Landschlacht, Switzerland, 25 October 2016 Watching the present American elections feels akin to watching a drunk publicly soil himself – you want to look away but the drunk is so loud and obvious and different from your common experience that you can´t keep yourself from staring. There is so much that feels repugnant and offputting about… Continue reading “…and then I built a school.”
Author: canadaslim
Knowing
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 30 September 2016 We live in an age where it is difficult to know who or what to believe. We are bombarded by information, yet one can never feel certain whether that information is unbiased, objective or complete. We know more information than we need to about things that have little to do with… Continue reading Knowing
RIP Earth (or how I started worrying and learned to love science)
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 – 26 September 2016 As the few, but faithful, followers of my blog know, I am a freelance teacher of English as a second language here in Switzerland. So this position often finds me, on a regular basis, in situations that can be quite challenging. My latest challenge is an old foe… Continue reading RIP Earth (or how I started worrying and learned to love science)
Route 66 revisited
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 20 September 2016 Fifty years. Half a century has gone by since the Sixties, the decade of my birth, a truly Dickensian “best of times”/”worst of times” decade. What had been sowed, both good and evil, from the previous decade bore bittersweet harvest: apartheid produces the Sharpeville Massacre, Castro´s revolution leads to the Bay… Continue reading Route 66 revisited
Adam in the Abbey 3: The greater fool
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 17 – 20 September 2016 I have, up till recently, been an avid comic book reader and collector. And, sorry, DC comics, generally I have made mine Marvel. For it has been Marvel that struck upon the notion of making their heroes with feet of clay, rather than just Super aliens or vengeful billionaire Batman… Continue reading Adam in the Abbey 3: The greater fool
Adam in the Abbey 2: The Path of Benedict
16 September 2016, Landschlacht, Switzerland Two days ago I returned from a week´s sojourn in Turkey. (To be mentioned in future blog posts…) Today I am paying for it with symptoms that need not be described here, but suffice to say I am staying home and close to medicine chest and bedroom and water closet. But,… Continue reading Adam in the Abbey 2: The Path of Benedict
Adam in the Abbey 1: The Road to New Norcia
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 2 September 2016 / 15 September 2016 Homer once said that all men have need of the gods. And maybe this is so, for since time began we have sought a way to understand, and perhaps even influence, powerful natural phenomena, such as weather and the seasons, creation, life, death and its aftermath. There… Continue reading Adam in the Abbey 1: The Road to New Norcia
Legacy of Shadows
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 3 September 2016 03:32 this morning, awakened by both body and mind… It took me 3 hours to fall asleep again, while I lay on the lawn chair on our balcony, looking up at the stars until dawn, thinking about life and death. In the six years I have lived in Switzerland I have experienced… Continue reading Legacy of Shadows
Moving heaven and earth 3: Job and Virginia in Amatrice
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 29 August 2016 An earthquake, measuring 6.2, hit central Italy five days ago (24 August 2016) at 03:36:32. This quake resonates with me, not only because Canadians were among its victims, not only because the quake was felt in cities my wife and I have visited, and not only because of the massive destruction… Continue reading Moving heaven and earth 3: Job and Virginia in Amatrice
Moving heaven and earth 2: The weekend that wasn´t
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 27 August 2016 This was the town of Amatrice before 03:36:32, 24 August 2016. The town had few claims to fame before Wednesday morning: The museum of Nicola Filoteslo, Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor known for his work on frescoes and facades Above: Dormitio Virginis, Capitolini Museum, Roma Elio Augusto Di Carlo (1918 – 1998),… Continue reading Moving heaven and earth 2: The weekend that wasn´t