Tag Archives: personal

When You’re Gagging on Humbug, Remember Someone Fondly

Posted on March 7, 2025 by JMN

The family must have had a matriarchal streak, for I was grandly mothered. Grandmother had a choir-dominating soprano voice in the native stone church. She knew her way around the hymnal. Could coax some harmony from the ivories of an … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged | 8 Comments

Are You Riding the Strawberry Roan?

Posted on February 3, 2025 by JMN

I assume “Scarborough Fair” is an old melody, though it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what’s echt and what’s ersatz in the matter of “traditional” airs.  Simon and Garfunkle did a defining version of the song for my generation. I like … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Attack of the Cosmic Chuckle

Posted on September 6, 2024 by JMN

I heard that Iris Murdoch said (or wrote), “Everything that comforts is fake.” Then I read: According to the best theories available, matter — everything we can see and feel in the universe — should not exist. Every particle of … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Epistemic Hubris: Unwarranted Certainty (About Complex Issues)

Posted on January 15, 2024 by JMN

Greek words are a nerd’s downfall. I’m a nerd, therefore felled by epistemic hubris. Whenever I encounter “epistemic,” as in Maggie Jackson’s essay, I have to mentally re-solder its connection to epistemology, which I barely retain has to do with … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Message in a Bubble

Posted on December 21, 2023 by JMN

Hola, H. He aquí todo un poema de un tal Ben Okri que sale en la revista Poetry de diciembre 2023. SEGOVIAI walked your acueducts at dawn.With giant legs they bestrode the landscapeOf the Moors. Stick insects. Like RomansOn stilts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

It’s Only Money, Ladies. Play Cricket!

Posted on September 27, 2023 by JMN

At this summer’s edition of the Hundred, a short-form cricket tournament in England, umpires for the men’s games — all of them men except for Redfern — were paid three times as much as umpires at the women’s games, seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A Drumbeat

Posted on July 28, 2023 by JMN

I can’t remember the journalist’s name (Jon Pareles?), but several years ago I read an article about James Brown’s “Funky Drummer.” In the recording, Brown puts the spotlight on his drummer Clyde Stubblefield, who plays a brief but memorable drum … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Arabic and Me

Posted on May 17, 2023 by JMN

Pursuit of a resistant task, if persevered in stubbornly and passionately at any age, even if only for a short time, generates a kind of cognitive opiate that has no equivalent… The beautiful paradox is that pursuing things we may … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Peanut Gallery

Posted on April 26, 2023 by JMN

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Suffer the little children to… have a future. (c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

More Galleries | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Is Brain Rack Journey or Destination?

Posted on April 23, 2023 by JMN

Have you ever suspected people who “play devil’s advocate” are often expressing their actual opinions, but without having to take responsibility for them? I worked in the tech industry a while. I should be more interested in ChatGPT. Why am … Continue reading →

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