Upcoming Events:
Thursday, 22 August, 1 pm
Book Talk, “Why Books?”, Fitchburg Community Center, 5510 Lacy Rd., Fitchburg, Wis.
Thursday, 19 September, 6:30 pm
Book Talk, “Why Books, and Why This Book?”, Oregon Public Library, 200 N. Alpine Parkway, Oregon, Wis.
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The Weekly Screed
A torn tissue of stylish lies by David Benjamin “He didn’t know he was running for president, so he told the truth… He said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia … Now they’re saying it was a mistake. Just like his Kenyan grandmother said he was born in Kenya, and she pointed…
Read More...We’re all Yankees now by David Benjamin “Sympathy is something that shouldn’t be bestowed upon the Yankees. Apparently it angers them.” — Bob Feller MADISON, Wis. — With the insinuation of Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court alongside three women too old for him to molest, the Trumpniks have scored another victory — and they’re…
Read More...Roxie Alexander and General Ed by David Benjamin “… Mathematical Practices: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Model with mathematics. Use appropriate tools strategically. Attend to precision. Look for and make use of structure. Look for and express regularity…
Read More...The pathological preppie by David Benjamin “What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep.” — Brett Kavanaugh (2015) “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women.” — Donald Trump MADISON, Wis. — Until I moved to Boston, I had little experience with prep school boys. Even those I’d met were…
Read More...“The hard…” by David Benjamin “JUST a bit outside.” — Bob Uecker, as Harry Doyle, Major League MADISON, Wis. — As long as Japan, Korea and the Dominican Republic keep sending talent to the Major Leagues, no one can credibly claim that baseball is exclusively “America’s pastime.” However, the U.S.A. — specifically, Hollywood — can…
Read More...Impure wind by David Benjamin “In our age, there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues a political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer.” — George Orwell, Politics and the English Language (1946) MADISON,…
Read More...A moving day by David Benjamin “Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened… ” — T.S. Eliot MADISON, Wis. — I’m sometimes subject to a wave of nostalgia. I got hit by one the other day and almost drove onto the median and…
Read More...The yellow dogs of asymmetric war by David Benjamin “I think most people in this country realize that Donald Trump comes from… New York City… a slam-bang, difficult world. It is amazing he is as good as he is. If anything, you have to give him plaudits for the way he has run the country.”…
Read More...The garlic thief by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — I confess. The other night, I robbed the supermarket. Here’s what happened. Hotlips was making pesto from the rampant basil plant that had swallowed our balcony and was threatening to re-enact The Day of the Triffids in the parlor. The missing ingredient in Hotlips’ recipe was…
Read More...Glaucoma of the mind by David Benjamin “Hell isn’t other people. Hell is yourself.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein PARIS — As a college freshman, I had the odd experience of not being seen all morning, three days a week, by my teachers. Ms. Slavens, my Spanish professor, moved nimbly around campus with a white cane and…
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