Author Archives: John Swinburn

When I lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (the “Metroplex”), I often wanted—or, perhaps needed—to escape the density and frenzy of urban life.  More than occasionally, I got relief by retreating into the rolling hills and plains of north central … Continue reading →

Next Monday—roughly 60 years, I think, after the inciting incident—I will visit a specialist who, I hope, will repair the damage done when my bare left foot slipped off a bike pedal and slammed perpendicularly onto an asphalt surface. The … Continue reading →

Sometimes, seeing or hearing or otherwise observing someone else’s mental anguish—even if that someone is a stranger or a person with whom one’s connection is faint or weak—sparks a powerful response. Their pain becomes personal, as if their suffering has … Continue reading →

Buried deep among my scattering of inaccessible childhood memories are images of peach pits, carved in the shape of miniature baskets. I am not sure how I know they are peach pits—perhaps that knowledge is buried even deeper than the … Continue reading →

The concepts of bending time and space seem far-fetched but fascinating; intriguing, but beyond the ability of my mind to comprehend. The origin and the end of time are beyond my grasp, too, but my feeble intellect continues pushing me … Continue reading →

“Consent of the governed” is the concept that the legitimacy to impose state political power over the members of a society is subject to the consent of the people. In theory, the idea is sound and seems reasonable. In practice, … Continue reading →

The original entrance to Hot Springs Village is about fifteen miles west of the newer entry on the east end. The road between the two is lined on both sides by forests, intermittently interrupted by signs of civilization like golf … Continue reading →

In an environment once thick with wind or water and rock, sand is evidence of the confluence of time and energy. Evidence is not proof, though; only a defensible suggestion.  A suggestion of what what constituted “here and now” when … Continue reading →

My blog posts were, are, will be, aren’t, or never were. They cannot be should, because judgments are shaped differently than simple facts. Simple facts opt not to expose themselves to being shoe-horned into a mold that looks more like … Continue reading →

It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that I may have created a new written language while consciously dreaming. I was disappointed that the English language was so damn complex; so hard to learn. But it wasn’t hard to pronounce; … Continue reading →

Both the “cost of living” and “the cost of staying alive” tend to increase over time. While the rising “cost  of living” initially places negative pressure on meeting “needs” (which often are used interchangeably by people who are financially secure … Continue reading →

Mystery. Unknown. Secret. Hidden. +++ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in Lake Superior during a monstrous storm on November 10, 1975, was among the largest of an unknown number of ships lost to the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Shipwreck … Continue reading →

A small bird (something like a sparrow I think) discovered that some of the seeds in the bird feeder outside my window are still edible. Shortly thereafter, a cedar waxwing of roughly the same size as the sparrow(?) bullied its … Continue reading →

The seasons of deception are descending on us. Halloween is almost here, a moment when we encourage people to hide their identities by assuming the physical appearance of other…people, animals, monsters, things, places, ideas, etc. Then we have Thanksgiving, when … Continue reading →

This rain on this cool, overcast, dark afternoon is not especially heavy, but it is relentless. Today’s weather could have been imported from the countryside outside a village in England’s Lake District, where people are unafraid of getting wet. At … Continue reading →

Was it just me, or did all of us forget to take a moment earlier this year—on May 18—to observe the 45th anniversary of the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens? By today’s standards, the records of which seem to … Continue reading →

Word on the street is that a squadron of B-52 bombers took off from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana overnight, destined for the Vatican. The Pope, roused from a sound sleep, was informed of both the incursion into the … Continue reading →

Every so often, a few sentences remind me there’s an inscrutable someone behind my frowns and smiles and grimaces. Those words, cobbled into semi-coherent thoughts, leave me a little rattled and hungry to project a permanent poker face. “A highway … Continue reading →

Look at a lush tree or a bush just outside your window. If you focus on a single healthy leaf of that plant for long enough, your mind will follow your eyes across and into it. At first, your gaze … Continue reading →

Artificial Thought Ten years into the evacuation, all that’s left should be an uninhabited planet. And, of course, the ruins of millions of commercial and residential buildings and sheer desolation. But the exodus stalled around the fifth year. And by … Continue reading →

Sympathy, in the face of indifference, is a squandered emotion. Indifference redefines sympathy, calling it a weakness; a flawed emotional state deserving only disdain and mockery.  Emotions can be fragile states that, in the presence of pressure and contempt, sometimes … Continue reading →

A clear, cloudless night sky looks radically different than the same sky at noon. Sky is defined as the region of the atmosphere visible from Earth’s surface.  But, at night, the atmosphere is not visible from Earth, is it? At … Continue reading →

Inflation is alive and well. The cost of my Medicare supplemental insurance increased by $42 a month; the cost of my prescription drug plan jumped by almost 213%, a $50 hike. Food prices seem to be on an upward trajectory, … Continue reading →

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers. ~ Thomas Pynchon ~ If The Apocalypse were to begin just before 11 one Saturday morning, would we know it? Would we recognize … Continue reading →

I would like to visit the Obama Presidential Center when it is completed, but that wish is complicated by so damn many obstacles.  A piece in today’s New York Times added fuel to my desire to experience, first hand, what … Continue reading →