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..
August 30,2024 Today is our 44th wedding anniversary/ Nous fêtons aujourd’hui notre 44e anniversaire de marriage. Ce qui suit est une histoire vraie. Les noms n’ont pas été changés pour protéger les coupables. What follows is a true story. The names have not been changed to protect the guilty. Scènes de notre marriage / Scenes..
Good Neighbor Sam What was the first film you ever saw in a “movie theatre”? I saw my first such movie in July of 1964 when I was 12 years old. Starring the iconic comedian Jack Lemmon, the film was a piece of fluff called “Good Neighbor Sam”, but for me this foray..
Flowers for Algernon: The Essence of Life Itself Have you read the renowned science fiction story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes? Or the expanded novel version that was published seven years after the story, in 1966? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon Along with novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,..
Wildcat/ Flannery O’Connor revisited We just watched a brilliant cinematic portrayal, directed by Ethan Hawke, of the brief but richly productive career and heart-breaking personal life of the iconic author Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). The film presents vivid and disturbing insights into her writing through the director’s depiction of her creative process, as he conceived it. ..
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..
Moses de Boswell…learning to curse and swear the Québécois way for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day – Quebec’s national holiday Having been raised in a repressive Protestant community, I have always loved to curse and swear. (As small child, I was led to believe that I would roast in hell for eternity as punishment for this proclivity.) ..