Everybody has heard that ancient Chinese saying: “May You Live In Interesting Times”. It gets trotted out to describe virtually every difficult news day or life crisis. For me, it’s always been one of those phrases of inscrutable wisdom reminding us that while things may feel chaotic and overwhelming, nobody really wants to live in “uninteresting” times. In my own lifetime, I’ve seen men walk on another heavenly body, the fall...

Read more »

Last night a massive storm front slammed through Southern Ontario dropping a half dozen tornadoes all around, as well as in, the town where I live. This morning, the city of Vaughn and the town of Durham are still under declared states of emergency as they cope with considerable damage. Fortunately, there is only one confirmed death so far, an eleven year old boy who was camping with his mom, but many people are still missing....

Read more »

I never made it to Woodstock.  I wanted to go. Everybody I knew did. I think my first awareness of it was a full page ad in an issue of Rolling Stone early in the summer of 1969. The line up of talent was awesome, unbelievable for somebody who lived in Regina and only got to see the odd top 40 artist like “Tommy James and the Shondells” or “The Turtles”.  The thought of ever seeing Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin...

Read more »

There are days when I feel like LIFE has decided it’s exam time. I look around hopefully for a referee who’ll toss a flag and blow his whistle after I’ve been hit and call an “Unnecessary Roughness” penalty. But referees only manage the violence in organized sports. LIFE gets to say, “Gee, Jim seems relatively content lately. Let’s see what we can do to shake things up. How about some of those friends he’s stuck with through...

Read more »

Once in a while, in  a strange town, not knowing the local customs or being able to read the language of the menu, I’ll walk into a restaurant and order a steak. And then some people look at you like you just took a dump in front of them and allow that they would prefer that you don’t eat other “sentient beings”. Okay, I get it. I do. I love animals as much as the next guy – probably more. Not so much that I’d dress up...

Read more »