Reflections From The Bell Curve
About Me

- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
Monday, February 17, 2025
Better Off Without Them
Friday, February 14, 2025
Talkative? Or ... Garrulous?
Not long ago, I listened to a woman making use of her good vocabulary during a prepared speech she was giving to her peers. I did not feel she was being at all showy. Nevertheless, it did not surprise me when I later over-heard people saying they thought the speaker used too many "...big words..."
Some of you may be familiar with this advice often given to public speakers: "Speak to express, not to impress". This can be a useful guideline. At the same time, I have seen this advice work against people who have a strong and natural command of words both in public speaking situations and otherwise. They sometimes begin second-guessing themselves. Instead of using "garrulous", they stumble to find "talkative". Are they perhaps worried about others thinking they're using "big words" even though both have the same number of syllables? Or, is it possible that speakers who dumb down their good vocabularies are not giving their listeners enough credit? What is your view on this? What are you inclined to do when someone you're not close to uses a word you don't know?I admire speakers -and authors - who use simple words well. I also love when someone challenges me to be smarter. Consequently, I like when people use words they have naturally at their disposal, even if a word is unfamiliar to me. I'm a big boy and welcome taking responsibility for my own learning.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
My Missing Valentine
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Icing on the Cake
Although learning about history has always appealed to me, until I stopped working full time, reading about it was not a priority. Before 2010, I relied more on film than I did on books to help me augment the little historical knowledge I'd gotten during my school years. I knew film was an inadequate substitute, but leisure hours were limited and the concentration required to finish books of history - especially the longer ones - frequently eluded me. On the top of my pile in the full-time work years were either novels or non-fiction connected to my work or, of course, books about music.
For the last fifteen years, with respect to books of history, calling myself an intermediate dilettante is, I think, reasonably accurate. However, thanks to the newest book club I've joined - a club that reads only non-fiction - it's now possible I'll get to the advanced dilletante level in Act Three. So far, this club has gone three for three in selecting terrific books of history that I would never have picked on my own. The latest: Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, And the Fate of the American Revolution (2016). Why would I not have picked this?
* The excellent author - Nathaniel Philbrick - was unknown to me. That's never a deal-breaker, but when it comes to history, I'm more inclined to return to favorites (Joseph Ellis, Erik Larsen, David McCullough), because I know how their storytelling skills make the history come alive. I'm a little gun-shy picking an unknown historian in a library drive-by because I'm concerned I may give up before finishing. The good news? Philbrick is now someone I'll willingly return to.
* Because George Washington was the subject of another fantastic book of history I read not long ago - Mr. President (Harlow Giles Unger) - I wouldn't normally return to read another book centering on the same historical figure so soon. But the way Philbrick toggled between Washington and Arnold while delivering this material provided a totally different dimension to our origin story than Unger did in his book. And Philbrick's preface was masterful; he had me from page one.
This all adds up to an inescapable conclusion, something I suspect some of you may have heard others say. One of the best reasons to join a book club is to be introduced to authors and books unfamiliar to you. Icing on the cake for me: My newest club is focusing on history. Cool.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Words for the Ages: Line Thirty-Four
"Love is the answer ... for most of the questions in my heart."
I realize Lennon & McCartney may have expressed a similar sentiment more succinctly in the title of their classic hit All You Need Is Love. But for me, the terse lyric above from Better Together - a Jack Johnson tune from 2005 - holds its own alongside all the lyrics I've used here as words for the ages since initiating this series in May 2017. And pardon my hubris but I submit John & Paul would agree the seven additional words Johnson used - vs. their original five - provide a fresh dimension to their thought.
From the start, I made a commitment to resist using any lyricist more than once for this series. Now sometimes, when several months pass between iterations, the treasures of lyricists already used (e.g., Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne) test my commitment. But before succumbing and repeating someone, I recall how many greats have yet to be represented (e.g., Johnny Mercer, Smokey Robinson, Stephen Sondheim) and return to the task at hand. That task is to continue carefully listening for a terse lyric that stands alone, i.e., does not depend on a rhyme to complete the thought, and that lyric should be able to be easily recalled by an average listener. (FYI, the longest lyric used to date contains twenty words.) Finally, the thought must contain a universal truth that will stand the test of time, i.e., these must be words for the ages.
Any other nominations from Jack Johnson's catalog? Or how about a nomination of a lyric from one of the three greats mentioned above that I haven't yet used? I'm always listening.
Sunday, February 2, 2025
RIP: 2016-2025
Since no one has ever asked - online or off - why I decided to re-run the post below every February 2nd since 2016 - changing only its title - this inside joke is officially deceased. I'm interring it primarily because dwelling on possible reasons why it generated near radio silence - no one thought it was remotely funny, clever, worth mentioning or, worst of all, no one noticed - is too demoralizing. RIP.
Considering how many people outside of Punxsutawney ever pay attention, isn't it peculiar that of all the movies ever made about holidays few have come close to being as good as Groundhog Day? What is your nomination for a holiday film that is the equal of Harold Ramis's goofy 1993 masterpiece?