Author Archives: Barry Pomeroy

About Barry Pomeroy

I had an English teacher in high school many years ago who talked about writing as something that people do, rather than something that died with Shakespeare. I began writing soon after, maudlin poetry followed by short prose pieces, but finally, after years of academic training, I learned something about the magic of the manipulated word.

The Long Road Home: The Second Day

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

I slept until eight in the morning, off and on, and as soon as I woke up, I started the car, let it warm up while I wiped the condensation from the window and turned on the wipers to brush … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Comments Off on The Long Road Home: The Second Day

The Long Road Home: The First Day

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

I had just replaced my distributer in my car—to solve its tendency to die even after it was warmed up, and then the throttle body gasket in an effort to fulfill Joe the mechanic’s best guess as to why the … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Comments Off on The Long Road Home: The First Day

Mud People

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

He once told the children about a people made from mud who lived upside down from the surface. They live just like we do, except their floor is our floor, and every step we make is a step for them. … Continue reading →

Posted in Supernatural, Writing | Tagged , | Comments Off on Mud People

The Dunning–Kruger Effect

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

He didn’t mean to laugh, but he was easily overcome by the mangled sentences coming out of the man’s mouth. It was a kind of disorder, that he couldn’t control himself once someone was mangling their words so much as … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Internet, Media, Supernatural, Superstition | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Dunning–Kruger Effect

When Plagiarism Goes Wrong

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

One of the ways that students plagiarize, at least when they take material from online and attempt to incorporate it into their papers, is to run a thesaurus function—such as the synonym option in MSword—on certain words. They seldom trouble … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Internet, Teaching | Tagged , , | Comments Off on When Plagiarism Goes Wrong

Hatred of Muslims and the Latest Red Scare

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

I had the pleasure of growing up in North America when the reigning hatred was of communists, although most people didn’t know what a communist was and—because of weak historical understanding—only vaguely associated them with the Soviet Union. Because I … Continue reading →

Posted in Activism, Culture, Education, History, Media, News, Politics, Religion, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Hatred of Muslims and the Latest Red Scare

Please Leave a Message

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

In the early nineties answering machines on phones were ubiquitous, which means that nearly everyone had left a message on one and therefore knew what to do upon hearing the greeting. For some reason, that didn’t stop people from leaving … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Internet, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Please Leave a Message

A Response to the Signs

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

When a sign about the exploitation of children went up in my neighbourhood, I thought little about it, partly because it didn’t look professional enough to have come from the desk of an official service. Instead, it had more in … Continue reading →

Posted in Activism, Culture, History, Winnipeg | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Response to the Signs

The High Today is Minus 8

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

The weather in Winnipeg is normally quite stable. We typically have four days of sun followed by four days of cloud. Of course, locally, Winnipeggers respond to their climatic conditions like any others. They complain that the day is hot, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Media, Winnipeg | Tagged , | Comments Off on The High Today is Minus 8

Colleen and the Church Lady

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Barry Pomeroy

Church Lady: “So lovely to see you here today, girl. On Christmas Mass at least. You haven’t attended in months.” Looks significantly at Colleen’s mother. Mother: “She has school and lots of work.” Colleen: “Nice to see you too. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Christmas, Culture, Religion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Colleen and the Church Lady