Category: People
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Developing a Personal Point of View
I stop for a latte and drink in the view. The café, six tables and a banquette against the plate glass wall, offers a window onto the Byward Market and the Gatineau hills. Wind pushes the clouds across the city in an ephemeral drama of light and shadow. A commercial crane, red and ten stories tall, anchors the scene. Read more
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What I See When I See Smiths Falls – Part 3
You can find Part 1 & Part 2 here. After 17 years and a thousand round trips, I could drive from Burritt’s Rapids to Smiths Falls with my eyes closed. But why would I want to? Read more
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A Ride Home from Prison
I don’t have any time to waste on jail anymore ~ Stanley Bailey, newly-released former inmate Carlos Cervantes, a former inmate, says every ride home from prison is different. He picks up men released from life sentences after California reformed its three strikes law in 2012. Most of the men don’t have family or friends anymore;… Read more
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More Than Enough Refugee Blues to Go Around
Refugee Blues was published by writer and poet W.H. Auden in 1939, at the start of World War II. It’s safe to say not much has changed and, perhaps, it never will if war and hatred continue to be our modus operandi. The million dollar question is this: Are we doomed as humans to this destructive cycle of scapegoatism… Read more
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Guerrilla Art for Curious People
It took 18 years of rural living for Guerrilla Art for Curious People to appear. The idea popped into my brain because I love nothing more than discovering public art in unexpected places. Every time I’m surprised by an installation – turning a corner or driving through a neighborhood – my body vibrates, my head alights and I am consumed by… Read more
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What I See When I See Smiths Falls – Part 2
This is the second in a series of visual love letters to Smiths Falls, one of my favourite towns in Eastern Ontario. You can find the first installment here. Read more
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Love Your Children Well
For the past few years, I’ve been struck by intermittent doubts about whether we’re raising our children “right.” Our house is filled with a gaggle of teenagers. As our eldest nears university, his upbringing is a done deal, the question a moot point. As for the others, it is said that parents have a diminishing influence… Read more
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Skating the Rideau Canal in Burritt’s Rapids
I love living in a place with distinct seasons. What I particularly love is that just when I start to really, really enjoy something – swimming in the river, gardening, snowshoeing, falling leaves – it’s gone. Skating on the Rideau Canal in Burritt’s Rapids is like that. And its fleeting and unpredictable nature makes me appreciate… Read more
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What I See When I See Smiths Falls
This is the first in a series of visual love letters to Smiths Falls, one of my favourite towns. I’m from Vancouver, and while there are great things about the westcoast, I have called rural Ottawa home for the past 20 years. The single best thing I love about living in the east is the riches of… Read more
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New York and the MTA Underground Art Museum
I love riding New York’s subway system – just not as much as I love walking the city. Riding necessitates paying attention to lines and stops and tracks – my mind can’t wander for fear of ending up in who-knows-where – but walking favours mental and corporeal freedom, especially when time holds no sway. However, my penchant for perambulation has its downside: walking New York… Read more