTB Ketchachokee Publications. The four letters designated…
Read MorePop quiz
Pop quiz by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — One of the most entertaining moments in every election cycle is when a candidate who’s been saturated with talking points and pumped full of pat answers gets blindsided by a query that neither he/she, nor any of his/her handlers, ever saw coming. The latest example was when…
Read MoreBuilding the better wetback trap
Building the better wetback trap by David Benjamin “… I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters…” — Donald Trump MADISON, Wis. — Among the more tawdry spectacles in a campaign that sets a new standard for tawdriness, Donald Trump’s tasteless display — during a…
Read MoreThe red-and-white blues (and yellow fringe)
The red-and-white blues (and yellow fringe) by David Benjamin “Speech doesn’t just mean written words or oral words. It could be semaphore. And burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea…” — Justice Antonin Scalia MADISON, Wis. — The Stars and Stripes is easily the most battered and beleaguered flag in anybody’s history.…
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