Butting in and butting out: Childhood, adulthood, and cigarette smoke (Georgetown, Ontario and beyond) (38) smoke smoke smoke that cigarette Tex Williams with Lyrics – YouTube From earliest childhood, I was constantly engulfed in a toxic cloud of cigarette smoke, and growing up in Georgetown, Ontario in the 1950s, I was mad keen to butt..
Georgetown, Ontario, 1962, Chapel Street School: Skipping Grade 5…a crippling blow My grade skipping saga began oh so long ago, in 1961, when I was in 4th grade. Back in the day, kids were routinely “skipped” if deemed academically meritorious by some individual or board. This fate was my social undoing. During first term in..
Let me tell you about the birds and the bees (photo of my mom circa 1950) I was born in 1952, the year that Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president of the United States. Growing up absurd in a small southern Ontario town in the 1950s and 1960s meant being fed a steady diet of..
Old enough I’m old enough to have looked like this; It pains me to say it, But not amiss: The sands of time Don’t lead to bliss. I’m old enough to have looked like this. I can hardly believe that I won a plaque; But there’s no denying, No turning back. No twisting,..
Welcome to Hell… September 11, 2001 At 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the telephone rang in the office that I shared with my friend, the French teacher René Moisan. At the other end of the line was his daughter, Geneviève. “Have you seen the news?” she asked, with a peculiar catch in her..
Spring 1969, London, Ontario. Grade 12, Oakridge High School A friend named Chris Turnbull had somehow inherited a car. Probably his parents handed over this dilapidated vehicle when he turned 18. His decrepit Dodge was something of a jalopy. But it was equipped with an 8-track cartridge player: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge You inserted a clunky music cartridge..
My American Cousins, July 4, 1963, St. Albans Street on the corner of Church Street, Enosburg Falls, Vermont For Tammy MacBryde Farr Folding chairs and outdoor dining tables festooned with colorful paper table cloths were positioned at regular intervals across the vast corner yard of our cousin Robina MacBryde Randall’s Vermont home, like a series..
The Trial of Duddy Kravitz This is Academy Award week and one the films in line for best picture is a brilliant courtroom drama titled Anatomy of a Fall ((Anatomie d’une chute). My family has always loved courtroom dramas. So I created trials with and for my students. Here is a piece about Duddy..
Recyclage du livre My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny en français! Lancement du livre Book launch Aujourd’hui, je suis ravi d’annoncer le lancement de la version française de mon livre. Today I’m thrilled to announce the launching of the French version of my book. Recyclage du livre My Time with You..
The marathon is almost over: I’m staggering to the finish line November 1966 Grade 10 Oakridge Secondary School London Ontario The boys’ phys ed teacher, Madman McCarthy, sent us off to run cross country, Through the desiccated bogs and wasteland surrounding our school. We wore little white shorts and tee shirts,..