John J. Parman·Oct 28Living x7 or maybe x12Some years ago, I came up with what I called “the law of sevens.” The idea was that seven is a better measure of life’s increments than…A response icon1A response icon1
John J. Parman·Oct 16Painting’s JourneyArt itself often contributes to our tendency to put what we see into words. Some of the paintings in the National Gallery in Oslo are…
John J. Parman·Oct 10Navigating RandomnessCareers had trajectories, I thought, growing up. Somehow my father made it work, and the outlines were clear enough. After pursuing my own…
John J. Parman·Sep 23The Color of the SkyI was nine. Was it then? Second set of teeth, which struck me later as significant. It could have been later. No, I was nine, but when I…
John J. Parman·Sep 21Away and AwayI consider myself a rational man, modern enough despite hewing to what tradition demands of us, the appearance of duty, for example, when…
John J. Parman·Sep 16Pavlov’s DogsThere are still trains, but I opted to fly. Nothing seems to have changed since he wrote his account of it. Well, there are towers, but the…
John J. Parman·Sep 1A kind of distanceIn the end, he thought, a view is just a pretext, despite the effort made to get to it. He looked at his beat-up suitcase, that part of his…
John J. Parman·Aug 31My textureIn dialogue with my literary friend Claude Amodei, the word “texture” came up as one way she tracks our sessions. I’ve learned from her…A response icon1A response icon1
John J. Parman·Aug 29The Reductive Hole We’re In.Ten years ago, the California Legislature passed the first of a series of laws aimed at increasing the production of new housing. This…A response icon1A response icon1
John J. Parman·Aug 1TorrentsAlmost August, the start of the dry season, and already a wildfire leapt a bay further north, embers floating across to be caught in the…
