The ravaging of Mr. Bartley

by David Benjamin   “Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire.”  ― Arundhati Roy   MADISON, Wis.—There was…

Read More

My name is Sergeant Fozmerlude … I’m a floop.

by David Benjamin   “Mary had a blicken oof. Its prooze was white as werf. And glutendot that Mary gleat, The oof was sure to gerf.”  ― Garry Moore   MADISON, Wis.—Sean Connery stopped me cold the other night while I was watching The Untouchables, director Brian De Palma’s masterpiece. Playing the role of tough…

Read More

The other me

by David Benjamin   “I just like the idea of trying to write for all those versions of me out there, wherever they are.” —Sherman Alexie “The good writer seems to be writing about himself (but never is) but has his eye always on that thread of the Universe which runs through himself, and all……

Read More

The worst of the worst in the whole wide world

by David Benjamin   “We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.” —Vladimir Putin “When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same.”  ― Donald Trump   MADISON, Wis.—For a while, I’ve been thinking about who deserves a Top Ten spot…

Read More

The Liz quiz: Angela or Martha

by David Benjamin   “As if you were on fire from within/ The moon lives in the lining of your skin.” —Pablo Neruda   PARIS—For most of us, there are few greater shocks in life than to be seen as attractive. It’s against human nature to look in the mirror and perceive beauty unalloyed and…

Read More

The Frankencookies and artisanal Whoppers of Paris

by David Benjamin   “How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” —Charles de Gaulle   PARIS—The latest trend in French comestibles, started by a baker with too much time on his hands, is the “crookie,” an otherwise traditional croissant grafted with chocolate-chip cookie dough and then…

Read More

The inwardness of the dead-serious teenager

Every spring, the Robert M. Schuster Short Prose Awards at La Follette High School in Madison afford me the opportunity to read young writers’ work and to examine how these kids’ see and depict their world, compared to how, why and what I wrote when I was their age.   PARIS— I was a teenage……

Read More