Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 24, 2005. Old School by Tobias Wolff provoked this riff. (I checked out the audio book from the library perhaps a year ago and returned it after hearing only most of the first disc, going by that’s when its familiarity ended. Having forgotten I had it out […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Friday, Nov. 18, 2005: What happened to the Mall? I thought the Mall is what destroyed Downtown, not Wal-Mart. The latest batch of Wal-Mart-bashing ignores the history of American retail. I don’t know this history in a scholarly way, only that portion I’ve lived. So this is a chip of […]
The Pollocks are always greener on the other side Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, November 13, 2005. Among the better-known people to whom I’m not related: Ben Pollock, the big band leader of the 1920s and ’30s, no connection Jackson Pollock, the abstract expressionist painter, no connection Sydney Pollack, the movie director and occasional […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Saturday, November 12, 2005. Two observations from a luncheon. OK, two and a half. This is long; sorry. It’d make a dandy underpinning of a story or play, and be clearer, but it’s taken me a lot of years for one hour today to merge these thoughts into an informal […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Not tonight, dear, this is a G-rated spot Friday, November. 11, 2005. Michael Scherer, Salon.com’s Washington correspondent, reported today on a hearing conducted Thursday by the Senate’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. A writer named Pamela Paul testified, quoted as having said the following: “‘If they […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Monday, November 7, 2005. Now I can understanding the irritating habit of young brides to have everything “perfect” on their wedding day, the heck with the confused groom and the beleaguered parents. Birthdays are like that. At least for me, every year I want my birthday to be perfect, a […]