Margaret Atwood woke up this morning to her 81st birthday. For her this past year has been both an annus horribilis and an annus mirabilis. Horribilis because her beloved husband, Graeme Gibson, died last September at age 85. Two years earlier, Gibson was diagnosed with dementia, but far from closing in his world, she expanded […]
The Plague-Ground – The world’s best young writer Read More »
You see flames flicker up from an empty seat in front of you. You’re tempted to stand up and yell “Fire!” But you don’t because that may cause a stampede and trample people. In fact, isn’t that why it’s against the law to yell “Fire!” in a theatre? Also, you’re an introvert and have a frog
The Plague-Ground – You’re at a movie in a packed theatre. You smell smoke. Read More »
But oh, what very big brains they have. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci are the scientists whose company, BioNTech, is partnering with Pfizer to produce the vaccine that is 90% effective against a virus that’s already killed a million of us. We can learn from their story of the power of love, of science, trust
The Plague-Ground – More Money Than Brains Read More »
Remember that guy who said years ago he wanted to die at 75 because he was 75? And that we should all think about doing the same at 75 because, as he wrote in The Atlantic in 2014, “… doubtless, death is a loss…but living too long is also a loss.” His name is Ezekiel
The Plague-Ground – When is a good time to die? Read More »
Only a few countries use poppies to remember their servicemen and women killed in conflict. The Royal British Legion started this tradition 1921 and today Canada, Australia and New Zealand and parts of the United States continue it. This Wednesday is Remembrance Day in Canada when, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of
The Plague-Ground – In our Whole Foods, the poppies blow…. Read More »
Seventy million Americans voted for Donald Trump. As Wade Davis noted, that’s “4 million more than did so in 2016, inspired, one can only assume, by his personal and political record over the past four years.” Many Canadians, myself included, are aghast at this. Can’t Americans see what a fraud Trump is?! What’s wrong with
The Plague-Ground – Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… Read More »
In 1984, Ronald Reagan unleashed one of the most devastating commercials in American campaign history. It helped him swamp Democrat Walter Mondale in a landslide, 525 electoral votes to 13. That ad, like that very age 36 years ago, is touchingly different from virtually every political spot for every office beyond dog-catcher today. What made
The Plague-Ground – Morning in America Read More »
While the play Shakespeare wrote that line for (Henry VI, Part 2) is hardly ever performed, the sentiment is not only enduring, it’s growing in Shakespeare’s not so green and pleasant land. Back on September 3rd, Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel posted a tweet that the government had expelled refugees arriving in small boats who
The Plague-Ground – Let’s Kill All the Lawyers Read More »
Now is the weekend of our discontent. Cases are spiking, leaves are falling, the wind is up, the market’s down – and organizing coffee is like planning an assault on Everest. By Monday, our mornings will start darker and by Tuesday, America may grow darker still. But take heart. In the midst of a pandemic, what we
The Plague-Ground – Survival of the friendliest Read More »
The e-mails sent to Democrats last week, seemingly from the Proud Boys, but really from Iran, made up in clarity for what they lacked in subtlety. “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and
The Plague-Ground – Are We Digitally Dominant or Submissive? Read More »
Last night, I turned away from the Trump-Biden debate, not because it was another train-wreck, but because it wasn’t. My appetite for viewing curated chaos is now so refined that, not seeing any, I quickly left, the future of America be damned. What I did was tune in to Ozark, the hillbilly-heroin series on Netflix.
The Plague-Ground – The Binge Club Read More »
The First Amendment lets Americans say pretty much anything to anyone, anywhere. The Second Amendment lets them keep and bear arms. So can they turn up at polling stations on November 3rd, armed and belligerent and, in the words of their President, “watch very carefully?” No, they can’t. In this case, what reads like 1+1
The Plague-Ground – The right to bully voters is under threat Read More »
