Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 72

Saturday Photo: What's Behind a Story

Ordinarily I use only pictures that I've taken for this feature, but today I'm pirating (well not really, they're bot WikiCommons pix) two photos taken by other people as the launch of my new collection of short stories Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography approached.

The longest story is one about the friendship of two women, set against some  massive geological events.  These include the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and volcanic activity in Hawaii that creates the sort of spun glass-like rock called Pele's Hair.

What to find out what the connection is?  Come to the book launch at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6 at Drawn and Quarterly Bookstore, 211 Bernard West, Montreal. or 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12, at Librairie Clio in Pointe Claire Centre.

First Copies of Desire Lines Arrive!

And there is singing and dancing chez les Soderstrom! 

Lee, who hadn't seen the cover, says, somewhat hopefully, that maybe it will be considered pornographic and will sell well.

I reply that since the image is from a painting by Group of Seven artist Edwin Holgate, it's high culture, not sleaze.  But I'd like it to sell well too!

Looking for a Scary Story: Check This Out

Just in case you're looking for a little light literature, here's a link to a story I revised and read last night at the Drawn and Quaterly Haunted Bookstore event:

Nothing But Good Times. 

New from the Harper Pizza Shop

Maclean's blogger Aaron Wherry quotes from Hansard today.  He says that Stephen Harper's Parliamentary Secretary Paul Calandra likened  the Senate expense scandal to stealing from a pizza shop till, but suggests that there is much, much more at stake.

"It is Stephen Harper, challenged as never before, perhaps struggling as never before. A man who beat Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion and Jack Layton, out-maneuvered the press gallery and outclassed his most wild-eyed critics, now struggling to beat Mike Duffy, one of his own appointees, a celebrity who travelled the country singing the government’s praises, assailing its opponents and raising money for the Conservative cause. A Prime Minister having to answer not for any official policy or action or inaction of his government, but for some tawdry agreement with a political appointee. A politician who has survived or sidestepped so many questions about what he and his government have done, threatened by a deal to make $90,000 disappear. And a Prime Minister’s Office facing precisely the sort of scrutiny it is not supposed to attract."

Don't think we'll order in tonight. 

A Little Pause While We Played with Jeanne and Thomas

Elin and Emmanuel were in Winnipeg over the weekend, taking part in the activities commemorating the 275th anniversary of Fort Rouge and the French presence in Manitoba.  This meant that Jeanne stayed with us, and Thomas and his parents spent some time here too.  Great fun for all.

That's why there were posts on my part--no time to sit in front the computer!  They kept us busy!

Snow in the Air? Finally It's Getting Cold

This morning we turned the furnace on and when I went out walking it was shiveringly cold.  I think that fall is finally upon us, and winter is not far behind.

To make it seem all the more seasonal, city workers were putting up the boards for the outside skating weeks in one of the parks.  It's likely to be a while before we see scenes like the one in the photo where a small one is learning how to skate.  But the time is coming, climate change or no climate change.

Getting in Right in Municipal (and Other Politics): Bill de Blasio in New York City

Corruption, integrity, and transport are all being mentioned a lot as the Montreal municipal election winds toward its close, Nov. 3.  But I'd like to hear a lot more talk about making the city stronger economically and a better place for all levels of society, as is happening in New York City.

The elcction there will come only a few days after the one here, and The New York Times reports that almost certainly the Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio will win: it cites a poll giving him 68 per cent of the vote.  What is amazing about this support is that it is coming from across the economic and social range despite the fact that his platform is--hold on to your hats!--frankly left wing. 

The Sorry Result of 400 Years of Colonialism

The UN Reporter who just investigated living conditions in Canada's Native communities found some pretty sorry stuff.  Makes me very sad to read about the lack of sanitation and clean water in so manyplace.

Unfortunately Canada is not alone: here's a bit from theexcellent 1994 New Zealand movie Once Were Warriors. 
 

Saturday Photo: Repeat Performance

I've posted this photo before, but here it is again, because I like and because today is exactly like this.

Fiscal Crisis in US and the World Over? Should We Get Happy?

Like many folks I breathed a sigh of relief when the Republicans ever so reluctantly agreed to step away from the precipice on Wednesday. But we're not out of danger, as this column "The Long March of the American Right" by Simon Johnson in The New York Times  chronicles. 

The American Right (followed by the Canadian Right a few steps behind) has been working toward destruction of government for years.  Johnson writes: "The mainstream narrative is that the problem is “dysfunctional government” or “paralysis in Washington.” That’s true, up to a point, but the real problem is the steady decline in legitimacy of the federal government – and the way this is related to what has happened on the right of the political spectrum."

Some how people have to come to understand that government is there it govern, and that everyone of us has a stake in its success.  Otherwise the breather that the last minute arrangements this week are just a temporarily successful reanimation procedure, like this one from the series House. MD.  I don't think  we have any right to "get happy."  The Judgment Day is still looming--in January when the current US arrangement comes up for renewal or in October 2015 when Canada is supposed to elect a new government.