Monthly Archives: Dec 2012

theresa spence, chief of the attawapiskat first nation, has been fasting since dec 11, and is growing visibly weaker. image by fred chartrand from the globe and mail. according to the toronto star, she wants to meet face-to-face with prime … Continue reading →

’tis the season for reflection and resolution, and blogging certainly requires–rewards–such restraint: post once a week, on a theme–first theme, ‘change‘, to be posted new year’s eve day–longish (struggling to keep it under 2000 words; this entails much editing, re-writing, … Continue reading →

everything’s changing, everything’s topsy-turvy. they say change is the only constant in the universe. we want things both to change and to remain the same. below are some examples of change in 2012 and ahead, with links to more. but … Continue reading →

dickens introduces mr bounderby. apart from bounderby’s baldness, why does john baird come to mind? ‘One might have fancied he had talked [his hair] off; and that what was left, all standing up in disorder, was in that condition from being … Continue reading →

The a/v isn’t very good, but at least somebody had the presence of mind to record this. Palmater says the Conservative plan is to assimilate the natives and get rid of the ‘indian problem’. Palmater recommends we coordinate a response … Continue reading →

Notes on her ‘Idle No More’ presentation in Alberta by Dr. Pamela Palmater The a/v isn’t very good, but at least somebody had the presence of mind to record this. (For a clearer idea of what Palmater looks like, try … Continue reading →

‘If [M’Choakumchild] had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!’ dickens uses parallelism very effectively as a rhetorical device, contrasting learning and teaching, to make the moral point that modesty in learning may … Continue reading →

The Foreword is online here. Brian Swimme is humourous lecturer, but not so as a writer. Still he’s not as turgid as his fellow writer, Thomas Berry. They wrote The Universe Story together. However, ‘if we can live in awe … Continue reading →

In a gorgeous display of sarcasm, Dickens shows (in words, not tabular statements) that although they’re from a small city, Coketown’s people are active in social justice. Coketown petitioned the legislature to ‘make these people religious by main force.  Then … Continue reading →

i first read hard times about 35 years ago as a teenager. it remains my favourite dickens novel, and one of favourite novels of all. don’t know why. i remember little–for example, i totally forgot about cissy and the circus–how … Continue reading →