Two books by two men from vastly different backgrounds, though still grounded in Christian tradition, tackle the meaning of society and what it means to live side by side with one another through a collection of their essays. Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community by Wendell Berry Wendell Berry is a giant thinker and wildly counter-cultural. … [Read more…]
January Sick Day. Snow Day. Gaming weekend in Canmore. Concerts: Living with Lions, Whitehorse. Semester 1 ends: Math 10C, Math 20-2, Multi-Media February Dragonfly Cohousing Social Media Blitz. Man Scouts Beer Tasting. Demitor Visit in Edmonton. Peter turned 80 in High River. Semester 2 begins: Calculus, Math 30-2, Multi-Media. March Mother-in-law visit. Turned 37. Fundraising … [Read more…]
I’m involved in a lot of stuff. A lot. So I haven’t been a mental state to articulate thoughts on my experiences in Africa, recent beer tasting, cohousing activities, educational philosophy, political musings, musical tastes, and Christian thought. At least not on this blog. I have been in conversation about all of these things on … [Read more…]
The second female president of an African nation happens to be flying in first class on my flight from Johannesburg to Lilongwe on April 1. Joyce Banda, president of Malawi, has just completed a several week foreign tour. As we land, I could see a large welcoming assembled on the tarmac. An announcement is made … [Read more…]
Amber drops me off at Calgary airport with some kisses. I am tagged for chemical testing before entering security (gotta be the goatee). No chemicals have made contact with me. Eat home made donuts Amber packed in my laptop bag. Read about what I can learn from the poor. At the gate I overhear a … [Read more…]
The media response following the XL Foods in Brooks, AB shutdown over the last couple months has been a dominated by concerns to make food safer: more regulation, more measures to safeguard the quality of the meat. What is remarkable is the silence regarding the state of food production in Canada and the alarming trend … [Read more…]
I swore off American politics when Bush won his second term in Nov, 2004. This distaste was compounded by my reading Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival. Despite my earnest efforts to ignore the Nov, 2008 election, I was drawn in by Barak Obama’s charisma and the promise of a new era of U.S. foreign policy. Now, … [Read more…]
On February 22 I attended my Member of Parliament’s constituency meeting. My MP is Diane Ablonczy. She also serves in the Prime Minister’s cabinet as the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas & Consular Affairs). The meeting took place in a small community centre on a Wednesday evening. Even though I had 4 other … [Read more…]
I have to vote today I get to vote today in the Alberta provincial election which in many ways is has a more profound effect on my day-to-day life than the federal government has. The same political party, the Progressive Conservatives, have held power in Alberta since before I was born. For that reason, change is … [Read more…]
In sorting through stamps from the 1980s and 1990s from dozens of countries, I’m intrigued by the stamps that portray dictatorial leaders. Nearly all of them have been deposed since the stamps’ issuance and some have been in the news throughout the Arab Spring (Summer/Fall/Winter). For me these stamps represent a bygone era, like my … [Read more…]