Public Office

Holding public office can be stressful, as we have seen most recently with the behaviour of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, whose aggressive "apologies" indicate a man in pain, but also a man in denial of that which ails him. Situations like Ford's never end well, and I feel sorry for this man and his family.

The last time a big city Canadian mayor behaved like this was in 2001, when an inebriated Ralph Klein made a late night stop at an Edmonton homeless shelter and berated residents for not working hard enough at finding jobs, ultimately throwing money at one of them.

The difference between Ford and Klein is that the latter woke up the following morning contrite and immediately sought help, while the former, a bully by nature, has grown more defensive. If there is a bright side to Klein's bad behaviour, it lies behind this link. As for Ford, let us treat this man with compassion, not derision.

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War Artist

"Universal Soldier" (1964), "Soldier Blue" (1971) and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (1990) are three of Buffy Sainte Marie's better known songs. Each deal with armed conflict, the latter two related to a film and a book of the same name, respectively.

Shock and Awwwwwww…

How we remember the living.

"Cythera"

The latticed arbour tenderly
hides our joy which the rose tree
fans and colours with pleasant air;

the languid fragrance of the rose,
thanks to the summer breeze that blows,
blends with the perfume that she wears;

her eyes' promise has been kept:
she is fearless and the favours
of her lips are exquisite fevers;

Love having sated all, except
Hunger -- sherbets and preserves
kept intact our bodies' curves

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Painting and Collage

Looking through Alber's Interaction of Color brings to mind the paintings and collages of local artists, from Michael Morris (above) to Elizabeth McIntosh (below).