Upcoming Events:
Monday, 9 June, 10:30 am
Book Talk, An Apartment in Paris, Fitchburg Community Center, 5510 Lacy Road, Fitchburg, Wis.
Saturday, 14 June, 1-3 pm
Meet & Greet, Barnes & Noble, West Towne, Madison
Thursday, 19 June, 10 am
Book Talk, An Apartment in Paris, Middleton Community Center, 7448 Hubbard Ave. Middleton Wis.
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The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” — Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol MADISON, Wis. — As I was scrolling the channel guide last night,…
Read More...by David Benjamin In a period roughly between 1974 and 1983, I was an editor and columnist for the Mansfield (Mass.) News, where I served in a plethora of roles that included reporter, photographer and columnist. In the latter capacity, I wrote an opinion column called The Fourth Estate, a sports column called The Fifth…
Read More...by David Benjamin Amy Coney Barrett Associate Justice The Supreme Court of the United States 1 First Street NE Washington, DC 20543 Justice Barrett: Congratulations on your appointment to the Court and on dodging the bullet that was aimed at your integrity by Donald Trump’s absurdist plot to overturn the election. You are…
Read More...by David Benjamin “So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a falling stream of brown water. It reached below her knee. It almost made itself into a dress for her.” — O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi Ebeneezer Scrooge awoke in a daze from a fitful sleep. Rubbing his face…
Read More...by David Benjamin “In plague, fear acts as a solvent on human relationships; it makes everyone an enemy and everyone an isolate. In plague, every man becomes… a small, haunted island of suspicion, fear and despair.” — John Kelly, The Great Mortality MADISON, Wis. — The Covid-19 pandemic has swollen the English lexicon and turned…
Read More...by David Benjamin “… Now he turned my dial to channel one I knew that this was gonna be fun He turned my dial to channel two That station thrilled me through and through…” — Phil Medley and Bill Sanford, “TV Is the Thing This Year” MADISON, Wis. — There’s a tableau in Rob Reiner’s…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Unlike ‘Groundhog Day,’ which was funny, this isn’t funny at all” — David Fink, attorney for the City of Detroit THE WHITE HOUSE, 20 January 2021 — When the President and his wife tried to enter the Oval Office, the door would not open. It seemed to be obstructed from inside. After…
Read More...by David Benjamin “Now it is Biden’s moment… The moment of an American who understands that you can’t sculpt from rotten wood, and so every democracy requires the foundation of truth.” — Roger Cohen MADISON, Wis. — I’m the eternal political optimist, even in the wake of two presidential elections that would’ve prompted Pollyanna to…
Read More...by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — One of the reviews of my book, The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked, which is sort of a memoir, took note of the fact that I had let my dad off the hook for his human frailties and flagrant unfatherliness. The reviewer thought I should have…
Read More...by David Benjamin “In Iowa, where politics is a popular sport, any competent candidate knows how to answer questions like ‘What is your all-time favorite Iowa State Fair butter sculpture?’ (The safest answer is the butter Last Supper).” —Ed Kilgore, New York magazine MADISON, Wis. — The great pitfall to being a “populist,” a callus-fingered…
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