I have always held the conceit that I’m not a particularly materialistic soul.  Although I’m lucky enough to be gainfully employed, live in a small, old house, with no garage, in a very humble neighbourhood.  It’s much more nondescript than the suburban palaces, with attached two- or three-car garages, that many of my colleagues roll… Read more »

Family, friendships, physical wellbeing, peace of mind, and spiritual fulfillment—these are obviously all important aspects of a rich, well-rounded life.  But, only when indulged in in moderation.  When taken too far they can become a crutch, or possibly a distraction.  A distracting crutch, let’s say; one that’s being wielded about in an enclosed space filled… Read more »

In some vaguely defined future, between finally paying off my credit cards and being summoned to appear before the robot overlord to justify my existence, I anticipate somehow having more free time at my disposal.  This will be because I have visited the self-help section of McNally-Robinson Booksellers and have learned to prioritize tasks—to ‘work… Read more »

I think there are those of us, not few in number, who do not quite fit into the world.  Our mothers send us out to the corner store for milk and cigarettes one morning, and we take a wrong turn, stumble through some quantum doorway into a new dimension.  When we return home, it is… Read more »

The first frosts and snows of the season have settled on good, old Winnipeg town, and arctic winds are blowing backward from the near-future to warn us of the harsh winter ahead.  I know it will be harsh here because—did I mention Winnipeg?  In just a few short weeks, the Red and Assiniboine rivers will… Read more »

Somebody straight up asked me the other day how I would define myself in terms of my spiritual or political outlook on life.  Was I a Christian, a socialist, an atheist, a Buddhist, a conservative, a liberal, some combination of any of the above, or what? I was bit taken aback by the question.  I… Read more »

I’ll level with you: most of what passes for television entertainment these days, whether on traditional networks or streaming services, leaves me cold.  Formula comedy and drama that’s predictable as a bigot’s opinions, and as exciting as last night’s unemptied dishwater.  Typically, I’d rather spend time at home exploring a good book.  Or maybe better… Read more »

October, it seems to me, is the perfect autumn month.  Possibly the most perfect month of the entire year, at least in my pocket of the world.  It’s a time here of rare sustained equilibrium between the yin of the receding summer and the yang of the approaching winter.  Shadows and light, moods and atmospheric… Read more »

I was recently sitting in the serene darkness of the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall, watching and listening to Daniel Raiskin, the WSO’s new music director, conducting Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.  As a first impression, Raiskin seems brilliant, a maestro of the classic Russian style, dramatic, bold, firmly in control of and in sync with… Read more »

One of humanity’s most primal and enduring symbols is that of the forest.  Reaching back into some of our earliest folktales, it has represented our often-uneasy relationship with the world; a largely uncharted domain of shifting shadows and potential dangers.  Always, we are pulled from the safety of the known—the warm circle of family, the… Read more »