Fresh snow. It's so beautiful at first, nothing lovelier than a tree coated with a delicate layer of white. Before disgusting human beings go out with their dogs and garbage and befoul it all.
Police action in Ottawa at last, advancing slowly. Canadian restraint. Yes, we all remember demonstrations where police advanced with batons swinging, cracking heads and making violent arrests, but I think they're right to move slowly here. There's a core group in huge trucks primed for violence, and there are children. Can you imagine subjecting children to this? What a gulf in our world, in our country.
The issues don't end here, this is class warfare, I think, deathly serious. But at least, perhaps, if they can clear them out, this won't be front page news around the world, and the poor citizens of Ottawa can get back to work. Freedom, they cry, like children throwing themselves in fury on the ground. Don't want it! they cry. My way! they howl. But underneath the tantrum, there's something much deeper, the rage of the white working class that's affecting the whole Western world and that may never be resolved.
The feedback about the Penny essay has been more than gratifying. Unfortunately, the other, of which I'm also extremely proud, is behind the Queen's Quarterly paywall and will not be allowed out. Of course, there's the option of subscribing to such a fine literary magazine. It's also available free from a Canadian library website, but for those of you who are interested in reading it, if you let me know, I'd be happy, as we did once before, to email you the PDF.
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