what i’m reading: the book thief, an anti-war novel
I’m sure many of you have read The Book Thief, Markus Zusak’s youth novel about a German girl and her (non-biological) family during World War II. If you haven’t yet…
history
How Trinity Western University (unintentionally) promotes divorce
Trinity Western University has been in the news recently, as law societies in Ontario and Nova Scotia voted to not recognize lawyers trained at the religious university’s soon-to-open law school.…
The ‘Vankleek Hill May Show’ is dead, long live the ‘VKH Victoria Day Weekend Arts Festival’… or something TBD later.
We’re doing just fine, thanks. …there’s a rumour going around that Vankleek Hill’s ‘May Show’ has been cancelled this year. But it really hasn’t. Vankleek Hill’s ‘May Show Arts Festival’…
A 17-Minute conversation with Williamstown artist, Erica Taylor… because 20 would be too much awesome for your brain.
This blog is meant to be a learning tool… both for us and others. A few weeks ago, Erica Taylor — the Williamstown-based painter / graphic designer / illustrator /…
Lost Shakespeare play found?
Cardenio. Written by William Shakespeare. Based on an episode in Miguel Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote. The novel was translated from Spanish into English in 1612. The play was known once,…
Mammoth Miners Memorial, Mammoth, Arizona
Came across this remarkable art in honour of dead miners. “The Mammoth Miners Memorial honors 55 miners who lost their lives over the years in the San Manuel, St. Anthony…
Mammoth Miners Memorial, Mammoth, Arizona
Came across this remarkable art in honour of dead miners. “The Mammoth Miners Memorial honors 55 miners who lost their lives over the years in the San Manuel, St. Anthony…
Painting, Resisting, Giggling: An Interview with George Littlechild
I first stumbled upon George Littlechild’s art at the Comox Valley Art Gallery in my hometown of Courtenay, British Columbia. After reeling from the emotional turmoil and historical reopening, rapprochement…
some thoughts on emily brontë’s wuthering heights
Cover of 1943 Random Houseedition with woodcut illustrations Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847, under a pseudonym. Brontë died the following year, at age 30. It was the only…
Reflections on Chartres Cathedral, the death of civilization and the deification of the banal
Thinking of Chartres Cathedral, I ask myself, what, if anything, have we built in the past eight centuries, that compares to this? The iPad, computers, cell phones, the internet? Are…
march 19, 2003: don’t call it a failure. it was a huge success for so many.
Eleven years ago today, the US invaded Iraq. This unprovoked invasion of another country that had not threatened the United States was justified by the pretense of finding weapons of…
Machiavelli and the Elizabethans
In 1555, Bishop Stephen Gardiner wrote a treatise to King Phillip II of Spain, in which he borrowed (aka plagiarized) extensively from Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses. Gardiner did…
Lucretius and the Renaissance
It’s fairly clear, even after reading only a few verses, why Lucretius’s didactic poem, On the Nature of Things – De Rerum Natura – made such an impact on thought,…
Snacking Cake Revenge
Muffy and Cuddles were pretty sure they had the math right, but they had a lingering worry that the explosion might ignite the Earth’s atmosphere. On the other hand, the…
Reading Thucydides at last
Somewhere on one of my bookshelves, is an old Penguin paperback copy of History of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. It’s a bit worn, pages lightly yellowed, glue a little…
Greens: Conservatives Ordered Illegal Destruction of Canadian Records
Elizabeth May on Harper government's library closures: Book burning doesn't remind me of this century #CDNpoli— Mike De Souza (@mikedesouza) January 27, 2014 A worrying subset of the Canadian population…
The Mac celebrates 30 years
A recent article on Gizmodo shows off some previously unseen (or perhaps just forgotten) footage of a young Steve Jobs unveiling the Macintosh computer, back on January 30, 1984. Thirty…
Canada’s New Government Turns 8
Today marks the 8th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election as Prime Minister. At the time, a lot of Liberals figured they could turn him into Joe Clark after a quick…
New Technique For Restoring Historic Videos
USC Shoah Foundation has a large collection of interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides. Old physical media formats are susceptible to damage from fires to…
Pardon?
I’d wondered why the USA wasn’t chasing after draft dodgers still. On this day in 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men……