Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Trouble with Marshall McLuhan

I often wonder what Claire, our five-year-old Yorkie, understands of our speech. She certainly gets the idea when we say, “Where’s your ball?” Off she goes, hunting for one of the little, squeaky balls Darlene keeps in stock.  I suspect … Continue reading

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Stop the Presses!

  A couple of hours ago, we saw smoke rising from Old Orchard Beach, a mile away from the cottage here in Ocean Park, Maine.  The fire was under control by the time we reached The Galaxy at 2 East … Continue reading

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Arrested Human Postures

  It looks to me as if the starboard side of this boat is not in sync. I took the photo at The Head of the Charles Regatta a couple of years ago. You can see splash behind the oars of the … Continue reading

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A Moment of Personal History

  Rewind. I’ve just finished the 15-page chapter titled “The Photograph” inUnderstanding Media.  Instead of pressing ahead, to a chapter titled “Press,” I’m going to return to page 188 and read Chapter 20 again, as if I’ve never seen it … Continue reading

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Put More Than a Toe in the Water

From Understanding Media at page 195: Education is ideally civil defense against media fall-out. Yet Western man has had, so far, no education or equipment for meeting any of the new media on their own terms. You have to give … Continue reading

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Inward Gestures of the Mind

At the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Mass., I stopped this gray, muggy morning to take a photo near the end of my bike ride.  I had McLuhan on my mind, wondering what I might find today … Continue reading

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Maine Mosaic

The Gutenberg Galaxy develops a mosaic or field approach to its problems. Such a mosaic of numerous data and quotations in evidence offers the only practical means of revealing causal operations in history. — opening lines of the Gutenberg Galaxy … Continue reading

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Who Called This Meeting?

Here at Ocean Park, Maine, it’s a good idea to claim your part of the weekend beach early. Whoever arranged these chairs was up before 7 a.m., when I spotted the empty circle on my bike ride. I found the … Continue reading

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Terrible Nihilism of the Photograph

      I’ve just turned the page to a new chapter of Understanding Media. It’s titled “The Photograph.” As illustration and koan for my daily McLuhan meditation I’ve chosen the above photo that I took this past winter at Ocean Park, … Continue reading

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The McLuhan Century

  There will be many words tapped, typed, scribbled, spoken, and edited today, the centenary of Marshall McLuhan’s birth on July 21, 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta.  In Toronto, they are celebrating all week.  It’s a good day to be a McLuhan … Continue reading

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