Friday, July 31, 2026
“But to target Canada? I wouldn’t personally poke the eye of my best friend. Diplomacy doesn’t have to become insulting. Negotiations are only cranky if you make them cranky.”— Robert Restaino Robert Restaino is the… Read More
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Two years ago today was the last day of my dad’s life. Bill Gushue died in his home on July 30, 2024. It was not a shock: he was 95, and he had spent his… Read More
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
It’s not the most glamorous drink, but it’s been a go-to thing for me for the better part of a year. Earlier this month, I wrote about my big, ugly fibre-packed bowl of breakfast, and… Read More
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
“I’m least challenged or inspired by [Hollywood] stories… I’ve gravitated towards independent cinema because you have to work harder in studio scripts to flesh out characters, particularly female ones. They are not as sharply edged,… Read More
Monday, July 27, 2026
Several times this year alone, I’ve spoken with people who have had to deal with an issue that can be a defining moment in a family: surrendering a driver’s licence. Driving can get more complicated… Read More
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Like a lot of people, I didn’t think that much of George Michael at the outset. Wham! was a huge pop act in the early and mid-Eighties, and were hard to escape. Nothing really against… Read More
Thursday, July 23, 2026
“Ideas brush past fleeting and insubstantial as moths. But I let them go, I don’t want them. What I want is a voice.”— Joyce Carol Oates Having turned 88 last month, the American author Joyce… Read More
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.”— W.H. Auden So wrote the British poet W.H. Auden, during a period of his life after he had… Read More
Saturday, July 18, 2026
In November 1986, I went to see New Order at the Congress Centre in Ottawa. Peter Gabriel was playing that same night in an arena across town; instead of a nosebleed seat there, I went… Read More
Friday, July 17, 2026
Martha and I were in Toronto in early June, just before FIFA launched the World Cup matches in cities across North America. Toronto was clearly expecting some hoopla — and not just in anticipatory (actually,… Read More
Thursday, July 16, 2026
For many years, I’ve delighted in telling people about a library in St. John’s that most folks have never seen — nor even heard of. I’ve written an article for the summer issue of NQ,… Read More
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
“We have things that grow outside of the house but I wouldn’t really call it a garden.”— Roz Chast A prime attraction of The New Yorker for almost five decades, the cartoonist Roz Chast draws… Read More
Monday, July 13, 2026
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally.”— Flannery O’Connor You won’t find photos of the American author Flannery O’Connor as an old woman, nor even really of a middle-aged… Read More
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Even before I started reading up on dementia in early 2024, when my mother’s Alzheimer’s was presenting itself, I knew about the phenomenon of wanting to go home. I heard about it from friends, who… Read More
Friday, July 10, 2026
For almost a year, I’ve been eating from a breakfast bowl that often isn’t much to look at, but I can say without reservations that it’s had a great effect on my health. The goal… Read More