Arts and Culture
By Jennifer Crane, in The Conversation
In Netflix hit The Queen’s Gambit, we see young orphan Beth Harmon discover her...
The Duel
“... I’m abandoned and destitute, an absolute simpleton, this mind of mine so muddled and blank. Others are bright, clear. I’m dark, murky. Others are competent and effective: I’m pensive and withdrawn.” -- Tao Te Ching, 20 [David Hinton translation]
“Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt...
“Albatross – Contact” is a gripping science fiction novel of the warring-aliens variety. It introduces a variety of well-developed characters, both human and alien, some of whom interact peacefully, and others whose attacks result in full-on, rip-roaring, seriously tech-enhanced battles.
The principal male character is outstanding in physical strength,...
By Anna Augusto Rodrigues, for The Conversation
If you missed the Netflix debut of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, there are reasons to watch it now that go beyond being inspired to keep up fashionable appearances through a ...
We impede evolution and the development of the human species if we neglect the aged.” -- James Hillman, Force of Character
“Ve gett too soon oldt undt too late schmartt! -- sign seen in a joke shop
The value of Elders: obsolete, replaced, or persisting?
I had begun a column on Elders in March this year, but the pandemic came...
Rossland author Rosa Jordan’s latest novel is a rich, varied and gripping read. Its characters deal with life’s profound issues, including ambition, love, loyalty, illness and death – and Jordan handles them deftly, with generous compassion and a touch of humour.
A list of suggestions from Kurt Vonnegut to writers included one advising authors to “give the reader least one character he...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us have been living in a landscape defined by unknowns. This lack of certainty about how the world around us can change at any moment shows no sign of abating in the foreseeable future.
Dealing with the unknown is not something our modern society is used to or comfortable with. Over the centuries, we’ve whittled away at the things that once...
“... Thinking your mind was my own, in a dream --
What would you wonder and how would it seem?
Living in castles a bit at a time, the King started laughing and talking in rhyme.
Singing words, words... between the lines of age.” Neil Young, “Words,” Harvest
“Though it all may be One / in the Higher...
The Shambhala Electronic Music Festival was forced to cancel its 2020 event at its wilderness location outside Salmo due to the novel coronavirus — COVID-19.
Now the popular festival has hit the pause button on its 2020 virtual event, set for July 23-25 after several women recently came forward on social media to make sexual assault allegations against one of its artists.
...Diversity is strength. That’s true in nature and human affairs.
But recent painful events have shown society has yet to grasp this. The appalling deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Toronto’s Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Chantel Moore from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and many others — all at the hands of those tasked to serve and protect — have ignited awareness of the...