A Newsletter with Something In It

Various recipes of hope from Ogden Nash

Yorkshire Union Band of Hope via JSTOR (public domain - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

“Hope is patience with the lamp lit.” — Tertullian

The new year has arrived, and for some people who considered 2022 thoroughly “meh,” 2023 might seem like the fourth year of 2020.

But it’s traditionally that time of year when the two-faced Janus turns the kind side of his head toward us, eyes blazing with hope, suggesting to us that the year ahead holds many possibilities, some of which are within our power to grasp.

Enter the New Year’s resolutions.

We have the best of intentions, but the reality is these are gestures aimed at pleasing our logical selves. What we do (or don’t do) with them is the result of our emotional selves.

Usually, after a good New Year’s hangover (is there such a thing as a good hangover?), we pledge never to drink again. This is what the teetotalers in the image above are doing. And good for them if they can sustain themselves.

For those who are on more familiar terms with libations of the celebratory nature (of which the holidays inevitably offer a wide variety), perhaps we owe our attention to Ogden Nash’s droll little ditty, “A Drink with Something in It.”