history alert: the american revolution was a revolution. full stop.
This post has been sitting in draft for years. July 4, 2025 seems like a good time to let it go.Detail of Liberty, artist unknown, c.1820I have heard from several…
Canadian Culture
history alert: the american revolution was a revolution. full stop.
This post has been sitting in draft for years. July 4, 2025 seems like a good time to let it go.Detail of Liberty, artist unknown, c.1820I have heard from several…
thoughts on canadian nationalism and the upcoming election
Canada is in the throes of a massive patriotic lovefest, pushing back against the expansionist rhetoric pouring out of the White House. I often marvel at the fearfulness and timidity…
the reaction to a murder: this is why we must protect and expand public health care
Discussion and debate about health care is a staple in Canadian politics and the culture at large. The adjective most often applied to the system is used so frequently, it…
What The World Needs Most
Great discussion, as always, and a great song. (See the link below, to a podcast interview by one of my top three sources.) Now, maybe a song about sisu, the…
Oh, Canada: Longing For Home
With a trip coming up to my old home country of Canada, I feel, three hours before dawn, the urge to hear songs from my beloved country, where I was…
polarization is not the problem. the problem is fascism.
Art by Maaike Hartjes “The problem today is that society is so polarized. We need to come together and find common ground.” I hear and read this a lot these…
polarization is not the problem. the problem is fascism.
Art by Maaike Hartjes"The problem today is that society is so polarized. We need to come together and find common ground."I hear and read this a lot these days. In…
pacific northwest labor history association conference: the keynote address
It has been on my mind, and on my to-do list, to write more about the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association Conference*, which I was fortunate to attend in May…
the canoe family: reconciliation retreat
I’m in the middle of two amazing opportunities, one through my work, and one through my union. The work thing is complex — and important. Decolonizing the library: walking in…
hard times: we are ruled by banks, corporations, and the governments that enable them. it doesn’t have to be this way.
In Canada this year, food bank usage hit an all-time high. In March 2022, there were almost 1.5 million visits to food banks — 15% more than there were one…
"they thought they were doing the right thing at the time": a harmful denialism that we must challenge
They thought they were doing the right thing. They thought they were helping children. Now we know better. I recently heard this from a library customer. They were referring to…
things i heard at the library: an occasional series: #34
A customer said this. I tell my daughter I love her every day. I told my mother on her death bed, I’m not going to do what you did. I’m…
most useless and annoying advice ever: it’s cheaper if you make it yourself
I did not make this myself. Ever since moving to Canada, people have been telling me how I could make something myself for less money than I paid for it.…
national day for truth and reconciliation: bearing witness, finding meaning
On September 30, many Canadians will have the day off in honour of a new holiday: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The holiday was created in response to the…
who else turned 60 this year: celebrating the bc ndp
The great Tommy Douglaswas an MP for a BC riding in the 1960s. I recently learned that the BC NDP — the party I vote for, the party that currently…
thoughts on not celebrating canada day #cancelcanadaday
If it wasn’t clear why we should not be celebrating Canada Day this year, by now it should be. Three days after the discovery of 215 skeletons of children were…
bearing witness: 215 tiny skeletons speak to us. canadians must listen.
The discovery, last week, of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former Indian Residential School has sent shock waves through Canada, especially through this province, where…
Oh, Canada
Loyal subjects: that is what we have been trained to be – first to the British Empire, then to the American Empire, and now, to Beijing and the global coporate…
what i’m reading: the skin we’re in by desmond cole
Alternative title: It Happens in Canada, Too. Desmond Cole’s book, The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power may be a difficult book for white Canadians to…