GRAN’S CANADA HIGHWAY – EPISODE 2: THE FIR TREES AND BEYOND by Jaimie Vernon

Historic, and hysterically stereotypical, visions of Canada usually consist of Eskimos, dog sleds, igloos, Mounties, and clear tracts of land filled with snow-capped mountains and evergreen forests. Oh, and people going over Niagara Falls in barrels. Monty Python also made a huge deal out of our lumberjacks as well.

Frank Gutch Jr: The World Is Dying and Yet It Lives, Especially in Canada – The Land of Mowat, Music, and Literature

We are killing the world.  Killing it.  The human, the supposed brightest and most intelligent species on Earth is killing the only planet we have.  The only one which can sustain us.  Forget about Mars or the myriad of planets scientists are telling us might be alternate worlds for us.  There is not enough time to find them and, if you ask me, it wouldn’t do any good anyway.  We would kill them too.  It is our way— our lot in life.  As much as we want to be compassionate and good, we can’t.  We cannot shake the urge to kill, usually in the name of progress.

Frank Gutch Jr: Travels With Farley: Canada’s Legacy in Words— Plus Notes

I have this very large book sitting on my shelf titled Canada: A Modern History.  At the time I purchased it, I was beginning a journey into Canadian literature thanks to a bookstore in Seattle known as Magus, a large store in the University District of Seattle containing books of all sizes and flavors, mostly paperbacks.  I had stumbled upon this book quite by chance at the first Friends of the Library sale I attended upon arriving in Seattle and, having this unquenched thirst for what I now know as America’s Hat, purchased it on a whim.

Frank Gutch Jr: Thank You, Vancouver! We Love You! Be Sure To Tip Your Waitress!

My brother-in-law kept telling me about New York but all I could see was the tall buildings popping out of the ground of downtown Vancouver.  It wasn’t the massiveness of the city.  It was the feel!  And make no mistake, Vancouver is a city.  A big one with a big downtown and all of the pluses and minuses which go with it.  Sirens all night, a large homeless contingent, people walking with rolling suitcases everywhere.  Restaurants— my God, there were so many restaurants— every kind of food you could possibly imagine.

Frank Gutch Jr: Death Becomes Relevant (A Look at Musicians Who Passed Over in 2014)…..

People die.  I know they do.  But the closer I come to the end myself, I become more reluctant to admit it.  When I was young, death was funerals.  You knew someone had passed by the crowd of well-dressed people lining the streets in front if a funeral home or the long line of cars passing by with lights on.  Or the number of people at a church on a weekday afternoon.  Or the serpentine of gatherers at a viewing, which at moments seemed to be a national event (the two which directly come to mind involving President Kennedy and Rudolph Valentino).  At that young age, death was a ritual.  I came to hate rituals.