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Brian Benson

@mrbrianbenson.bsky.social
390 followers 657 following 25 posts

Writer, teacher, wanderer. He/him. Books: GOING SOMEWHERE, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. Essays: Tahoma Review, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y, Sweet, Hippocampus & elsewhere. brianbensonwrites.com

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Reposted by Brian Benson
Alissa Azar @alissaazar.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
People 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:
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Kat Mahoney @kmahoneylaw.com · 01/02/2026
If 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
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Taylor Griggs @taylorgriggs.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Like 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.
A cloud of tear gas outside the Portland ICE facility. A person in a shark costume emerging from the cloud.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
So 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.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Thrilled 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.com
Are You Okay
Brian 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…
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Off Assignment @offassignment.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
This 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
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
I 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...
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Alternate 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.com
Brian Benson: DON’T FIND ME • Cleaver Magazine
Brian Benson, originally from the hinterlands of Wisconsin, is the author of GOING SOMEWHERE and co-author of THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I’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-...
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Miriam Gershow @miriamgershow.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Um, 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.com
Maw
by 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...
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Tahoma Literary Review @tahomareview.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Having 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.com
Against Afternoon - Tahoma Literary Review
You hear a lot of chatter about canceling daylight saving time, but not nearly enough about abolishing the afternoon, more specifically mid-afternoon, and
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
This 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!
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
I 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.com
Against Afternoon - Tahoma Literary Review
You hear a lot of chatter about canceling daylight saving time, but not nearly enough about abolishing the afternoon, more specifically mid-afternoon, and
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
My neighborhood is getting such a cool bookstore! Can’t wait for this place to open its doors.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I’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...
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Congratulations 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.
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Cameron Crowell @caminaction.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Randy 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.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Huge 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.org
ANNOUNCING THE 2025 OREGON BOOK AWARDS FINALISTS AND SPECIAL AWARDS RECIPIENTS
Literary 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,
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ryanashleyanderson @femmeintheory.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Love a dog love story
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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.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
I 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.
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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.
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Miriam Gershow @miriamgershow.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
A good time to look at the work Authors Against Book Bans has been doing. www.authorsagainstbookbans.com
authorsagainstbookbans.com
Authors Against Book Bans
Our 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...
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
The 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
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
A 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.
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Brian Benson @mrbrianbenson.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
First 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...
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