The discovery, last week, of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former Indian Residential School has sent shock waves through Canada, especially through this province, where…
June is Pride month, a time when we recognise some of the glorious human diversity in the world. We celebrate being able to be openly who we are, and specifically,…
Alternative title: It Happens in Canada, Too. Desmond Cole’s book, The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power may be a difficult book for white Canadians to…
Until very recently, I didn’t know anything about Louise Fitzhugh and had not thought about her at all. Of course, as a child I read and loved Harriet the Spy,…
When I read a review of The Sword and The Shield: the Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., I knew it was a book I’d been…
We should remember that the cult of authority, the cult of obedience, and the cult of conformity, are profoundly anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-empirical, and anti-democratic, as well as extremely dangerous. And…
I recently attended a six-hour workshop called Decolonizing Community Spaces. The workshop was led by two facilitators, one a Native American speaking to us from her traditional territories in Montana,…
Here is an open letter in response to the podcast linked below. It bears relevance to far more than just a single podcast, which you do jot have to listen…
(And Rebuilding And Healing The World In The Process) “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” – Thomas Jefferson “I pray we…
The following is a seed thought, a note to myself, for further elaboration in the future, and it is a note I will share with others, because it is a…
A response to AP Euro Bit By Bit, By Paul Sargent, on youtube I’ve enjoyed the videos I’ve seen so far – about a dozen. I especially liked your coverage…
A series of thought provoking art works commissioned by Toronto History Museums wants to shake up your understanding of local history. The collective project called Awakenings approaches tales from the…
In the generally well-made history documentary, 1,000 AD – A Tour of Europe (a History Time, YouTuber video linked below) at just 13 minutes in, there is already one giant,…
Or, Why A Critical Reading of History Is Now Critically & Urgently Needed The details are important, but an understanding of the major patterns of history are even more important.…
Fascinating look here, in this BBC podcast (linked below), at the history, sociology, psychology, theology and politics of fundamentalism, evangelism, millennialism & apocalyptism. See also, Michael Grosso’s, The Millennium Myth,…
Ever since reading, in 2006, The National Dream and The Golden Spike, Pierre Berton’s books about the building of the Canadian railroad, I’ve been interested in the Chinese railroad workers.…
“You’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see.”- John Lennon Great short video, linked below, but the view of medieval peasant life is too one-sided – as is…
This post has been half-written and sitting in drafts for many months. Days after an armed mob tried to violently subvert the results of an election seems like a good…
Like many writers, especially those of us who grew up before the digital age, I keep a notebook. I use it to capture ideas, capture thoughts about I’m reading, take…
The New Renaissance
There is a renaissance emerging now across humanity, as well as a paradigm shift in science; and a spiritual awakening is occurring, along with a political and cultural awakening. How…