Don’t care about the alternative facts in the MSM: Ed Begley Jr. time travelled from the 1980s to perform in the Island Fringe Festival this year, so help me St. Eligius.
I beg to differ
Category Archives: News
Recall
I heard on the news this morning that some plant based beverages have been recalled across Canada due to possible listeria contamination. When I later walked by the empty cooler shelves at a local store, this yellow-and-red tag was next to all the price labels where the recalled products usually sit.
I know the tag must have something to do with the recall, but what is it supposed to be telling me? There was no information posted about the recall or what to do if I had already purchased product, which luckily I hadn’t. Is the tag telling me to call someone? Is it a re-call? Colour me perplexed.
Why is this man smiling?
Dear government comms people,
When official photos are taken, make sure they take two: one happy and one solemn.
Or maybe just buy a couple of ads a year without someone’s mug on it? Trust me, we won’t notice the lack of smiling politicians as much as we will take note of ghoulish grinning.
Sincerely,
Those of us still reading newspapers
Preclipse
It’s cool, bright and sunny here this morning. Around 3:30 this afternoon, we will step outside our house and watch the moon eat the sun. We should experience 2 minutes and 47 seconds of totality here. I bought viewing glasses months ago, signed up to do some citizen science, and now just have to wait for this once-in-many-lifetimes event.
If what I heard on CBC is true and a total solar eclipse only happens in a specific location on average every 375 years, the last time a total solar eclipse occurred where we live would have been around 1650, and this land would be have been covered by an ancient forest: beautiful tall white pine, red oak, birch, maple, spruce. The red squirrels, chickadees, blue jays, crows and ravens we see here year-round would be flying and running around, perhaps joined by a now-extirpated species, the black bear. My ancestors were still all in the UK, 100 years from even thinking about heading west, so maybe a Mi’kmaq family were on the river fishing when early night came and went.
When bidden, Perplexity “curated” a playlist for the event, but left off some obvious (to my human brain anyway) choices: Moonlight Sonata, Claire de Lune, Here Comes The Sun. And, of course, You’re So Vain, with its line about some pompous fella taking his Learjet to Nova Scotia to see the 1972 solar eclipse. Did you know Carly Simon’s daughter, Sally, now lives in Halifax? The media has truly covered every angle under the sun.
We won’t be blasting music here, but will instead watch and listen to how the birds and animals around us respond. I’m going to let our little flock of hens run around the yard and watch them head back to the safety of their coop as it starts to get dark, then wait to see if they reemerge after their shortest night ever. I will report.
For a total solar eclipse, Perplexity suggests:
- “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler
- “Blinded by the Light” by Bruce Springsteen
- “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
- “Solar Eclipse” by YoungBoy Never Broke Again
- “Moon at the Window” by Joni Mitchell
- “Blue Moon” by Billie Holiday
- “Starman” by David Bowie
- “Space is the Place” by Sun Ra
- “Eclipse” by Earl Sweatshirt
- “Moonlight” by Jay-Z and Kali Uchis
- “Seven” by Taylor Swift
- “Moonshadow” by Cat Stevens
- “The Moon and the Sky” by Sade
- “Eclipse” by JACE Carrillo and Alyko
- “La Noche de Anoche” by Bad Bunny and Rosalía
- “Eclipse” by LOONA’s Kim Lip
- “Eclipse” by GOT 7
- “Eclipse” by MAMAMOO’s Moonbyul
- “Eclipse” by Pink Floyd
- “Gravity” by John Mayer
Miami Beach, February 1964
60 years ago tonight, Cassius Clay beat world heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston at a match in Miami Beach. Soon after that fight, Clay would take the name Cassius X and then Muhammad Ali.
A few days earlier, the Beatles returned to England after a successful short tour of the US, the start of Beatlemania on this continent. They appeared three times on The Ed Sullivan Show, the biggest variety program on American television, watched by tens of millions each week. Their second appearance was broadcast live from Miami Beach on February 16.
It just so happened that my parents, Harold and Vivian, took their first vacation to Florida in February 1964 and were in Miami Beach on February 16. They were both 41 and had been married for 19 years. They had worked hard to build up their general store business, so were overdue some fun and relaxation. They travelled with my mother’s cousin and her husband. By all accounts, they all had a marvellous time soaking up the sun and seeing the sights of Miami and Daytona.
My father lugged his 8mm Kodak film camera with him, taking plenty of shots of palm trees, orange groves, alligators and swimming pools. He took some footage of BOAC and KLM airplanes outside a terminal somewhere along their Summerside>Moncton>Montreal>NYC>Miami route.
Their handwritten tickets listed their NY airport as IDL for Idlewild, except Idlewild had been renamed JFK in December 1963 just after the assassination of the US president, but obviously the change had been recent enough that no one was used to it.
One day, the four travellers hopped in their rented convertible and drove around the Miami area, my father aiming his camera at the passing buildings and advertising banner towing planes. When we watched this reel when I was a child, this short sequence would just slip by, but when I had the film digitized, I was able to pause it and have a better look, and quickly fell down a rabbit hole of early 1960s popular culture.
I knew who Mitzi Gaynor was from her movie roles and appearances on television variety shows when I was a child. I looked up the Hotel Deauville and learned it was where the Beatles had stayed in Miami and where their second Ed Sullivan appearance had been recorded, a show that also included Gaynor. Then I read about Sonny Liston’s training camp in Surfside, just north of Miami Beach, and of him appearing on the Ed Sullivan show the same night as the Beatles, and the Beatles also meeting Cassius Clay and posing for a famous photo, and the February 25 boxing match. So much was going on!
I’ve done a few presentations about my father’s film footage to local groups and have used this little clip to encourage people to look at their own photos and videos and to save, document and share what they have. It might take many years before something becomes important or interesting, but if you haven’t saved it, you’ll never know.
What my father filmed isn’t as important as footage of the Beatles or Liston or Ali or even Mitzi Gaynor would be, certainly, but he did capture a few seconds of a time in US history when the country was still trying to come to terms with the assassination of their president only three months earlier, square old Ed Sullivan was kicking off Beatlemania using the huge influence of his television program, and Clay/Ali was on his way to becoming an important sports star as well as a towering figure in the black power, civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements.
What do you have in that cardboard box in your attic or closet? Nothing much? Look again.
Leo and connecting
Earlier this week I changed the tagline for my blog to Always looking for connections. When I’ve been asked what I write about on my website, I’ve said it’s about community and family history, a bit of DIY, anything that has caught my interest, really, everything and nothing.
But I realized recently that what I get most from writing here is figuring out how I’m connected to other people, both alive and dead, how the past is connected to the present, how one thought leads to another. Writing this blog helps me find my place in the midst of churn and the passage of time.
News is spreading across, well, the world of the death of Leo Cheverie, a widely-known and hugely loved Islander. I met Leo 7 years ago when I was working on an outdoor theatre show. He had volunteered to help park cars, cheerfully donning a safety vest and capably Tetrising vehicles to make the best use of the space available. We got chatting and quickly we connected the dots: he knew my neighbour’s nephew, perhaps a vague connection, but that’s enough here. I know you. We are connected.
When I asked Leo if he was going to stay to see the show, the only real perk of volunteering for a sold-out show, he said he wished he could, but he had just come from volunteering at another event and had promised to sell 50/50 tickets at a concert later that evening. Three volunteer roles in one day was probably not unusual for Leo, which is how he was known everywhere.
I bumped into Leo a few times since then: at a rally, at a meeting, and on social media. The last time I saw him was in December 2021, when he and I joined a mutual friend who was visiting PEI and staying at a beautiful Summerside inn. The heritage home was decorated for Christmas, and we had a lovely time talking, drinking tea and eating Christmas cookies in the inn’s parlour.
The afternoon slipped away, snow started to fall and I had to start for home. I hugged Leo and made him promise to visit me during his summer solstice trip, when he and a friend would start their day at the East Point lighthouse and drive across the province to end up in North Cape, stopping to visit folks along the way. I’m not sure he was ever able to make that longest-day pilgrimage again as he was diagnosed with cancer in spring 2022.
I can’t claim any deeper connection to Leo than what I’ve written here, but I admired and liked him so much, and his example makes me want to do more, do it cheerfully, do it tirelessly. To nurture old connections and find new.
Transatlantic Balloon Challenge
Deborah and Mike Scholes have been in Sussex, New Brunswick for weeks waiting for the right weather conditions to allow them to start their journey across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. Today was the day, and they lifted off at about 9:45 am local time.
I checked their live tracking system and their initial path from Sussex had them heading to Moncton, then Shediac, and if they stayed on that course it looked as though they would be passing close to Tyne Valley, not far from where I live. Never one to miss the opportunity to stare at something going overhead and wave at it, I gathered my camera and zoom lens and got ready to head off just after lunch to find them.
When I checked the map one more time before I left, they had started to head slightly more to the east, which meant I had a bit further to drive than I had planned. I decided to go instead to Union Corner Provincial Park, and the tracking map later confirmed I had picked the right spot! I made good time, but arrived a few minutes too late to see them. It was also pretty cloudy.
I hopped in the car again and headed towards Summerside. As I zipped along Route 11 in St. Nicholas, I looked up and there they were, 12,896.3 feet above me, travelling at 23.5 mph!
I knew the Linkletter Community Centre about 10 minutes away would have a clear view from their parking lot, so I continued on there and was able to watch the balloon for a few minutes as it floated on toward Malpeque Bay.
And yes, I gave a little wave, which is completely silly, but the child in me needs to emerge every so often, and young me would definitely have waved to the brave adventurers floating toward the ocean.
Update July 21, 2023 – Due to technical issues, Deborah and Mike had to land their balloon this morning near Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. Must have been a huge disappointment for them, but I don’t doubt they will try again. And if you have seen the musical Come From Away, you know that you are guaranteed a warm welcome and safe harbour if you land in NL!
Long-term drinking water advisories
The federal government of Canada has been promising for decades to restore clean drinking water to First Nations communities. It is a basic human right Canadians expect and deserve, and it is a top priority for all municipal governments. This same concern is not extended to the First Peoples of our country.
According to the Indigenous Services Canada website, four communities had that promise fulfilled over the past year – one in Saskatchewan and three in Ontario – and 28 remain on the list.
Political leaders refer to these situations as “challenging” and “complex”, and I’m sure they are, but surely things could move faster if there was the real will to make it happen. I remember when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami occurred and Canada rightly sent the DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) unit to Sri Lanka to assist their citizens. The DART were said at the time to be water restoration experts and produced 3.5 million litres of drinking water a day during that relief mission.
Perhaps the government could declare an emergency here and speed things up a bit? I’m sure if the water in downtown Ottawa was suddenly declared undrinkable, or if bathing babies in it gave them sores and rashes, something would be done pretty quickly. We can and must do better.
Audiences
I thought I saw it all during my time as a theatre usher, but the story in today’s Guardian about a performance of The Bodyguard musical being halted after audience members refused to stop singing tops every one I have. It certainly never happened at the musical playing when I worked at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, nor at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. Most of the shows I worked at RTH were Toronto Symphony Orchestra shows and those audiences were incredibly polite and restrained; the worst thing that can happen at a symphony concert is someone clapping between movements!
Roy Thomson Hall was also rented to other artists. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed a fantastic and very long show for an excited and enthusiastic audience. As part of showing their appreciation for him and his music, audience members would make their way to the stage, dance, and toss money at Khan and his musicians. There were probably people singing along, too, but that was expected in this tradition.
I was stationed in one of the upper levels of the hall for the Khan show, enjoying this joyous event, when suddenly a man jumped up from his seat, overwhelmed by both the experience and probably a bit too much to drink, and started down the stairs to the front of my section, seemingly intent on jumping down to the main floor to give money to Khan. His poor wife was crying and pulling on him to stop, and a couple of us ran as fast as we could to intervene. Luckily some men grabbed him as he reached the bottom of the stairs and was getting ready to hoist himself over the railing, and someone helped him find safer passage to the stage.
There was also the evening when some Hong Kong-based pop stars performed to a full house. The audience wasn’t memorable, but it was one of the young singers who caused quite a fuss. He had been a tennis player at one time, and part of his schtick was throwing tennis balls into the audience. He didn’t just gently toss them into the first few rows, but instead lobbed them off the walls of the theatre! Most of the walls at RTH were cement at that time and the balls bounced wildly, bonking people who couldn’t follow the path of the projectiles. The management were livid, but thankfully he didn’t throw too many and no one was seriously injured.
There were always a few difficult patrons, people who weren’t happy with their seats or didn’t like the show, but most audiences were unremarkable and blur together. One audience, though, was unforgettably rude and unpleasant, and it might surprise you to find out who they were.
One December evening in the early 1990s, a religious organization held a Christmas song service for their Toronto region members. There was a delay in getting the stage set, so we couldn’t let the audience in on time, something totally out of front of house control. In my section, questions turned into huffing and puffing and heavy sighing when I denied people entry, promising them it would open soon and they wouldn’t miss anything because actually nothing was happening inside the theatre. People ripped programs out of my hands, others asked to speak to a manager, annoyance and anger tensely buzzing in the air.
After everyone was finally seated and the carol service had started, I went down to the main floor to join other ushers in preparing for intermission and everyone had the same wide-eyed look and similar stories: rudeness, people pushing past, sneering, threats. Some had worked at RTH for years and had never had an evening like it. None of us could believe that this particular group would have been so awful, and the fact that most of the Salvation Army members had been in uniform added a whole other level of strangeness to the evening. I went on to another job where I had dealings with Salvation Army groups and I can’t say anyone ever changed my first impression of them!
PEI Provincial Election 2023
Our provincial election, called six months early of the October fixed election date, limped to a close yesterday. We had the lowest voter turnout in my lifetime, just under 70%, which would be seen as a great result in other jurisdictions but is considered pretty dismal here. The Progressive Conservative party strengthened their majority, and the Green party lost their official opposition status to the Liberals. No NDP candidates were elected.
Here are my tepid election takes:
- I knew nothing about the NDP leader, Michelle Neill, before the election, but thought she was extremely relatable and well prepared for the televised leaders’ debate. Her concession speech last night was sincere, positive and classy. I hope she sticks around. Only the NDP and PCs fielded a full slate of candidates, and I’m sure her presence will help build the party over the next four years.
- There was much consternation on Twitter about why the MLA for my riding, Ernie Hudson, was reelected. He has been the Minster of Health and Wellness for the past couple of years, a time of extreme stress on our health care system. #PEIpoli folks couldn’t understand how anyone would vote for him as everyone seems to think he has done a terrible job in the health portfolio, but I challenge anyone to name one PEI health minster who has ever been well liked or thought to be doing a good job. I can’t think of one, and I’ve met them all in the past 20 years of fighting for access to health care for our area. It’s a cursed position, and I think given to people with very thick skin or someone the premier dislikes. Our health system should be run by those hired to do so, and the politicians made to keep their unskilled hands out of it, but the meddling continues and health ministers rightly pilloried. The people in Hudson’s riding are afraid their small hospital in Alberton will be eliminated, so voting for the candidate from the party almost guaranteed to form government only made sense. He’s a good constituency politician, having worked as a political aide before running himself, and he’s a nice guy to boot.
- Left-leaning votes keep splitting between the NDP and Greens, and I wish the two parties would work together. I would like to see proportional representation finally come to PEI, and a temporary Green/NDP alliance might make that happen. Both parties have difficulty finding strong candidates, and we desperately need more progressive voices in the legislature. I doubt if there would be much support for this idea in the two parties, but politics is a game, with teams and players and colours and logos, and the old parties play it very well. To win you have to think and move strategically, and use what resources you have to your advantage.
- I imagine many people in urban PEI don’t realise there are still patronage jobs being handed out in rural parts of the province, thinking that practice died out with the Ghiz government. It did, for the most part, but there are still some seasonal jobs that are “influenced” by MLAs. They expect your loyalty (ie. vote) in return for your job, and if you don’t show up to the polls in a timely manner, you will be reminded and a car will be dispatched to give you a ride to the polls. Politicians will deny this, of course. At least there isn’t someone standing outside the polls with bottles of rum and $20 bills as in the misty days of yore (or maybe there are, but no one offers them to me!)
- Health care, lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living were the main election issues, while the climate crisis barely got a mention. I understand those who are living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet might not have the climate at the top of their list, but there are many on this island who are doing alright, and don’t seem at all concerned that their children and grandchildren will be inheriting a world that will be challenging at best and unlivable at worst. It is a disconnect I will never understand.