Three Years Ago This Month: Are copies of JT: Another Mighty Midyett actually available yet?

Yes! In several formats

By Moristotle

[Interview originally published on March 4, 2015. We re-announce this today as a way of informing readers of a new feature of Moristotle & Co. – its Book Authors’ Corner, which is featured near the top of the sidebar. The corner’s purpose is to celebrate and promote books by Moristotle’s authors, who include members of the staff and others who have kindly allowed us to excerpt their work from time to time. Randy Somers, the author of JT, falls into the latter category, but as the article below reminds us, he has a close connection with a staff member.

You ask whether copies of JT: Another Mighty Midyett are actually available yet.

Ask Susan

How can I get my family to stop punishing me?

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

My sister and my fiancé had an affair that blew my family and my life into pieces. The two have both moved on with different partners now and life is great for them, but I’m still dealing with what happened. What I’m struggling with most is that it was my own sister who betrayed me, and we were always so close.

Ask Susan

I wish my husband & I weren’t together – what should I do?

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

I’ve been married for 26 years and have two teenage children. I haven’t been happy for a long time and my husband and I have not had sex for at least five years. I’ve been hoping he’ll get fed up and leave. Recently, I told him I wanted a divorce, but he accused me of being selfish and not thinking about our children – my elder is leaving home to go to college in September, though.

Ask Susan

How can I know she has given me a clear sign she wants to have sex?

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

I have been dating a woman for about two months now. She is 57 and I am 68. She’s a lot of fun to be with and we always have a great time together. I think it could develop into a more serious long-term relationship.

Ask Susan

How can I make peace with death?

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

God knows I have thought my fair share about death. My goal for many years was to make it past the age at which my father died. I hoped I would find relief in that, but I didn’t.
    Didn’t, that is, until a couple of months ago when I finally shared my fears with my husband as we were talking about my insomnia. I told him about my habit of “going dark,” going into the shadows during my most vulnerable nighttime hours to do battle with the thought of dying. My husband had no wise words to offer me, he just understood. Since that day, I no longer wake up every night and think about the end of my life.
    But I’m still looking for some “wise words” about this. Do you have any to offer me? –Seeker

Ask Wednesday: Hey, Siri...? (humor)

What is your favorite question of all time?

[Editor's Note: “Even those who don’t own an iPhone or iPad know about Siri, Apple’s smart voice-powered assistant. Siri is supposed to do everything a personal assistant would – schedule dates, set reminders, find directions, send messages, or make calls. But what makes Siri different from traditional voice recognition software is its intelligence. You can ask Siri whatever you want and get a plausible answer. Many people find it amusing to ask Siri hilarious or provocative questions.” –From “50 Funny Questions to Ask Siri”
    But today’s question we thought of ourselves. And we were disappointed that Siri gave the same answer to us that she – for us, Siri is female – gave to one of the 50 questions cited above.]

Ask Wednesday: How can truth be both objective and subjective at the same time?

An approximate representation

That seems to be the only way it can be

By Morris Dean

A better way of asking the question might be: How can truth not be subjective for everyone, and how is objective truth even possible?
    Anyone’s perception of anything is his or her own perception. Objective truth depends on everyone involved’s agreeing on a procedure by which objective truth can be determined, or approximated as closely as possible – everyone may even agree that their procedure leaves room for doubt and revision. Science is that way, for example, and is stronger for it by forestalling the jumping to conclusions; everyone acknowledges that further information might change the consensus view.

Ask Wednesday: What might “experiencing something” be...

if that something isn’t really there?

By Morris Dean

Luminous shadow
spun of mind’s own filaments
enshrouds its temples

Copyright © 2015 by Morris Dean

Ask Wednesday: Can you hear the trees for the forest?

A delight of wearing hearing instruments while shaving

By Morris Dean

“Don’t take a shower with your new hearing aids,” I was counseled. I took the counsel so seriously that I would even remove the instruments before shaving, because before shaving I had always washed not only my face and neck, but also my forehead, the back of my neck, and behind my hears. Mustn’t douse those instruments!

Ask Wednesday: If you were to protest something, what would it be?

I would protest defunding Planned Parenthood

By Olivia Condley

Last week, the Senate blocked the bill that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. Even though I am reassured by this small victory in women’s rights, I still feel an unshakeable tension, knowing that this attempt at taking away women’s rights will not be the last.

Ask Wednesday: Why am I substituting this for what appeared here for a few hours earlier?

Portrait of the author by Susan C. Price

By Morris Dean

For a few hours this morning, a piece of writing appeared here with the title, “Why do Americans seem better disposed toward [x] than [y]?”
    Only reading the piece “in print” enabled me to see that it should never have appeared. “Americans,” after all, include people from both groups mentioned. It even includes people who suffer lapses in judgment, like me. I am sorry, and I apologize.

Copyright © 2015 by Morris Dean

Ask Wednesday: Liam Johnson on various things canine

Interviewed by William A. Johnson

[Liam is a 9+year-old lab-shepherd mix with three legs. In spite of his disability, Liam is just like other dogs in that he plays, runs, barks, begs for his food, and sleeps. He has experienced a lot in his lifetime and has agreed to talk about some of his experiences and lend us his insights. My questions are in italics.]

Ask Wednesday: How do you manage your time?

By André Duvall

The “you” in today’s question is me. The editor had noticed that I seem to have found methods that work well for my own active schedule of teaching, practicing, performance, and other obligations and hobbies, so he asked me to discuss how I manage my time, or how I “approach time management.” I make no claims to be an expert on time management. However, the editor assumed that I must be doing something right, so I’ll share what I know.

Ask Wednesday: How was your first day with hearing aids?

By Morris Dean

Yes, this week I started wearing "hearing instruments," as the manufacturer's user's guide calls hearing aids. An audiologist at the UNC Hearing and Communication Center fitted me with them on Monday afternoon, and I wore them continuously for about six hours, until I removed them, carefully wiped off any earwax from the receivers (I didn't see any), and parked them for the night to recharge their batteries and dry them out.

Ask Wednesday: Ask Susan

I don’t think I want to be married anymore

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

I just don’t know what to do about my marriage. I’ve been with my husband for 10 years and we have been married for five of those. I’m going to be 30 this year and we have a three-year-old child and six-month-old baby.

Ask Wednesday: Where did "gung ho" come from?

Speaking of curious phrases

By Ed Rogers

Reading about the phrase “in the belly of the beast” got me to thinking about the first time I heard the phrase “gung ho.” It was in boot camp at Fort Riley Kansas. I even remember the month: January. It was part of the cadence used to try to run us to death, and it became part of the language of military life.

Ask Wednesday: Ask Susan

What can I do about this copycat?

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

I have a friend who copies every move I make, yet she criticizes me to my face and to others.

Ask Wednesday: What would you do?

By Morris Dean

You've just filled up your gas tank at a service station. As you tear off your receipt to leave, you hear someone say, "Can you help us?"

Ask Wednesday: Ask Susan

Too much & too little

By Susan C. Price

[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]

I like having sex, but don’t want it to go on for hours at a time, which my boyfriend does. I would like us to climax at about the same time, but he likes me to have four orgasms before he has one – and he can only do that by pleasuring himself.

Ask Wednesday: What did Darwin say to read monkeys for?

...a modern continuation
of Darwin’s “M” project
[About  Frans de Waal²]

Edited by Morris Dean

On page 128 of Charles Darwin’s notebook “M” [of “metaphysical” considerations], Darwin wrote in the summer of 1838, when he had already formulated the thesis of common descent but not yet the mechanism of natural selection¹: