Waystations
← Older posts Newer posts →A tale of three fridges
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.
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a commentBurning 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 commentRush
Things have gotten far too speed. Milwaukee, Iowa City, Minneapolis … I am beginning to lose track to time and space. I am also feeling good people begin to slip through my fingers. At Micawber’s bookstore, I had the briefest glimpses of two gems: Hans, the bookstore manager, and Patty, Peggy from Milwaukee’s sister. Instead of proper conversations, though, I was left with the fumes of rushed words, the melancholy feeling that I should have gotten to know them, and a probably a dozen other people better …
Of course, it must be said that I was utterly spoiled here too. My old friend from Paris. Rachel, who I met at Shakespeare, is here. She is now a surging star in the burlesque world with her Lily Vanderloo character and will soon captivate the world now that she is touring solo. (She used to be the shining light of the Atomic Bombshells. Kind Rachel gave me shelter for the night, made me sweet tea and fed me sugared rose petals and fresh-baked corn bread and … and … and … well, once again I am amazed that I have so many brilliant and loving friends.
Posted in New & Notable, Waystations | Leave a comment ← Older posts Newer posts →