Upcoming Events:
Thursday, 20 March, 9 am
Interview with Phil Nee, live on the WRCO morning show, Richland Center, Wis.
Thursday, 20 March, 5-7 pm
Tomah Chamber of Commerce Author Showcase, Three Bears Resort, 701 Yogi Circle, Tomah, Wis.
Thursday, 24 Apr., 6 pm
Book Talk, An Apartment in Paris, Waterloo Public Library, 625 N. Monroe St., Waterloo, Wis.
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The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “There are really two core principles at play here. There’s giving people a voice so that people can express their opinions. Then, there’s keeping the community safe, which I think is really important. We’re not gonna let people plan violence or attack each other or do bad things.” — Mark Zuckerberg MADISON,…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Women endure entire lifetimes of these indignities — in the form of catcalls, groping, assault, oppression. These things injure us. They sap our strength. Some of the cuts are so small they’re barely visible. Others are huge and gaping, leaving scars that never heal.” — Michelle Obama MADISON, Wis. — The worst…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Who IS this guy? and why is he writing for EE Times?” — The “SemiSisters” MADISON, Wis. — Eight women extremely prominent in high technology management and marketing — all better educated than me — have composed a manifesto (https://www.3dincites.com/2021/07/smartphone-addiction-is-not-a-gender-specific-problem/) renouncing an essay published under my byline in the tech journal, EE…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Groucho: I say, here is a little peninsula, and here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland. “Chico: All right, why a duck? “Groucho: I’m not playing ‘Ask Me Another,’ I say that’s a viaduct. “Chico: All right! Why a duck?… Why a no chicken? “Groucho: Well, I don’t know why…
Read More...by David Benjamin PARIS — It’s time to mothball the Olympics. Don’t be shocked. This has been done before. The world went without the Games for 1,500 years before Baron de Coubertin inaugurated the modern Olympiad in Athens in 1896. Today, the impending XXXII Olympiad, Burlesque Show and Sashimi Banquet in Tokyo very likely has…
Read More...by David Benjamin PARIS — As long as I’m here, I’m using this city as a barometer of America’s recovery from a long and lingering malaise. In the expurgation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, France is slightly behind the United States, while both countries— every country — remain vulnerable to a discouraging relapse. The difference favoring…
Read More...by David Benjamin “We’ll always have Paris.” — Rick Blaine PARIS — Long ago, during a business junket to Tokyo with a management guru named Fishman, I was diagnosed with a case of “travel fuss.” A very frequent flyer, Fishman noted in me an air of uncertainty, anxiety and confusion. He cited my impatience with…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Four more years, because God is the one who is in control of this.” — Kim Carter, anti-democracy protester Jacksonville, October 2020 God is bored. I caught up with Him at a speakeasy on a dark street in South Purgatory. The dive was crawling with venial sinners. The bartender was smoking a…
Read More...by David Benjamin “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” — Monograph by Juan Ramon Jimenez, in Fahrenheit 451 MADISON, Wis. — The Manichean moms of America are up in arms again, raging at teachers to stop teaching stuff they’re not teaching. Like “socialism?” But let’s get around to that later. I…
Read More...by David Benjamin “A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” — Matthew 5:14 (King James) MADISON, Wis. — America’s foremost gasbag once magnanimously declared that “I love the poorly educated.” In this belch, he more or less consigned the “highly educated” or just plain “educated” to his camp of enemies —…
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