Why write more when my home page
will distract you from the real me.
E-mail me here: (written out to reduce spam) ben(at-sign)benpollock(dot)com
The New Republic (subscription-only) reports that humorist, memoirist, monologist David Sedaris embellishes. A number of otherwise sensible commentators, like Slate’s Jack Shafer, jump on the fellow. Their point: If you laugh, it’s not journalism. If it has a coherent beginning, middle and end, it’s too good to be true. [Casablanca: Captain Renault: “I’m shocked, shocked […]
This has been quite a week for culture in the Ozarks. Just a while ago KHOG interrupted ABC’s The View for a news bulletin: Was another cop shot? Last week, a couple of local stations broadcast a slain police officer’s funeral live. Today, it was to report that sources have identified the new basketball coach […]
We go around on things like this, My Beloved and I: Consumer Reports likes the Great Value ground decaf. Not the whole bean and not the regular coffee, where the magazine prefers Eight O’Clock whole bean. The Wal-Mart house brand Great Value in other foods seems very much like the more expensive name brands. Then […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Assorted thoughts. The professionals among the conferees and the speakers all were pessimistic about the future of the newspaper business. It was just a matter of degree. The most hopeful see journalism shifting mostly to the Internet with a minority paper presence. The dourest — and they actually were in a position […]
Will Rogers Writers’ Workshop, OKLAHOMA CITY — Susan Driscoll, CEO of iUniverse, spoke first, following a hot breakfast buffet to which the self-publishing firm treated us. I see why friends have published books, several of whom have gone the print-on-demand route, yet it’s not for me. No books. I’m more of a pamphleteer. But after […]
Will Rogers Writer’s Workshop, OKLAHOMA CITY — This Friday-Saturday set of seminars concerned humor writing — for newspapers, magazines, books and in one session greeting cards, covering the writing of funny essays but also sound feature reporting. Improving one’s marketing skills was featured in several ways. The impact of the Internet must have been mentioned […]