Watching the Clock Run Down

 This Is Why The World Sucks
Sep 212011
 

At first the sound seemed like screams of horror. Turn up the volume, furrow my brow, and it rang more clearly as shouts of joy. Then the tone rippled, and twisted, and shook out cries of confusion. Was Troy Davis alive? Was he dead? Was there a stay? Just a delay? Was he, as Mia Farrow said, really lying on the gurney with the IV in his arm when the United States Supreme Court issued the words that spun out his life just a little bit longer? The rumours spread and I, swayed by the cries of “stay” and the jubilant exclamations of NAACP leaders on Democracy Now’s live [...click for more...]

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Safe Births and Sad Stories

 Here's Your Local News
Sep 192011
 

Today, CBC Manitoba highlighted concerns about the new Birth Centre from a woman who lost her newborn son in 1996, due to medical complications. I don’t know Ms. Dorber, but my heart goes out to her: it appears hers was a very sad story. Still, I’m disappointed over how this dialogue emerged. The CBC article highlights that “some are questioning” the Birth Centre’s “safety.” To support that, they present Ms. Dorber’s concerns: it’s clear those fears stem from her own experience of tragedy. But while living through tragedy can indeed impart a certain kind of wisdom, it doesn’t make someone [...click for more...]

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New Life, Old Friend

 Musings
Sep 152011
 

This is Kyro Martin. As you can see from his gentle yet slightly dazed expression, he was a very sweet dog, but somewhat lacking in the smarts department.   I have very few pictures of my beloved old friend in my condo; my dad found this gem and others today, and emailed them to me. Oh, I do miss him. Kyro left this world in November 2007, at the very ripe age of 18. A couple of days later, I went to Oregon for the second time in my life. It was the beginning of an adventure that took me [...click for more...]

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The Terrible Silence on Substance

 Here's Your Local News
Sep 152011
 

As James Turner wrote, the first step is admitting there’s a problem. Here’s a problem for you: when the tests come back, the news is bad as can be. That dark mass they found, it’s cancer. It’s eating at your insides. “What do I do now?” you ask the doctor. “I’m in pain, I’m sick, I can’t eat.” The doctor pulls out his prescripton pad. “In that case,” he says, “Here’s a script for some painkillers. Take them every day. I’ll see you in four years.” If that was it — if that was all he did — you would [...click for more...]

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Nothing On the Airwaves

 Caretakery
Sep 062011
 

It’s hard to believe, sometimes, how much time goes by between one post and the next. It’s even harder to believe when I know, for a fact, that I have five unfinished drafts of posts that I stayed up late nights battering out on my keyboard. With each, something stopped me from hitting “publish.” Exhaustion with the subjects, maybe. It’s alright; there will be time (for a hundred visions and revisions, before the taking of a toast and tea.) But lo, I come bearing news: on Wednesday, Sept. 7, I will be joining the Winnipeg Internet Pundits on UMFM Radio! What [...click for more...]

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