Author Archives: John Swinburn

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes

Blowin’ in the Wind

Posted on May 12, 2017 by John Swinburn

We had a house guest not long ago. When one has a house guest, one tidies up. One washes the guest towels, put fresh sheets on the bed, sweeps, mops, dusts, and otherwise behaves in ways foreign to one’s daily … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Posted on May 12, 2017 by John Swinburn

I took this photo in an interesting shop in downtown Hot Springs recently. 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Revisiting Tired Themes that Just Won’t Go Away

Posted on May 11, 2017 by John Swinburn

I think—somewhere among the two thousand, three hundred and six posts I have made to this blog since I created it—seeds worthy of sprouting clamor for attention. Yes, I know; I go back and forth between thinking I will always … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | Leave a comment

Cravings

Posted on May 11, 2017 by John Swinburn

This evening promises a welcome diversion from reality. We’ll attend a two and a half hour cooking class at Garvan Gardens, where we’ll see and partake of a demonstration for three courses, each paired with a special brew from Bubba … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Writing | Leave a comment

Unable to Attain

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Swinburn

Until you’ve painted, you cannot legitimately express opinions on the skills of the person holding the brush. I learned that lesson through embarrassing experience. I tried to paint something I thought would be “easy.” I selected an abstract theme, thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fury

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Swinburn

Festering rage. Seething hatred. Scalding fury. Bristling contempt. Loathing amplified by a factor of fifty, ramped up by an exponent equivalent to the temperature of the sun. Hatred with an intensity that would vaporize diamonds and turn a ball of … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | Leave a comment

Memory Storm

Posted on May 9, 2017 by John Swinburn

I associate ‘squalls’ with sailing on open water. The word prompts me to think of explosive bursts of wind and rain that put sailboats in danger of capsizing. ‘Squalls’ triggers memories of my teenage years, living just a few blocks … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | Leave a comment

Cobra

Posted on May 8, 2017 by John Swinburn

Were I to open a restaurant (and if I did not call it French Kangaroo, the name I’ve given my kitchen), I might call it Cobra. As it happens, others came up with the idea first. Someone is operating a Thai restaurant by that name … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdist Fantasy, Food | 2 Comments

52 Ways to Leave Your Country

Posted on May 7, 2017 by John Swinburn

I have an ambitious idea, launched only moments ago. If I consider the amount of effort its execution will require, I will back away from it as an impossible fantasy. But that is not the way one reaches goals. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in Food | Leave a comment

Norwegian Sky

Posted on May 7, 2017 by John Swinburn

While his wife, Elise, and son, Kennet, sat at their breakfast table overlooking the North Sea, eating smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with Jarlsberg cheese and juniper berries, Stefan Ruud pondered his previous night, spent alone aboard a small boat anchored off the Svalbard Islands … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing | Leave a comment

Regret by Another Name

Posted on May 6, 2017 by John Swinburn

I miss the kiss, the cuddle, the squeeze that told me the world didn’t matter, but I did. I miss the way the world slipped by without notice, the way reality meant nothing and mattered less. I miss the casual … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Fight for Justice

Posted on May 6, 2017 by John Swinburn

“I’m motivated more by ensuring his failure than my success,” Bhavin Patel said. The beer in front of him, his fourth, sloshed over the sides of the glass as he slammed it down on the bar for emphasis. “He deserves … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing | Leave a comment

Friends

Posted on May 5, 2017 by John Swinburn

Make a friend. Share ideas and dreams with your friend. Be there for your friend, no matter what. Be the shelter in rough weather. Be the anchor in angry seas. Be the celebration when you’re the only candle; be the friend you’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Diversity

Posted on May 4, 2017 by John Swinburn

I brined the turkey breast. My favorite wife prepared the broccoli and rice casserole (I chopped the jalapeños). Tomorrow morning, I will fire up the smoker and get to work. Five and one half-hours after I put the fractional bird … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | Leave a comment

Hard Powder and the Like

Posted on May 4, 2017 by John Swinburn

I stumbled across a bit of interesting information this morning, something I want to file away as a reminder in a year or so. A film called Hard Powder, starring Liam Neeson, is being filmed in or around Vancouver, British … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Leave a comment

Booking

Posted on May 3, 2017 by John Swinburn

Tomorrow (that is, Thursday), I’ll participate in a critique circle, part of the Hot Springs Arts in the Park week-long celebration of arts of all forms that flourish in this wonderful enclave. Tomorrow’s critique circle, led by the current host of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Time Crystals: A New Form of Matter

Posted on May 3, 2017 by John Swinburn

Four years ago, I read an article in Wired magazine about a concept advanced by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Frank Wilczek. According to the article, Wilczek “developed an apparent proof of “time crystals” — physical structures that move in a repeating … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Science | Leave a comment

The Smoke of Creativity

Posted on May 2, 2017 by John Swinburn

When a man’s mind compels his hands to create art but his hands fail to deliver what the mind demands, his passion may morph into rage. Not an unrestrained external rage that endangers bystanders, but a smoldering animosity that sears his brain as if … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity | Leave a comment

Used to be

Posted on May 1, 2017 by John Swinburn

I used to be strange but now I’m just normal I used to be casual, but now I’m quite formal I used to be smart, but now I’m dense as a rock I used to be as timely as an atomic … Continue reading →

Posted in Lyrics, Poetry | Leave a comment

Card Flow

Posted on April 30, 2017 by John Swinburn

I have an idea for a card-based game. It would engender interaction between people at events at which personal, one-on-one engagement would, typically, be a little awkward.  I have in mind creating a deck of cards which would ask questions about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In Disgusted Defense of Ann Coulter’s Right to Speak

Posted on April 28, 2017 by John Swinburn

As I read news of the cancellation, reinstatement, and subsequent cancellation of Anne Coulter’s speech at the University of California at Berkeley, I question the intelligence of the people who violently oppose the her speech. Do those people not understand … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Intellect, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Ruminations | Leave a comment

Psycholinguistic Musings

Posted on April 27, 2017 by John Swinburn

Sinew. That word can evoke, for me, images of sturdy steel bands, thick in the middle but narrowing almost to points on the ends; ribbons of metallic lies constrained at either end by truth. It’s as if truth confines the streamer of … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Philosophy, Ruminations, Writing | 1 Comment

Coger Veintidós

Posted on April 26, 2017 by John Swinburn

My first colonoscopy in a number of years will be performed this morning. I hope the exploration is uneventful. According to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Arkansas, the procedure is covered if they find nothing, as the procedure would be considered … Continue reading →

Posted in Greed, Health | 2 Comments

ANZAC Day Haka for Life

Posted on April 25, 2017 by John Swinburn

Today, April 25, is ANZAC Day (the acronym stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), one of the most meaningful and important national occasions for many Australians and New Zealanders. It marks the one hundredth anniversary of the first major … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

We Know Too Much and Too Little To Understand

Posted on April 25, 2017 by John Swinburn

We cannot begin to imagine the way communities of ants or seagulls or squirrels function. We assume, if they function in communities at all, they operate according to genetic encoding over which they have no control; they are “animals,” after … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | Leave a comment