John Bennet

New Yorker Senior Editor (Ret),
Columbia J-School

[John Bennet @slothead]

There are no degrees of uniqueness.

[VeryBritishProblems @SoVeryBritish]

How to make your email more unique: swap any of the following words for “hope” in “I hope this email finds you well”

Bet
Guarantee
Pray
Expect
Said
Accept
Guess
Agree
Prefer
Recognise
Announce
Suggest
Confirm
Estimate
Promise
Order
Pretend

[John Bennet @slothead]

Great movie.

[Kevin Bacon @kevinbacon]

So sad to hear about Fred Ward. When it came to battling underground worms I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I will always remember chatting about his love of Django Reinhardt and jazz guitar during our long hot days in the high desert. Rest In Peace Fred.

[John Bennet @slothead]

This is good.

[Columbia Journalism School @columbiajourn]

President Lee C. Bollinger has appointed Jelani Cobb as the next dean of Columbia Journalism School.
A distinguished journalist, historian, author, and professor, Cobb is a staff writer for @NewYorker and a member of the @Columbia community since 2016. https://t.co/mH77qye4gx

[John Bennet @slothead]

That Maybelle and Sara happened to be cousins is like John meeting Paul.

[Dust-to-Digital @dusttodigital]

Remembering Maybelle Carter, born on this day in 1909 in Nickelsville, Virginia. Here she is playing "Wildwood Flower" on the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show in 1961.

[John Bennet @slothead]

Your delight in imagining such tortures fuels your delusional cosmology.

[Erick Erickson @EWErickson]

Dear people upset Roe is dying. I want you to remember the feeling of dread you have right now. Now understand this is nothing compared to the feeling you’ll have on the day of judgment you think is a myth. Repent.

[John Bennet @slothead]

Hotez is the best. His vaccines have saved innumerable African lives.

[The Lead CNN @TheLeadCNN]

.@PeterHotez: We’ll know in the next 2 to 4 days if the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was a super-spreader

[John Bennet @slothead]

It is fascinating. But what’s the correct translation for repeated references to Russia’s “growing” forces in Donbas?

[Eliot A Cohen @EliotACohen]

OK, you’ll have to use the Twitter translate function, but definitely worth it on the troubles the Russians have had, and will have in Donbas. He sees them having a couple of weeks before failure becomes apparent.

[John Bennet @slothead]

via @NYTimes https://t.co/o29hUpBOU5

[Joshua Yaffa @yaffaesque]

I've long known Oleg Orlov of Memorial as a man of great dignity and quiet bravery. Here he is on Red Square, preparing for Victory Day, with a poster that reads: "USSR 1945: overcame fascism. Russia 2022: overcome by fascism." He was quickly arrested. https://t.co/bUQ8yGFIyF

[John Bennet @slothead]

There can never be too many stories about this place. Nicely done, @gwynnefitz (Gwynne Hogan).

[Gothamist @Gothamist]

"The Hole" is a neighborhood unconnected to New York City's sewer system that suffers from regular flooding. City officials recently toured the area — a possible sign of new investment — but longtime residents say they're deeply skeptical.
https://t.co/Th9gl0oVhS

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

“Riverman” brims with the rich possibilities of a fully lived life and expectations exceeded https://t.co/1elbn0X9K6

[John Bennet @slothead]

Twitter just isn’t doing it for me anymore. Is this how the crack epidemic ended? '

[John Bennet @slothead]

@IraByock Ordered it.

[Evan Osnos @eosnos]

This book, RIVERMAN, is divine. Just extraordinary writing and crystalline thinking. Reminds me of the best of @newyorker prose. Come see the author @mcgrathben talk @eastcitybooks about how he found this extraordinary story (and how it found him, really). One week from today.

[John Bennet @slothead]

Dropped into Northshire Books in Saratoga last night to hear @mcgrathben read from Riverman. Great bookstore. Great reading.

[John Bennet @slothead]

The Pentagon Papers were actually The Dharma Papers.

[Steve Silberman @stevesilberman]

Pentagon Papers whistleblower @DanielEllsberg turns 91 today. This is one of the most fascinating and least known literary anecdotes of all time: How Beat/Zen poet Gary Snyder helped inspire Ellsberg's bold move. Via #BeatGeneration scholar Randy Roark.

[John Bennet @slothead]

Hard to visualize future seasons unless this one ends with some form of the status quo ante.

[John Bennet @slothead]

This piece is so readable you wish it even longer.

[Elisabeth Zerofsky @zerofskaya]

The French far right is enjoying perhaps its greatest cultural primacy in 75 years, and has dominated the presidential campaign. Might be just a warm-up. My story for this weekend's @NYTmag https://t.co/qgIgmUU7mc

[John Bennet @slothead]

This is harder than math.

[Evan Kirshenbaum @evanKirshenbaum]

@clauderivest @megelison @BetsyHodges "Entrée" meant what it means in English before it meant what it currently means in French. https://t.co/f8AisAsRob

[John Bennet @slothead]

They’re natural theologians, too. “If God doesn’t want people to be bad, why does he make people who are bad?”

[Emily Dreyfuss @EmilyDreyfuss]

It took me until I dropped acid for the first time to have that thought.