Author Archives: John Swinburn

Nothing in the news moves me. I am not sure that it is because I do not care or I have come to realize how I feel about the news does not matter. Perhaps both. And more. Reading the news … Continue reading →

The person peering at you when you look in the mirror is not the same person who looks back at you from a photograph of your face. I prefer the mirror’s version of myself. It is hard to pin down … Continue reading →

Augmenting upsetting news with information that brings a smile to one’s face is not enough to erase the damage done to one’s psyche by the former. The only way to eliminate the injury done—and the psychological scars left—by exposure to … Continue reading →

Years ago—it must be close to 25 years, maybe more—I had the great good fortune of making a trip to Australia and New Zealand. The whirlwind experience took my late wife and me on very short visits—between one and three … Continue reading →

Some concepts are subject to generational evaporation. For example, the idea that a person can “cherish” or be cherished. Baby Boomers, as a group, understand it. If for no other reason the 1966 tune written by Terry Kirkman and recorded … Continue reading →

Early this morning, I came across a brief discussion of the Gabriel García Márquez novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, which has been described as among the “supreme achievements in world literature.” Though I have long known of the novel, … Continue reading →

The complexity of our planet and everything on it is beyond comprehension. Looking out my window at the bark on tree branches thirty feet in the air, I see grey and light green lichens or fungus or moss—I guess. And … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon’s weather was close to perfect. Clear skies, the temperature ideally suited to sitting outside on the deck, soaking in early November’s version of the beauty of the forest…it is a shame the experience cannot be captured and lived … Continue reading →

Space exploration is viewed by many people as a wasteful endeavor. The money and effort spent going to the moon and Mars and beyond, they believe, should be spent solving problems of poverty, climate change, etc., etc. Though I understand … Continue reading →

The cat woke me around 4; I finally got up at 5 and fed her. She has since disappeared; no yowling, no ripping through the house and sliding into walls in her frenzy to escape some imaginary predator. On the … Continue reading →

Today is my late sister’s birthday. My late brother’s birthday was in the second week of September. Lately, everywhere I turn I learn of the death of acquaintances, some very casual and others I knew better. And, of course, the … Continue reading →

At what cost? That question is posed in so many circumstances it becomes almost meaningless. But in practical terms, it is far from irrelevant. Some examples might highlight the point: We might save the planet from irreversible, catastrophic warming, but … Continue reading →

Until this morning, I could not understand why some people get so wrapped up in television and film. Wrapped up to such an extent that people probe details about the actors’ and authors’ lives, and other matters so far removed … Continue reading →

Demons. We read about or hear about or even talk about people whose troubled lives are attributed to psychological (or, some say, spiritual) demons, but what, exactly, are those so-called demons? The definitions are almost boundless; it seems everyone has … Continue reading →

This morning I am experiencing the first truly unpleasant case of heartburn/indigestion I have had in quite some time. Two Tums may have toned it down just a touch, but not enough. Pizza (again) last night is to blame; I … Continue reading →

An article on the NPR website, written by Manuela López Restrepo, delivers less than I expected. Titled, How many friends do Americans have? A survey crunched the numbers, I expected the article to offer a serious—if probably incomplete—exploration of friendship. … Continue reading →

Suddenly, an individual’s world can become a swirling, chaotic, endless nightmare. One must feel pandemonium wash over one’s entire life experience, the horror so deep and terrifying that it is like drowning in an inescapable ocean of raw fear. How … Continue reading →

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. ~ Voltaire ~ My exercise yesterday involved transforming the roadway of the little circle on our cul-de-sac. I changed, by using an electric-powered blower to remove from the … Continue reading →

Everything happens at once. Choose any moment, at random, and freeze it in time. This frozen moment must be a universal moment; every action of everyone in every place on Earth must be captured. Nothing before that moment, nor after … Continue reading →

Finally, awake and alone at a reasonably early hour. My obligations immediately upon waking (take weight, consume my kaleidoscope of prescription drugs, measure blood glucose, take blood pressure and record it [and the other measurements]) infringe on my day. This … Continue reading →

I turned seventy years old yesterday. Wait! That cannot be right! What the hell…? One day can make an enormous difference. Yesterday transported me from my early-old-age-sixties to my progressively-older-age seventies. Among the few distinct thoughts I recall having in … Continue reading →

Habitually arising in the neighborhood of 5 a.m. seems to have ceased, at least temporarily (I hope). A habit I have had since long before the beginning of time appears to have slipped away, almost unnoticed. While some people would … Continue reading →

Peering intently at brush strokes that magically created semi-abstract trees and branches and leaves and footpaths into the hazy distance, I can get happily lost. These places that exist only on a piece of stretched canvas and in the artist’s … Continue reading →

“Bee sting.” That is what the doctor said as he began to numb the skin on my chest around the raised lump, beneath which the chemo port had been implanted almost five years ago. He was the same doctor who … Continue reading →