Author Archives: John Swinburn

Question your own motives. Don’t accept easy answers. Argue against your own positions and win. Believe in things you cannot accept, ideas anathema to everything rational in your brain. If you can do these things, you can tell stories that … Continue reading →

Let’s say you are responsible for naming newborn triplets, all boys. Which trio of names would be more likely to cause turmoil: Mark, Michael, and Genghis or  Hephaestus, Zeus, and Genghis? Ah, your answer may rely on logic, an irrelevant characteristic in a chaotic world.

Procrastination is the province of a fool, one whose face I sometimes see in the mirror.

I happened upon a website dedicated to the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). The site bills itself as “A Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest.” Generally speaking, I am solidly opposed to any religious group attempting to exercise its … Continue reading →

If you watch a squirrel for an entire day, jumping from tree to tree and then spending a moment or two on the ground and scurrying up another tree, you may notice something important. The squirrel never pauses to watch a reality show. Never. … Continue reading →

Labels, especially political labels, cover warts and scabs—even open wounds—like ill-fitting artificial skin that traps flesh-eating bacteria beneath it.  Yet if we apply labels like band-aids, we allow ourselves to be defined by them.  

Let someone else define you and you’ll forever be a slave to another’s assessment. Define yourself and you’ll know, at least, you are authentic. It is hard to face a world in which collective perspectives become cash, the only currency … Continue reading →

Disparate ideas churn like leaves in a whirlwind, spinning tighter and closer together until they become a cohesive thought, an intent, a plan, and, finally, an action.

It is important, on occasion, to break out of the habit of looking inward to view oneself from another’s perspective. That jarring sight isn’t necessarily pretty, but it is informative and, perhaps, instructive. It’s like looking in the mirror, expecting to see … Continue reading →

The beauty I find in this morning’s air, and in the way the light struggles to overtake darkness, correlates directly with the beauty I see in people I love, people I miss, people I find attractive. The beauty in the world around us, even … Continue reading →

Confidence suggests belief in oneself, yet belief is only one element of reaching for the next rung on the ladder, whatever that rung might be. The other element is the willingness to risk that belief through action; taking the risk, … Continue reading →

Most of us are born with 270 bones (some people claim the number to be as high as 305), but by adulthood we have only 206 left. According to what I’ve read, the diminution in number results from bones fusing … Continue reading →

The rhythm of breath is impossible. Nothing can be so constant, so unwavering, as the breath from one’s lungs. It is simply inconceivable; nothing can maintain that perpetual pace without pause. Except, perhaps, the beating of the heart. Or the eye’s … Continue reading →

Who the hell was this Gregory fellow, the ne’er-do-well who introduced us to the Gregorian calendar? I loathe his artificial mechanism for controlling time; it can’t be done, at least not legitimately! He fills my days with appointments, when all I want … Continue reading →