-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
- February 2023
- January 2023
- November 2022
- October 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- April 2021
- February 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- April 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- May 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
Categories
- Activism
- Ancient Peoples
- Art
- Astronomy
- Christmas
- Climate Change
- Code World
- Culture
- Development
- Editing
- Education
- Environmentalism
- Gardening
- Health
- History
- Internet
- Journaling
- Literary Theory
- Literature
- Mars
- Media
- News
- News of the World
- Police
- Politics
- Post-Apocalyptic
- recipes
- Religion
- Self-reliance
- Singularity
- Social Media
- Solar Power
- Solitude
- Supernatural
- Superstition
- Teaching
- The Cabin
- The Land
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Winnipeg
- Writing
Category Archives: Activism
An Island Overrun with Prisoners and Soldiers
When William Golding imagines his feral schoolboys in Lord of the Flies, he thinks that they will inevitably shed the shallow indoctrination of the arbitrary and recently acquired rules of polite society and fall back upon their baser instincts which … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Culture, Health, News of the World, Politics
Tagged 2003 blackout, boot camp, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, hurricane katrina, Hurricane sandy, Jeremy Bentham, military, panopticon, prison rape, prison system, private prison system, William Golding Lord of the Flies, World Trade Centre bombing of 2001
Comments Off on An Island Overrun with Prisoners and Soldiers
Canada’s Difficulty with Reconciliation
The rediscovery of unmarked gravesites at the Kamloops residential school in the summer of 2021 brought a grisly history into the public eye. Although people had found bones on the site before, the use of ground penetrating radar went a … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Culture, History, Winnipeg
Tagged Indigenous people, Justin Trudeau, manitoba conservative party, racism, Steven Harper, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Comments Off on Canada’s Difficulty with Reconciliation
Pondering the Media During the 2022 Ottawa Trucker Convoy
The various media systems of the world are overworked, and in the case of many of them, underpaid. This is exposed by the request, below most online news stories, to report any errors. With editors in short supply, the news … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Environmentalism, Health, News of the World, Police, Politics, Social Media
Tagged 2022 Ottawa Trucker Convoy, activism, Alberta, anti-mandate, anti-vaccine, Black Lives Matter, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Corey Hurren, Coutts, fracking, Indigenous protestors Wet'suwet'en, January 6, Nazi sympathizers, New Brunswick, reconciliation, Rexton, Sammy Yatim, trucker convoy, white supremacist
Comments Off on Pondering the Media During the 2022 Ottawa Trucker Convoy
Cultural Covid
Now that Covid-19 has been with us for two years, its profound effects on the different societies of the planet are becoming more obvious. Relatively democratic societies, for all their flirtation with fascism, are descending into mob rule as unscrupulous … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Culture, Education, Environmentalism, Health, Media, Social Media
Tagged anti-maskers, anti-vaccine, Conservatives, consumerism, covid, Covid19, environmental, healthcare, vaccine mandates, workaholic
Comments Off on Cultural Covid
Teaching Farley Mowat
Farley Mowat occupies a curious position in Canadian letters. He is a kind of Ernest Hemingway of the north, but in the academic world of English study, he is never dressed well enough to be invited to the party. Some … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Culture, Environmentalism, Literature, Writing
Tagged Canadian Literature, Farley Mowat
Comments Off on Teaching Farley Mowat
Always a Working Light Bulb
No one who has lived in the west and has observed the rampant consumerism and waste will be surprised by yet another example of still functioning goods thrown away, but when people learn about the light bulbs, many are still … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Culture, Environmentalism
Tagged dumpster diving, light bulb, trash, urban farming
Comments Off on Always a Working Light Bulb
Racist Rob and Corrupt Politicians
I’d only been teaching a few years when I had a student who was so racist that I was forced to confront several of his statements in class. As anyone knows who has dealt with such behaviour, this demands a … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Ancient Peoples, Culture, Education, History, News of the World, Politics, Teaching, Winnipeg
Tagged Air-bus scandal, Brian Mulroney, Canadian Government, Colonialism, financial accountability, Indian Act, pedagogy, racism, Treaties
Comments Off on Racist Rob and Corrupt Politicians
Found Sentences: The Environmental Movement and Going Back to Green
When Cousin Nick wanted to make a documentary about me he wasn’t that impressed when he interviewed my friend Mento Wong. Mento was a biker friend of mine who’d spent his life railing against conformity and worked as an operator … Continue reading
Posted in Activism, Climate Change, Culture, Environmentalism, Teaching, Writing
Tagged environmentalism, grammar, great depression, green, overpopulation, Searching for Bear Documentary
Comments Off on Found Sentences: The Environmental Movement and Going Back to Green
Hatred of Muslims and the Latest Red Scare
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 1984, communism, George Bush, islam, islamophobia, muslim, Osama bin Laden, propaganda, Reagan, war
Comments Off on Hatred of Muslims and the Latest Red Scare
A Response to the Signs
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