Etc

Happy 2019!

MAY THE ARBITRARY DIVISION OF Earth’s orbit into 365.25 units find you better off now than you were last time we reached this point on the circle’s rim — and not nearly as good as you will be next time.

N. B.: Starting today, The Metaphorager will be switching from a daily to a semi/thrice-weekly publishing schedule (new stuff Monday and Thursday, something archival Saturday night or Sunday morning). I was so jazzed about regaining my “voice” last July that I began valuing quantity over quality — a rookie move, I know, but a seductive one. Thank you for reading this far, and here’s to a wordy 2019!

Death steals everything except our stories.”
— Jim Harrison

Crit, Midrash

Truth v. Lies

SOME TIME AGO, I HAD a Facebook encounter with a dear friend who’s something of an Evangelical Atheist. It all started when another dear friend posted the following “meme” to my “wall:”

OMNISM: THE BELIEF THAT NO RELIGION IS THE ONLY TRUTH, BUT THAT TRUTHS ARE FOUND IN THEM ALL.

To which my atheist friend replied:

Alas, some lies, too. And little explanation of how to sift one from the other.

Read more →

Crit, Writing

Metaphoraging Roundup: 2018

IF A GOOD FRIEND HADN’T died this year and cured me of a years-long writer’s block, I wouldn’t be posting this.

But he did, so I am, proffering 2018’s Top 10 Viewed Pages and Posts at this writing:

1. Home page / Archives: (683 views) marks people who have happened by from seeing my URL posted in various places (including email .sigs, business cards, our local radio station and Facebook), and/or those exploring more than the seven posts visible on each “page.”

2. Fie on Death, and the Pale Horse He Rode In On (180) is John Wheeler’s cyber-eulogy, its link posted in numerous online fora where his friends could see it.

Read more →

Food

Eats: Freeform Chicken Meatballs with Carrots and Yogurt Sauce

Click to enlarge.

THIS COMES FROM EPICURIOUS.COM, A foodie website whose daily emails are proffered hand-in-glove with that other Conde Nast staple, Bon Appetit. Their recipes are a something of a cut above basic cookery, just challenging enough to stretch your fledgling cook-wings yet delicious enough to make the effort rewarding. This meal well illustrates that principle; I have made it twice now, and while it is starting to come easier I still sweat the coordination a bit. (But that just means being more mindful, and when is that a bad thing?)

Read more →

Living

“Same To You” Redux

SOME YEARS AGO, I POSTED about a stress-free method for dealing with people who wish you a happy holiday-outside-your-affinity-group. In that spirit, I proffer it again for anyone who, like me, neither celebrates Xmas nor wishes ill on anyone who does. May the appropriate winter light-celebration exceed your expectations, and be filled with more joy than you know what to do with.

AMERICA IS A PLACE WHERE Jewish merchants sell Zen love beads to agnostics for Christmas.”
— John Burton Brimer