A Long Winter’s Night 2015 – Day 2: All Things Great and Seasonal

| December 23, 2015

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Visser was for many years a regular on an assortment of radio programmes produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). She has authored six books on a variety of subjects ranging from the traditions of dinner to the expression of gratitude, linking the origins of the world we know to that of […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2015 – Day 1: Another Winter Solstice

| December 22, 2015

Pre-Christian history is full of spiritual beliefs that personify the sun as a deity who dies and is resurrected, even as the sun that reaches its shortest period of life in the sky is reborn to linger just a little longer each day in the blessed march toward what is hoped to be a new […]

Hot Time in the Olde Town Tonight

| December 14, 2015

They’re rattling their rapiers And prancing in their livery, They’re howling at the gates again, Hot time in the olde town tonight. ~ Fight Song ~ I’ve mentioned Halifax, Nova Scotia based band, The Stanfields, a couple of times before; on 12 February and 3 October of 2011. Today I’d like to introduce you to […]

A Few Nights Ago in Dartmouth

| December 4, 2015

Approaching me in a dark parking lot while I’m strapping my child in their car seat is a REALLY stupid move. Don’t you know that a mother protecting her young is one of the most dangerous things to tussle with? ~ Mrs. LFM At approximately 18:30 Atlantic Time on the evening of Monday, 30 November […]

Trouble With Immigrants

| November 15, 2015

” … the anecdote goes, a Canadian immigration official was asked how many Jews displaced from what was left of Europe Canada would accept as immigrants, and was said to have replied, ‘None is too many.’ Whether or not the story is true in its placing the speaking of those words in the mouth of […]

War and Remembrance – Three Perspectives

| November 11, 2015

On this Day of Remembrance I will be offering you three poems. Two have previously appeared here on other dates, but I deem them suitable for purpose and so, here they are again. The third, appearing as the final act on today’s playbill, was written specifically for debut here. I will leave it to you, […]

Dark Sentiments 2015 – Day 23: But it Does Rhyme – Part 2 of 2

| October 23, 2015

Welcome back Goode Reader. While last night’s Dark Sentiment proferred no small amount of snicker fodder, the concerns it conveyed dovetail into tonight’s offering, which is a whole lot more serious. Clarke’s Third Law states that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”. From long study and observation on my own part; otherwise known […]

Dark Sentiments 2015 – Day 22: But it Does Rhyme – Part 1 of 2

| October 22, 2015

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” ~ Mark Twain Tonight’s Dark Sentiment is a terribly rendered documentary that apparently, though not surprisingly, only aired once in 1971. I ask you though, Goode Reader, to suffer through it, if only for its startling resemblance at times to out-takes from an episode of Monty Python’s […]

Dark Sentiments 2015 – Day 20: The Year in Zealotry – Part 2 of 2

| October 20, 2015

Darkness, as it inspires me, isn’t limited to expressions of evil, mayhem, and bad outcomes. Something can also be considered “dark” if it is unknown, misunderstood, or incorrectly interpreted. ~ Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 1: Another Harvest 2015 has so far been a year characterized by action, reaction, inadequate and inappropriate action, attacks on […]

Dark Sentiments 2015 – Day 19: The Year in Zealotry – Part 1 of 2

| October 19, 2015

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions Meaning: One meaning of the phrase is that individuals may have the intention to undertake good actions but nevertheless fail to take action. This inaction may be due to procrastination, laziness or other subversive vice. As such, the saying is an admonishment that a good intention […]