Saturday Photo: Forsythia, a First Sighting
One of the most spectacular flowers of spring around here is forsythia, whose flowers burst forth on bare branches. Saw the first ones this week, growing along a sunny wall…
Mary Soderstrom
Reading Some Context for the Armenian Genocide
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Turks, as the Ottoman Empire entered its death throes. There are a number of articles…
Why Didn’t Joe Oliver Buy Canadian Shoes?
So the federal government is going to aim for more industrial growth? What does it mean when Finance Minister Joe Oliver buys New Balance shoes for his big speech? Much…
Saturday Photo: And Next up, Scylla
The progression of spring flowers is upon us. Last week the snowdrops came up, this week it’s the turn of scylla. Tulip leaves have emerged also and my neighbor’s crocuses…
Le Devoir Turns Green
Fascinating weekend edition of the influential daily Le Devoir: nearly all the news and features are about environmental topics. Sure. there’s the latest about the Stanley Cup–no Montreal newspaper could…
A Little Context for Boko Haram: Two Novels
The news yesterday was full of images from Nigeria, where people were marking the sad anniversary of the kidnapping of 132 girls and young women by Boko Haram a year…
Saturday Photo, Several Days Late
Computer problems: that’s my excuse for not posting for the last few days. Think they may be solved, so I’ll have no reason not to rant…. And here is the…
Saturday Photo: What We Don’t Need
Appparently there was a big baseball game in Montreal yesterday when you actually could have imagine it was spring, and another one today, when it is snowing, again. The Cincinnati…
This is Not a Poisson d’avril: The Rivers May Not Run Much Longer
Thinking about contact between humans and nature, particularly with the world’s big rivers. Kept coming across the important role they played in the peopling of the world, as highways for…
Death of a Philosopher King: Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore
The founding father of Singapore died ten days ago, and the event passed me by even though I’ve been one of his fans ever since my first trip to the…
Saturday Photo: It’s the End of March, for Goodness Sake!
Got up this morning to a light dusting of snow, again! But even though the temperature is well below freezing, the sun has been out most of the day, makin…
I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar Department
Le Devoir this morning carried a front page story in which a group of feminist medical types warn that new omnibus legislation restructuring the health care system in Quebec might…
Signing Back on after a Couple of Productive Months
This morning I sent off a draft of my new non-fiction book Road through Time to a publisher who seems interested in it. What a great feeling! Reading it over…
In the Meantime, River Music is on Its Way…
Very little action on the blog front, as you can see, because current projects have got in the way. But here’s a bit of news about a project that’s coming…
Happy Holidays to Everyone
The year is drawing to an end, and I find myself running ever faster–but in circles. But I did have a chance to finish this year’s version of our holiday…
Too Busy to Post
The world swirls on, and there are many event that beg to be commented on, but I’ve been just too busy lately. Once the dust settles from this inense period…
Saturday Photo: Remembering Brazil
All right, I’ve been back from South America for a year now, but I keep returning to it mentally. Not only am I getting to the part of writing Road…
Edward Snowden and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
Went to see Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden, last night. Definitely worth the detour. Snowden, you’ll remember, is the young US cyber whiz who was employed by the National Security Agency…
Saturday (or Tuesday) Photo: Brasília
A year ago I was in South America, doing the last bit of on-the-spot research for Road through Time. The photo is of the cathedral designed by Oscar Niemeyer in…