Author Archives: John Swinburn

Solitude is voluntary. Loneliness is not. But the two can become unintentionally intertwined. They can coalesce into one another from either direction. Intentional solitude can lead to unexpected loneliness. And loneliness can cause a person to isolate—to avoid contact with … Continue reading →

Time. Though everyone is familiar with the word—whether in English or one of the roughly 6,500 other languages in use worldwide—most people infrequently give the concept of Time the deep and abiding attention it deserves. We measure it with clocks … Continue reading →

I have always identified as a man. Never have I questioned that identity. That certainty notwithstanding, I also always have believed masculinity and femininity are not exclusively binary. But American society (and most others) equates certain attributes with “maleness” and … Continue reading →

Rolling Fork, Mississippi, mostly to the west of US Highway 61, is just beyond the northern edge of the Delta National Forest. The town is a few miles west of the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge. Until a few days … Continue reading →

Disputes about Daylight Savings time are making the news. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati decreed that clocks would not be move forward by an hour until April 20; in response, the Maronite Church said it would disregard the decision and … Continue reading →

Maybe it is the change of seasons—the fact that Winter is officially over and Spring is upon us (or, for those in the southern hemisphere, Summer just ended and Autumn has begun). I doubt the change of seasons in the … Continue reading →

One-fingered blogging. The only devices in the house with internet access are smartphones. With tiny keyboards designed for little-bitty people with itsy-bitzy fingers. The reason the usual internet devices are unavailable is that the loudest, most violent, damn-near-heart-stopping clap of … Continue reading →

A 12-hour sickness. That is the only way I can think of to describe my experience yesterday afternoon. Not long after I returned home from a meeting at church, I quite suddenly started feeling ill. I developed a headache, my … Continue reading →

For the second consecutive night, I was awake well before 4. In fact, I was awake before 3. And by 2. But I stayed in bed until roughly 3:25, determined to get to sleep. By 3:25, though, I recognized the … Continue reading →

Thanks to Phaedra, I woke about 3:45 this morning…well, it wasn’t entirely Phaedra’s doing. Whistling from my BiPap mask caused me to awaken, but Phaedra took advantage of the situation by stepping on my head. I was ready to get … Continue reading →

Mi novia probably has investigated you. She probably knows more about you than you have shared with her; maybe more than you have shared with your family. One of her hobbies tends to keep her investigative skills finely honed; she … Continue reading →

It was either the urgent need to pee or the cat’s footsteps on my face that woke me. Regardless of which intrusion on my slumber was responsible, I was rousted at roughly 5:00 this morning. I knew yesterday that this … Continue reading →

Hiding emotions is a practice almost all people employ. The reasons for hiding them are as varied as the emotions being hidden. Sometimes, people attempt to hide them from themselves. Secret emotions may be hidden to avoid hurting someone else: … Continue reading →

Only time will tell whether the relationship will endure. Time will reveal the existence (or absence) of patience. Time will reveal the tolerance (or lack thereof) for fine fibers of fur on every exposed surface. Time will reveal whether my … Continue reading →

Millions of Americans defend their decisions to minimize their tax obligations, saying they are simply taking advantage of existing, unfair loopholes in tax laws. “I may disagree with the law, but as long as it lets me legally reduce my … Continue reading →

When I awoke this morning, a question—What is peace?—was on my mind. Perhaps the question arose from a dream, though I do not recall the context of a dream in which that might have been a burning question. Regardless, as … Continue reading →

Today is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, notable as the Roman deadline for settling debts and the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar. The Ides, in the Roman calendar, was one of three fixed points (the other … Continue reading →

For 20 of the last 36 years, Iceland has had a woman serving as either president or prime minister. After the September 2021 Icelandic election, 30 of the 63 members of parliament (48 percent) were female.  Not only do women … Continue reading →

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) says this (among other things), about physiological changes associated with emotion: The most obvious signs of emotional arousal involve changes in the activity of the visceral motor (autonomic) system. Thus, increases or decreases in heart … Continue reading →

As I skimmed the news this morning, one story affected my emotions more than any other. More than news about the obscenely high cost of housing in Hong Kong—and the financial distance between the richest and the poorest in that … Continue reading →

Sleep visited me last night, but only during brief encounters. I waited for what seemed like hours before I fell asleep, only to awaken minutes after beginning to doze. Each subsequent course of sleep and waking followed a similar short … Continue reading →

It’s a long title. And it may make no sense to anyone but me. And, possibly, not even to me. Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. ~ Voltaire ~ There is nothing special about … Continue reading →

Words; as tender as the fur of a newborn kitten. Or as harsh as a cudgel crafted from the dried carcass of an elderly rhinoceros. From softness to coarseness, a spectrum of textures whose offerings range from comfort to cruelty. … Continue reading →

I do not appreciate being teased. Not in the least. In fact, if truth be known, I loathe being teased. When teased, I transform from a committed pacifist to a mercenary soldier with a taste for blood. When Spring first … Continue reading →

I am not brilliant; my intellect is insufficient to produce remarkable solutions to the hauntingly complex problems that have plagued humankind for millennia. But I think my intelligence is adequate for learning new information at relatively high speed. I do … Continue reading →