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,…
Mary Soderstrom
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…
Saturday Photo: Rebuilding the Cemetery Gates
Who would have thought that climbing hydrangeas could do such damage? But given enough time and the cycle of freeze and thaw in this climate, and it probably should not…
Lessons from Iceland: Paul Krugman on How to Get out of a Crisis by Not Listening (Much) to the Right
For a long time I had a sticker from the Icelandic social democratic party, brought back by a young friend who'd spent some time in that small, rugged country in…
Lighting up the Night: Diwali, Halloween or the Struggle Between Sweet and Salty
Lots of pumpkins yesterday at the Jean Talon Market, all ready to be carved for Halloween next week.I didn't see anyone preparing lights for Diwali, though, whose beginning was celebrated…
Overkill: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and the Long Gun Registry
I'd hoped it was dead, that ill-intentioned attempt to do away with Canada's long gun registry. But it has arisen, like a zombie that turns even uglier at each resurrection.…
Leonard Cohen Has New Meaning: First We Take Manhattan ….or Occupy Wall Street
A bard captures the spirit of his time. This song was written in the 1980s (the first time I heard it was in 1987 when driving across Sasketchewan) but ilt…
Suburbs Grow Poorer around US Cities: Hard Times Are Another Argument against Urban Sprawl
Suburbs are different in Europe and North America. In the former, for the last century and a half they have been where the poor lived, chased from the center of…
My Song: Belafonte’s Memoir: Entertainment, Workers, and Social Justice
One of the best books I've read in recent years is Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes (Somebody Knows My Name in the US) It is the story of a…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…