Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, 8 July, noon - Book Talk, An Apartment in Paris, Mount Horeb Rotary Club, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin
Monday, 13 July, 11:15 am - Book Talk, An Apartment in Paris, Verona Community Center, 108 Paoli Street, Verona, Wisconsin
Tuesday, 14 July, 7 pm - A Dialog on Writing with Dave Wood, Whitehall Public Library, 18560 Scranton Street, Whitehall, Wisconsin.
The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “Winter is icumen in,/ Lhude sing Goddamm,/ Raineth drop and staineth slop,/ And how the wind doth ramm!/ Sing: Goddamm…” — Ezra Pound, “Ancient Music” MADISON, Wis.—When does winter start? Although I’ve seen a hell of a lot of winter by now, I hesitate to pin down the exact moment that…
by David Benjamin “One after another, films for grownups have failed…” — Brooks Barnes, New York Times PARIS — My favorite movie genre is the smart comedy, a category born, I believe, with Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 tour de force, Modern Times. The most cohesive and trenchant of Chaplin’s work, Modern Times set a standard…
by David Benjamin “He sees you when you’re sleeping “And he knows when you’re awake. “He knows if you’ve been bad…” — J. Fred Coots & Haven Gillespie NORTH POLE — Santa Claus punched his intercom for the fourth time, a moment of frustration that had reduced his jollity to the point of wiping…
by David Benjamin “I have against me the bourgeois, the military and the diplomats, and for me, only the people who take the Métro.” — Charles de Gaulle PARIS — Hotlips and I indulged last night in our fifth or sixth viewing of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in Charade, during which the two…
by David Benjamin “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?” — J.R.R. Tolkien PARIS — The first college classroom I ever entered contained a long table, at the head of which presided John Bennett, a reputedly distinguished…
by David Benjamin “… I don’t have good news. [The Artistic Committee] were interested in participating but the language was of great concern. ACT is very firm about not using swear words or using the Lord’s name in vain. Also our audiences frown upon any ‘f’ words so we really keep the dialog clean …”…
by David Benjamin “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words…
by David Benjamin “I think it would be appropriate to move the age for permitless carry to 18. There’s really no reason why a legal adult should not be able to defend themselves.” — Rachel Malone, Gun Owners of America MADISON, Wis. — An irony of the midterm election—perhaps the most ironic election season…
by David Benjamin “The cup of forbearance had been exhausted… now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.” — President James K.…
by David Benjamin ‘You remind me of a man.’ ‘What man?’ ‘The man with the power.’ ‘What power?’ ‘The power of hoodoo.’ ‘Hoodoo?’ ‘You do, remind me of a man.’ ‘What man?’…” — Cary Grant & Shirley Temple, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer PARIS — Once, in my early worklife, on a Wednesday,…