Posts by Benjamin
Radio City Station
For at least a day now (it’s been tough to keep track, frankly; the last few have been punctuated by black holes where my memory used to be), my email inbox has been slammed by a steady flow of identical, potentially editorially-salient spam comments: Buy Valium. For my mother, whose graduation from Columbus High School…
Read MorePride (In The Name Of Love)
I stepped into Times Square at 12:33 tonight, some sixteen hours after first stepping foot in the office. The sidewalk was slick. “Huh,” I thought. “Weather.” This afternoon, I stood outside MTV video Music Awards rehearsals at Radio City Music Hall as one of our crews interviewed the Creative Director in a cramped, curbside mobile…
Read MoreMoment Of Zen: Smith Point, Nantucket
I could hear the back-to-work buzz before I even stirred from the sheets this morning. Trucks slammed their way up Tenth Avenue. Cabs honked. Tires screeched. There was an actual traffic jam stepping out of the elevator this morning. Blue blazers stumbled over dog walkers tripping over baby carriages. There was nearly a four-person pile…
Read MoreThe Day I Almost Ran A Marathon (By Accident)
With all the glass, concrete and stone, it’s easy to forget just how much water there is in and around New York City. The City’s total area is roughly 470 square miles, some 165 of which is water. From the Hudson and East Rivers to Flushing and Jamaica Bays, there are over a 1,000 miles…
Read MoreI Heart Pop Candy Because Pop Candy Hearts Mister Rogers (And R.E.M.!)
In December, I travelled to Washington, D.C., to cover President Obama’s Inauguration for MTV News. I was managing the operation, for the most part, but broke ranks one afternoon to interview one of my artistic heroes, Shepard Fairey. USA Today’s Pop Candy Blog linked to the resulting article. So I sent its editor, Whitney Matheson,…
Read MoreThirty-Eight Songs
Sometime after midnight thirty-eight years ago today in a sterile-white, fluorescent-lit University of Iowa hospital room, my parents welcomed me into the world just a few weeks shy of my due date. My mother was studying classical guitar that summer. Moreover, the acoustic balladeer — James Taylor, Carol King, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Brown,…
Read MoreThe Miracle Of Showing Up, Part II
Yesterday afternoon, I raced uptown to a doctor’s appointment on West 96th Street, tripping out of the cab some fifteen minutes late. It took me at least thirty seconds to realize the appointment was on 86th Street. Just seventy-two hours shy of leaving Nantucket, then, I was plunged back into my nuance-free life: rush rush,…
Read MoreCadre Of Awesomeness
After ushering in my thirty-seventh year alone on a strange Angelino couch, I wasn’t about to let it happen again with thirty-eight. Accordingly, Abbi and I kicked off my Birthday Week (what the heck, right?) last night with drinks, dinner, and a dozen dear family and friends. The criteria was simple: no one from work…
Read MoreNantucket, Massachusetts (Summer 2009)
The Delicate Art Of Doing Nothing At All
I’m sure there are many things to do on Nantucket Island. There are galleries, shops and restaurants on the wharf. There’s a Nantucket Whaling Museum, Lifesaving Museum, Atheneum, Observatory and Aquarium. The place is rife with historical destinations: Brant Point Lighthouse, Henry Coffin House, and the First Congregational Church (to name just a few). To…
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