You wrote: "...a bewildering time for Canada, thank god it’s over. But wait, is it really? It’s hard to tell with all that fog over the Atlantic. If you’re reading this in Canada, do let me know what you think..."
Dear Leah (if I may be informal), The excrement is about to hit the circulating device; we shall get Pierre Polievre (PeePee) at the next election, the CBC will be dismantled, divisiveness is increasing (it's already approaching Trumpian levels) and it will get worse, support for the arts will vanish, and everything that goes wrong in the next four-eight years will be blamed on Trudeau.
And, FWIW, I think MeToo woke a lot of men up, and has not been a total fad/failure (personally, I got the memo many years ago, but I don't feel smur about that; just relieved).
And one more thing, the idea of a Dickens book club scares me. Has there been a more unreadable author since? (Atwood, perhaps). Let's face it, Dickens was paid by the word, which may explain his endless run-on sentences and windy paragraphs/prose...
Haha good one! Yes complacency has spread over Canada like a lead blanket. I hardly recognize the place and most of the time I live there. Among my solutions: invite a brilliant young expat to dine at the Wolseley and feast on her sparkle. You are a jewel. Your troubles are among your credentials.
I’ve been reading your work since your days back at the Globe and Mail. You’ve always written in what felt like an earnest, from the heart and with no shortage of amusing self deprecation Leah. It’s as refreshing today as it was all those years ago. Marianne nailed it: Jewel. Keep it up! :)
What a lovely thing to say! Thank you Doug. It's astonishing and humbling that so many likeminded readers (and writers) have followed me here after all these years.
This Canadian (though I'm not exclusive in that way; wishful superhero title being 'International Man') gets what you have said here Re: National Identity. Folks above the 49th are indeed polite & indignant at the same moment (we demand justice, please). I also like your thoughts about the 99% when it comes to the efficiency/effectiveness of Movements:"When rich kids move fast and break things we end up with Facebook; when poor people do the same thing, stuff just gets broken." We all want to start a revolution and the best book that might serve as a manual to begin a new civilization might be 'The Dawn of Everything' by David Wengrow & David Graeber.
P.S. I am a solitary member of a Dickens book club, you are welcome to join;)
Couple of small typos in there, Leah, but helluva an essay, so... Speaking about Facebook, which has helped enormously to break things, during the height of the MeToo shoutfest, whenever I had something to say about, say, the Schultz affair, I was slagged mightily for having the temerity to take up his cause, usually for being an old white man. To which I said, congratulations to whomever wrote it: you're sexist, racist and ageist.
I wrote a play based on Schultz's pillorying (and that of his wife's too, if you recall). Called it The Trials of Adam and Eve. Made Adam a star architect who'd grown up in his father's junk yard, a place that his financial ruin made him have to sell. Thus cast out of paradise, he and his wife struggle mightily. The case against him was meritless, really, but still our man had to come to grips with his juvenile ways with women. Once he had matured, paradise was regained.
I’ve spent some time with him since. I’d say Albert is a changed man and doing something meaningful with his prodigious talents. The loss was largely on Canadian (Toronto) theatre which has sunk back into its colonial comfort zone. RIP an important art form. If you don’t believe me check out the playbills.
Thanks for this note, Marianne. I agree, his loss was shocking and the consequences for Toronto Theatre profound. I had hoped he would stay in theatre, and in the acting trade specifically, whether in live theatre or in other media. Did he ultimately land on his feet:? How does he make a living now?
He's working on various projects in Cobourg, mainly with a group of like-minded neighbours who are into creating a sustainable land development project, keeping farmland in active use. I'm planning to get in touch this summer.
Thanks for this Marianne. His new work is laudable. Would that he would return to the theatre and TV. I think he would be warmly received. Three or four years ago I made an effort to contact him through Leslie Lester, to say as much; had a role in a play I wrote that I thought he would be magnificent in. Nothing in response, but....who can blame him. Or her.
You wrote: "...a bewildering time for Canada, thank god it’s over. But wait, is it really? It’s hard to tell with all that fog over the Atlantic. If you’re reading this in Canada, do let me know what you think..."
Dear Leah (if I may be informal), The excrement is about to hit the circulating device; we shall get Pierre Polievre (PeePee) at the next election, the CBC will be dismantled, divisiveness is increasing (it's already approaching Trumpian levels) and it will get worse, support for the arts will vanish, and everything that goes wrong in the next four-eight years will be blamed on Trudeau.
And, FWIW, I think MeToo woke a lot of men up, and has not been a total fad/failure (personally, I got the memo many years ago, but I don't feel smur about that; just relieved).
And one more thing, the idea of a Dickens book club scares me. Has there been a more unreadable author since? (Atwood, perhaps). Let's face it, Dickens was paid by the word, which may explain his endless run-on sentences and windy paragraphs/prose...
Haha good one! Yes complacency has spread over Canada like a lead blanket. I hardly recognize the place and most of the time I live there. Among my solutions: invite a brilliant young expat to dine at the Wolseley and feast on her sparkle. You are a jewel. Your troubles are among your credentials.
“Your troubles are your credentials” is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. xxx
I’ve been reading your work since your days back at the Globe and Mail. You’ve always written in what felt like an earnest, from the heart and with no shortage of amusing self deprecation Leah. It’s as refreshing today as it was all those years ago. Marianne nailed it: Jewel. Keep it up! :)
What a lovely thing to say! Thank you Doug. It's astonishing and humbling that so many likeminded readers (and writers) have followed me here after all these years.
This Canadian (though I'm not exclusive in that way; wishful superhero title being 'International Man') gets what you have said here Re: National Identity. Folks above the 49th are indeed polite & indignant at the same moment (we demand justice, please). I also like your thoughts about the 99% when it comes to the efficiency/effectiveness of Movements:"When rich kids move fast and break things we end up with Facebook; when poor people do the same thing, stuff just gets broken." We all want to start a revolution and the best book that might serve as a manual to begin a new civilization might be 'The Dawn of Everything' by David Wengrow & David Graeber.
P.S. I am a solitary member of a Dickens book club, you are welcome to join;)
Couple of small typos in there, Leah, but helluva an essay, so... Speaking about Facebook, which has helped enormously to break things, during the height of the MeToo shoutfest, whenever I had something to say about, say, the Schultz affair, I was slagged mightily for having the temerity to take up his cause, usually for being an old white man. To which I said, congratulations to whomever wrote it: you're sexist, racist and ageist.
I wrote a play based on Schultz's pillorying (and that of his wife's too, if you recall). Called it The Trials of Adam and Eve. Made Adam a star architect who'd grown up in his father's junk yard, a place that his financial ruin made him have to sell. Thus cast out of paradise, he and his wife struggle mightily. The case against him was meritless, really, but still our man had to come to grips with his juvenile ways with women. Once he had matured, paradise was regained.
I’ve spent some time with him since. I’d say Albert is a changed man and doing something meaningful with his prodigious talents. The loss was largely on Canadian (Toronto) theatre which has sunk back into its colonial comfort zone. RIP an important art form. If you don’t believe me check out the playbills.
Thanks for this note, Marianne. I agree, his loss was shocking and the consequences for Toronto Theatre profound. I had hoped he would stay in theatre, and in the acting trade specifically, whether in live theatre or in other media. Did he ultimately land on his feet:? How does he make a living now?
He's working on various projects in Cobourg, mainly with a group of like-minded neighbours who are into creating a sustainable land development project, keeping farmland in active use. I'm planning to get in touch this summer.
Oddly I grew up in Cobourg and my parents still live there... I wish him well.
Thanks for this Marianne. His new work is laudable. Would that he would return to the theatre and TV. I think he would be warmly received. Three or four years ago I made an effort to contact him through Leslie Lester, to say as much; had a role in a play I wrote that I thought he would be magnificent in. Nothing in response, but....who can blame him. Or her.
I still can’t believe the CBC formed a special investigative unit and literally called it “Canada’s Weinstein Unit”