Photo by Anton Bielousov My mother was a Dentistry graduate at the University of Toronto in 1943. As I look at her class graduation photo, I count 44 men and three women. She practiced dentistry, then taught dental hygienists, for 40 years. When I was a child, she never attended
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Scripturient: Blog & Commentary: A Few More Uke Arrangements
Lately, I’ve been redoing all the arrangements of songs I put together for the Collingwood Public Library Ukulele Group (CPLUG) this year, as well as arranging some new pieces for the group. I’m working on a new layout for the tunes that makes them easier for beginners to follow and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Ghomeshi Redux: Where do we go from here?
Photo by Damien D. Now that Jian Ghomeshi has been charged with five criminal offences, including sexual assault and choking, what can we learn from this case, and more importantly – what can we do to make sure this does not continue to happen? We know that Ghomeshi was not
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Heartwarming Crap I Have to Post – Thai Life Insurance
Sometimes you just have to look at the good bits in a situation. Yes this is a commercial for a life insurance company. Yes it free promotion for them. Yes, if you subtract the commercial bit at the end, this is how life should go. Filed under: Culture Tagged: Capitalism
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Gravity: A Review
While watching director Alfonso Cuarón’s film, Gravity, this weekend, I was struck by how powerful the mixed themes of isolation and survival can be. I was reminded not simply of films – Tom Hanks in Castaway came to mind immediately – but in literature, too; from Robinson Crusoe to Blindness. Stories
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Ferguson?
If there’s anything you can learn from Ferguson this morning, it’s that we need to check our race- and class-based social, political and economic entitlements. It’s the least we can do this morning. "If racism is something you're sick of hearing about, imagine how exhausting it must be living it
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Julius Caesar: Best of the Bard?
For my money, Julius Caesar is simply Billy Shakespeare’s best ever play. I mean, what’s not to like in it? It has some stonking great speeches in it – including one of his top five ever (Marc Antony’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen….”) as well as a passel of memorable lines you can
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Canada: The Eternal Rebuilding Project
Personal relationships enrich us, work makes us feel useful, and goals give us purpose via Lecture 1 – Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship | Ideas with Paul Kennedy | CBC Radio. Adrienne Clarkson speaks in this Massey Lecture about belonging. The first peoples were here first. They established a sense
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Yes Means Yes: A Reading to Start Your Week
If you read anything about Yes Means Yes, this week, read this paragraph, then click the link to read it all. We all need to be talking about this around the water cooler this week. We’ve come a long way in our acceptance of all manner of sexual relationships and
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Three Godzillas: Size Matters
This year another remake of Godzilla was released, and of course I had to get a copy. I have many of the other Godzilla films made over the past 60 years, sadly not all of them. There were so many monster movies made in Japan through the 1950s and 60s that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: It’ll Be Fast: On Yes Means Yes
Globe and Mail. I was struck by the report of an intimate exchange between a man and woman in today’s Globe & Mail; the woman later questioned how consensual the act really was. She said, “Please stop,” and he responded, “It’ll be fast.” Later she says “yes,” then later again “no.”
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Poems That Make You Cry
I cannot read Dylan Thomas’ poem, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night‘ without a lump in my throat. I read it at my father’s funeral, several years ago, so for me it has a personal context that retains its emotional impact. Many poems move me or touch my heartstrings, however,
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Camping’s madness carries on
Harold Camping has been dead for almost a year, but his legacy lives on. Not just in the broken dreams of his deluded followers, but in the many lives he destroyed through his madness. You would have thought that, having predicted the end of the world several times, and been
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The CBC Respects Dignity Better than Corporate Media
Corporate media, being owned by corporations, needs to maximize shareholder wealth. That means news is a loss leader. News is about generating sensationalism, excitement or hysteria. News is about generating ratings to charge more for advertising to maximize shareholder wealth. Thus, when the CBC characteristically doesn’t sensationalize something, it’s noted
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Reflections on a violent day in Ottawa
Photo from Public Domain I often find it hard to feel empathy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But when I saw the grim picture of him talking on the phone following the end of his confinement in the locked down House of Commons yesterday, I sensed in him a vulnerability
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Thug Kitchen – Healthier Living for Everyone
The following post has a higher than usual amount of profanity (for DWR, anyway). You have been warned. Eating right is hard. Eating horribly wrong is so very easy. Are we all doomed to clogged arteries, pickled livers, and malnourished obese children? No! Thug Kitchen is here to save us
Continue readingThe Misanthropic Bird: Girl Posts Selfie – Internet Retaliates
If you took any history 101 class, you may have heard of civil rights activist, and overall great guy, Martin Luther King, Jr.. And if you happened to be awake during your teacher’s lesson, you may have retained some of the brilliant and moving words Dr. King spoke, particularly his
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Cold Mountain Poems
I first became aware of the Tang dynasty poet, Han Shan, in the late 1960s, when I was engrossed in reading the poets of the earlier Beat generation. It was at that time that, through them, I started to discover and explore Western Buddhism – as it was adapted and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What I Am Thankful For
This weekend, I am thankful for folks in Seattle who know how to transform the imperialist Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day. May we all learn this for next year! “We are all citizens in a democracy, we are all here to work with each other, and by making this
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