The Other Things Tales from isolation: Working, learning, living 23 Apr 202023 Apr 2020 When the schools closed in Montreal, my wife and our youngest child moved to the countryside, where winter lasts till May and there are no close neighbours, forcing physical distancing.…
The Other Things Bubby faced every challenge with head held high, back straight 12 Feb 201912 Feb 2019 We lost our Bubby last week. In a hotel in her hometown Winnipeg, my mother-in-law sat on one of the white beds and expanded on stories I half-knew, or had…
The Other Things Fernandina and St. Augustine are in a battle for the ages 30 Jan 201930 Jan 2019 My favourite sort of gossip is the kind people spill about their home towns. Sometimes it’s the traditional kind of people-gossip; sometimes they’re barely aware they’re divulging secrets. “Oh, Fernandina…
The Other Things The Mütter Museum can be a hard button to swallow 21 Jan 201921 Jan 2019 A Pennsylvania farm boy in the 1870s was watching workers drill for oil on his family’s property. A drill bit fell into the well — usually this meant cutting one’s…
The Other Things Serene beauty of Mount Moriah Cemetery slowly resurrected by volunteers 12 Jan 201911 Jan 2019 12The earth is trying to take back Mount Moriah. So, too, is a passionate group of volunteers who are slowly, plot by plot, clearing brush and tangles of vine from…
The Other Things Eastern State Penitentiary: A penal system abandoned, a prison left in ruin 7 Jan 20196 Jan 2019 The air is stagnant, though the doors are open. It’s cool, and the kind of silent you don’t realize till someone points it out to you. The absence of sound…