The Man Who Brought The Kennedys

Musings
Jan 232011

In eight days I am having surgery. I am terrified about this, but first, something to look forward to: on Sunday, Jan. 30, TLC is premiering its two-hour “television event,” the Kennedy Home Movies. It is a story about these people, in this video, a teaser so beautiful it made me cry: It is also a story about Winnipeg, which is why I’m blogging about it. Because in my story, the Kennedys and Winnipeg are woven together, warp and weft and impossible to pick apart. I grew up loving the Kennedys, because my father loved the Kennedys. In Grade 5, for an essay project, I [...click for more...]

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A Dire (Straits) Debate

Around The World, Musings
Jan 152011

I could subtitle this post “this ain’t bloggin’,” because a penny for my thoughts, in this case, would drastically overvalue them. My thoughts on this issue are cautious and knotted and not at all leading to a clear bottom line, but whatever, I’m motivated to put fingers to keyboard on it, and this is my space to do that, goshdarnit. As we’ve all heard, the CBSC has ruled that Dire Straits’ song Money For Nothing’s use of the word “faggot” contravenes Canadian broadcast standards. This isn’t really breaking news: the word “fag” or “faggot” has been cut from songs for radio use for ages — [...click for more...]

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A Win In Record Time On The Blame Game

This Is Why The World Sucks
Jan 132011

Part of the ethical problem I referred to in the last post is that I cannot columnize here on anything I might be called upon to report in the future. Being assigned as a GA — the garburator of the daily news world, or perhaps the meatloaf - that eliminates quite a lot of things. (Next blog motto: meatloaf of the news world.) It may not matter anyway, since there’s more than enough people saying smart things about The Isshoos in Winnipeg; I’m not sure I can bring anything to that table, other than sarcastic quips. And now that I think about it, there’s more than enough [...click for more...]

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Lighting The Writer's Lightbulb

Musings
Jan 112011

On one of my other Internet haunts, a forum post asked us to report our favourite book. I said Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell, that short and colourful little tome creatively documenting Orwell’s time slummin’ it. Then the post asked about the book that changed our lives. I replied The Road to Wigan Pier, also by George Orwell. This was the book that made me realize, truly realize, what a writer could do. I first read Wigan when I was about 14 years old. I was a voracious reader as a child — always a better writer than a speaker [...click for more...]

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The Manifesto of Nothing in Winnipeg

Musings
Nov 212010

Today is my birthday. I am twenty-nine years old. Today, I have lived in Winnipeg for twenty-nine years. Today I am starting this blog anew, because I am twenty-nine, because I am almost thirty, and because the city and I still need to have some words. Some words on the city. The city is my love, my co-dependent love. We validate each other’s flaws. If Winnipeg is frustrated and unlovely, and I am frustrated and unlovely, then we can cling to each other. If one of us pulls back from its potential, the other can too. We’ve comforted each other, [...click for more...]

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