Frances Widdowson is a tenured professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As it happens, I know the woman. And truth be told, I quite like her. Were I confined to a one word description of her it would be “no-nonsense”. But allow me description by ostension and I’d point to Lilith on … Continue reading FRANCES WIDDOWSON

Here are the red button non-issues in America today, that have spilt over into Canada:  Covid is what it is, until some day it isn’t. And the economy is what it is until, like Covid, it’s not. So that leaves the whose-lives-matter question, and whether people whose lives haven’t mattered should protest peacefully or show … Continue reading FOR THE SOUL OF THE NATION

A neighbourhood is a location and a socio-economic homogeneity. It’s a location because people don’t want to have to drive to borrow a cup of sugar. And it’s socio-economically homogenous because they like to chat when they’re borrowing a cup of sugar, not out of politeness but out of interest. That is, we want to … Continue reading THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

There isn’t a single person - or a married one for that matter - who hasn’t done something unworthy of himself. Even that Jesus fellow overturned tables that didn’t belong to him. So if we only erect statues to “he that hath not sinned”, we’re not going to have any. And maybe we shouldn’t anyhow. … Continue reading ‘TWAS AND ‘TIS ALWAYS THUS

Because for seventy years Yugoslavia was one country, as government workers, university professors, and so on, Serbs and Croats lived side by side in its capital, Belgrade. So I’m told that, when the war broke out after the death of Tito, many of these people didn’t know what to do with their friendships. It’s not … Continue reading ANIMUS

I’m certain that clergy, politicians, and news anchors all take the same course in patter. Given how often “our hearts go out to …”, one wonders if they ever stay home. Note that it’s invariably our hearts, first person plural, notwithstanding the speaker might be the only one missing a heart that day. The one … Continue reading PATTER

If people want radically different things from their government, it’s unlikely there’s going to be enough political stability to produce much of anything. So it’s a sign of a healthy society that the distance between Liberals and Conservatives in Canada is pretty much imperceptible.  Democrats and Republicans used to be able to tell a similar … Continue reading REQUIEM

The problem with death threats is that you can’t elicit them. God knows I’ve tried. They have to come at you from left field, which so far they haven’t. So obviously I need to switch strategies. Not unlike a drug addict who has to keep increasing the dose to get the same high, or a … Continue reading THE PROBLEM WITH DEATH THREATS

It was February, 1968, and I was just turning eighteen. I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Callao, the port city adjacent to Lima, Peru, reading an English language Time magazine that was reporting on the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. And I remember thinking to myself, “This is an important moment in history!”  I … Continue reading RACE RELATIONS AND INFOTAINMENT