Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

A Song Is Worth a Thousand Explanations? Depends on the Singer.

Posted on September 15, 2025 by JMN

“Explaining things is a dry way of communicating,” Islam said. “I’m in my best element when I’m actually singing my heart out.” (Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens) I reproach myself by saying it’s a ludicrous form of callousness to feel … Continue reading →

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Rollicking Chin Wag Introduces ‘Mumble Rap’

Posted on September 11, 2025 by JMN

The New York Times recorded interview with Earl Sweatshirt was a freewheeling romp by a voluble cohort of cognoscenti. High spirits prevailed. The three-way session was suffused with knowing guffaws, spicy vernacular and poignant insider allusion. For the hip-hop-curious outsider … Continue reading →

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This Is Now (Again)

Posted on September 1, 2025 by JMN

“He’s also piercingly smart about his place as a white observer in a Black art form.” (Jayson Greene, on Daniel Levin Becker) Before you-know-who was president, I encountered something called Twitter, ran with it for maybe six weeks. That was … Continue reading →

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How Do You Say ‘Drill, Baby, Drill!’ in Putonghua?

Posted on August 15, 2025 by JMN

“Chinese scholars… absolutely dominate research in the following fields: materials science, chemistry, engineering, computer science, the environment and ecology, agricultural science, physics and math.” (David Brooks) China cheers cheeky America’s fossil fuelish folly. Here’s why: China leads global production in— … Continue reading →

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‘I Came Into the World Very Young’

Posted on July 16, 2025 by JMN

I discovered Satie long ago through Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes, and liked the music immediately. I thought of him as a “minor” composer, and I was drawn to perceived niche tastes. I crave even now the unmoored feeling that his music … Continue reading →

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‘Technically God Isn’t a “Him”’

Posted on July 3, 2025 by JMN

‘*Technically God isn’t a “him.” But the English language doesn’t provide a suitable singular, non-gender term for us to use (“it” implies an object or non-sentient being).’ (Mitch Teemley) Mitch Teemley’s observation touches usefully upon the volatile topic of “they” … Continue reading →

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‘That Falls Well’: Cartoon Paean Times Three

Posted on May 26, 2025 by JMN

As a kid studying high school French, I read with delight Mark Twain’s depiction of an American’s attempt to converse with a Frenchman. Twain wickedly renders the Frenchman’s remarks in literal English, alongside his own fractured French, to comic effect. … Continue reading →

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Toyin Ojih Odutola Draws Loud

Posted on May 25, 2025 by JMN

I like how Toyin Ojih Odutola assembles faces from facets, a treatment I strive increasingly, if feebly, to approximate. I describe it to myself in personal shorthand as “envisaging”: implementing visage as a sort of ‘scape rather than anatomical likeness … Continue reading →

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Purloining With Pizzazz: Wayne Thiebaud

Posted on May 18, 2025 by JMN

This copying work helped Thiebaud figure out his own solutions to artistic problems. I blush to own it, but I was never keen on pointillism. For all that it purported to be scintillating, it has a diffuseness that feels static. … Continue reading →

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‘Machismo’ Cuts the Cheese Over Yonder

Posted on May 13, 2025 by JMN

Fun fact: In Great Britain they pronounce it mah-KIZ-mo. On the shores of the Gulf of Mexico America Mar-a-Lago we say mah-CHEESE-mo. (c) 2025 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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