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Author Archives: John Swinburn
Soulmate
I believe Norah Jones could have been my soulmate in another life.
Posted in Music
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Music in my soul
Here are some videos reflecting my moods tonight. I admire people who have skills and creativity to make music that allows me to feel emotions I might not otherwise feel. They give us so much value. They really do.
Posted in Music
4 Comments
The Law
Years ago, long after I graduated from college and even after I spent time pursuing and then abandoning a graduate degree, I seriously considered going to law school. There were many reasons. First and foremost, I found law extremely interesting; … Continue reading
Posted in Dreams
3 Comments
Big Bend and Beyond
Day 1: We left the house early, around 6:00 a.m., a 570-mile drive ahead of us. We didn’t bother with breakfast before we hit the road, as every minute we delayed would put us deeper in heavy Dallas traffic; breakfast … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
12 Comments
Thunder and Conversations
I sit home this evening, listening to the rain and watching the flashes of lightning punctuate the night sky with their explosive claps of thunder, followed by rolling growls that seem to shake the foundation of the earth as they go … Continue reading
Posted in Love, Nature
4 Comments
Seeing…actually seeing…time
The last three days, during which I have had extremely limited access to the internet, have made my decision to forego Facebook an easier task. I haven’t been able to peer and post without wi-fi or cell service. But I … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Time, Travel
4 Comments
Welding and Recovery and Decisions
Several years ago, I took a course in welding at a local community college. For years, I had wanted to have the skills to do welding, but had never had any exposure to it. I just knew I wanted to … Continue reading
Posted in Welding, Where to Live
5 Comments
Wind and Money
A series of recent coincidences led me to delve a bit deeper into the growing drive toward wind-powered electricity generation. Not awfully deep, mind you, but deeper than I’d been of late. First, my wife and I had gone for … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Wind Power
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Bye-bye, Facebook
I’m modifying my “doing without” schedule. For reasons I’ll touch on briefly below, I decided the remainder of meatless October will shift to beginning my month of doing without social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. I’ll allow this blog … Continue reading
Posted in Doing Without
28 Comments
Being Present
It’s early, cool, and overcast. I awoke considerably earlier this morning than I have in some time. Until just a few weeks (or has it been months?) ago, it was common for me to be awake and out of bed … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Wisdom
1 Comment
The Road
I had a conversation yesterday with an acquaintance who rents out half of her 1940s duplex (a couple of blocks off Lower Greenville in the “M Streets” area of Dallas) to people who would rather not experience a locale by … Continue reading
Posted in Couch Surfing, Travel
1 Comment
What Is This Teaching Me?
So, here I am in the midst of another month of doing without. My plan calls for doing without, for one month at a time, something I enjoy; this month, I’m depriving myself of a category of food I enjoy: meat. … Continue reading
Posted in Doing Without, Food, Philosophy, Self-discipline
4 Comments
For the Record
A few mornings ago, I read a couple of pages from Susan Sontag’s journals and notebooks (As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh). I don’t have a copy; I searched it out online, spurred to look for it by reading someone … Continue reading
Posted in Family
7 Comments
Endgame
The endgame for those who have engineered the shutdown of our government is horribly, horribly clear. I urge everyone to watch and listen to this piece, share it, and then to make their views known to their Congressmen and Senators. … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Philosophy, Politics
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Settle Down
At this very moment, one of the things that would please me most would be to have the ability to live free of anger, free of being so reactive to the negativity and disappointments and upsets I face in the … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Happiness, Self-discipline
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The Channel
Everyone who lives long enough begins to decay. The body and the mind wither, shedding the volume and weight and substance no longer sustainable in the age of decline. Before the physical withering takes place, or maybe concurrently with that … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Philosophy
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Setting Down Roots
The obstacles to achieving a comprehensive sense of contentment in my life are all hand-made and carefully crafted, built slowly over a lifetime of opting, at crucial moments, to do not what I wanted but what was expected of me. It wasn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Happiness, Sense of place, Wisdom
5 Comments
You Are What You Settle For
If you don’t know, or don’t follow, Brain Pickings, you’re missing out on some truly interesting, thought-provoking, heart-rending pieces of communication. Founded by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings describes itself as “a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, a subjective lens on what … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Philosophy
3 Comments
This Morning, Venturing onto the Patio, into My Mind, and Down Memory Lane
I open the 15-pane door that lets ample light into the house and leads to the back patio, feeling a blanket of warm, humid air as I leave the air-conditioned house and step outside into reality. The flagstone patio is … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Serenity
2 Comments
Happy Birthday, Mom
Here it is again. It came so quickly; could it possibly be a year since I last gave my mom flowers in remembrance of her birthday? Yes, today would have been my mom’s birthday. And again I pause to remember … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Memories
5 Comments
Doing Without: A Meat-Free October
September is winding down. If I choose, I can celebrate on October 1 with a stiff drink or a beer, but I’m beginning to think I should stick with September’s commitment to doing without alcohol. At the very least, I should … Continue reading
Posted in Doing Without, Food, Self-discipline
5 Comments
Whitewright
After lunch at Casa Vieja on Sunday, we wandered around the little town of Whitewright, wondering what life must be like in this little time-worn village. There were obvious signs of efforts to revitalize the tiny downtown; Casa Vieja was one … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Moving
2 Comments
I could not bear to know what I knew about me, so I became someone else.
“I could not bear to know what I knew about me, so I became someone else.” That’s a line from a short story I once wrote…well, a short story I began to write. Initially, I was particularly satisfied with the … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
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My Little Black Book
A couple of years ago, during a visit to the Boston area to spend time with my wife’s sister, we stopped by a branch library in the heart of the downtown area. A book sale was in progress; I guess … Continue reading
Blood on Marble
Exercising…just exercising..my fictional muscles. Blood dripping onto a marble floor has a unique sound. The noise is lighter and has a gentler sensation than water. Drops of water “thud” flatly when they hit the floor; blood has more of a … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
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