Didn’t See Any Snow Before My Birthday, But There Were Flurries Before the Party
Last week I posted about how for the first time since we came to Montreal there were no snow flakes before my birthday, November 8. A couple of people reported…
Mary Soderstrom
Attention Must Be Paid to Writers–on Front Pages, if Not Ground Floors
There are times when a writer feels absolutely second rate, completely forgotten, totally unnecessary in the scheme of most of society. But then something comes along that amazing evidence that…
Writing the Back Story: Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea
Last month we talked about Jane Eyre at the Atwater Library, and tonight it will Jean Rhys’s idea of why the first Mrs. Rochester went mad, Wide Sargasso Sea. Both…
We Walked and Walked…Montreal in the 1950s
Open File has a lovely story about a young immigrant from Germany, Alfred Bohn. who took many pictures of Montreal after he and his wife immigrated in the 1950s. Check…
Book Groups This Week: The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa
I'm expecting fascinating discussions this weeks as two of the book groups I lead will be talking about Mario Vargas Llosa's historical novel about Paul Gauguin and his grand mother,…
Saturday Photo: Thinking of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Geometry
Perhaps my favourite photographer is Henri Cartier-Bresson. On a trip to France a few years ago we spent two afternoons in a restrospective exhibition of his work at the Biblithèque…
Deep Integration Is Not the Way to Go: The Economic Pitfalls of Common Currencies (to Say Nothing about the Cultural Fallout)
Memo to Stephen Harper and others who'd like to integrate the US and Canada: it's not the welfare state that causes problems, it's the inability to manage your economy independently.Today…
Music for a Rainy Day: Debussy’s Jardins sous la pluie
It is a wet day with rain soaking the fallen leaves. Perfect for listening to Debussy's Estampes, a charming piece of music.The heroine of my novel River Music, I'm discovering,…
Too Much Success? Nope, Just a Reason to Put More Money in Transit
More and more people in the Montreal region are using public transit, a report by the group Transit says. In 2006, Quebec set out to increase use of public transit…
Climate Change: a Personal View
Today is my birthday and for the first time since we came to Montreal decades ago, no snow has fallen so far this season. Every other year there have been…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the NDP: a Forum
Here's an invitation that may be just what you wanted!You would like to know more about the history of the NDP and its record as a force for change in…
Why It Matters That the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer
Paul Krugman has it right again: "...extreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy. Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of…
Saturday Photo: Dawn Redwood in the Cemetery
The redwoods and giant Sequoias of California were the mythic trees of my youth. Both the variety that grows in the Sierra Nevada and the one native to the coastal…
Jeanne’s Favourite Picture: On Kids and Dogs and Population Control
Le Devoir columnist Josée Blanchette has a piece today about dogs and what a pain they are. Jeanne, who can not read of course, was taken by it nevertheless. The…
The Burning Bushes: Fall Lingers on
This morning I had an appointment on the other side of the mountain, so I walked across through Mount Royal Park. We didn't get the snow storm that whipped the…
Quebec Won’t Help Finance Prisons: Another Reason for Federalism?
Quebec's Justice Minister told a Commons committee yesterday that the province has no intention of paying for the prisons that the Harper government wants to build as a consequence of…
Seven Million: How to Make the World a Better Place
The last few days the rapidly increasing numbers of humans have been getting a lot of press, probably well-merited. The New York Times had an interesting story yesterday about a…
Halloween: Obesity Versus the Occasional Splurge
This year it seems like Halloween has gone on forever. Today's the day, and I expect not much is getting done in schools all across North America as kids parade…
Sunday Music: CBC Two/ Espace Musique Play an All-Day Concert of Serious Music
This is what the two services of the public broadcaster should be playing all the time: the very best in serious music by Canadian performers. Concert in CanadaandEspace Musique Why…