Reposted by Brian BensonAlissa Azar @alissaazar.bsky.social · 02/02/2026People all over Portland, Oregon were impacted by the chemical warfare deployed by the feds tonight. Here’s a thread of some Portlanders experiences who weren’t even at the protest: 301481806
Reposted by Brian BensonKat Mahoney @kmahoneylaw.com · 01/02/2026If you are pissed off at how the Feds tear gassed families - tell it to the DA - Nathan Vasquez. He has more options than city council. And get it on public legal record with the Attorney General @agdanrayfield.bsky.social 117181
Reposted by Brian BensonTaylor Griggs @taylorgriggs.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Like many have said, the gassing outside ICE today was really bad, and it impacted a huge group of people. I heard multiple people say they felt like they were going to throw up as they tried to leave the area. (I experienced similar effects.) It followed a peaceful protest led by labor groups. 13419171
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 01/02/2026So much gas shot into a shoulder-to-shoulder march on a tight street with no easy exits. So many kids and old folks. Absolutely fucking vile. 000
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 04/10/2025Thrilled to get a Best of the Net nom from @pitheadchapel.bsky.social for my essay about men’s inability to communicate, and more specifically about that time Dad and I accidentally ate an ego death dose of weed and got lost in the woods pitheadchapel.com/are-you-okay...pitheadchapel.comAre You OkayBrian Benson One decade ago, two years after he’d retired, and two years before either of us had begun therapy, my dad and I went cross-country skiing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was l… 030
Reposted by Brian BensonOff Assignment @offassignment.bsky.social · 07/07/2025This week, we're reading: Chloé Caldwell's tell-all about selling her book WOMEN on dating apps; @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social's flash piece on the bane of existence that is 3:27pm; & Megan Marshall's essay on the left-handed women in her family, drawn from her book AFTER LIVES. Read: buff.ly/6J14g1M 122
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 08/05/2025I have a new piece in Permafrost, the perfect home for a story set in subzero Northwoods winter. This one’s about teenage naïveté, my failure to be the kind of man I was raised to believe I should be, and a small kindness from a stranger. www.uaf.edu/permafrostma... 050
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 26/03/2025Alternate title: what I talk about when I talk about the white male victim complex. This one means a lot to me, so happy it ended up with Cleaver! www.cleavermagazine.com/dont-find-me...cleavermagazine.comBrian Benson: DON’T FIND ME • Cleaver MagazineBrian Benson, originally from the hinterlands of Wisconsin, is the author of GOING SOMEWHERE and co-author of THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. 020
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 14/03/2025I’ve got a tiny story about a big boy, a little boy, & a doomed teddy bear in Six Sentences, a rad journal I somehow only learned of last week, after reading @miriamgershow.bsky.social’s stellar six-line micro. (Fellow writers of tiny stories, submit here!) sixsentences.blogspot.com/2025/03/toy-... 140
Reposted by Brian BensonMiriam Gershow @miriamgershow.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Um, everything is awful but I submitted a flash to Six Sentences & a little over an hour later, they published it! sixsentences.blogspot.com/2025/03/maw....sixsentences.blogspot.comMawby Miriam Gershow I once heard a story about a one-eyed girl who showed up to eighth grade without even an eyepatch–just a sucked-in sock... 5403
Reposted by Brian BensonTahoma Literary Review @tahomareview.bsky.social · 11/03/2025Having trouble adjusting to Daylight Savings? How do you feel about 3:27 pm specifically? Read this deliciously-unhinged sentence by @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social about how it feels to live in this more-than-slightly-unhinged society tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/a...tahomaliteraryreview.comAgainst Afternoon - Tahoma Literary ReviewYou hear a lot of chatter about canceling daylight saving time, but not nearly enough about abolishing the afternoon, more specifically mid-afternoon, and 082
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 24/02/2025This Wednesday at 6, I'll be at Broadway Books, talking with @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social about his fantastic new book, THE ART OF BREVITY. Come hang out with us! 010
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025I wrote a slightly-unhinged sentence about how it feels to live in this more-than-slightly-unhinged society and I’m so happy it landed in @tahomareview.bsky.social tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/a...tahomaliteraryreview.comAgainst Afternoon - Tahoma Literary ReviewYou hear a lot of chatter about canceling daylight saving time, but not nearly enough about abolishing the afternoon, more specifically mid-afternoon, and 182
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025My neighborhood is getting such a cool bookstore! Can’t wait for this place to open its doors. 141
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 01/02/2025I’ve got two new essays up at Harpur Palate: the first is about an ill-fated “guys trip,” the second about my younger self’s (mis)understanding of strength. Thanks, @oozannesay.bsky.social, for giving these such a good home! harpurpalate.binghamton.edu/benson-brian... 041
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Congratulations to all of these amazing writers, and especially to @ericajberry.bsky.social, whose work I look forward to reading for years and years and years. 141
Reposted by Brian BensonCameron Crowell @caminaction.bsky.social · 29/01/2025Randy Foster has worked at New Seasons for 19 years. At 1:30pm today mgmt fired him for “violating Oregon break laws.” His infraction, helping a blind coworker close out his till while on lunch break. By 3:15 his coworkers walked out the Arbor Lodge store demanding reinstatement. 24674187
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Huge congrats to @rclarren.bsky.social, @miriamgershow.bsky.social, Laura Moulton & all the other OR Book Award finalists & award recipients! literary-arts.org/2025/01/anno...literary-arts.orgANNOUNCING THE 2025 OREGON BOOK AWARDS FINALISTS AND SPECIAL AWARDS RECIPIENTSLiterary Arts is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2025 Oregon Book Awards. The winners of each category will be announced live at the 2025 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony, 262
Reposted by Brian Bensonryanashleyanderson @femmeintheory.bsky.social · 25/01/2025Love a dog love story 041
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 27/01/2025“I was almost five years old, it was Christmas day, and I knew something was wrong because I’d gotten everything I’d asked for.” This essay by @femmeintheory.bsky.social ground me to a pulp. So good. 140
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 25/01/2025I wrote this love letter to my deranged muppet of a dog way back in 2020, but it sure does read like I wrote it yesterday. So happy it landed in @xraylitmag.bsky.social, a journal I’ve adored for years. 1133
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 25/01/2025“I always thought I was a science project. Maybe all girls are.” Loved this trippy micro by @oozannesay.bsky.social. 173
Reposted by Brian BensonMiriam Gershow @miriamgershow.bsky.social · 24/01/2025A good time to look at the work Authors Against Book Bans has been doing. www.authorsagainstbookbans.comauthorsagainstbookbans.comAuthors Against Book BansOur Mission Statement We are Authors Against Book Bans. We, a coalition of writers, illustrators, anthology editors and contributors, and other book creators, stand united against the deeply unconstit... 0214
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025The next sesh of my memoir workshop for male-identified writers begins soon! There are a couple of open seats and I’d love to fill them w/ men who are interested in writing and reading in community while exploring what masculinity is and could be. www.brianbensonwrites.com/rewriting-ma...brianbensonwrites.com(Re)Writing Masculinity — Brian Benson 020
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 06/01/2025A big thank-you to the good folks at Reckon Review for publishing this one, about how James Bond helped me face my dad's mortality. 010
Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 14/12/2024First post, first Pushcart nom! This essay means a lot to me, and I’m honored that Sweet Lit chose it. Wowed by the other nominees, too—@karenkao.bsky.social’s essay in particular is a stunner. sweetlit.org/pushcart-nom... 140