Wanda Waterman is a poet, spoken word artist, blogger, cultural journalist, and digital nomad. She’s been writing regularly for The Voice Magazine since 2004, not long after she began studying psychology at Athabasca. Her poetry has been published in Descant, The Talking Leaves, Chizine, Our Times, The Best of Tigertail, and Pottersfield Portfolio and her articles in Design is Political, Rawckus Magazine, Coastal Life, The New Internationalist, This Magazine, and in her blog, The Mindful Bard. She grew up in Nova Scotia, but after having lived in New Hampshire and North Africa she’s now settled in Montreal.
A Seam of Gold at the Horizon ?I know, and all the world knows, that revolutions never go backward.? William Henry Seward In Part II of this series, I asked whether Tunisians have what it takes to battle uphill against the economic adversity, corruption, and religious extremism that have lingered in the wake of the… Read more »
A Crush on History, a Love of Change The Carolina Chocolate Drops is an American acoustic band playing in a traditional string band style. Their instruments include four-string banjo, five-string banjo, guitar, jug, harmonica, kazoo, snare drum, bones, quills, fiddle, beatbox, tambourine, mandolin, and cello. They use a mix of both traditional arrangements and their… Read more »
Film: Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010) Writer/Director: Joann Sfar Cast: Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Anna Mouglalis ?In our family garden my husband is of the genus Narcissus, which includes daffodils and jonquils and a host of other ornamental flowers. There is, in such a genus of man, a pervasive and well-known pattern of… Read more »
Part II: Hearing from Tunisians ?In all forms of Government the people is the true legislator.? Edmund Burke ?Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” Winston Churchill Read Part I of this series here. The Arab Spring’s weighty and far-reaching developments and repercussions have… Read more »
The Global Reach of an American Skins Phenomenon ?It’s traditional, when paying compliment to drummers, to draw comparisons with the octopus, implying agility beyond the means of a paltry pair of human hands. But when considering John Hollenbeck, the multi-limbed creature that seems most appropriate to invoke is the mythical hydra; for while Hollenbeck is… Read more »
Film: The Sunset Limited (2011) Director: Tommy Lee Jones Screenwriter: Cormac McCarthy Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson ?BLACK: If it ain’t got the lingering scent of divinity to it I ain’t interested in it. WHITE: ?The lingering scent of divinity?? BLACK: You like that? WHITE: Yeah, It’s not bad. BLACK: Heard it on… Read more »
?All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.? Albert Einstein ?Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.” George… Read more »
Album: Giacomo Gates, The Revolution Will Be Jazz: The Songs of Gil Scott-Heron ?Basie was never really commonplace?he was always measures ahead. Ellington was more than number one for the music and things that he said. Bird was the word back when tenors were heard from Kansas right up to the pres (Lester Young) Billie… Read more »
Toby Beard is a singer-songwriter from Perth, Australia. Now on her 11th tour of Canada, She’s performed at major festivals all over the world, supporting notables like Sheryl Crow and John Cougar Mellencamp. Toby recently recorded her fifth album, Coming Home. (Read Part I of this interview here.) ?It’s time to dream a new dream;… Read more »
Film: Mozart’s Sister (2011) Director: René Féret Cast: Marie Féret, Marc Barbé, Delphine Chuillot, David Moreau ?Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.? Harvey Fierstein ?Artistic temperament sometimes seems a battleground, a dark angel of destruction and a bright… Read more »