Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors to help guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of global upheaval.
Read, Listen, Watch
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You don’t have to bend over and take this legislative middle finger right up the center, America. Vote with a phone call, and if it goes wrong, vote your Senator out. Wapo’s Dana Milbank explains the smoke screen.
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Manspreading. Not in defense of the posture or those who assume it. The word’s as gross as it is misleading. I predict an EEO complaint in its future. File this word with mansplaining as a crappy portmanteau. Votarama. Actually, this whimsical-sounding act occurs when congress picks America’s pockets and probes our inner reaches for pork.…
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I tailor-made an essay for an in-house blog last month. Labored over 500 words and thought it a shoe-in. But they passed. The rejection would’ve stung if I thought the piece was lousy. This was for a blog, but the rejection didn’t hurt: I don’t submit rubbish, though I may write it. I knew the piece…
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Migrating to my third generation Mac. That’s a circa 2004 15″ Powerbook G4 on the right, currently in use for a novel in development (Big Fish, Little Fish, for my son’s 8th birthday). I had to ramp it up tonight because the more modern machines are talking to each other, or at least trying to.…
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The NRA and its lackeys are fond of telling us the only thing that can stop a ‘bad guy with a gun’ is a ‘good guy with a gun.’ I have no problem with responsible gun ownership. But I reject the assumption that ‘…with a gun’ is the natural order of things. The above canard…
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Prayers, check. Silence, check. Guns, Amen.
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Which books are you boycotting? So many to choose from… Stick it to them, I say!
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The crazies at NRA can’t, but I can do better than a black and yellow duffel bag. Club Patchworks—free paperback with every subscription!
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Think of all the time and effort that goes into writing a novel. Then think about this reaction when you get to the end: “So what?” Or this: “What next?” So what? What next? That can be what it feels like to finish writing a novel. I guess there was the one time I finished…
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DC-area writers, consider stopping by the American Foreign Service Association for this year’s book market featuring a talk on writing and publishing from 25-year veteran literary agent and editor Deborah Grosvenor. Two dozen Foreign Service-affiliated authors will also be there with their latest work. Find out what publishers are looking for when it comes to writing…
Ben East Books 