Posts by David Benjamin
Breaking good, eventually
Breaking good, eventually by David Benjamin “I was sure I was going to get that scholarship. My dad of course was sure I wasn’t. When I didn’t, he was real understanding, you know. He loves to do that. He loves to be understanding when I fail.” — Cyril, in Breaking Away MADISON, Wis.— Movie scenes haunt…
Read MoreMythic pizza
Mythic pizza by David Benjamin “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” — Yogi Berra MADISON, Wis.— So, there I was — about a month ago — standing on the sidewalk on a clammy night in Taipei, hip-deep amongst the hip, the young and the trendy, watching…
Read MoreWhat if Mrs. Murphy had been there?
What if Mrs. Murphy had been there? by David Benjamin “… Trump’s senior advisers fear leaving him alone in meetings with foreign leaders out of concern he might speak out of turn. General McMaster, in particular, has tried to insert caveats or gentle corrections into conversations when he believes the president is straying off topic…
Read More"Keeping a book"
“Keeping a book” by David Benjamin “A neighbor had a score sheet from the last game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. He recalled the whole game inning by inning, just looking at the scorecard. It was almost like watching a rabbi read scripture. Here he was recalling the whole game. It was…
Read MoreWhy I read fiction
Why I read fiction by David Benjamin “The alarming flaw in his psychological equipment — although in the American history he would write with his life nothing would appear to be flawed — was that the terrain he viewed and judged and acted upon could have been that of another planet. It had no connection…
Read MoreBack home, in the Shinjuku death maze
Back home, in the Shinjuku death maze by David Benjamin CHIGASAKI, Japan — On the streets of Tokyo, population 20 million, facing waves of 80-year-old kamikaze bicyclists wearing surgical masks and wielding umbrellas like bayonets, watching with wonder as an office lady in a pencil skirt sprints through traffic on three-inch heels with a stack…
Read MoreIt's a holey whole hole and it just – plain – isn't
It’s a holey whole hole and it just – plain – isn’t by David Benjamin “For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.” ―…
Read MoreOpen Sesame
Open Sesame by David Benjamin WASHINGTON — I thought it would be tough getting onto the White House grounds until I asked for help from the sneakiest political insider in D.C., an old friend from the Nixon/Agnew days who goes by the name of Kafka. Kafka said, “Hey, no sweat. We’ll just waltz in through…
Read MoreThe ghost of Bessie Smith
The ghost of Bessie Smith by David Benjamin “… Oh, how that boy can open clam/ No one else is can touch my ham/ I can’t do without my kitchen man…” — Bessie Smith, “Kitchen Man” MADISON, Wis. — Picture Bessie Smith, belting out one of her bluesy anthems from the ill-lit corner of a…
Read MoreWhere have all the soldiers gone…
Where have all the soldiers gone… by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Used to be, you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a GI. Well, a former GI. In the bygone halcyon days of universal conscription, every male had to do his hitch, or get really creative to duck Uncle Sam. My dad, who…
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