Word Prisms

In the morning, I walk without thought absorbed by the beauty of the waterfall or the curious  behaviour of sheep that kneel to eat the nubbins of grass left in the field where they graze or the friendly "bon camino" from a good-looking young dude scooping shit out of a hole he stands chest deep in as I admire the neighbouring yard with immaculately  sculpted bushes that could have been the work of Edward Scissorhands. As the day proceeds toward the mid to late afternoon, the walking starts to hurt and becomes the object of contemplation; “Just two hours left, then one, then 30 minutes, then 25, 20, 15, 14, 12, 9.” And then it could be all wrong. There could be another hour of walking when I think there's only 10 minutes. The beauty of the trail certainly takes you mind of the walking.  I listen to a podcast or audiobook and concentrate on that or have a chat with passing pilgrims. (Always passing, never being passed.) I listen to how one guy’s feet hurt all the ...

Dog-whistles emit a sound above the range of the human ear but not to that of your dog or domestic cat. It can be very useful if you’re hunting birds and you want to grab the attention of your dog without disturbing the birds. A politician would use a dog whistle to alert his or her the public to a position he or she holds that may be repugnant to the general population. It’s not a literal dog-whistle. The guy doesn’t get on stage and blow a whistle. No, he uses certain words or phrases that make her more radical supporters go, “Hey, is he saying what I think he’s saying?” And the next thing you know you’ve got white supremacists pushing around a black woman at one of your rallies after you tell them to “get her out” and you’re being sued for “inciting violence.”   CNN Footage You may ask, what brought the white-supremacist to Trump events? Well, it all started with his initial announcement that he was going to be running for president when he said of Mexicans, “They’re bring...

The dictionary defines pride as “ a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements.” Pride can also be associated with “the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated.” In this way, we can feel pride for being associated with a business or a professional organization or a volunteer group or religion or race. Pride can also be associated with being of a certain nationality. For example, my wife and I were up at 4:00 a.m. to watch the hockey final in the last Olympics. We found bar on Stony Plain Road that was just packed. I wandered through the bar looking for a seat and found nothing. We were just about to leave when a group of people at a table by the door made room for us on the bench where they were sitting. Would I be racist to say that none were of European decent? I’ve rarely had so much fun watching a hockey game. Canada took control from the start and the crowd struck up their own renditions of “Oh Canada” throughout the game....