Ben Clarke

The smile. That is what I will miss the most. It came naturally to her --- an ever-graceful greeting that conveyed more than words ever could. It was captivating. It was kind. It was constant. Often, you could feel it before you could see it. What a divine gift. (more)

I was back at Fenway Park a few weeks ago for the pilgrimage to Opening Day that my father, brother, brother-in-law and I undertake every year. If I were commissioner of baseball, I would mandate that all stadiums must go back to the days where the only music played emanated from an organ.  (more)

I think it is finally time to take that trip to Egypt I have been putting off. Chaos. Discontent. Violence in the streets. Witnesses say as many as 10,000 prisoners have escaped amidst the unrest. In Egypt, they call it Cairo. In America, we call it New Jersey. (more)

This piece originally ran in the Greenfield Recorder (MA). (more)

I have been grumpy lately. It all started — well, thirty-one years ago — but more recently when I spilled coffee on my laptop. True to form, I addressed stupidity with stupidity, rebuffing the “Geek Squad” at Best Buy and attempting my own repair. I rained blows upon and profanities toward the laptop … it did not respond in kind. An hour later, an hour angrier, there I was … at Best Buy and at the mercy of “Geek Squad” judge and jury, helpless.  “Sir, you should really never hit your laptop.” (more)

I caught a piece yesterday in Politico penned by Roger Simon, entitled: Sarah Palin Is At The Top Of Her Party.  Is she really?  I like Simon.  He seems like a pretty intelligent guy.  He wears glasses.  Could he be right, though? (more)

I remember fondly trekking across downtown Des Moines, Iowa early in January of 2008 to catch Barack Obama’s acceptance speech upon winning the Iowa Caucuses.  I was one of the few who did so without the luxury of snow shoes. (more)

Time does not heal all wounds. (more)

I am not a man of science. Biology is as far as I got in high school. I passed by the grace of an aging professor who blessed me with a D. Physics was an academic horror I was asked by faculty not to undertake. (more)

Every month I receive a financial statement from one of the Wall Street behemoth firms. The raw materials used in the mailing—paper and stamps—are generally worth more than my account balance. (more)

If ever the American Medical Association deems ‘en masse paralyzing confusion’ a pre-existing condition warranting treatment, I have a hunch the tab for national health care may soar north. In the immortal words of Joe Biden (I love that guy), the passage of health care reform is a ‘big fu#*ing deal’. No doubt. But is it a good deal? (more)

I should say at the outset that I was a brutish brother at times growing up. The second eldest of five children, I made the lives of the other four—at some point—downright miserable. (more)

I have always resented the liberal presumption of intolerance among conservatives – the notion that we huddle around campfires in endangered forests and seethe in our abhorrence of gays, ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants and France. (more)