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September 21, 2018
A draft
For years my partner and I lived in a condo, one of the four sides of which was flanked by windows, only one. The world was out there and we were in here, boxed, safe, separate, tucked away in the proscenium. ...
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November 25, 2019
Offstage Magic
Festival season is over, and I’m still reeling from all the conversations and questions that have arisen offstage. What it is about the magic of writers without microphones, with cups of coffee and ...
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July 08, 2016
To the Moons, Alice
Earlier this week, on July 4, NASA announced that the spacecraft Juno had successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit. That it did so on Independence Day, and that NASA used the term “Mighty Jupiter” in ...
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July 28, 2015
"...My Reading Pile Inevitably Grows: Books to Read, and Books to Read Again"
Several years ago a talented and passionate writer friend said to me, when I complimented her work, “Yes, but I want to be Virginia Woolf.”I said that if she wanted to be Virginia Woolf, then she ...
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July 21, 2015
Talking in Public About Writing a Novel
I’m putting the finishing touches onto a talk about my novel, Eulogy, which I’ll present tomorrow as part of the weekly Artist Talk series at Haliburton School of The Arts. This is to be a one hour ...
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July 19, 2015
At the Start of a New Creative Writing Class
I’m about to teach a new class, “Writing That Resonates,” starting tomorrow at Haliburton School of the Arts and, as happens each time, I pause.The students in the room will be diverse. Some will ...
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December 13, 1901
Thinking the Future through the Present
To begin with: many thanks if you made it through yesterday’s post; you have my gratitude for sitting with uncertainty and/or dwelling in possibility.To continue: I’ll now try to offer an account ...
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May 21, 2015
Graphic Novel (On TV) Month: the Book vs the Film, Part 2
Last week I looked at how shifting formats from graphic novel to film changed the subtext of Ghost World and Persepolis. This week I’m taking on two British comics that have been made into films: Tank ...
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May 08, 2015
Graphic Novel Month: in the Stacks at the Merril Collection
It might be tucked away on the third floor of the Lillian H Smith Children's library branch of TPL, but the Merril Collection is not for kids. Of the 75,000 items in the science fiction, fantasy and horror ...
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June 05, 2015
On Making Sausages
June is the month of graduation. On campus, SFU students seem happier, despite impending midterms. Relatives in high heels are carrying peonies. All parking lots are full.As I pass by the Convocation ...