Author: Ben East
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diwali in virginia
our home’s a work in progress our family is complete our hearts are missing old friends our wish is that we’ll meet! happy Diwali, one and all. ##
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Tech genius
i am the family tech genius. The qualifying event is typing this reflection on this new phone. since this is not a product placement initiative, I’ll refrain from mentioning the brand of my new device. My initial reaction is that I do not love it. my new minder may have an efficient processor and a…
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Baseball and going home
listening to post season baseball tonight. the stadium crowd sounds like it always did: an ocean wash, sea reaches shore, saltwater rushes on sand and retreats back again. it’s one of the great memories of youth: Pop listening to the Mets in our dark living room. shea crowd alive. the game is breathing, Pop is…
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Losing it
Used to be I could write by hand for ninety minutes at a stretch. My first attempt at a novel, a quarter century ago, I wrote two drafts out longhand, sometimes squatting on my haunches in the African bush, copybook resting on my thigh. I wrote physically as much as mentally (that story, a shoddy…
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Dreaming. Writing.
I keep waking to the nightmare of a perfect opening line. In my half slumber the opening line gives way to what comes next, a sentence followed by yet another. Soon a paragraph emerges and the full landscape of my project unfolds, the horizon glorious and attainable. In the winter months, these words march forth…
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Wanted
Syrup. Maple syrup. Is New England out of trees? I was there last weekend and saw lots of orange and yellow and red fall foliage in the brilliant sunlight. Did not expect I’d return to Virginia and find this empty shelving. Why make waffles, why make pancakes, why get out of bed if there is…
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A writer in residence
I’ve taken on a surprising new assignment. I have a nice official title, but what it boils down to really is writer in residence. And what is this residence? I report to a cozy white cottage behind a row of heirloom corn off the beaten paths traversing the expansive training grounds of our nation’s foreign…
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Gud Guys W Gunz
all deez good fuckin guys with gunz couldn stop shit so jeezus fucking christ fix the laws that allow easy access to guns that blow watermelon-size holes in human flesh. Why feel any rage over this? Just common sense. Even Texas couldn’t defend their young. Gun proliferation advocates are worse than morally bankrupt. They own…
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The Royal Them
What at strange headline. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein publishing as if they were somebody other than Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. About presidential corruption and name-dropping Nixon in the headline. For the Washington Post, no less. How original. ##
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Decision Monkey
When I feel indecisive at work I turn to my pet monkey. There is no decision too big or too small for my decision monkey. Decision monkey has enough energy for even the most complex problems, and lacks any self-esteem issues over simple tasks that might insult the intelligence of an ordinary human. Decision monkey…
Ben East Books 