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.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
The Weekly Screed
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#658) Our gay president, and how he got that way by David Benjamin “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” – Adolf Hitler MADISON, Wis. — In a documentary film that few will ever see — The Unknown Known…
Read More...FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#657) The importance of not being visibly earnest by David Benjamin “Hipsters seeking Sel Rrose restaurant last month were startled to see…” The New York Times, 9 Dec. ‘13 MADISON, Wis. — My first encounter with the term “hipster” in its new — pejorative — formulation was in…
Read More...THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#656) Saving Captain Miller by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — In the film, Saving Private Ryan, when Tom Hanks’ character, Capt. Miller, reveals his civilian job — “I’m a schoolteacher” — it comes as a chastening surprise to his rebellious squad, and to the audience. Although it should…
Read More...SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013 The Weekly Screed: Christmas Bonus The Night before Christ…Mouse? by David Benjamin … with apologies to Clement Moore and all those who are sick and tired of silly parodies (To be read aloud, with gusto, between renditions of “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Baby”) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through…
Read More...THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#655) Hairbreadth Harry and the great Christmas escape by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — I’ve always loved Christmas… after a fashion. From the first time I could figure it out (after getting past the big Santa Claus deception), I grew more and more fond of Christmas as an…
Read More...TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#642) Alice returns to Dairyland by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Earlier this month, I cajoled Alice out of New Jersey and back to Madison, where we celebrated her 50th anniversary as a teacher in the town where her career began. The occasion marked Alice’s reunion with several…
Read More...WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#639) Something in the air by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — From place to place, the air is always different. Or so it seems. Most of us, if we sense this at all, register these shades of difference not palpably or knowingly, but in the region beneath perception,…
Read More...WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#634) Democracy’s loss is free enterprise’s gain by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — No one anticipated the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presciently as my friend, Wilhelm “Jim Crow” Bienfang, America’s greatest “idea man.” Trusting in the Court’s right-wing majority to continue…
Read More...WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#633) Big Hoover has always been watching by David Benjamin PARIS — Oh my God! The government is spying on Americans? Wait, wait, no. That’s not quite accurate, or at least not quite newsworthy. Let’s see if we can phrase this more alarmingly. Oh my God! The head…
Read More...WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013 The Weekly Screed (#623) “Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company…” by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — With her death this week, the swiftly-reached media consensus about former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is that she was a “transformational” figure. Perhaps so, but… overshadowed by the obituaries and…
Read More...