On the Twelfth Night of 2024: Nietzsche and Saltburn, In That Order

It’s not very often that I do research in order to write a song lyric, but on Friday I find myself digging around in Nietzsche expressly for that purpose. I had written this song with my friend Adam for our Project MA album, and the words I wrote, inspired by a title Adam had givenContinue reading “On the Twelfth Night of 2024: Nietzsche and Saltburn, In That Order”

On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?

I must say that the sixth day of 2024 has been a rough one. I slept in a little bit longer than I usually do, then, diverging from my usual practice of hitting the cushion before doing anything electronically, other than calling up my meditation timer, I read a text message. Needless to say, myContinue reading “On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?”

On the Fifth Day of 2024: Meditation Method

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. Ralph Waldo Emerson Stuff coming out, stuff going in. I’m just a part of everything. Peter Gabriel My meditation practice, as I discovered it some twenty-three years ago now, has been to sit in silence, either alone or with a group. EvenContinue reading “On the Fifth Day of 2024: Meditation Method”

Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection

It has been five years since I have written one of these end-of-the-year reflections. I’m coming into this one after rereading what I wrote in 2018. In the intervening half a decade, I must have been just too overwhelmed by COVID and the ending of a career in education to be bothered to do aContinue reading “Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection”

The Book I Read: Groundhog Day Redux–Forever

Hey there! Welcome back to the Book I Read with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy, a podcast and blog series where I talk about books mostly, among other things: reading in general, writing fiction and poetry, some occasional diversions into music listening, teaching and learning. It is January, so, happy new year to you. I hopeContinue reading “The Book I Read: Groundhog Day Redux–Forever”

The Book I Read: Reading In Memoriam–57 Octaves Below Middle C by Kevin McIlvoy

Welcome back to The Book I Read with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy, a podcast/blog series where I talk about books and reading, writing, listening, teaching and learning. It’s October, the leaves continue coming down, and, at my place in particular, surrounded as we are by gigantic oak trees, a few more weeks from now andContinue reading “The Book I Read: Reading In Memoriam–57 Octaves Below Middle C by Kevin McIlvoy”

The Book I Read: Frankenstein Forever

Hey there! Welcome back to the Book I Read with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy—that’s still me—a podcast/blog series where I talk about books and reading, writing, listening, teaching and learning. It’s September, the leaves are coming down, the nights are getting cool, and the Halloween holiday is fast approaching—Thanksgiving and Christmas too, apparently, by theContinue reading “The Book I Read: Frankenstein Forever”

The Book I Read: Time Is Not On Your Side

Books discussed in this blog entry and its accompanying podcast: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway by Robin Black. What follows is the text of the podcast–with the omission of the short reading fromContinue reading “The Book I Read: Time Is Not On Your Side”

The Book I Read: Michael Jarmer Writer Guy Returns for Season 2!

Jesus, take the wheel! I confess: it’s been eight months since my last podcast. I also confess it has been difficult if not impossible since the turn of the new year to commit time and energy toward The Book I Read, eight episodes in before it was essentially frozen in its tracks. I offer thisContinue reading “The Book I Read: Michael Jarmer Writer Guy Returns for Season 2!”

The Book I Read: Charles Dickens Says What? A Christmas Carol

Listen to the podcast version of this blog entry here! First, I have a supposition, a theory, a hypothesis: Essentially, we’d have to be living under a rock not to know the story of the famous Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol. Right? We’ve seen the Albert Finney, the George C. Scott. We’ve seen the muppetsContinue reading “The Book I Read: Charles Dickens Says What? A Christmas Carol”