Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

History Not Happened Yet

Posted on July 13, 2020 by JMN

A few years ago, I interrupted a panel discussion at the Guggenheim as it moved toward the dead-horse question of whether painting was still viable. How, I asked, uninvited, from the audience, could people talk of the end of painting … Continue reading →

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A Conservative with Elite Style

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

But there was one small difficulty: This hawk was no Truman or Reagan, but rather a reality-television mountebank whose real attitude toward China policy was, basically, whatever gets me re-elected works. Who has heard recently, or ever, the word “mountebank”? … Continue reading →

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Handshake

Posted on July 7, 2020 by JMN

This photo captures a moment when a ritual handshake marked a pause in our Civil War. The Virginia Monument… marks the departure point of Pickett’s Charge, an ill-fated assault launched 157 years ago on July 3 on the final afternoon … Continue reading →

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Rudolfo Anaya (1937 — 2020)

Posted on July 6, 2020 by JMN

“Bless Me, Ultima” repeatedly drew the ire of censors, who cited what they viewed as foul language and anti-Catholic messaging… The book was banned in California, Colorado and… New Mexico. In 1981, the school board in Bloomfield, N.M., burned copies … Continue reading →

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Vectors

Posted on June 30, 2020 by JMN

On Sunday, [Texas governor] Abbott said that as many as 5,000 people a day were being diagnosed with the virus… … Vice-president [Pence] also urged Texans to wear masks “wherever it’s indicated”, saying “we know from experience, it will slow … Continue reading →

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Texas, Florida, Arizona, England

Posted on June 28, 2020 by JMN

“We’re on a knife edge, it’s very precarious the situation, particularly in England at the moment, and I would anticipate we would see an increase in new cases over the coming weeks.” (Sir Jeremy Farrar of SAGE) The warning comes … Continue reading →

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The Islamic Influence on Dylan’s Hair

Posted on June 27, 2020 by JMN

Milton Glaser is dead at 91. His life and work are exhilarating. For the Dylan poster, a promotional piece included in the 1967 album “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits,” he created a simple outline of the singer’s head, based on a … Continue reading →

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Manifestoid 2 of 2

Posted on June 26, 2020 by JMN

Black lives matter. I’m a lay reader of Poetry, the magazine founded in 1912 by Harriet Monroe. I’m reading backward through my current 102 issues. “I — the telltale animal — rest my throat / against the snare of you, … Continue reading →

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Manifestoid 1 of 2

Posted on June 25, 2020 by JMN

A correspondent writes: Watched the lunchtime news, it veers between positivity and warnings that leaves the head spinning and the heart pumping. In that last sentence, should it be ‘leave’ or ‘leaves’. I had ‘leaves’ because it is the veering … Continue reading →

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Hello Again to All That

Posted on June 23, 2020 by JMN

… A land whose… mountainous terrain renders it all but impossible to conquer. American soldiers deployed to the country as recently as last night had trouble articulating what their mission there was, short of making it home in one piece. … Continue reading →

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