Author Archives: JMN

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

Little Endians, Big Endians

Posted on November 21, 2019 by JMN

For me,… cinema was about revelation… It was about characters — the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures… Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not … Continue reading →

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Separate and United

Posted on November 20, 2019 by JMN

“England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” (George Bernard Shaw) The two countries nowadays are united by a common divisiveness, an internecine feud over their respective futures. This excerpt from the NYTimes* is dated Nov. 18, … Continue reading →

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E Pluribus Unum: Relief for a Pedant

Posted on November 18, 2019 by JMN

… If applied to everyone, “they” would complete the leveling-up progress of equal dignity that “you” started centuries ago. (Teresa M. Bejan, “What Quakers Can Teach Us About the Politics of Pronouns,” NYTimes, 11-16-19) 1. A person has to register … Continue reading →

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Latin What?

Posted on November 17, 2019 by JMN

… Elizabeth Warren… began conducting her outreach to Hispanic voters using the term “Latinx.” (Though she did take a little flack, after the first Democratic debate, for pronouncing it “Latin-X.”) (Ross Douthat, “Liberalism’s Latinx Problem,” NYTimes, 11-5-19) Ross Douthat comments … Continue reading →

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Boot Edge Edge

Posted on November 16, 2019 by JMN

… He acknowledged that his success may have irked those who have seen years of presidential campaign planning tossed aside by his rise. “I’m not going to comment,” he said, “on the emotions of my competitors.” (Reid J. Epstein and … Continue reading →

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Sport Imitates It

Posted on November 16, 2019 by JMN

(c) 2019 JMN

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Art Hack

Posted on November 16, 2019 by JMN

In her “Life Hack” exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Rachel Harrison corrals artifacts inside a circle of chairs facing away. Like eat my dust. Irony? Wit? Truculence? Genius? Contempt? Here’s how Holland Carter talks about it: … … Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving Turkey

Posted on November 14, 2019 by JMN

“You should revise your stance towards Turkey, which at the moment holds so many Isis members in prison and at the same time controls those in Syria,” Erdoğan told European countries in remarks to reporters in Ankara on Tuesday. “These … Continue reading →

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Precise, Forceful, Formal, Direct, Powerful

Posted on November 14, 2019 by JMN

A letter to the NYTimes is signed by Roxana Robinson, former president of the Authors Guild, and 32 other writers. It exhorts The Times to “use precise and forceful language that reveals the struggle in which we now find ourselves.” … Continue reading →

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To Some Extent, Women

Posted on November 13, 2019 by JMN

… Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970), was a formidable, feisty and sometimes manipulative self-starter with an ecumenical eye, a passion for art and an inborn instinct for sales and promotion. Halpert was central to establishing the market for between-the-wars American art … Continue reading →

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