Words in(dy) Edgewise

Aimee Wall says nice things about WiE in The Independent and manages to splice together enough of my interview to make me sound less like a dunce than normal. Thanks Aimee.

Bringing the University Downtown

The ugliest little house in the world!

And it is ours...

...and we're blogging all about it!

Can you say "screw" on the radio?

I was on the radio talking 'bout my learnin'.

Screw Everything: Make it Better at Words in Edgewise

From Words in Edgewise, May 10. As seen on thescope.ca.

Screw Everything: Make it Better

Open publication

I am the Walrus

Read my Open Letters to Politicians on The Walrus Blog.

Words in Edgewise: The Movie

Words in Edgewise was all about Andy Jones' Abbie Table project in January. It was filmed. I edited the hour and a half down into 12 and a half minutes:

For my future biographer...

When I grow up and am rich and famous, and am added to the Caroline Community Wall of Honour underneath "Smokin'" Joe Lucas, two-time Calgary Stampede Calf Roping Champion, here is something for my future biographer to keep in mind...

I am working on a project about David Blackwood, what the project is doesn't much matter, but I have struck upon an interesting parallel between the brilliant Newfoundland artist and national treasure, and myself.

Like me, Blackwood grew up in a small town. In his small town, before he was born, there wasn't a library, so a kindly teacher set one up. However, when the kindly teacher moved away he took all the books with him. All of them except one...

Several years went by and a young David Blackwood stumbled upon the remaining book, The Makers of Florence by Mrs. Oliphant. This, he claims, had a major influence on his development as an artist, and in convincing him that art was a worthwhile endeavour for a person to devote their life to. Before this it might have been inconceivable for him to become anything other than a ship captain like his father and grandfather and great grandfather and so on.

In the early 1990s my parents owned an ill-fated business that combined a sporting goods store, a craft store, and a video rental store in one pretty small space. As a concept it makes perfect sense, something for him, something for her, and something for him and her to do together. Why it only lasted a few glorious years, I will never know. But it eventually came to an end and all the videos were returned to some factory someplace where they were probably melted down into toy guns, or something. All of them except one...

Now excuse me while I go out and shoot pool, fight the corrupt financial system, and beat heavily armed Asian drug gangs from the future with my bear hands, sharp wit, and devil-may-care attitude. I've got history to make.