call me lucky: a hilarious, heartbreaking, and inspiring movie
Barry Crimmins might be the most famous person you've never heard of.In "Call Me Lucky," a documentary tribute to Crimmins created by Bobcat Goldthwait, an A-list of comics talk about…
laura k
what i’m reading: ghettoside: a true story of murder in america
When we think of gun violence in the United States, chances are we think of mass shootings. These horrific events which occur with such regularity seem, to much of the…
things i heard at the library: digital divide edition (#20)
In library school we talked a lot about the digital divide, the ever-increasing gap between those who have access to information and communication technology, and those who do not. Public…
has the whole world gone crazy? again? terrorism against muslim people as a "response" to paris attacks
Some facts.1. The likelihood that you will be killed in a terrorist attack is extremely small. You are much more likely to be hit by lightning, killed in a car…
remembrance day: 11 anti-war books
Remembrance Day readers’ advisory: eleven books to help us contemplate the reality of war, and thus oppose it. 1. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque 2. War…
my inner teenager decorates my office
Every time I have moved – many, many moves, more than I care to think about, over many decades – I have carefully removed from bulletin boards and walls dozens…
what i’m reading: thoughts on "go set a watchman"
I wasn’t planning on writing about Go Set a Watchman, the surprise second – or possibly first – novel by Harper Lee. I am among the legions of readers who…
what i’m reading: dead wake: the last crossing of the lusitania by erik larson
On May 7, 1915, the gigantic luxury ocean liner Lusitania – an engineering marvel, the fastest ship of its era – was hit by a torpedo shot from a German…
m*a*s*h re-watch update: still funny and other observations
Back in August, I started re-watching M*A*S*H end to end on Netflix. I promised updates… and here we are. (tl;dr: it’s great.) Random thoughts below. A huge number of M*A*S*H…
blue jays vs. royals, library style
Library smackdown? Toronto Public Library vs. Kansas City Library, via Twitter.
meet the new boss and etc.
Well, here’s something I never expected: the Harper Conservatives get booted out, and I’m not celebrating. I’m happy they’re gone, of course. And some spectacular assholes lost their seats. But…
#elxn42: fear, frustration, disbelief, and hope
Although I haven’t been blogging much (or at all) about the upcoming Canadian federal election, I’ve been thoroughly and utterly obsessed by it for months. These last weeks have brought…
excellent selection, price, and service from canada computers
Allan has been using Canada Computers & Electronics for a while, but for some reason, I was not onboard. I thought they were a small outfit that wouldn’t have a…
things i heard at the library: an occasional series: #19
A mother and her young son enter the library, returning a big stack of books for beginning readers. A conversation is already in progress. Imagine this in a voice –…
a gray rug, a black kong, a happy white dog
We need to get rugs or carpet runners for Tala; she’s slipping on the wood floors when she and Diego play. But with one heavy shedder and one heavy drooler,…
votepopup: voter education at the library
On the long list of anti-democratic policies the majority Harper Government has enacted, the Orwellian-named Fair Elections Act ranks near the top. More properly called a voter suppression law, the…
bernie sanders, the pope, and the politics of amnesia
I see a lot of excitement online, in places like Common Dreams and The Nation, and in my Facebook feed, about Bernie Sanders, supposedly remaking US politics, and Pope Francis,…
the great weed of 2015?
You will not be surprised to learn that Allan and I own a lot of books. And CDs. And even LPs! Many, many hundreds of each. We have culled our…
what i’m reading: the doubt factory, a young-adult thriller by paolo bacigalupi
A thriller about public relations? And for teens? It sounds improbable, and The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi is an improbably terrific book. Marrying a somersaulting plot with heart-pounding suspense…
what i’m reading: soul made flesh: the discovery of the brain and how it changed the world
The ancient Egyptians, when preparing a body for mummification, carefully preserved the heart, liver, lungs, and other vital organs in special canisters, now known as canopic jars. The brain was…