Upcoming Events:
Friday, 24 April, 2 p.m.
Independent Press Association BookCamp, David Benjamin to speak on “The Writer’s Gauntlet,” Hilton Doubletree Hotel, Newark, New Jersey
Thursday, 30 April 2:15 pm
Radio Interview with Sharyn Alden on “Everybody’s Got a Story,” Sun Prairie Media Center
Wednesday, 6 May 9 am
Radio Interview with Phil Nee, on “Jim Otis and Smalltown Crime, WRCO Radio, Richland Center, Wis.
The Weekly Screed
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#715) “I came… for the waters” by David Benjamin KOWAKIDANI, Japan — You don’t have to go far in Japan — maybe 100 yards in any direction — to find something weird. On our way here, we passed by the alleged cradle of the kamaboko, the classic Japanese…
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#714) Landfills I have known, B&E’s I’ve committed by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Whenever I’m up in my old hometown, I get flashbacks driving through a broad stretch of manicured parkland on Monowau Street, where it crosses Council Creek. Gravel piles now occupy one side of the…
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#713) The ‘right to work’ for nothing by David Benjamin “You got me workin’, boss man, /Workin’ ‘round the clock. /I want a little drink of water, /But you won’t let Jimmy stop…” — Jimmy Reed MADISON, Wis. — The relationship has rarely been amicable between dedicated American…
THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#712) “You wanna make somethin’ of it?” by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Unlike Ernest Hemingway, Nelson Algren and Opie Taylor, I didn’t engage in a whole lot of pugilism in my school days. Every normal kid in the combative 1950’s had ample opportunity to get beaten into…
SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#711) A snatch of trade-show jazz by David Benjamin BARCELONA — If it’s March, it must be the Mobile World Congress (MWC). January was Vegas and CES. Been to IFA, NAB, CATV, DVB (in Dublin, with whiskey tastings and dog races — loved that), Electronica, CeBit (in Hanover,…
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#710) Overheard at an ISIS barbecue by David Benjamin SOMEWHERE IN SYRIA — A trio of Islamists — Ahmed, Mohammed and Kurlijo — gathered round a campfire, a Christian baby roasting on a spit. One says, “Ah, I love the smell of barbecued infidel in the morning.” “It’s…
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#709) The lost Nazi by David Benjamin PARIS — The report is sketchy, as usual. A Parisian living somewhere on the Left Bank went to his cave, or wine cellar, to fetch a bottle. He discerned there a furtive figure — a shadow, really. It flickered across the…
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#708) My car, the mother… board by David Benjamin PARIS — Over the past few months, I’ve been conducting an informal survey, asking friends and strangers this question: “What’s the best car ever made?” My dad’s choice was a ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air in which he used to…
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#707) I was Charlie by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — MADISON, Wis. — Considering the travesty at Charlie Hebdo this month, you might think that the worst thing that could happen to a satirist is writing (or drawing) stuff that gets him killed. This ain’t necessarily so. Whether…
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#706) The thing is… by David Benjamin “The thing is to put a motor in yourself.” — Frank Zappa LAS VEGAS — According to all the banners, keynote speakers and shameless self-promoters at this year’s Consumer Electronics Saturnalia (CES), the thing is the “Internet of Things.” The very…