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Monthly Archives: January 2005

Taking, or accepting, responsibility

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Friday, January 28, 2005: Recalling a dream is not where I want to go with Brick. But what the heck. It’s a Brick. It doesn’t go anywhere until heaved. That’s Krazy Kat’s downfall, he realizes just as he sees one heading toward him from Ignatz Mouse, too late to duck.
It’s [...]

Johnny Carson

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Wednesday, January 26, 2005: My newspaper rarely does front-page obituaries, particularly of celebrities. The last was Marlon Brando’s. Monday morning it gave top-of-2A play for Johnny Carson, the penultimate spot. The front page would have been appropriate.
Carson was a significant icon of the 20th century, in American culture (popular culture [...]

Coming to term limits

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Wednesday, January 19, 2005. In reading in the papers about another piece of embarrassing proposed state legislation, I realized finally, after many years of consideration, a single reason to support term limits.
Overall, though, holding legislators from the community through state levels to a maximum number of terms is fundamentally un-democratic. [...]

Ex-executive privilege

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Monday, January 17, 2005: Days ago, George II brought in George the First and Bill Clinton to lead private fund-raising for the south Asian tsunami disaster of 12/26/04.
This is life imitating art!
"Saturday Night Live" has a periodic cartoon by one of its staffers– Robert Smigel — that is called "The [...]

Hammered point nails thumb

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Monday, January 10, 2005. Just thought of another way to explain my confusion with a certain kind of column. Or blog now.
The discomfort is partly from the frustration of not being able to explain, but mainly because their writers are some of my favorite people.
The genre: Anecdotal essays about their families [...]

I invented the wheel

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Friday, January 7, 2005. It’s important to be efficient. To not reinvent the wheel is my oft-repeated goal, likely annoying others.
Definition: Coming to know what works and what doesn’t, what is tolerable and what drives you batty. It’s a process of elimination, where over the years you gain knowledge of yourself [...]

Last of the inbreed

Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Jan. 2, 2005: In the paper and online today is Dave Barry’s final column as a regularly run syndicated humor columnist. He announced this a few months ago, calling it a sabbatical of indefinite length while acknowledging writing projects in other media, maybe including papers. Also in the fall, Jimmy Breslin [...]

Hear a second?

Hear a second for the First?
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock
Jan. 1, 2005: I won’t look back to a year ago in the Brick. I try not to look back on much. There might be too much I might regret. Any regrets are too many. Besides, as cautious as I can be (though I take more [...]