“What´s in a name? That which we call a rose A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet) “Each thing is the same with itself and different from another.” (Plato, Theaetetus) “Like the pine trees linin’ the windin’ road I’ve got a name. I’ve got a name. Like… Continue reading Alex Supertramp and Canada Slim
Category: Literature
Borderline Obsessive
It seems to be my destiny to be obsessed with borderlines, both geographical as well as psychological. I was raised in Argenteuil County, Quebec, on the border of Ontario´s Prescott-Russell County. Most Canadians live within 100 km of the US border, because the land north of this tends to be unarable (i.e. can´t be farmed… Continue reading Borderline Obsessive
The enemy electronic
Yesterday I wrote a post in this blog asking for feedback, asking for requests as to what should appear in these posts… Hank Broomfield, an old friend from my youth, (Yes, I had one!), wrote he was satisfied but being the visual guy he is he wanted pictures. (When I figure out how…) Sumit Panigrahi,… Continue reading The enemy electronic
No fool like an old fool
Outside our apartment door, hanging on the mantle beside at eye level, is a magnet that reads: “A lovely lady and a grumpy old man live here”. As I type these words, I am reminded of an old TV series I watched as a youth growing up in the isolated village of St. Philippe d’Argenteuil.… Continue reading No fool like an old fool
Sign of the times
Arrived back home in Switzerland late last night, left for Freiburg im Breisgau at 0500 this morning. Am fighting fatigue like a woolen blanket over my head in the desert. To save a spot of cash I am in the Black Forest Backpackers Hostel for the next two nights. In the stairwell between reception and… Continue reading Sign of the times
The price of progress (Oxford and Gatwick)
“I have the greatest respect for Oxford University and its 800 years of tireless intellectual toil, but I must confess that I’m not entirely clear what it’s for… See all these dons and scholars striding past, absorbed in deep discussions about the Leibniz-Clarke controversy or post-Kantian aesthetics and you think: Most impressive, but perhaps a… Continue reading The price of progress (Oxford and Gatwick)
Life among the Oxonians
Back in the south of England after some time spent up in Oxford, a place I once called home for a number of months over two decades ago, a place that still has a hold upon my heart, and happily a place where I still have friends. It was and remains one of the fastest… Continue reading Life among the Oxonians
Canada Slim and the Dickensian Moment
Two days ago my hosts in England and I did a very English thing… We visited the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum, at 393 Old Commercial Road, in Portsmouth. “He created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His work enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Dickensian Moment
The Memory Music Project
“I spent a large part of one of the evenings I was in Uganda thinking about what precisely the memory of a person is. What do I want people to remember about me? What would I prefer to have suppressed? Do I have a number of secrets that I shall take with me to the… Continue reading The Memory Music Project
Work and other four-letter words
All around me, wherever I go, throughout the entirety of most of my life, people talk and obsess about work. We spend 80% of our adult lives working and more than 50% of us hate our jobs. We are classified and judged less by who we are than by the job we do. Despite protests that… Continue reading Work and other four-letter words