Columns

Cities in Six—Iqaluit, Nunavut

Iqaluit is Canada’s northernmost city, and is the capital of Nunavut.  The city, originally named Frobisher Bay, sits at the head of Frobisher Bay.  Iqaluit, which means ” place of many fish” is a traditional fishing area for the Inuit.  The United States build the Frobisher Bay Air Base in 1942, and its airstrip is… Read more »

Beyond Literary Landscapes—Margaret Atwood

From my early beginnings as a young introvert, the public library has always been a bit of a refuge.  Years later, not much has changed, albeit with an additional affinity for endless hours spent scouring second-hand bookstores to add to my ever-growing “to-read” pile. From one bookworm to another, this column will be underscoring and… Read more »

Fly on the Wall—Entertainment’s Spectrum

Cultural problem-solving (CPS) is all around us: it’s where entertainment explores a dicey topic in an approachable way.  CPS is in movies, where the lustrous term verisimilitude explains the way given scripts and settings convey a sense of reality.  CPS occurs anywhere a person performs for an audience who in some ways relate to the… Read more »

The Wisdom of Restaurants

Whenever I am in search of a solid foundation of wisdom upon which to build the structure of my life, I don’t look to religion or philosophy.  I tend, instead, to evoke the moral principles and pragmatic understanding that I have gained from several years of working in restaurants, as well as the many more… Read more »

The Unlikely Comforts of Horrror

I have found myself, lately, finding refuge from the troubles of the world by spending time revisiting some old films and books that I have enjoyed in the past.  It seems somewhat counterintuitive, but the most comforting of these mini-escapes have come in the form of old horror stories.  Sitting in the backyard on weekend… Read more »

Beyond Literary Landscapes—Hubris

From my early beginnings as a young introvert, the public library has always been a bit of a refuge.  Years later, not much has changed, albeit with an additional affinity for endless hours spent scouring second-hand bookstores to add to my ever-growing “to-read” pile. From one bookworm to another, this column will be underscoring and… Read more »

Beyond Literary Landscapes—Family

From my early beginnings as a young introvert, the public library has always been a bit of a refuge.  Years later, not much has changed, albeit with an additional affinity for endless hours spent scouring second-hand bookstores to add to my ever-growing “to-read” pile. From one bookworm to another, this column will be underscoring and… Read more »

To Hear and Be Heard: Of Soundtracks and Silence

I do love sleep, but we have trust issues.  Such a capricious and fickle lover, always promising to stay the night, but so often and so disappointingly disappearing in the wee small hours, just when needed the most. Good thing there are several playlists for this kind of thing.  (I have playlists for nearly every… Read more »

Fly on the Wall—Lipstick on a Pig

Developing a nose for the inane is a vital tool for neophyte social theorists.  Each sniff of trite entertainment leads to an understanding of the social cause of the sensation; few things in culture are quite what they seem, after all.  Take the phrase “the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.” This tongue… Read more »