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
Mick and Goofy put on a show By David Benjamin “Mickey’s a mouse. Donald’s a duck. Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?” — Gordy Lachance (Wil Wheaton), in Stand By Me MICK: You look a little pale and woebegone, sir. Perhaps an hour or two on the tanning bed will perk you up. Now, where did…
Read More...Mechelle, Anita and Uncle Joe By David Benjamin “I said, ‘I don’t want to go to bed with you’ And he says, ‘Just like I hired you, I’ll fire you. Just like I made you, I’ll break you, and if you don’t do what I say then I’ll have you killed.’ … And that’s how…
Read More...“… Much more beautiful, much more beautiful…” By David Benjamin “I always hear ‘the elite, the elite.’… I have a better education than them, I’m smarter than them, I went to the best schools, they didn’t… Much more beautiful house, much more beautiful apartment, much more beautiful everything. And I’m president and they’re not, right?”…
Read More...Antisocial media By David Benjamin “Your ad isn’t approved because it doesn’t comply with our Advertising Policies. your ad was stopped because it was determined to be related to politics or an issue of national importance.” — Facebook MADISON, Wis. — Recently, Facebook encouraged me to “boost” one of my “Weekly Screeds.” A half-hour later,…
Read More...The sandwich with a thousand faces By David Benjamin “Maybe we shouldn’t be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” — Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez MADISON, Wis. — There are Congresspersons warning us lately that the embryonic and nebulous Green New Deal portends the abolition of the hamburger. This threat stands alongside such fanciful right-wing…
Read More...“It’s not a secret!” (but we’re not telling) By David Benjamin “Why do people hide things? Why do people keep secrets? Because they have something to hide.” — Andrew D. Goldstein, lead prosecutor, Office of the Special Counsel BARCELONA — I tried. Honest. Last Tuesday morning, dispatched by my EE Times editor, I shlepped to…
Read More...The caravan of the living dead by David Benjamin “This is the part in the movie where that guy says, “Zombies? What zombies?” just before they eat his brains. I don’t want to be that guy.” — Holly Black (Two senior staffers overheard in a White House toilet.) STEVE: (Indicating a video on his phone)…
Read More...The roar of the greasepaint… by David Benjamin “Today we instinctively recoil at the sight of performers in the burnt-cork makeup and clownlike greasepaint that turned their skin pitch-black and their lips and eyes into giant cartoon features. But the foundation of American comedy, song, and dance was laid down by white and black minstrel…
Read More...The Elmer Gantry of Jamaica Estates by David Benjamin “… if he is interested in assuring the public that he can see beyond his narrow politicking on immigration to tackle truly urgent problems, here’s a starter list…” — New York Times editorial, 4 Feb. ‘19 MADISON, Wis. — Wait, wait. Stop right there! Just before…
Read More...A Commodious White House by David Benjamin “This man was not naturally wicked, but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits.” — Cassius Dio MADISON, Wis. — There are…
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