Saturday Photo: More Hints of the Plateau’s Rural Past
Le Jeune street is only a block long, running between boulevards St-Joseph and Laurier in Montreal's Plateau district. It doesn't fit into the usual pattern, being too narrow and not…
Mary Soderstrom
Well Done: Sid Ingerman Takes First for Canada at the International Triathalon Competition in Beijing
The wonders of the internet allowed Sid Ingerman's many friends to follow him to victory in his age group at the International Triathalon sprint championships in Beijing Saturday.Sid, 82, took…
Yo Yo Ma Plays Murray Beethoven: Will the OSM Play It in Their New Concert Hall?
Jeanne's been around for the last few days, and I've rediscovered some of the great bits from Seasame Street. This one actually dates from some time after Elin and Lukas…
Changer Your Windows, Not the Reactor: How to Save Energy and Create Jobs
What is more energy effective, renovating a nuclear reactor or insulating houses?A new study by the Quebec group Ecohabitation says that refurbishing Hydro Québec's one reactor to prepare it for…
Nice to See Friends on the Scotia Bank/Giller Prize
The Long List for the Scotia Bank Giller prize has been announced, and I'm pleased to see several friends featured. Genni Gunn, with whom I worked several years on the…
Jimmuy Zoubris and Politics: Citizenship, Hard Work, and Maybe Hope
We've traded at Zoubris since it opened. The stationery store on Park Avenue was where I sent faxes to my mother in her last days before her death in 1999,…
Paul Krugman on Jobs This Labour Day
As usual Paul Krugman's column in The New York Times is right on the money and particularly appropriate this Labour Day. As usual what he has to say has implications…
Happy Labour (Or Labour) Day!
Never hurts to remember what led to this holiday of the end of summer. A classic version by Pete Seeger.
Saturday Photo: The Return of the Pink Bicycle
As I make my rounds again in Outremont, I'm pleased to see that gardeners have done fun things again this year. To the left is the 2011 version of the…
A Song from a Tropical Fight for Freedom: Pete Seeger Sings José Martí’s Guantanamero
And further to tropical wars, here's the wonderful Pete Seeger singing the Cuban song Guantanamera. Originally it was about a woman from Guantánamo, but Cuban patriot José Martí used it…
Green Helmets (Not Green Berets) to Fight Strife Due to Climate Change?
The story's apparently been around for a while, but I just came across it today when Le Devoir ran a front page item about how the UN may soon be…
A Season for Endings: Gil Courtemanche Service Today
A writer friend just asked me if I were going to the ceremony for journalist and novelist Gil Courtemanche who died two days before Jack Layton did and whose farewell…
Are Books Dead–and What about Writers?
The Guardian has an interesting piece by Ewan Morrison on the end of publishing, and the rise of "free." Worth reading if you're a "content creator" or a reader.
Pears Are Ripe: A Case of Benign Neglect?
Sunday evening in the middle of Irene, a young man knocked on the door and asked if he could climb in our backyard to take down some of the pears…
Good Sense from The Gazette, for Once: Leave the Car at Home
We've not been readers of The Gazette on a regular basis for years (long story, having in part to do with a class action I'm involved in against it) but…
Saturday Photo: So This Is an Idea of What it Looks like..
This is probably the most eloquent pair of pictures before and after the fire. The small photos are what the staircase looked like the day afterwards, and the large one,…
Krugman on the Complicated Question of Economic Recovery: A Remiinder That We Also Need Hard Headed Ecomonic Goals
Paul Krugman as usual has some interesting things to say today. This time he asks why Ben Bernanke, head of the US Federal Reserve, doesn't do what Ben Bernanke, economist,…
A Laugh Because We Need One: The Air Farce Remembers Jack
With apologies to our American friends who apprently can't access Ari Farce material for copyright reasons.
Why There’s Not Much of a Post Today
Little Jeanne is coming over to play today, the day before her first birthday. Got to wash the kitchen floor because her way of getting around is scooting on her…
Why There’s Not Much of a Post Today
Little Jeanne is coming over to play today, the day before her first birthday. Got to watch the kitchen floor because her way of getting around is scooting on her…