Author Archives: John Swinburn

Is it “natural” for heterosexuals to seek out partners with whom they share living quarters and with whom they conceive children and live rather isolated lives within a nuclear family? Or was that practice embedded in our brains (and, ultimately, … Continue reading →

It’s past 6:30; I should be up and energetic by now. But I am not energetic. Far from it. I got up around 5:30. Ever since, I have felt spent; weak in body and spirit. I should go for a … Continue reading →

Darkness still drenches the back deck, making it impossible to see whether there is any evidence of what made the very loud racket an hour ago. My guess is that a raccoon got caught up in one of the decorative … Continue reading →

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution. ~ Oscar Wilde ~ +++ Just shy of two months after surgery to remove the cancer-laden lower lobe from my right lung, I wrote the following: Forgiveness does not … Continue reading →

Too many words, not enough meat. That’s my primary critique of my writing. I recognize my propensity for thinking—and writing—in long, convoluted strings. So I’ll make this post brief. Relatively speaking. Wordy, yes, but at least consistently wordy. Or should … Continue reading →

The fundamental problem with human societies is and always has been rooted in one cold, hard fact. We have been unable to come to agreement on two things: what constitutes morality and how to enforce morality’s control over behavior: both … Continue reading →

I spar with the world, but I’m generally quite happy with it. If I had absolute power and control, I might change a few things about it—poverty, war, famine, thirst, sickness, loss, physical and emotional pain, politics, corruption, disease, judgment, … Continue reading →

Not long ago, I started walking again most mornings when temperatures and humidity levels have been low enough for outdoor jaunts to be tolerable. As relatively flat as I thought my new neighborhood was, realty has taught me otherwise. Compared … Continue reading →

Once again, I awoke in the middle of the night—before 3:30. I knew immediately that I would not be able to quickly fall asleep, though I had done precisely that when I got up at 12:30 and again at 2 … Continue reading →

I lost the majority of what I wrote this morning. When I attempted to save what I had written, WordPress did not cooperate. Apparently, it had saved a fraction of what I had written…the parts produced below. I am annoyed, … Continue reading →

If news of the enormous August 2020 explosion of parts of the grain silos at the port of Beirut reached my eyes and ears, I do not remember. I suspect I never heard details of the catastrophe that killed more … Continue reading →

This morning, I am scheduled to visit my primary care doctor’s office, where his nurse practitioner will grill me about my recent experience in the hospital, after having been taken to the ER by ambulance. Frankly, I am not sure … Continue reading →

I love to be nudged into examining issues from new perspectives; to look into matters from unfamiliar points of view. That provocation is almost always at play when I watch BBC Reel videos. Yesterday morning, after my walk up and … Continue reading →

A fresh, hot cup of coffee. Another smoldering cone of patchouli incense filling my study with a scent that awakens memories of years ago. On my desk, evidence of procrastination abounds—so many little things left to tidy up, paperwork obligations … Continue reading →

I want never to lose my sense of awe and surprise. I want never to erase from my psyche a sense of childhood wonder at the natural world. Too many old men and women seem to have abandoned the carefree … Continue reading →

Map out your future – but do it in pencil. ~ Jon Bon Jovi ~ The ashes of a cone of incense, burned two days ago, remain on the corner of my desk, proof of my indolence—I should have disposed … Continue reading →

I have always claimed to welcome change. To relish it, in fact. To lean into it with great expectations. But sometimes I find myself resisting change for no apparent reason. It is as if change represents a discomforting disturbance to … Continue reading →

I demolish my bridges behind me—then there is no choice but forward. ~ Fridtjof Nansen ~ +++ Compare a cup of coffee—the way it tastes and makes you feel—to the sensation of sitting alone in an open-air convertible automobile on … Continue reading →

I should not have attempted to write yesterday’s post, while moderately incoherent and under the influence of painkillers and sleep deprivation. Using my one-finger typing on my cell phone, to boot, made the message doubly irrational and laced with typos. … Continue reading →

July 24. 4:50 a.m. For the umpteenth time, Sandy extracted blood. For the exponential tum Angel took my temperature and checked my blood pressure. The doctors earliest determined my ailment is not Crohn’s disease…at least not this expression of sickness. … Continue reading →

A snippet of fiction commanded me this morning to unleash it from the cage inside my head. It’s only a tiny fragment of what must be hidden inside my brain, but it claims there’s more where it came from. I … Continue reading →

I woke sometime around 3 this morning, thanks to being completely stopped up. I thought about getting up only for a while, until my sinuses decided to cooperate with my breathing. But I changed my mind. So, here I am … Continue reading →

There was a time when works of fiction were far more adept at capturing my imagination than were revelations about historical events. While fiction remains an important force in keeping my inquisitiveness and creativity alive, well-told stories of earth-changing historical … Continue reading →

Sometimes the draw of isolation in the wee hours is stronger than the comfortable pull of the sheets. As I write this, it’s not quite 3 in the morning, when I’ve been up for almost an hour. I hope to … Continue reading →

I want to be remembered as the man I wanted to be, not the man I was. ~ Confidential ~ +++ Some people seem capable of ignoring their flaws, as if flaws did not matter in the least. Others appear … Continue reading →