In mid-January if this year, 2021, a man named Gerard Farry died in Vancouver at the age of 92. He wasn’t the sort of man who’d naturally be familiar to the readers of this website; he had been the director of urban planning for Greater Vancouver during the 1970s and 1980s, which was the heyday…
Michael Boughn on quitting cigarettes, and quitting Facebook. Compare and contrast.
In his article “Speaking Out” (The Walrus, June 2019), Toronto-based 30-something freelance contrarian John Semley tells the story of the Wilfred Laurier University (WLU) teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd, who made international headlines when she was censured by a University examining committee for allegedly creating an unsafe learning environment for transgender students. The committee…
Recent Articles and Reviews:
Far from the Madding Crowd
Douglas Murray’s “The Madness of Crowds,” a critique of the “social justice movement,” is a conservative writer’s response to gays, feminists, race, and trans people. Stan Persky reviews it, keeping an eye on the tripwires in an ideological minefield.
Why Jean Meslier matters
Max Fawcett searches for the prophet of atheism.
Dead Icons and Deader Icons: Which Statues Really Need to Go?
John Harris posts a slightly argumentative view on the Statue Wars controversy
Preserving Racism or Preserving History?
Margaret Randall is thinking about statues, racism, and history.
If it quacks like a Duck, it might not be a Duck, it might be just a Quack. If it sounds like Donald Trump… well, he probably said it, or maybe it was Fox News, or QAnon, or whatever.
Did Trump say it? Did he deny saying it? Who knows?
The (Good) Trouble With David Shields
David Shields’ The Trouble with Men. It ain’t self-help, says Brian Fawcett.
Apropos of Woody Allen: The Anxiety of Being… and don’t forget Nothingness
Woody Allen’s autobiography is not-so-great, but the films are more than good. Stan Persky reviews the book, the scandals, and the stuff on the silver screen.
A moment With Dostoyevsky, James Wood, and an obscure Hungarian Writer
Brian Fawcett recalls something he discovers about how Dostoyevsky wrote dialogue that leads him to take a swing at James Wood, (the critic, not the actor)
Norm Sibum and the Poetry of “Flaneurism”
Brian Fawcett reads Norm Sibum’s new volume of verse. He thinks Sibum is a skilled poet, but….
Big Pharma: drugging involuntary psychiatric patients
Lawyer Jim Gottstein uncovers Big Pharma’s use of the drug Zyprexa on involuntary mental patients.
Kindly People Who Feed Squirrels: A Rant
Brian Fawcett isn’t fond of people who feed peanuts to squirrels. Here’s why.
Paul Krugman vs. the Policy Proposals of the Living Dead
Paul Krugman’s Arguing With Zombies drives a stake through the heart of “zombie ideas.” The premier U.S. op-ed columnist who writes honestly about dishonesty.
For Those looking for our Olga Tokarczuk Post on the Corona Virus
A few days ago, Merrily Weisbord sent me a piece written by Olga Tokarczuk about the Covid-19 crisis currently sweeping the world. A friend of Merrily’s, Jerzy Przytyk, had translated the piece using Google’s notoriously mechanical translation program. What Tokarczuk had to say in the piece was interesting simply because she is Olga Tokarczuk,…
- National Game: Quebec Bans Hockey Mask Face-Covering
- Senator Corker, Bob (R – Tenn.)
- Margaret Atwood’s Backyard
- Democracy, Two Cheers for…
- Native-born Immigrants. Huh?