“The future you have, tomorrow, won’t be the same future you had, yesterday.”— Chuck Palahniuk Everyone’s favourite American nihilist novelist (he wrote Fight Club, natch) popped out this observation into a 2007 book called Rant,… Read More
Earlier today, I placed an order at the venerable Fred’s Records here in St. John’s for the forthcoming album from Meshell Ndegeocello, the American bassist, producer, singer and lifelong boundary-pusher. Synonym doesn’t come out until… Read More
For most of the last stretch of my career, I was a senior producer with CBC News in St. John’s, and for much of that time, I frequently sent out a note to colleagues in… Read More
“You can always count on people to do the right thing once it’s cheaper than doing the wrong thing, eventually.” — Alex Falcone I heard this nugget of wisdom through one of the posts by… Read More
“We were tired of making coffee and not policy.” — Robin Morgan The feminist writer, editor and author Robin Morgan died in New York Saturday, just days after her colleague and fellow activist Gloria Steinem…. Read More
I’ve been taking photographs of this bench — it’s on a cliff just around the corner from Sandy Cove, on Newfoundland’s Eastport Peninsula — for years now. We all have a happy place or three,… Read More
Most of the songs I listen to are conventional — that is, they have lyrics. I might even sing along to them as I putter about the house, or drive anywhere. But I’ve always had… Read More
I will be joining Adam Walsh (on the right in the pic above) on Friday afternoon for the monthly trivia show on CBC Radio’s The Signal. I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to hold… Read More
“Forgiveness. Which is maybe where love and justice finally meet. Peace, at last.” — Tony Kushner The playwright Tony Kushner put these words near the end of his epic Angels in America, in the mouth… Read More
Fifty years ago, Abba released Dancing Queen. I can’t think of too many songs that have had so much currency throughout those years, that — even now — can pack a dance floor within a… Read More
The call came in around 3 in the morning, and we were sound asleep. It was a nurse, telling me my mom had fallen in her bathroom. It was a Sunday morning, and ordinarily, I… Read More
“Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”— Henry James There are things about late August and early September that seem to contradict… Read More
“Hello, Bonnie,” I would often say. “Hello, darling,” she might often reply. I knew Bonnie Leyton in a variety of contexts over a large number of years, but I saw her most often over the… Read More
“I’ve always been misunderstood because of how I look; don’t judge me by the cover ’cause I’m a real good book.” — Dolly Parton In November 2023, I borrowed the audiobook of Songteller: My Life… Read More
Over the weekend, we hosted some visiting friends for a dinner, and Martha reached for a true family favourite for the main course: the paella recipe she learned from her mother. Julita Muzychka moved from… Read More