When the TV went to commercial break, I used to walk away, sometimes never to return to the programme. When radio programmes were interrupted by ad spots, I switched stations. When the free community newspaper(s) landed on my door, I’d throw it into the recycling box – editorial content was non•existent but the paper weighed […]
In Praise of Advertizing Read More »
When I realized that my whole life and personality could be pieced together from the many online social communities, online banks, online merchants and online bill payment facilities that I participate in, it kind of scared me. Recently a website sent me a composite of who they thought I was and asked me if I
Big Brother is Watching Read More »
To make a dent, leave a mark, not be forgotten; to convert stored imagery into art forms whether of music, dance, poetry, prose or painting. Is that what drives the artist? I once pursued the good life by which everyone is measured and scored as “successful” – business degrees, secure job, wife, two children, a
The Artist’s Dilemma Read More »
I saw them again yesterday and it made me recall the first time I saw them on the bridge overpasses and had nearly dismissed that showing as a protest rally or a union strike. I was on the 401 on that first occasion, driving back to Cobourg from Toronto one twilit evening last fall. I
Bridges to Awareness Read More »
When Barak Obama took his oath as the 44th President of the United States, the most powerful man on the planet, and kicked off a global party full of hope, praise and showbiz, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “How long will the honeymoon last?” In our media•bombarded world of nanosecond attention spans, the “long”
This winter the fragility of life came home sharply to me. As I took long walks along the shoreline of my beautiful lakeside town, a narrow strip extended by solid frozen waves of opaque and dirty ice, I realized that I would die in minutes if I fell into those icy waters out on the
The Fragility of Life Read More »
The month is half over and I have only posted one article on my blog for 2009– why? The general economic malaise, the ultra•cold temperatures, the flurry of activity around a recently released book, the need to find a job now that it has proven conclusively to me that writers cannot make a living at
Young Bob had cultivated a daily habit. He stepped into his neighbourhood coffee shop, “Joe’s Coffee and Donuts,” and drank a black coffee on his way to work. One day, he saw that the new chain store opened across from Joe’s was also offering coffee, but always fresh. Bob liked that, even though he could
I wrote a novel in the aftermath of 9/11 that was set in a not•too•distant future. It was about a time when the world had split into fragments caused by a great earthquake and a flood brought on by a combination of global warming and terrorism. Consequently, all the Capitalists in the world (the ones
The strains of John Lennon’s song play repeatedly on the radio these days, making me wonder indeed, “What have we done?” Well, for starters John, we imploded on our own financial excess; we continued to fight meaningless wars; gas prices rose to heights that no one could “Imagine” and then plunged to where they should
So this is Christmas… and what have we done? Read More »