“The “Freedom Convoy” that converged in Ottawa on Jan. 28 began in response to the federal government’s move to require Canadian truck drivers crossing the U.S. border be fully vaccinated to avoid testing and quarantine requirements, but has evolved into a protest of all public health measures aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers say they will not end their protest until all measures are dropped.” Ottawa Citizen, Feb 13, 2022
Continue readingIf you have recently gone from having a little trouble getting into your skinny jeans, to contemplating buying your whole new summer wardrobe from Omar the Tentmaker, you may have fallen prey to that other pandemic within the pandemic known as “The Pandemic 15,” fifteen pounds being the median amount of weight that many of us have piled on in the last year.
Continue reading
It is believed that the first president to use the term “my fellow Americans” was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his Inaugural Address of 1933.
When I was a kid in Montreal, most of the dads (and some of the moms) were veterans of the World War II, and the Korean War, which had ended just a few short months before I was born.
I’m still marveling at how much more relaxed the world has become since January 20th Feels like a luxury, not being on high alert every minute of every day, and I’m loving it.
As the fog of negativity lifts, there’s time to look around and marvel at how much our lives have changed, and will be forever changed, by our experiences. There’s no discounting that the very framework of our lives has been reworked by the ravages of COVID-19. Nearly everyone has lost someone dear to them to the virus, and many who became ill with the disease may have healthcare issues impacting them for the rest of their lives.
Eleven days post the Biden Inauguration, and I’m still on a high. It’s not about Joe Biden per se, nor even the wonder of the first black, South Asian-American female vice-president in history in the form of Kamala Harris. It’s not even about the days starting to get a little longer, with the sun coming up a little earlier every day.
No, it’s so much more than that.
What a difference a week makes! Since the inauguration, I haven’t had a single communication with another person that didn’t involve a distanced high five, and a recounting of how much better we’re all sleeping and eating since we saw the backend and ignominious departure of the previous resident of the White House.
“So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun.” (John Lennon/Yoko Ono)
Generally, writing about the continuing political clown show in America is more exciting than writing about what are often picayune matters in Canadian politics.
Canada has practically sailed thru the pandemic, in comparison to other countries. We’ve been lucky, overall, and much of that success is because the majority of us are happy to comply with regulations that will help stop the spread of the virus. Things could most definitely have gone much worse.
This whole COVID thing is getting long, tiring, confusing and extremely exasperating for most of us. People start to rebel like children in a sandbox who don’t play fair. They confront each other in anger like the bully in the schoolyard. In many instances we seem to live in a rather thoughtless society whose three favourite people seem to be me, myself and I. It doesn’t seem to matter what part of this mudball we inhabit, everyone is infected…..not by the virus, but by fear, bad attitude, frustration, annoyance, (add your own descriptive here). Information, misinformation, ignorance, conspiracy theories, protests and riots, the numbers are over/under inflated/aren’t real….the list goes on. It doesn’t really matter what you believe, it’s affecting all of us. COVID fatigue is real and should have been considered by minds much greater than mine, long before now.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 