I vote, each and every election. I don’t, however, vote for any of the major parties, the most ‘leftish’ of which is the New Democratic Party – a pretty standard social democratic outfit that gets the vote of the left simply because there’s no other viable option, and consistently steps further and further to the [...]
Archive for March, 2011
Leaving Libby
Posted in Political Stuff, tagged Middle East, Politics, The Left on March 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Not the Best of Me
Posted in Misc., tagged Personal on March 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve got a pretty good life, all told. In fact, I count myself just about the luckiest guy alive – good job, little work but tons of projects, lots of friends and dinner parties, a beautiful and amazing child, and a partner and lover so perfect for me she is literally the stuff my younger-years [...]
All Kinds of Crazy
Posted in Misc. on March 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A hell of a week, I tell ya. Feels like there’s been all kinds of crazy swirling around me lately and while I myself am not directly implicated in all of it, it is fucking exhausting to deal with. I’m not about to out any individuals or any specific details here, but as a little [...]
March 16 – Sex, Revolution and Rock’n'Roll.
Posted in Misc., tagged Music, Reading and Writing, The Left on March 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
March 16 is of no particular significance to me. However, that is indeed the date today, and I am in need of a blog post. And so a little scan of the day in history, and I find there are things to remember and to celebrate, as there always are. A few moments to remember, [...]
All Talk, No Action
Posted in Family, Relationships, tagged Family, Personal on March 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Some time ago my brother and sister-in-law were up for a visit from their home in New York, and we sat in the living room bull-shitting about this and that. Not sure how the subject came up, but my sister-in-law joked to Megan, about me, “We call Brian the lazy brother”. Offended? No. Hurt? No. [...]
Rambling on Radicalism
Posted in Labour and Unions, Political Stuff, Reading and Writing, tagged Capitalism, Politics, Resistance, The Left, Working Class on March 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
“To be hopeful in bad times is not being foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of competition and cruelty but of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” – Howard Zinn So much promise and hope, and yet so much, still, of all the worst of us. That [...]
The End Times
Posted in Misc., Political Stuff, tagged Capitalism, Ecology, Politics on March 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’m about to start reading Slavoj Zizek’s Living in the End Times. And as I look at it there on the side table, I filter through the news of the day, watching the devastation in Japan following its recent massive earthquake. The world changes, sometimes slowly, sometimes cataclysmically, and there seems no question to me [...]
Eagleton, Zizek and Jesus, oh my!
Posted in Academia, Political Stuff, Reading and Writing, tagged Academia, Catholicism, Politics, Reading and Writing, The Left on March 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
More on the whole Jesus-theme today. Over the past few months I’ve read a couple of books dealing with the Jesus thing – Slavoj Zizek’s The Puppet and the Dwarf and Terry Eagleton’s Reason, Faith and Revolution: two books coming out of radical secular political traditions that grapple with the meat and potatoes of faith [...]
How Odd We Wonder What We Do – sex and self-esteem
Posted in Misc., Relationships, Uncategorized, tagged Identity, Personal, Relationships on March 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Everything that gets written on this blog is stream-of-consciousness. I sit down, I start typing, and at some point I stop typing. That’s it. Which is why there are typos, which is why it is sometimes way beyond dull, and which is why these little posts are, at their best, unpolished and kinda rambly and, [...]
March 8. Honour and Remembrance.
Posted in Misc., Relationships, tagged Personal, Relationships on March 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It is International Women’s Day today. Originally called International Working Women’s Day, it was an explicitly working class day of honour when first celebrated 100 years ago. And IWD remains of particular importance for the Left, one of those days to remember past struggles, to pay due homage to those women – strugglers and diehards [...]
