Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, 6 May 9 am
Radio Interview with Phil Nee, on “Jim Otis and Smalltown Crime, WRCO Radio, Richland Center, Wis.
Friday, 29 May, 7 pm
Book Talk, Signing and Sale, on “Upstairs and the Jim Otis Series,” Belleville Books, 20 East Main St., Belleville, Ill.
Saturday, 30 May,1-3 pm
Meet & Greet, Signing & Sale of Last Kid Books, at Belleville Books, 20 East Main St., Belleville, Ill.
The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “… I couldn’t help anyone because I… was seriously injured. My entire face and both of my hands were burnt. I went home to Midori-machi stepping over the bodies of the injured and the dead. They looked like forgotten baggage…” —Woman quoted in The Witness of Those Two Days: Hiroshima &…
by David Benjamin “… So many deejays so far away/ You oughta heard the records they would play/ On that little transistor, my big sister’s radio/ My big sister’s transistor radio had a song for my heart and a song for my soul/ One for my heartaches and one for my fears…” —Tommy Castro…
by David Benjamin “I copped a gig at Minton’s and one night Alfred Lions came in to dig us. He said we gassed him, but we were too far out for the people …” — Babs Gonzalez MADISON, Wis. — Since “woke” horned its way into the vernacular a few years ago, I’ve struggled…
by David Benjamin “… Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants are driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification…” — George Orwell, Politics and the English…
by David Benjamin “The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.” — Capt. James T. Kirk MADISON, Wis. — All through my grade-school years, a Friday afternoon tabloid called The Weekly Reader was every kid’s gateway to a golden tomorrow. In its inky newsprint pages were unveiled breathtaking technological…
by David Benjamin “Donald Trump … suggested on Fox News Thursday night that [President] Biden should respond to the invasion by personally threatening to obliterate Russia with nuclear weapons.” — Greg Sargent, Washington Post MADISON, Wis. — David Brooks, the Times’ resident touchy-feely columnist, refers to Russian president Vladimir Putin as an “identity politician,” whose…
by David Benjamin “… Strictly entre nous/ Darling, how are you?/ And how are all/ Those little dreams/ That never did come true?… ” — “Thanks for the Memory,” Leo Robin & Ralph Rainger MADISON, Wis. — Lately, I’ve been trampling on my sister’s memories. Margaret Ann Benjamin, henceforth referred to as Peg, was a…
by David Benjamin “… There’s a limbo moon above/ You will fall in limbo love…” — Chubby Checker MADISON, Wis. — According to a shocking news bulletin, there are deacons in Catholic churches from Michigan to Arizona—and God only knows where else—performing counterfeit baptisms. Over the years, this scandal has affected hundreds, perhaps thousands of…
by David Benjamin “Potential criminal defendants who are prosecuted on more recent, ‘easier’ grounds are not necessarily brought to justice on each and every instance of wrongdoing. Al Capone famously went to prison for tax evasion, not for his violent crimes.” — Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post SOMEWHERE OFF ROUTE 1, FREDERICKSBURG, Va.— They had maintained scrupulous…
by David Benjamin “One partner, typically male but not exclusively, showers the other person with attention, affection, compliments, flattery, and essentially creates this context where she feels like she’s met her soul mate…” — Chitra Raghavan, professor of psychology, John Jay College MADISON, Wis. — Apparently, one can nowadays sexually harass someone remotely by means…