Archive for November 2019
A burrow full of memes
A burrow full of memes By David Benjamin “Liberals want to sit in a circle and share. Conservatives do not want to sit in a circle, and they do not want to share.” — David Blankenhorn, founder, Better Angels PARIS — Not even Noah Webster knew the word “meme” before social media gave voice and…
Read MoreAnd here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson By David Benjamin “He drained his coffee, stubbed out his cigarette, flung down some coins…” — Robert Goddard, The Ways of the World PARIS — Wait a minute! Twice, in Robert Goddard’s novel, The Ways of the World, the protagonist, James Maxted, blithely tosses “some coins” onto his table…
Read More"It's quiet out there… Too quiet"
“It’s quiet out there… Too quiet” By David Benjamin “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” — Will Rogers MADISON, Wis. — Early in John Ford’s best film, The Searchers, the doomed Edwardses are settling in for the evening when an eerie silence settles over their desert homestead. The stillness is only broken by…
Read MoreThe ophiocordyceps presidency
The ophiocordyceps presidency By David Benjamin “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” — Grover Norquist MADISON, Wis. — Ever since I was an unwashed urchin turning over wet rocks next to the…
Read MoreA mundane mile of Monona Drive
A mundane mile of Monona Drive by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — A modest building called the East Side Club was the venue last month for what Sharyn — my crack publicist — and I, decided to call a “book party,” to mark “officially” (I actually don’t have an office) the initiation of my publishing…
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