Monthly Archives: October 2016

A Critic is Lurking

Posted on October 12, 2016 by John Swinburn

Take responsibility for undertaking a task and it’s bound to happen: someone—who could have taken on the task but did not—will offer criticism about how the job was done. The criticism is not always blunt and forceful; sometimes, it’s hidden beneath faint … Continue reading →

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Open Mic Night

Posted on October 11, 2016 by John Swinburn

Last night, the inaugural HSV Open Mic Night took place. I think the audience, numbering about seventy, was happy with it. I am glad I had friends who agreed to perform: poetry, story-telling, reading short stories, and reading memoirs. And, I … Continue reading →

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Desire

Posted on October 9, 2016 by John Swinburn

Softer. Gentler. More fully engaged. Focused on positivity. Repelled by gratuitous negativity. Disciplined. Decisive. Inspired. Generous. Forgiving. Courageous. Thoughtful. Wishful.

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Decrepit and Decaying

Posted on October 8, 2016 by John Swinburn

Evidence of advancing age and inadequate exercise showed their ugly faces yesterday as I tried to prep for today’s planned paint festival. The urgency of overcoming my procrastination in getting the work done became apparent as I looked at the calendar, realizing … Continue reading →

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Beneath the Daylight Streets

Posted on October 7, 2016 by John Swinburn

When I lived in Chicago, the fact that Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive—both main streets in the thriving downtown/loop area—had multiple levels fascinated me. The pedestrian stairway entrances descending to those streets were my introductions to multi-level streets in the … Continue reading →

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Social Evenings Can Change Dull to Dynamic

Posted on October 6, 2016 by John Swinburn

This evening, my wife and I attended the second Wines of the World dinner organized by the manager of the Coronado Center, a venue operated by our property owners association. The first event, focusing on the food and wine of … Continue reading →

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Kilns and Flights and Preference for Empty Space

Posted on October 6, 2016 by John Swinburn

Yesterday, I went to the sculpture studio early and spent a short while working on a bust that’s in the same visual style as many of my masks; odd and alien. For many reasons, not the least of which was … Continue reading →

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Bat Boy

Posted on October 5, 2016 by John Swinburn

Last night, toward the end of the PBS Newshour, I watched a segment about the retirement of long time Dodgers’ play-by-play announcer, Vin Scully. The segment honored the eighty-eight-year-old man’s sixty-eight year career. Despite my lifelong disinterest in sports, the … Continue reading →

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Whole Cloth

Posted on October 4, 2016 by John Swinburn

If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that our lives are fictions, narrative yarns we spin from experiences as we see them, not necessarily as they are. We write the stories of our lives on the fly, stitching together the … Continue reading →

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Driving in the Dark

Posted on October 3, 2016 by John Swinburn

It’s ten minutes shy of four in the morning and I’m scrambling to prepare to drive to the airport. Mi esposa hermosa is off, in just a while, to visit her childhood friends for a two-day gathering in Charleston, South … Continue reading →

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Today is Genuflectorious

Posted on October 2, 2016 by John Swinburn

I ask the question: is there a law that compels us to label what is commonly the first workday of the week ‘Monday?’ Are we required to call the second day ‘Tuesday?’ And must weekends always fall on ‘Saturday’ and ‘Sunday?’ … Continue reading →

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On the Verge

Posted on October 1, 2016 by John Swinburn

Yesterday, a Facebook friend  posted an appreciative comment on another person’s post. The post was a young man’s progress report on his effort to “reboot” himself. He had made the promise to himself a year earlier to reinvent himself through … Continue reading →

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