Saturday, November 2, 2024
It's such a perfect day
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Ron Oliver profile by Maddy Mahoney in Toronto Life
This superb profile of my friend Ron Oliver in the November issue of Toronto Life is now online. Enjoy!
https://torontolife.com/deep-dives/quality-trash-director-ron-oliver-hallmarks-king-of-schmaltz/
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
My American grandmother
My American grandmother, Alvina Becker Hardt, born in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany in 1902, at the very dawn of the 20th century, has been on my mind all day, almost as though her ghost has decided to pay me a visit. I half expect a drift of her perfume in empty rooms. I named the town on Alvina, Ontario in Wild Fell after her. Some of my most cherished early childhood memories are of her, her soft arms and hands, her thick German accent, the scent of her (very German) cooking, her occasionally florid emotionality, and mostly her utter delight in, and kindness towards me as a small gender-variant child. All my life I have not been able to shake the sense that my grandmother would not only have been OK with my queerness, but also that she saw it clearly before most people did, and wrapped it in a soft pink cloud of understanding, even protectiveness. I am gently and lovingly envious of my cousin Kimberley, who was able to spend more time with Grandma Hardt, and was the beneficiary of many of the things she had to teach, and her stories. Alvina died on May 23rd, 1976, while were living in Geneva. My mother must have gone back for the funeral, but I have no actual memory of her making that voyage back across the Atlantic. Childhood memories are odd things; but I will remember Alvina's tender touch until the day I die. This photograph of her was taken in our back yard in Ottawa, probably in the summer of 1972, with our Norwegian Elkhound, Prince. I cherish it for so many reasons.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Nova Scotia Thanksgiving, 2024
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Happy publication day to Nick Pullen's THE BLACK HUNGER!
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Kingston Writers Festival 2024, wrapped
With award-winning veteran broadcaster and author Carol Off, before we took the stage on Saturday night. [Photo: Bernard Clark Photography]
Signing after our panel, with political scientist Rob Goodman, author of Not Here: Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself at the Kingston Writer's Festival on the evening of September 28th. [Photo: Bernard Clark Photography]
Watching the countryside scroll past the train window as I reflect on this wonderful, whirlwind weekend. After years of not by any necessity traveling to the city of Kingston, Ontario, this has been my third trip, all related to my work. The first was in February when I spoke to jack.org at Queen's University. The second trip was my first encounter with the Kingston Writer's Festival when they invited me out upon the publication of PRIDE in June. The third trip, this one felt a bit like coming home.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Clouds
These exquisite Ontario early-autumn clouds through the windshield of Stephen's car, on the drive home from Orillia this afternoon struck me as particularly poignant after Jordan and Clémence's lovely wedding yesterday.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Coming to a writers festival near you
I opened a copy of the September/October issue of THE WALRUS this evening, and found this ad for our Kingston Writers Festival event on September 28th, "Election Year and the Fate of North American Democracy." Not a bad cap to an already entirely satisfying day.
Monday, July 15, 2024
Visitors from Jacksonville
Monday, July 1, 2024
Canada Day...out of town
PRIDE in the Globe and Mail