Reflections on citizenship, democracy, literature, and contemporary American life. Serious book reviews, social satire, and comedy not for everyone.
Ben East’s nonfiction debut recounts how JFK’s bold experiment shaped diplomatic careers and influenced modern American diplomacy.
The figures highlighted here tracked looted antiquities after the invasion of Iraq, re-established diplomacy in Afghanistan after 9/11, and secured village infrastructure while war raged in Vietnam. As hostages in Iran, they maintained diplomatic discipline to bridge a volatile cultural divide. These are individuals of deep courage and conviction, whether integrating a southern U.S. high school or finding comfort in African village beliefs to cope with personal tragedy.
Read, Listen, Watch
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This is a knife. This is the dumbest knife in the kitchen. This knife is so dumb it does not even know it is a knife. I suspect this knife thinks it is a spoon, which is about how sharp this knife is. Sharp as a spoon. I would like to thank the even dumber…
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This is Mixture. Mixture is delicious. Mixture is not the same as Confusion, which does not always include peanuts, raisins, cornflakes, and other ingredients prepared as below. To make Mixture, fry three red chilis with two dozen curry leaves until they darken, and when they cool, grind them up! To this powder add sugar (2…
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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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God Holds You offers a chronicle of hope. As we entered the Pandemic Wilderness in March 2020, progressive Lutheran pastor Sarah Scherschligt began publishing daily reflections about adapting to the new constraints. Written with her congregation in mind, these real-time posts transcend the self and her faith community to form a relatable narrative that is both…
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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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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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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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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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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…
Ben East Books 