There’s a hierarchy in rural Saskatchewan… First, you lose the hospital. The grain elevators close and are replaced by an inland terminal in a bigger town down the line. You used to have a handful of churches and soon you’re down to two or one or maybe even none. The local school closes and the kids […]
I recently came across this picture I took at one of my branch libraries soon after I started working as Branch Supervisor for Southeast Regional Library in 2007. Like the communities where they’re located, many rural libraries are often relatively “conservative” in the dictionary (as opposed to the more loaded political) sense of the word […]
The 2016 Saskatchewan Provincial election took place one year ago today. Like me, I’m sure you’re shocked to realise that “Cut rural library budgets by over 50%” wasn’t listed in the Platform the Sask Party ran on during that election. They also didn’t release a budget prior to the election so voters could make a fully informed […]
Wanna know a secret? Although I’ve signed each of the various petitions that are available, attended rallies and done a lot of other work, both visible and behind the scenes, I haven’t formally written to my MLA or Minister Don Morgan or Premier Brad Wall about the recent cuts to Saskatchewan’s public libraries yet. As this blog, with over […]
I’ve seen a few debates on social media sites as well as some media articles about whether Canadians and other non-Americans should “boycott” the United States with our business and/or personal travel? Those who say we shouldn’t boycott, say that it will hurt ordinary Americans. Or the non-Trump supporters need us more than ever. Or […]
Fears of Islamic Terrorists are greatly overblown. Even if this ten-year average accounted for 9/11 deaths, Americans are *still* more likely to be killed getting hit by a bus! Trump’s “Muslim Ban” shows why he’s in a conflicted position as the first non-elected, non-military person to serve as President of the United States… Even *if* […]
Another thing I’m going to miss about Obama is that, unlike Cheeto Jesus, Obama was actually a reader. For the record… 1. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer 2. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez 3. The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing 4. The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston 5. Brown Girl Dreaming, […]
This is a fitting song for my last Melancholy Christmas Music Monday post this month – both for the sad lyrics but also how its being performed in front of and indirectly evoking Barack Obama (and heck, if you squint, even the “Christmas of white” could be a reference to Trump’s support among white working […]
I love that the local independent radio station wakes me up every morning and I doubly love when a song penetrates my brain as I switch from sleeping to being awake. Today, this was the song I heard as I dozed between sleep and wake… “The Whiskey, The Tree and Me” – JJ Voss
