Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

Crying for No Obvious Reason

Posted on August 22, 2024 by JMN

“This is a brutal, tough business.” (Bill Clinton, speaking to the convention) Former President Clinton is right, of course. The sword of Damocles haunts this assembly. I wonder if weeping is a kind of emotional breaking of sweat that cleanses … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ciceronian Suasion: ‘Memorable in a Matter of Minutes’

Posted on August 21, 2024 by JMN

May we be guided by hope, joy and a fierce moral imagination.(Rabbi Sharon Brous) Anyone who watches Buttigieg on Fox News knows he can boil things down with terrific lines, and it’s being memorable in a matter of minutes that … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Of Note at the Convention: A Freer Shade of Free

Posted on August 20, 2024 by JMN

It did my hurt Texas heart a world of good to see Jason Isbell turn up and sing a good song in a classic tux and without a 50-gallon hat on his head. He was, after all, indoors. (I never … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A Carton of French Fries Walks Into a Bar

Posted on August 16, 2024 by JMN

This is the latest specimen in The New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest that has run for centuries. I’ve never come close to inventing a caption for an entry in this feature, but it fascinates me for what it often shows … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

‘Just About Everyone Needed Therapy’

Posted on August 11, 2024 by JMN

“Gathering, touching, connecting — these are Tosquelles’s methods.” This article highlights an exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan that will end on August 18, 2024:  Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut. The Catalan … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Break Out the Tiny Fiddle, But Have Some Heart, Too

Posted on August 9, 2024 by JMN

She had the effrontery to burden the critics with her good looks. I speak of Yvonne Furneaux.  In a review of a 1955 production of Jean Giraudoux’s “Ondine,” the august British theater critic Kenneth Tynan wrote Ms. Furneaux off as … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Foggy escalator.

Posted on August 4, 2024 by JMN

This is my photo of the day (POTD), and my favorite title ever of a photograph! Foggy escalator.

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 5 Comments

‘Plastic Is This Zombie Medium’

Posted on July 30, 2024 by JMN

Verse can have visual ramifications as well as verbal ones. Text commandeers white space on the page in one-off patterns reflecting a close collaboration between author and typographer. The ensemble is larger than the words which are its literal medium. … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Ammo and a Candy Bar

Posted on July 23, 2024 by JMN

Ask yourself how often you’ve found yourself in this familiar pickle: It’s late Saturday night and you’ve run out of ammunition. The stores are closed until Monday. It’s beg, borrow or steal some rounds, or else fiddle away the rest … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | 6 Comments

patience

Posted on July 17, 2024 by JMN

FURTHER AWAY– Don’t care ! I’ve got plenty of time ! patience The pen and wit of Gilles Labruyère are a daily marvel. This one in particular connects me with a favorite topic: signs that point somewhere. The quintessential sign … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | 4 Comments