Saturday Photo: The Longest Day of the Year in the Bois de Vincennes Bis
Looks like a very bucolic setting but this was taken five minutes walk from the Porte d’Or and the Péripherique highway in Paris. As I noted last Saturday, we had…
Mary Soderstrom
What the World Needs Now Is Love: If Only It Were This Simple
This showed up on my Facebook feed this morning. It’s a lyrical video compilation (I think I recognize clips from Apocalypse Now, Shingler’s List and perhaps more) put together to…
More on Language Changing: Would That Things Be As Easy As Kids Make It Seem
A few weeks ago I posted about the inclusion of words from Arabic in Montreal French. Wallah Wallah has become non-perjorative term for someone of Arabic descent among Grench speaking…
Saturday Photo: Hanging out Paris-style
This picture was taken four weeks ago, Saturday June 21, the longest day in the year at Lac Dumesnil in le Parc du Bois de Vincennes. Situated just outside the…
Show Down: The Latest in Millenia of Conflict
While the world watches the debris of the Malaysia Airlines 737 smolder in the Eastern Urkrainian, I’m reminded of my recent reading. Item: Tolstoy–and I’m three-quarters of the way through…
Drought: How Can We Live without Water in the Golden State
Growing up in Southern California, the spector of not enough water seemed frequently present. Not enough rain falls to support a population a tenth as big as it was then,…
Back from Holiday, Tired but Pleased with It All
The photo was taken at one of the high points of our three weeks in Paris and Portugal–the countryside around Conínbriga in the center of that country. I’ll have more…
Walla Walla and Wallah-wallah: The Way That Languages Change
Attention particularly to my friends in South-Eastern Washington state: wallah-wallah has entered French in Montreal! I’m the third generation of my family to be born in the small city of…
Notice of Motion: The ERDC Plods Slowly Forward
The Electronic Rights Defence Committee has been fighting since 1996 to get recompense for free lance writers whose work was stolen and published electronically by The Gazette, Montreal’s English language…
Sex, Marketing, and Boys’ Business
The Stephen Harper government has just brought out its new bill on prostitution which is getting criticsm from many quarters. A compromise between all-out legalisation and complete outlawing, the Conservative…
Saturday Photo: Chestnuts in Blossom
April in Paris, Chestnuts in blossom: right? Well, no, it’s June and the chestnuts are in blossom in Montreal. That’s about par for the course–or a little later this year,…
Okay, Hockey’s over (for Habs Fans,) Now It’s World Bup
Living in Montreal is great fun this year: when your team washes out of the Stanley Cup finals, there’s the World Cup to follow. Not that I’m so big on…
Thanks to Laurie, Mik and the Turks and Caicos Islands: Glad the Latter Weren’t Annexed 40 Years Ago
Apparently the door is still open for Canada to annex the Turks and Caicos Islands, but it doesn’t look all that likely. The idea is just as intriguing as it…
Saturday (or Monday) Photo: Late Spring Rain
Rain is falling right now, but the more spectacular thing falling to earth around here right now are the tiny flowers of various street trees. The regular flowering trees are…
Austerity Doesn’t Work, Even Though Quebec Liberals Give It a New Name
Quebec’s Premier Philippe Couillard has introduced a new era of “fiscal rigor,” the new code word for austerity. His inaugaral address when the legislative session opened this week was full…
Arthur Porter, the McGill University Mega Hospital and Philippe Couillard
Okay, it’s past the time to un-elect Philippe Couillard premier of Quebec, but some serious questions should be asked about his relationship with Arthur Porter, the disgraced former head of…
Nice Weather, Friends Visiting, No Time to Think about Heavy Stuff
Rekha Bitta and her family, whom I met nine years ago when I was doing research for Green City in Kochi, Kerala State India, was in town over the weekend.…
What’s Wrong with This Picture: Fast Food Workers Demonstrate for Better Wages While Canadian Chains Bring in Foreign Workers
It’s a no brainer, isn’t it? Pay people decently and they’ll work. I’d like the think that Stephen Harper and his friends are beginning to see the wisdom in this.…
Explaining irrationality: Téa Obreht’s Take
This week I’ve been rereading Téa Obreht’s fascinating The Tiger’s Wife in preparation for the Atwater Library’s book discussion. The book, which take place in the aftermath of a war…
Saturday Photo: Daffodils, a Week Late
This was taken four years and a week ago, when the daffodils were at their best. This year everything is late, and the daffodils are just coming into their own.…