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Posts published by “Larry Bensky”

Book Review: Losing It

Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin Pantheon Books, 2021; 292 pp. $26.95 Of all the dreaded afflictions that affect the human mind, the one that has come to be known as “Alzheimer’s Disease”* is surely among…

Ferlinghetti, R.I.P.

It was a cold early Summer night in 1963, when I first set foot in City Lights, the now legendary bookstore.  Much has been made since of how unusual City Lights, then ten yers old,…

Halls of Memory

Berkeley, CA, January 11, 2021 — By now, you’ve probably seen the footage many times. Unless you’ve had the discipline and good sense to keep out of your life that which the unavoidable image merchants…

Journal of the Plague Year (#26)

Berkeley, CA September 14, 2020 – “Grandpa, do you remember the day the sun didn’t come up?” “Couldn’t have happened.” “But there are videos. Look!”  “Oh, that day. Actually the sun came up. It just…

Journal of the Plague Year (#25)

Berkeley, CA September 7, 2020 – Labor Day! Tens of thousands of people, tired and stressed by pandemic protocols, are now doing minimally and maximally dangerous things. Some do them deliberately, and then feel badly…

Journal of the Plague Year (#24)

Berkeley, CA August 31, 2020 – “Hatemonger. Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda” By Jean Guerrero. William Morrow, 2020, If you don’t know much, or even if you don’t know anything, about…

Journal of the Plague Year (#23)

Berkeley, CA August 24, 2020 – Completely crazy! It’s completely crazy that with global warming giving an early accelerant to wildfire season, the State of California dismantled its 3,400 prison inmate firefighter units because of…

Journal of the Plague Year (#22)

This week, the other specter lurking everywhere decided to make itself more widely noticed. There could hardly be a worse time for Global Warming

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