Joined at the Mind: Brian Fawcett (1944-2022)
Brian Fawcett wrote books for people who find television too slow. Stan Persky remembers a writer who never forgot his hometown, and with whom he shared a “joint mind.”
The trouble with Stanley Tucci’s Taste (and the right way to make tomato sauce)
Brian Fawcett on how to make Euclid Avenue Tomato Sauce. Everything you need to know to get it right.
The Answer to Some Things (and not others)
Ken Belford’s selected poems, “The Answer to Everything.” Or, as reviewers Vivien Lougheed and John Harris suggest, “the answer to some things (and not others).”
Recent Articles and Reviews:
Cuckoo Coup
Stan Persky reflects on the ex-prez’s Jan. 6 coup attempt, and the danger that the “next coup” poses to democracy in a post-truth era.
RIP Gerard F. Farry
In mid-January of this year, 2021, 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 of urban master…
Some Musings on Quitting Cigarettes and Facebook
Michael Boughn on quitting cigarettes, and quitting Facebook. Compare and contrast.
Lindsay Shepherd and the Post-Scholarship University
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…
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.
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….
- 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?