It may sound outrageous to say it — I used to think so — but without art we are lost. What do we live for otherwise? Our children? Love? Perhaps, but to what end, if not to together experience the…
Why community matters
The other day I was bemoaning the erosion of community in our everyday lives and placing the blame squarely on automation. Automation and the never-ending race to achieve greater efficiency seeks to remove people from as many equations as possible.…
Dark humour at the end of the world
My mother died of kidney cancer in February of this year. I was there, and boy I can tell you there was no shortage of visitors to her room in her last weeks, which was a testament to the number…
What is a real friend?
It’s taken me a long time to understand this, but I think I finally do. I used to think that a real friend is someone you simply get along with. I used to think that a real friend is someone…
Eulogy for Ivan Szlapetis
It’s June 9th, and as I write this I sit in a spot on a bluff overlooking the Red Deer river in Drumheller, Alberta, about 150km northeast of Calgary. There’s a suspension footbridge down below that you have to cross…
Tell me again how animals don’t feel empathy?
Monkey in India resuscitates friend after electrocution Suffer through the advertisement to see some incredible video footage. How any thinking person can believe that animals don’t experience feelings is beyond me. For something more on this topic see my previous…