test blog #10

Dog, I am a glad this baseball season is over. And not only because the Red Sox finished in last place.

For those who want the question with no context: Do you love a cult show or movie? What movie and why? List at least 10 reasons. Update!  Judging by comments, this list will be more fun if we omit one word and get a bit more specific. So here it is again. Do you love a TV show or movie that is not (or was not) a huge mainstream hit? Which one and why? (Better now?) * * * * Further to my longstanding tradition of watching TV shows and movies years - or even decades - after they first run, I have just completed Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (What can I say? TV was not important to me in the 1990s!) One of my TV gurus, the famous NFC, is a big Buffy fan, and after hearing the show mentioned several times, it was time for me to check it out. I enjoyed S1 enough to continue watching, with the understanding that a first season often just lays the groundwork. In other words, I liked it, but I'm hoping and assuming that the show will develop into something more than what I've s...

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, Canadians protested in huge numbers, adding their voices to the unprecedented global outcry against the "pre-emptive" war. It was that massive public support - almost statistical unanimity - that allowed Jean Chretien to keep Canadian Forces out of the war. Even Stephen Harper, who as Opposition Leader was as gung-ho as any Connecticut Cowboy , has since admitted that the war was " absolutely an error ". What's more, even most  USians now agree that other countries, such as Canada, were right to not support the invasion. Now, we're told, it's different. ISIS, we're told, is an evil so great that only a war can stop it. It's déjà vu all over again. The mainstream media would have us think that every right-thinking Canadian is behind this war. Are they? A recent Angus Reid poll showed that " two-thirds of Canadians support some involvement in American-led action against ISIS," but digging deeper reve...

Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell , "Politics and the English Language," 1946 Unpacking how this happens, and in how many ways, is our life's work. It's a topic that must be repeatedly trotted out against as a bulwark against the powerful forces that shape our world. Right now the War Resisters Support Campaign is facing a huge crisis. A spate of war resisters have received notices that decisions are imminent in their cases. At least one person has received a date for removal. In most cases, these people have heard nothing in their cases for years. Then suddenly, everyone gets notices at the same time. Remember, refugee claims are supposed to be examined individually by an independent, non-partisan body. Could it be that, as Harper prepares to lead Canada do...

I had been living in Canada but a few short months when Stephen Harper, as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, formed his first minority government. At the time, this blog hosted an active and lively ongoing discussion about Canadian culture and politics, and my personal acculturation. I did not like Harper or his Conservatives, but I balked at what I saw as hyperbole from certain progressive people: Harper will turn Canada into the United States. I felt the two countries were different enough to make that particular magic trick impossible. Now, almost ten years later, at least a portion of my friends' dire prophesy seems at the verge of coming true: Canada is becoming a country continually at war. It's safe to say that during my lifetime, the United States has been continually at war.* North of the border, the view is different in scale, but is it different in kind? As Prime Minister Harper prepares to send Canadian Forces into Iraq, we should look at Canada's rece...

The best use of TV, for me, is as a sleep aid. But I never thought I'd revisit comedies from my early childhood. I've watched a bit of comedy in bed, while ready for sleep, for my entire adult life, and quite a few years before that. Tuning in to something funny has always helped me tune out the pressures of the day. Like many people who have struggled with insomnia, I have strict rules about what I can and can't read, see, or talk about before sleep. TV comedy is the perfect sleep prep. But only certain comedies work, and there are so many that I don't like. Depending on what re-runs are available or what cable package we had, I sometimes had to schedule my bedtime around TV schedules! Kind of crazy. Streaming Netflix via Roku has been the perfect solution. I'm guaranteed something funny to watch every night, whenever I want, and in order : insomnia meets OCD. Plus I can watch 10 minutes and conk out - taking three nights to finish one episode - or watch three epis...

Two years ago, almost to the day, US war resister Kimberly Rivera and her family were forced out of Canada by the Harper Government. Kim - peace activist, artist, mother, dreamer - crossed the border and was immediately taken away in handcuffs. She served more than a year in prison, separated from her husband and children. Her crime: refusing to kill innocent civilians in Iraq, and refusing to risk being killed and leaving her own children without a mother. When news of her removal from Canada was announced in Canada's House of Commons, the Conservative MPs applauded . Now it is September again, and again US war resisters in Canada are at risk for deportation. People who have lived in Canada a long time, made a life here, people with jobs and families and roots, may be thrown out of the country. The Harper Government wants to do the bidding of the United States. Stephen Harper may finally get his wish - what he was denied in 2003 - and get to send Canadian troops into Iraq. And he ...

Last Thursday, fast-food workers in more than 150 US cities went on strike. Some 500 workers were arrested for civil disobedience, including this man, José Carillo, an 81-year-old McDonald's worker. In Detroit, there were so many arrests that the police gave up: they ran out of handcuffs . There's a very short video compilation of some highlights from the day here on Facebook . And here's another good video, this one of the Chicago action, where 51 workers were arrested.

On Labour Day, I happened to see this on Twitter: I am on my union's labour-management committee, the group that meets monthly with management to discuss members' concerns and try to resolve issues. I was intrigued and followed the link that Rank and File had posted. To my surprise, the original "how to" advice was written by the late Charley Richardson, who passed away in 2013. I knew of Charley, mostly by his outsize reputation, from another part of his life: along with his wife Nancy Lessin, he co-founded Military Families Speak Out . MFSO is now defunct, but the organization did tremendous work advocating for veterans and against wars for oil and profit. As it happens, MFSO bears a special place in my own anti-war activism. Shortly after the US invaded Iraq, while we were waiting to emigrate to Canada, Allan and I attended an MFSO event in New York. The tiny Judson Memorial Church was packed to the rafters, people applauding and weeping as parents, spouses, and s...

Fast-food workers all over the US are on strike today, demanding a living wage and the right to form a union without retaliation. Did you know that the majority of fast-food workers are adults trying to support families on those crap wages? Their pay is so low, they qualify for food stamps! So taxpayers are subsidizing McDonald's, as the fast-food industries rakes in billions in profits. If you're in the US and you pass a fast-food outlet today, especially a McDonald's, please stop by to show support for these courageous workers. They are the cutting edge of the labour movement today, risking so much to create a better world. We can all support the fast-food workers' cause by visiting this page , signing the petition, and checking back for updates. And sharing with your own networks!

When we moved to Canada ( nine years plus a few days ago ), I wondered what, if anything, I would miss about the US. Who would have guessed it would be watching "Baseball Tonight"? Yup, the only thing I miss about living in that crazy country is watching a baseball-highlights show on ESPN. Not bad! In a similar vein, what do I miss about being a writer? A strange sound that I can't quite decipher. When people would ask that inevitable question, "What do you do?", and I would answer, "I'm a writer," invariably, I would get this reaction: "Ooooo..." Their eyes would go wide, their lips would form an O, and out would come a sing-song sound of amazement. I don't know why this was. I don't know what it meant. But it would always happen! Except in New York. No one "Oooos" over anyone's work in New York, and certainly not over writers. Writers in New York are more common than tourists in Times Square, or rats on the subway ...

Indian Horse , by Richard Wagamese, is a hauntingly beautiful novel about an Ojibway boy's journey into manhood. It was the Readers' Choice winner of the 2013  Canada Reads , CBC Radio's book promotion program. But if you're like me and don't listen to the radio, you may have missed it. Don't miss it. Indian Horse should be widely read - by everyone, but especially by Canadians. In a slim, spare volume, drawing vivid pictures with very few words, Wagamese brings you into the Ojibway family. They are struggling to hold onto their culture - and indeed, to keep their family physically together, as children are being abducted and forced into the so-called residential schools. Saul Indian Horse, the hero and narrator of the novel, survives the residential school by finding solace and joy in an unlikely place: hockey. Hockey is an integral part of Indian Horse , and Wagamese has written some of the best description of sport I've read in a novel, seamlessly knitti...