Category: Non-Fiction
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Where Fact Meets Fiction
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by
My personal journeys work best as parody. I am a very unserious traveler. I board the train for the potato cutlet, not the arrival in Bangaluru.
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Review: If You Turn to Look Back
We’re with him now, vibrant present looking back at blurry past, teased as much from this vital trip as from old photos, journals, and letters. He has three more stops to make.
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A universe of content
My glorious moment today came from the Longform podcast. Aaron Lammer interviews New Yorker writer Sam Anderson, who puts into concrete form the struggle I’m up against. I’m grappling with a super-sized project involving tens of thousands of document pages and dozens of hours of interviews and interview transcripts. This, an entire universe of content,…
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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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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…
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Live on, Scarlet Tanager
The Scarlet Tanager mostly hangs out in the upper canopy, making it a rare sighting for hikers in the Shenandoah National Park. This one visited us in the lower canopy, hunting insects for his mate or flashing his red plumage to make her love him. Mohan later rendered it in pen and color pencil. It…
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Speaking of Tone-Lōc
I haven’t thought about Tone-Lōc in years, but I woke up on Friday eager write about him. The next day, a horse called Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. It so happens I’m also studying synchronicity right now. Here in Mumbai we’re living through our own Tone-Lōc moment, a sort of Tone-Lōc-down. It’s déjà vu…
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Thanksgiving Hike
We shook off the lingering Thanksgiving weekend with a sturdy hike today, climbing 1,100 feet to reach Karnala Fort. The climb passes through the Karnala Bird Sanctuary off highway 66 in Raigad, Maharashtra, home to some two hundred species of birds. We also spotted wood spiders, carpenter bees, termites, dragon flies, and cicadas, and saw…
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Don Turkey & Key Lime Pie
Me bloggy familiars: recognize this? We made such pies a few years back. And we ate those discs of lemony lime so again Kodachrome the tarty goodness in oven-baked form. After Don Turkey loses his head we’ll top ‘em with cream. Whipping it first! (Did I say, Don Turkey, THE Donald Turkey? Pardon me, pardon…
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Lost
Nothing in 2020 was immune to the pandemic. Even my hard drive crashed by June, shelved for months before a fix could be found. Well before my laptop’s demise, the year had already presented its share of challenges. Travel to Bhopal in January to support American blues performers at an international music festival. February dedicated…
Ben East Books 