Lumberjack Politicos
. Republished by Coach House Books in 2019 (originally published in 1987).
On the mountaintop a sinking sunray hits a tile ï¬oor. Shining through the public chaletâs glass doors. The coffee machine guard has gone home. But there is a troubled rumour in the room. Suddenly the place ï¬lls up with freaks. Hippies left over from the sixties. And some striking hospital workers. Everybodyâs stoned. The sky is gathering like a stormy sea. On the radio, a voice says: âBonsoir, les amis. Nous voilà à presque dix ans de la Crise dâoctobre. Notons, par ailleurs, lâapproche dâune tempête de neige vers 20 heures.â
Solace Ã
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Photo: âMud and barbed wire through which the Canadians advanced during the Battle of Passchendaele,â November 1917. William Rider-Rider / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-002165
Iâm writing a non-fiction book set in a World War I military hospital in Toronto, so I spend a lot of time in the past. An influx of wounded led to the hasty creation of the hospital in a cash register factory on Christie Street, in the west end of the city. The original building no longer stands, and the site is home to a sprawling seniorsâ residence with a plaque that commemorates the hospital. I sometimes walk there and wander around, trying to imagine the site as it was, with veterans soaking up the sun, nurses in their long blue dresses and white veils, and now and then a train rolling by. Through service records, old newspaper accounts, letters and diaries, Iâm coming to know patients and staff in an intimat
Synchronicity
The photos here are selected from
Synchronicity, Fabrice Strippoliâs upcoming book of photographsâmost of which were taken in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montrealâspanning his thirty-year career. Synchronicity is the idea that meaningful coincidences are clusters of events that have no causal relationship yet appear meaningful to the viewer. It is a way of seeing the world, âan ever present reality for those who have eyes to see,â as Carl Jung wrote. See more of his photos at fabricefoto.com.
âMichaÅ KozÅowski
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