Brick: Muse on News by Ben S. Pollock
- By George, a Two-Way Sobriquet
An Awkward Salute to Black History Month My late Uncle George was a funny guy. That’s how he thought of himself and how his friends and community saw him, too. He was quick with a quip, usually smutty. He kept these jokes out of my earshot until I reached high school. I was crazy about… Read more: By George, a Two-Way Sobriquet - Go and Din Some More
For a year, most Ivy League schools plus a few public universities like Virginia have been pressured directly by the Trump administration. For the University of Arkansas, Trump’s impact has been serious but less direct – mainly threats of federal budget cuts to research, scholarship and other grants, and also re-imagining civil rights legislation to… Read more: Go and Din Some More - How Presumptive Thou Art
Holidays and Holy Days I’d like to thank the governor, the honorable Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for giving my colleagues in Arkansas state government and me Friday off, well, outside of first-responders and the like. Holiday? Actually, that was Thursday, Christmas, making this 26th of December similar to the day after Thanksgiving. That’s Black Friday, not… Read more: How Presumptive Thou Art - Top Ten List of Top Ten Commandments
Top Ten Reasons the University of Arkansas Doesn’t Need to Find Places on Campus to Nail 500 Copies of One Translation of the Ten Commandments Editor’s Note by Ben Pollock, Local 965 vice president News item: “U of A Rolls Out Ten Commandments Displays,” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oct. 16, 2025, also reported by various local,… Read more: Top Ten List of Top Ten Commandments - Eggshells
An Editor’s Note I don’t know when I began being paranoid about job security. I’d like to think it was working for newspaper editor John R. Starr from 1985 to his retirement in 1992, because if you just read his caustic columns, who could blame me. It’s likely to be my nature, from childhood. After… Read more: Eggshells - The Deconstruction Era
An Editor’s Note It’s incredible that no wag by now has given our era a name that sticks, goes viral. The announcements and actions coming out of Washington this year — with no sign of slowing — qualify for uniqueness. We came close in 2017-2021 to a singular name, but no go. Maybe that’s because… Read more: The Deconstruction Era
Food Columns
Candidly, the recipes are posted for my convenience, from which to refer via iPad in the kitchen. All are vegetarian, nearly all vegan, aka plant-based whole-food PBWF and, especially the recent ones, low to no oil. I’m sure you’d like them, too.
- Friday Night Re-Pabst
DIY Michelada Is Superior Several years ago I came across a curious cookbook. It comprised workable, simple and healthy vegan recipes but as a parody of a diet book, The Taco Cleanse: The Tortilla-Based Diet Proven to Change Your Life.… Read more: Friday Night Re-Pabst - Clean Beans
The goal for Memorial Day extending to the Fourth of July this year was a recipe for baked beans tasting as I remember Mom opening a can or two and heating them, but also vegan and zero to low oil.… Read more: Clean Beans - Ozarkonomiyaki
Japanese-style savory vegan pancake (okonomiyaki) with everyday ingredients Okonomiyaki (Japanese more or less for “grilled to your liking”) is a thick pancake with a lot of regional variations. Most recipes online indicate they’re usually savory, loaded with vegetables but no… Read more: Ozarkonomiyaki - Full Casserole on a Sheet
One rule my wife and I have picked up for pot-luck suppers in our whole-food plant-based decade is “bring an entree.” We vegans seem to live on sides and salads, but in a communal room with a table of platters,… Read more: Full Casserole on a Sheet
