About Benj Demott

Part 1 I’m all about finding the political in art, but assertions about the role of art in the political make me nervous, maybe more nervous than they should. But… Narrative is a rhetorical structure used for all sorts of reasons not ineluctably aesthetic. These days, however, that isn’t always clear because writers on everything … Read more

Marsha Music née Battle is a writer of rootsy, elegant pieces on time past who grew up in Detroit, daughter of a pre-Motown record producer father. Her blog means to capture the vibrant, creative years of mid-century Black Detroit life before memories fade and the city “changes” once more. She regards the music of Detroit … Read more

I. Anticipation: Day One And this was going to be the year I got my big thrill back from college basketball! Larry Brown, now at SMU, was set to contend for the national title, with a solid group of veterans, supplemented by a spectacular freshman recruit: Emmanuel Mudiay, who instead opted to play professionally in … Read more

One recent afternoon, I found myself in front of the TV, its sound muted, watching an NCAA basketball championship semi-final between Michigan State and Duke. Ten young men ran back and forth, right-to-left, left-to-right, upon this court. It occurred to me that I had been watching this game for sixty years, and I did not … Read more

He speaks now in my dreams and we are again comfortable, but it has taken the decades since he died for him to move from a vague, silent, accusing dream shadow, to a distinct presence, still silent, never a factor in the dream action, still hustling his guilt trip, until now, gradually, finally, it is … Read more

I met E. Martin in 1958 at summer camp, where he was not only our bunk’s starting shortstop and point guard but the only one who read I. F. Stone’s Weekly. He went on to lead the anti-war movement at Penn medical school, participate in Physicians for Social Responsibility and practice psychotherapy from a self-characterized … Read more

No one sings in Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie Inherent Vice, the first film adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel. This is quite strange, considering that of all Pynchon’s quirks, his characters’ tendency to burst into song Hollywood musical-style would appear to be among the most welcoming to the general audience, the most “filmable.” And … Read more