Anne and Angelina It was around 9 a.m. on the morning of May 15, 2013, in Quebec City, with spring barely having sprung, as is typical in that chilly Nordic provincial capital. Our phone jangled, and a familiar, mellifluous voice purred at the other end of the line. The caller was Jacquie Czernin, the host..
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..
La version française de ce texte suit la version anglaise. Excremental vision By her own admission, my mom began toilet training my sister and me when we reached about six months of age. Her fervent desire to get us out of diapers was a rather extreme reflection of the prevailing zeitgeist of the 1950s where..
Speech to the Ottawa Transit Commission at City Hall November 25,2024 Here are a few excerpts from my speech to the Ottawa Transit Commission at City Hall yesterday. Anne and I were protesting the proposed 120% hike for a monthly seniors’ bus pass slated for 2025. The entire five-minute speech is on YouTube at 3:09:25..
Noisy neighbours “Good fences make good neighbours” – Robert Frost “Hell is other people” – Jean-Paul Sartre We had been living in Paradise…until the new neighbours moved in. Before coming to France in the fall of 2021, we had never resided in a dwelling without at least one adjoining wall. And we paid the price..
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.) ..
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..
Leonard Cohen: They’ve got you covered First off…a confession …until very recently, I had no idea what a “cover tune” meant. Second confession: Now that I know that “covers” refer to artists interpreting other artists’ work, I have to say that there are a great many cover versions of tunes that I prefer to..
David Sedaris and little old me Most of us have been told at one time or another that we look just like “X” (i.e. my favorite cousin’s best friend’s elder brother/sister/wife/uncle). Well, what happens when someone tells us that we write a whole lot like “X”? Since my book My Time with You Has Been..
Sad Lisa As a person suffering from acute anxiety, I’m haunted by this beautiful, poignant song. En tant que personne souffrant d’anxiété aiguë, je suis hantée par cette chanson magnifique et poignante. (1) Yusuf Cat Stevens, Sad Lisa, Festival de Viña 2015 HD 1080p – YouTube Sad Lisa She hangs her head and cries on..