New & Notable
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Yes, there is a pattern to this trip, the constant lubrication of beverages. Constant celebration. This particular photo reflects our relief that the signing in Calgary came to a close. Aside from Dave, who you already know (very well if you read the book; he is an important and recurring character) you see here Bryn, a writer with Fast Forward magazine, and Alison, a friend of Daniel M.’s from Paris who used to attend KMZ events at the Paris squat and, oddly enough, once squatted my old apartment on rue Dauphine for week when it was under renovation. Strange world.
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a commentA tale of three fridges
Dave’s fridge.
His girl Tara’s fridge.
His mom & dad’s fridge.
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a commentCalgary Dave
I recently got asked a question about my favourite person I lived with at the bookstore and I had to qualify out people who worked at the bookstore while I lived there (Luke), people who lived there after or before me (Quinn, Adrian etc), and people I knew before I lived at the bookstore but who came and visited me at the bookstore while I lived there (Dave from Calgary). I just figured it wasn’t in the spirit of the question.
Essentially, Dave is one of my best friends in the world and this is him in front of the Calgary skyline. He is working as the oil and gas specialist for the Globe and Mail and learning much about the industry that shapes our world. I am very happy to say this is his car, a friendly and efficient Datsun that is some 20 years old.
And this an underground BMX track we discovered while scrambling down some ridge in urban Calgary.
Burning Cars in France
So people ask me about this all the time and I try to explain but nobody has explained better than my friend Nadia in a recent email:
“On gèle en ce moment, alors, comme tu le sais, les petits ont foutu le
feu aux banlieues – et notamment aux voitures -histoire de chauffer un
peu l’atmosphère. Toutes les grandes villes ont touchées, exception
faite de Marseille.
“Et, oui, ici, il y a peut-être des barres HLM mais elles donnent sur la
mer, c’est pas pareil ! Ah ! Massalia, ville ouverte, lieu de tous les
mélanges, port d’accueil du monde…mon cul ! On a tout simplement 15 ans de retard ici, mais lorsque je vois comment l’Europe évolue, je me dis que c’est déjà ça de gagner…
“L’investiture de Merkel, la commémoration de Franco en Espagne, la
milice de Sarko le nabot qui maintient le couvre-feu dans plusieurs
villes françaises ( Sarkozy soutenu par 70 °/ des français !), la
répression, la censure, la peur de l’autre…il est dans l’air de vieilles
odeurs rances bien connues de l’Europe, surtout lorsqu’elle est en
crise, qui m’empoisonnent l’existence mais dont le peuple entier se
félicite, et j’ai bien peur de n’avoir effectivement pas le même nez que
la plupart des français.”
Buy Nothing Day
Having arrived safely in Calgary, I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow (Friday, November 25th) is Buy Nothing Day, the annual event organized by Adbusters (www.adbusters.org) which serves to remind us of the over-whelming role of consumerism and materialism in modern life by cutting us off from our buying addiction for 24 hours. Try spending the day at home with a book, making a stew out of whatever you find in the bottom drawer of your fridge, going for a walk …
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a commentDamn
As I write this, it is 1:21 pm in Minneapolis. I have to be in Calgary for a signing at noon tomorrow. According to MapQuest, this is a 20 hour and 55 minute drive. The math is daunting, the drive will be hell. Two thoughts run through my head. Thank Quinn he introduced me to proper ephedrine dosing while we worked ourselves to nervous breakdowns at the Kilometer Zero squat in Paris. And secondly, thanks to time zones, I have that Around-the-World-in-80-Days buffer of an extra hour. But still. Damn.
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a comment ← Older posts Newer posts →
