Transformations during the 2016/17 radical sabbatical.
It is a sunny, crisp spring morning as I write this. I recently finished a draft of a difficult play, and I’m preparing for a vacation that will involve three of my favourite things on the planet: role-playing games, great beer, and my oldest, dearest friends. After that, I’ll be heading directly back to the…
I am sitting in a studio apartment overlooking the Mira River, that broad stripe of blue that loops about the soul of every native-born Cape Bretoner, crooning like a homing beacon whenever they’re Away. The sun is going down, adding a subtle swath of lavender above the treeline. I don’t go out for vistas very…
In A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright estimates that human beings as we know ourselves have existed for about 100,000 generations, or 2.5 million years – a mind-bogglingly long time by subjective standards, but a mere blink of the eye of the Earth (4.5 billion years old). Yet, says Wright, we didn’t understand progress,…
I am trying, mostly failing, to find the socio-political seabed. I keep diving deeper into murk and cold, straining to see familiar signs of life. Mostly, the creatures I encounter on these deep dives are alien, primordial. I don’t see myself reflected in their eyes. Once in a while, I think maybe I feel a…
I’ve been reading Ronald Wright’s A Short History of Progress, which he delivered at the 2004 Massey Lectures. It’s a thoughtful, often chilling account of civilizations’ tendencies to fall into catastrophic “progress traps” – paths and patterns that seem beneficial for everyone, but which collapse in on their own weight, decimating or even eradicating cultures…
New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never believed in them, yet I always get caught up with them. I like the idea, I guess, but I’m like a window shopper who can’t quite bring himself to enter the store, much less marry money and mouth. And if I don’t tell anyone that I’m thinking about making resolutions,…
A million years ago, when I attended the National Theatre School, myself and the other two playwriting students in my cohort sometimes got tossed into classes with the acting students. There was rarely much explanation for it, and though the administration claimed to have an immaculate plan for our education, I suspect it most likely…
One more tour around the sun under my belt. As I settle into my almost-but-not-quite-but-who’s-counting-mid-forties, I have to remind myself that birthdays can still be a good reason to celebrate. The current urge is mostly just to take stock, do a bit of habit-cleaning, and maybe, if there’s time, toast myself with a glass of…
