Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

Tohu Bohu in the Land of Steak Frites

Posted on September 12, 2022 by JMN

“We have to change our mentality so that eating a barbecued entrecôte is no longer a symbol of virility… If you want to resolve the climate crisis, you have to reduce meat consumption, and that’s not going to happen so … Continue reading →

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Asked and Answered

Posted on September 10, 2022 by JMN

“The American press is infatuated to the point of intoxication with ‘democracy,’ ” [Buchanan] wrote in 1991. To make his point, he compared the Marine Corps and corporations like IBM to the federal government. “Only the last is run on … Continue reading →

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Chasing Command: The Kicker

Posted on September 9, 2022 by JMN

Statistic: Forty-nine of the 50 highest-scoring players in American football history are kickers. “And the first ball comes off my foot like a rocket, and then the next one and the next,” he says. “I just felt like I had … Continue reading →

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Soot, Spit and Paper

Posted on September 5, 2022 by JMN

James Castle (1899 – 1977) was born deaf in rural Idaho, and seems never to have learned to read and write. Formally untrained, he “dedicated his life to making art among the farms and ranches in and near Boise.” His … Continue reading →

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(Not) Learning to Read

Posted on September 4, 2022 by JMN

The most important thing schools can do is teach children how to read. If you can read, you can learn anything. If you can’t, almost everything in school is difficult. Word problems. Test directions. Biology homework. Everything comes back to … Continue reading →

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‘The Reader Effect’

Posted on September 2, 2022 by JMN

… Like a scene from Mr. Rushdie’s novel “Shalimar the Clown,” a knife-wielding man rushed onto the stage and began to stab him. Immediately audience members ran to the stage to defend him. It was a remarkable response. That rush … Continue reading →

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‘Writing a Chrysanthemum’

Posted on August 25, 2022 by JMN

On scrolls of Japanese paper each 19 feet in length, Barton documented the underbelly of San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood before the hippies showed up… A friend and fellow artist recalled that Barton began a portrait with the sitter’s fingernail… … Continue reading →

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‘Because You See His Teeth, Don’t Assume the Lion Is Smiling’

Posted on August 23, 2022 by JMN

The comment about the unsmiling lion is attributed to the 10th-century Arabic poet al-Mutanabbi (915 – 965). I heard it on a podcast called “Arabic Qahwa.” The line has a zesty zing to it that marks it as an old … Continue reading →

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‘There Are No Bright Lines Here’

Posted on August 19, 2022 by JMN

Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest, describes a recent baptismal service: Baptisms at our church are a mixture of solemnity and unbridled glee, often full of laughter and tears of joy. Those who were being baptized, or in the case … Continue reading →

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Fun With Man-Words

Posted on August 11, 2022 by JMN

In 2013, 52 Atlantic spotted dolphins migrated from the northern Bahamas to Bimini, 100 miles south, where a community of 120 of their species already lived. The encounter could have gone badly. When groups of social mammals meet, things can … Continue reading →

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