Alistair McLeod

Here's a great article on Ford - what he meant and how we feel. Very well captured and summarized by Edward Keenan.

www.thegridto.com/blog-post/rob-ford-steps-away-he-needs-to-stay-away 

Even though I've been so busy today I've barely been outside the door, I can feel the city's new sense of peace and well-being from my kitchen. Anna called to say that as she walked home from the drop in she heard everyone talking, and that even those who before would have gone on blindly supporting Ford are saying, Too many lies. He should go.

He can't go far enough. How low can the bar be set in our political discourse? He has shown us - about as low as it is possible to go.

As the Jews say - Dayenu. More than enough.

I am sorry that in the flurry of everything else - coming home, the book, the weather - I have not expressed my condolences on the death of the wonderful writer Alistair McLeod. He was one of the teachers at the writer's conference in Siena, Italy, where I met Wayson, and I adored his impish sense of humour, his gentle self-deprecating tone, his ruddy face and twinkling eyes. He was a wise and generous friend and writer. A great loss for the country and for world literature.

Moving on. Had a meeting today with Don, the publisher of my memoir, about our next project which is nearly ready to go. It's a how-to book about writing memoir that I put together years ago for my students. Don seems to like it a lot. He proposes that we edit through May, send it out for layout and design in June, and hold the book in our hands by mid-August, to get it in bookstores before my September courses.

It took 25 years to research, write and bring out "Finding the Jewish Shakespeare." And now it's possible that I'll have two books out in one year. AT 63, I've never been so busy. There was a great quote on a website I was trolling through yesterday, a famous writer whose name I have forgotten asked the meaning of happiness, and she replied, "Meaningful work."

Absolutely.