When one is marking student essays and exams, the creative muse strains to escape…….today, with another carnage report re: Canadian casualties from Afghanistan, took time out to write the following letter to the G&M…. Let’s see if Marcus Gee lets it through AfghanistanWith another four dead in Afghanistan, it is not too early to underline [...]
THIS ITEM COURTESY OF THE INSIGHTFUL (AND INCITEFUL) DAVID FENTON, WHO FEELS ABOUT THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT THE WAY I DO……AND YES, IRAN, IS A CONCERN TO MANY OF US…. COMMENTS, OF COURSE, WELCOME…. I’m the decider. I pick and I choose. I pick among whats. And choose among whos. And as I decide Each particular [...]
THIS FROM THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION (c 2006), VIA KEN KIRKWOOD AT WESTERN……Comments, of course, welcome….the professor does not necessarily share Benton’s views….. Friday, April 14, 2006 The Seven Deadly Sins of Students By Thomas H. Benton An Academic in America “Thomas H. Benton,” an assistant professor of English, offers his take on academic [...]
It’s important to write when the muse strikes you. Or, when the muse strikes you, strike back! I often spice up my day with a quick letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail. It’s tough to break into publication, given the competition from across the country. So one has to be clever, and [...]
I have a dear friend, an American at birth (like me), who recently “took out” (I love that phrase) Canadian citizenship, which makes him a dual (which I did in 1985–21 years now as a dual–it feels Good!! David Fenton is a whiz with a computer, and a sweet guy with a skeptical outlook on [...]
We’ve had three- plus years now of an administration that seems to stub the toe of truth even more than Bill Clinton in his darkest hours. It feels good, but not that good, to say, “I told you so,” and daily it appears that we slouch closer to some form of catastrophe. Skyrocketing oil prices [...]
The issue of males in sport venues behaving badly is as hackneyed as the sky is blue (except in Kingston). Usually, black athletes from compromised socio-economic backgrounds find their way into what this author deems “entertainment rap sheets”– a means by which media replicate assumptions about African Americans generally. Unequal justice is a similar theme [...]