Benjamin Dreyer
@bcdreyer.social
America's Copy Editor® author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • Angeleno • he/him/his benjamindreyer.com
Liberals say that public executions have no place in our democracy. They’re wrong—public executions have no place in our republic.
“Editors won’t like this, but I’ll say it: ‘irregardless’ is a word.” No one thinks that “irregardless” isn’t a word; thanks for dropping by.
That Maya Angelou got a Tony nomination acting opposite Geraldine Page in a play that closed on opening night always sounds to me like the sort of thing you'd make up and keep a straight face recounting to see how many people would call you a liar.
listomania
[an exercise]
benjamindreyer.substack.com
I dreamt last night that I lost my laptop (in a computer shop, no less), so even as we speak I'm backing the thing up.
I went searching for order in a chaotic universe and found/imposed a little.
listomania
[an exercise]
benjamindreyer.substack.com
today's exceptionally random theater photo: David Selby and Arlene Golonka in Oliver Hailey's I Won't Dance (11 previews, 1 performance, 1981)
The NYPD just released surveillance video of the ICE shooting (which occurred off camera). Two men in civilian clothes run up to a car with guns drawn. One second later, one man begins smashing the butt of his gun into the driver’s side window. The driver appears to panic and hit the gas.
He’s mad our country is run by crooks and murderers and so am I. I’m no longer interested in negotiating with these people and neither is he.
Bill McKibben@billmckibben.bsky.social · 2d agoFiguring out why Ossoff is so effective is an interesting task. I think he's mastering a kind of stern dignity that is uniquely compelling in contrast to the clownish cruelty of the other side. I think the other person who's kind of hit on the same thing is AOC, though in a different register
“You cannot read authors like Herman Melville or Edgar Allen Poe without facing the stark reality that the English language has grossly deteriorated.” A, balls. B, Allan. 🤷🏻♂️
If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club.
today's random theater photo Eva Le Gallienne and Farley Granger in Ring Round the Moon (1963)
I turn to this track on the regular. It won't cure anything, alas, but it alleviates. And it's truly lovely.
Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · last yr.I think that a beautiful 113-year-old recording might lift your spirits, if for any reason your spirits need lifting.
