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Ben Stein's Diary
On Winter Tour
Beware of scary situations.
(Page 2 of 3)
I sure hope we keep that edge, no matter what it costs.
Then, I watched an episode of The World at War about Hitler and Stalin’s invasion of Poland and how magnificently the Poles fought back and the incredible bravery of Warsaw. I really admire the Polish people. Brave, brave men and women.
Then, to sleep. Yeah, sleep. The world’s best thing. Sleep.
I occasionally woke up and looked across the Potomac at the lights of Northern Virginia. Haunting. That room at The Watergate has many memories for me.
At about 5 in the morning, I turned on Fox News to see that once in a lifetime rains had hit San Antonio. If I had stayed there even a few hours later, I would never have gotten out. Scary. (Decades ago, when I was an editorial writer and columnist at the Wall Street Journal editorial page under Bob Bartley and George Melloan, I had a copy editor, a chain-smoking Irishman named Jack Cooper. He made me crazy with his unnecessary edits and changed meanings of columns, but he was a humorous fellow. I once asked him what word appeared most in my columns. He said, “Scary,” followed closely by “weird.” I miss him. He died a long time ago. I also miss Bob Bartley. He and I differed on almost every subject, but he was a great man. A genuinely great man.)
Thursday
A long drive
in Bob Noah’s Town Car from D.C. to Ewing, New Jersey, to speak at
the College of New Jersey. It was once called Trenton State
Teachers’ College but now it teaches many subjects. We went up
Route 95 through Maryland, my native state.
As always, we stopped for crabcakes at Phillips Crab House at the Maryland House. Always delicious. A middle-aged man came over to me and beamed at me.
“Thank you for sharing your gifts,” he said. “They brighten up many peoples’ days.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Just Jimmy from Philadelphia,” he said. “My ministry is at the Ronald McDonald House. The kids there love you.”
I was very touched.
Ewing looks a little care worn but the campus of TCNJ was charming. Bob and I had dinner with the top dogs of the College Republicans, a very likeable group. I sat next to an adorable tiny little freshman named Jacqueline. She reminded me very much of a woman I used to know in D.C. named Penny Pennella. Penny was a super nice girl. I wonder what happened to her. I haven’t seen her in forty years. Still, she was a nice girl. I wish I could find out what happened to all of the people I used to know.
The speech went well. But TCNJ has an unusual feature. It has a program for “special ed” and that brought a number of mentally challenged students to my speech. It was kind of hard to think what they could get out of a college education but then I thought, “Hey, I bet they are here for the students of special ed to work with.”
Great idea. But the special ed kids asked a lot of questions I couldn’t quite follow. I am going to have to find out more about that program.
Back to the Watergate. We stopped at another roadside restaurant, an immense place with a lot of students. They were all cheery. What a lively place Route 95 is, even late at night. I slept most of the way back though. Sleeping in the back of Bob’s car is an incredible, unbelievable pleasure. I feel like a baby being rocked in his parents’ arms.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
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Jane Aderhold| 2.6.12 @ 8:55AM
You are my favority AS writer. For your knee, ask the Doctor about "You-Flex-A" (Sp). It is a series of three shots, spread a week about. Works like a dream and much better than a knee replacement.
Don't laugh, I went to Marjorie Webster Jr. College in Washington, not far from the Maryland border. Being in DC for two years was an experience. I was there when Kennedy was shot. I'm sure you were around there at the same time.
God bless you and your family.
Jane
Miami, FL
PS: My DOB is November 27, 1943
Brian Mc| 2.6.12 @ 9:32AM
Thanks, Ben. Once again, you are the harbor amidst the storm.
jim sweeney | 2.6.12 @ 9:48AM
You're not old; I am old though I look more like 65 than 81, still lawyer 60+ hours a week and have the world's greatest 7-year old son. (Yes, seven.) So please lay off that old man schtick which seems to appear in every column. We in LA are doubly blessed to live in Jerry Dunphy's land of Springtime every morning and Autumn every evening which makes self-pity, Jery Brown and his ilk notwithstanding.
I do think your off-hand comment about the Hollywood Commies deserves further development. You would do all a true service to flesh out that thought. RR would be pleased as well.
Jim| 2.6.12 @ 10:22AM
What has happened to Ben
Stein's paramour--Miss Alabama?
I wade through Stein's treacle, hoping to find another electrifying post from the High Society Dame, but she never appears on the comment threads anymore.
Her last post told about her husband, Hank, ripping her fancy underpants off, and how Ben--her " gentle huggy bear"-- would never do such a thing.
Ben, brother, what has happened to your Southern diva? She used to sing arias to you.
Is she (I wonder) somehow involved in your "litigation"? She always struck me as too hot to handle.
Byron| 2.6.12 @ 10:41AM
"Freedom Betrayed" by H. Hoover is a great book in general and deals with the communist infiltration in detail. You might like it.
Vern Crisler| 2.6.12 @ 10:32AM
Ben, you can find out what happened to all your old friends by joining Facebook. You'll see that they've all grown old, literally.
BTW, given your interest in WW2, if you want to read a good book on WW2, I recommend American Heritage's book about it, the 1960s edition (if you haven't read it already). (I haven't read the 90s edition yet.)
Lots of good narrative history, selections from diaries and books of WW2 soldiers, journalists, etc., plus a lot of great pictures.
Ned the Red| 2.6.12 @ 10:56AM
"So much of life is about whether or not one's parents took care of one. And yet it's so hard for the parents to know what the right thing to do is. Well, we are all rocked in God's arms if we want to be.
Maybe even if we don't want to be."
Great stuff Ben. I think the first few years are the most important of all.
Tiddly| 2.6.12 @ 1:09PM
For engrossing WWII reading, try "Above the Thunder" by Raymond Kerns. I don't think any other WWII memoir can match it.
Frank Drackman | 2.6.12 @ 3:37PM
ME-TV is awesume.
Reruns of Hawai 5-0, Daniel Boone(even with its Politically In-correct theme song), Gunsmoke(the good ones, in B&W, Chester, and Matt B-Word Slapping the bad guys)and the occasional Brady Bunch/Happy Days,
and its FREE, at least in the Atlanta area, just like healthcare will be.
Frank
GD| 2.6.12 @ 9:41PM
"I sure hope we keep that edge, no matter what it costs."
Darn straight!
Michael| 2.7.12 @ 3:15PM
Here in Murray, Kentucky, we get ME-TV 12/24 weekdays and 18/24 on weekends. It's now one of my top three local stations. "Twelve O'Clock High" and Saturday westerns. It's wonderful. Also, I agree with you on "Gulag" and Stalin's friends. Another excellent book is "Red Star Over Hollywood".
allie aller | 2.9.12 @ 12:50PM
Uncle Ben (you know you are my honorary uncle)...Facebook is a terrific place for finding out what happened to the people you used to know. It's like time travel, from high school graduation to your 40th reunion in 60 seconds. At least, that's been my experience.
And yes, thanks for sharing your gifts... ;-)
Brian Richard Allen | 2.10.12 @ 11:23AM
.... "Thank you for sharing your gifts," he said. "They brighten up many peoples' days ...."
How I envy that man having the opportunity to say that to you, Mr Stein.
But in case I don't get to see you to say it? Thank you from me and from mine, too. And may the G-d of Israel always hear your prayers and look over and shower blessings on and take care of you -- and of every one you love!
Brian Richard Allen
Los Angeles - CA 90028
And The Very Far Abroad