Ben East Books

Category: Uncategorized

  • Tech genius

    Tech genius

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    by

    Ben East
    in

    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…

  • Baseball and going home

    Baseball and going home

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    by

    Ben East
    in

    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…

  • Gud Guys W Gunz

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    by

    Ben East
    in

    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…

  • The Royal Them

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    Ben East
    in

    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. ##

  • Tke a Hke

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    Ben East
    in

    Sunny and seventies in the Blue Ridge Mountains these two weeks. We explored a range of trails, peaks, and falls in the Shenandoah National Park and beyond. We ascended to Hawksbill Peak, SNP’s highest point (4051); took in Jones Run and Doyles River Falls in a 5.3 mile outing; took the easy stroll to Dark…

  • Re-Blogging: Notes from the Slush Pile: Endings — Al Kratz

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    Ben East
    in

    This is where it all ends. This is the opening lyric to the Cult’s 1989 album Sonic Temple. I remember it like it was yesterday. Standing in my dorm room, unwrapping it to the excitement of getting to hear something new, the first few guitar riffs unrolling to Ian Astbury announcing as much as singing […]…

  • Abused

    Abused

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    Ben East
    in , , , , , ,

    We interrupt this abuse of the First Amendment to bring you this abuse of the Second. #MourningInAmerica       ##

  • The Story Belongs to All

    The Story Belongs to All

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    by

    Ben East
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    In search of distraction from my low mood, and the month of foul headlines that created it, I turn to the library of familiar books recently arrived to the shelves of our Mumbai flat. Narratives on writing by V.S. Naipaul catch my eye. The author’s self-indulgence aside, he shares my way of thinking when it comes to…

  • Imagination–Reblogged from Valor and Compassion

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    by

    Ben East
    in

    Writing insights worth re-posting: Silence, too, is a tool in the wordsmith’s toolbox–perhaps the most potent of all in an art wrought by and from words. The caesura, a moment of silence in music and a metrical pause in poetry, allows readers (and musicians, and writers) to catch their breath. This pause also allows emotion…

  • The Impact of Public Diplomacy

    The Impact of Public Diplomacy

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    Ben East
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    Reflecting on U.S. Diplomacy. An excerpt: The next-to-last time I saw Mohamed—11:15 a.m., December 6, 2004—a blast-resistant window separated us. The day’s final applicant, he was alone in the waiting room when the high-low alarm started wailing. An Afghan male taking refuge in Saudi Arabia from the time of the Soviet invasion of his country,…