Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock Surpassing expectations by accepting limits Wednesday 4 January 2006. Last issue, The New Yorker praised James Agee. Actually, it was New Yorker movie critic David Denby. (If I don’t always agree with Denby, he’s about the only current writer who every once in a while drops in a sentence or […]
Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock Justice for horses Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006. NEWS ITEM — Fayetteville High’s band is scheduled Monday to march two places behind the Rose Parade’s grand marshal, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. They’ll find it easier to stay in step than me. In Fort Smith parades, my high school’s […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. Waiting. Some Enron executive pleaded guilty today to being a crook. Enron? Wasn’t that way back? (Wait here, I’ll check.) The corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2001. He’s a criminal who hurt thousands of employees, yet imagine waiting four years to learn how long your prison […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock The four horsemen of the Christmas Tuesday, December 13, 2005. Season’s greetings! Happy holidays! Quonset hut! Darwin’s Canterbury Jitterbug! Intelligent menorahs! Now, have I covered the four horsemen of the Christmas season? (I count five, too. Gotta watch ’em.) Too much ink has been spilled on this fall’s from-out-of-nowhere, wholly […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock . "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us," says Walt Kelly’s Pogo. (Not Gene Kelly, who never danced punk’s pogo.) That classic Cold War punch line’s almost an affirmation for those of us who consider ourselves enlightened Americans. But as such, a maxim’s never as good as […]
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Next Big Thing, on down the line The next big thing: Is there some age where there is no Next Big Thing? In your 20s, to say nothing of college and before that the high school years, there’s always another brass ring for which to make a grab. From high […]