Upcoming Events:
Thursday, 22 August, 1 pm
Book Talk, “Why Books?”, Fitchburg Community Center, 5510 Lacy Rd., Fitchburg, Wis.
Thursday, 19 September, 6:30 pm
Book Talk, “Why Books, and Why This Book?”, Oregon Public Library, 200 N. Alpine Parkway, Oregon, Wis.
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The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “MAR-A-LAGO (25 January 2022) — The sudden, apparent demise of ex-president Donald J. Trump on Monday, when he choked to death spectacularly trying to swallow whole a Burger King Triple Whopper that could not be dislodged from his fat-narrowed windpipe despite the efforts of his daughter Ivanka and four muscular bodyguards simultaneously…
Read More...by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Katz had the ball. God knows who passed it to him. He couldn’t dribble. Katz was a kid who couldn’t talk and adjust his glasses at the same time. He was the least coordinated kid in our gym class. If he tried to dribble, walk, talk or take his…
Read More...by David Benjamin “The digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are Arabic numerals, developed in the 6th or 7th century in India and later introduced to Europe through the writings of Middle Eastern mathematicians, most notably Al-Khwarizmi and Al-Kindi, in the 12th century. These numerals paved the way for…
Read More...by David Benjamin Author’s Note: In Part 1, as you might recall, Murray Lefkowitz, the drunk Santa banished from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, applies for a sleigh-driving job with Kris Kringle, but has to assembly a team from his milieu — the down-and-out dregs of New York City. The sleigh squad Murray recruits includes a…
Read More...by David Benjamin Author’s Note: I’ve been writing Christmas stories — most of them the offbeat products of a hard-knock youth — since I was sixteen. Over the ensuing years, I’ve generated enough Benjie Christmas originals (and snatches of sliphorn verse) to constitute an entire anthology, which I plan to publish next year under the…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Elmer had, even in Zenith, to meet plenty of solemn and whiskery persons whose only pleasure aside from not doing agreeable things was keeping others from doing them.” — Sinclair Lewis PARIS — On the flight over here, I finally got around to reading Elmer Gantry — during which it readily dawned…
Read More...by David Benjamin Aaron Rodgers 1265 Lombardi Avenue Green Bay Wisconsin Dear Aaron: You’re an odd duck. I mean that in the most complimentary sense. I’m one, too. Been that way since — best guess — the summer before second grade when I was corrupted by Chucky Dutcher. You’re also a know-it-all. Me, too. Like…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Kings are like stars. They rise and set, they have the worship of the world, but no repose.”— Percy Bysshe Shelley MADISON, Wis. — Since monarchy fell out of fashion, it’s gotten tougher to be an autocrat. Donald Trump, for example, appeared to be rising unstoppably toward a sort of reich amerikanisch.…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Judge Rayford: Mr. Kirkland you are out of order! “Arthur Kirkland: You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They’re out of order!…” — And Justice For All (1979) A COURTROOM SOMEWHERE IN WISCONSIN — The judge pushed aside several empty Chinese food cartons and…
Read More...by David Benjamin “I think that they’re making a terrible mistake and they’re injuring children’s brains. It’s the second child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.” — Denny Doyle MADISON, Wis. — There’s a visionary in Cincinnati, although some consider him a crank, named Denny Doyle, who’s trying to convince the Catholic Youth Organization to…
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