Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

My Gawd! There Was Out-Bespoken Garb Galore at the Glitzy Gala

Posted on January 21, 2025 by JMN

Finally, the rich are going to get a fair shake in this country. Hail, lord of hosts! From somewhere near the Gulf of America, wishing you a nice day. Yours in freezing… PS: There are some rivers in Texas that … Continue reading →

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How Fare the Wayfarers, Fled and Fleeing?

Posted on December 25, 2024 by JMN

So the last shall be first… Wishing for all a home-finding; respite, refuge, safe harbour, dry land; where possible: cheer. (c) 2024 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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A Little Knowledge (I Refer to Mine) Is Dangerous (and Fun)

Posted on December 8, 2024 by JMN

Reiterating at the outset: The “little knowledge” I mention in my title is my own! Novelist-Poet-Thinker-Dauntless-Traveler Gary Gautier recently touched in his blog on an engrossing philosophical quandary, mentioning an idea expressed by Immanuel Kant: The idea that we have … Continue reading →

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Where Dems Fell Foul of the Electorate, On Charcoal, and Living in the Moment

Posted on November 16, 2024 by JMN

“We were never anywhere other than where we were.” (Ben Tarnoff) Now and then I let the me called self remain unsure of something when I know full well I could resolve doubt with a peek at the internet known … Continue reading →

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‘Enough of This Tomfoolery!’ (God)

Posted on November 7, 2024 by JMN

“The Dallas-Fort Worth region is home to more than 6,500 houses of worship, the highest concentration in the top 10 largest urban regions in the country, according to the 2020 U.S. religion census. Four of the 20 largest churches in … Continue reading →

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Pour Me a Draft of Heartsick with a Shot of Hope

Posted on November 5, 2024 by JMN

“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”  (Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida) I knew an English professor who remarked during the season of final exams that it was … Continue reading →

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The ‘Death of God’

Posted on November 3, 2024 by JMN

I’m working my way through the archive of the BBC4 In Our Times religion podcast as a means of taking distance from the moment. As it happens, history crowds the moment. An episode from 2018 recounts that 3 weeks before … Continue reading →

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‘The Gravity of Curiosity’

Posted on October 31, 2024 by JMN

… The gravity of curiosity. Our lives should be lived in interrogatives rather than imperatives. It’s more magnanimous to move through the world with wonder than with unearned certainty… [Poems] encourage us to ask the complicated questions, both of ourselves … Continue reading →

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‘It’s Death in a Modern Setting’

Posted on October 28, 2024 by JMN

Whether it’s taken as a grin or a snarl, all skulls bare their teeth; it goes with being a skull. But sometimes an art historian is in pursuit of a story to tell — it goes with being an art … Continue reading →

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‘Attention Is the Rarest and Purest Form of Generosity’

Posted on October 24, 2024 by JMN

Between “passionate” and “dispassionate,” why not the latter? Having a “passion” for something threatens to be trite. “Passion” emits heat, and there’s enough heat circulating already. How about “devotion” instead? I’m devoted to the art of mimickry. A bent for imitation, … Continue reading →

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