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 “Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner PARIS—It’s a typical café restaurant in the Latin Quarter, whose breakfast fare largely consists—unless challenged—of coffee brewed in a magnificent,…
by David Benjamin “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.” —Trump PARIS—Luckily, I was on my way here when Donald Trump’s weekend excursion to Iran broke out. My good fortune amounted to the limited load of available news coverage, analysis and commentary through…
by David Benjamin “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” —Confucius PARIS—There has long existed a sort of nihilist cottage industry, lucrative for its philosophers and divines, that professes contempt for, well, professors. Every few years, someone writes a book claiming that he learned nothing in school…
by David Benjamin “In December, the conservative Manhattan Institute found that … a majority of Republican men under 50 think that the Holocaust either didn’t happen or was exaggerated.”—Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, 12 March PARIS—For a couple of hours in 1961, the Holocaust came to Tomah, Wisconsin. Until then, my entire knowledge of Jews…
by David Benjamin “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.” —Proverbs 17:28 PARIS.—Lately in airport lounges, I’m feeling a little snakebit, or—more accurately—phone-battered. On my way here, in the “Admiral’s Club,” I found a comfortable chair, with a nearby table and only one neighbor. I had…
by David Benjamin “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” — Epicurus MADISON, Wis.—Based on a whim and a need for frequent flyer miles, Hotlips booked us recently on a trip to Santa Fe. I was somewhat dubious of our destination, a town that…
by David Benjamin “American manufacturers have cut more than 80,000 jobs in the past year.” — Ben Casselman and Ana Swanson, “In 2025, Trade Deficit in Goods Reached Record High,” New York Times, 19 Feb. MADISON, Wis.—Whenever I head east toward Chicago on I-90, I pass a familiar, almost nostalgic landmark, the now mothballed Chrysler…
by David Benjamin “Another day, another round of pedophiles, violent thugs, and human traffickers removed from American communities. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is targeting and removing the WORST OF THE WORST criminal illegal aliens terrorizing American families.” ―Tricia McLaughlin MADISON, Wis.—Despite a decorous embargo by the establishment media, you might have noticed…
by David Benjamin “Color is just not real enough … Perhaps it is for television, where your audience is sitting in a room with the lights on. But in a dark theater, confronted by that huge screen, I feel that it’s just not convincing.” ―Carol Reed MADISON, Wis.—On the eighteenth anniversary of D-Day, in the…
by David Benjamin “Hey, sunshine I haven’t seen you in a long time Why don’t you show your face and bend my mind?” ―Simon & Garfunkel, “Cloudy” MADISON, Wis.—While I was half-listening to a CD in my car, a snatch of lyrics brought her back to me in a rush. Technically, I guess, she was…