Ben East Books

Grid of posts 2×3

  • The Dharma Bums of Bolton Notch

    Earlier this week I climbed Pidurangala, a high cliff overlooking the forests around Sigiriya’s ancient ruins in central Sri Lanka. Painted numbers on a rough board indicated the climb would rise 628 steps, uneven and rough-hewn from wet stone. I counted hundreds more than that before reaching the Buddha in repose, just below the summit. Read more

  • Lucky Encounters in Serendib

    We greeted the New Year from a treehouse in old Ceylon. We rode the waves at Midigama and Weligama in Southern Serendib. We climbed to Buddha’s retreat at Pidurangula and looked out over forests surrounding the ancient ruins of Sigiriya. In Kandy, we spied the room housing the casket that holds the dagobas  wherein rests Read more

  • BAMF vs The Shutdown

    This next episode from life at the Bureau of Government Intelligence and Execution—aka BOGIE—introduces the Bureau of Administration, Management, and Facilities. DC may shut its doors on the public workers who serve the Republic. But that can’t stop the mofos in BAMF from installing new ones to protect its workers from America’s next shooting rampage. Also Read more

  • Essential Non-Essential

    Shutdown 2018 continues unabated, and so do excerpts from life at the  government’s Bureau of Government Intelligence and Execution—better known as BOGIE. What happens when DC’s ‘Fed Buffet’ closes its doors—and its payroll—on the public servants who work to prevent  America’s next tragedy? Furloughed, you say? Is this what you signed up for? “How do you arrive at Read more

  • Shutdown Chores

    Week one of Government Shutdown 2018 comes to an end, bringing to mind the plot of Patchworks. So why not run a few excerpts from Chapter 12, in which DC’s ‘Fed Buffet’ closes its doors—and its payroll—on a mix of kindly public servants who only wanted to prevent the next great American tragedy. Government intern Read more

  • Idling through the Shut Down

    Idling through the Shut Down

    Revisiting publication credits to stimulate and inspire 2019 projects. I’d like to make it a year of broader platforms with more non-fiction. The days ahead, if the Grinches in DC keep Grinching, might provide both the means and the need to fulfill that prospect. Non-fiction The Card from Kabul—The Foreign Service Journal May 2018 Transition Brief Read more