Posts Tagged ‘Culture’
Ya Gotta Believe
Thoughts on sports and religion. This piece ran in 18 Bridges a number of years back.
Read MoreNegative Empathy
Should writers of fiction review the work of colleagues? I avoid it personally, and my rational for doing is the basis for my side of a debate that was part of the CBC Literary Smackdown series a couple of years back. The other side of the issue was taken by esteemed Victoria-based novelist and nonfiction writer Robert Weirsma, who also writes a…
Read MoreAnna Lena
When Chef Michael Robbins auditioned for Top Chef Canada, he stressed in his audition video that he was an “extremely competitive person”, like a promise of what might come. All the more painful an irony that he ended up cut first, before even preparing a complete dish. That was a loss for the judges and show.…
Read MoreAi Weiwei’s New York Photographs
This is the transcript of an address given 13 Nov 2014 at the Belkin Gallery in Vancouver. — Thanks everyone for being here. And thank you Shelly Rosenblum and the Belkin Gallery for inviting me. I’ve only been full time faculty here for 18 months or so. And one thing I didn’t know to anticipate were these cross-disciplinary conversations that…
Read MoreThe Nomad and the Refugee: a trip home in 70,000 kilometers, 18 years and 217 days
My mother passed away Mar 31, 2006, almost exactly seven years ago at the time of writing. Memories of her are still with me powerfully. And the story of how she met my father is one of those genesis-legends that I now understand to have shaped me crucially: my love of Vancouver, my affinity for…
Read MoreThe Way Things Are: Fred Herzog’s Art of Observation
First published in Canadian Art Winter 2013 By Timothy Taylor At 82 years of age, photographer Fred Herzog doesn’t move quite as quickly as he used to. But then, few people ever did. In his younger days, Herzog was the kind of guy who’d jump on his Norton motorcycle after lunch and ride back roads…
Read MoreA Navy SEAL on the Full Circle of Vengeance
A Facebook friend, Canadian television host Carolyn Weaver, posted a link to a fascinating 60 Minutes episode in which CBS correspondent Scott Pelley interviews “Mark Owen” (pseudonym), a retired Navy SEAL who was in the room when Osama bin Laden was killed in his compound in Abbottobad, Pakistan. Owen has just published a book about his…
Read MoreEncountering versus Constructing
I’m asked quite frequently to lecture on nonfiction long form journalism, of which I do a lot. The picture here and below is a sub-lecture in itself. I remain bad for forests in what I do, because for these more intense features – like the one I’m presently writing about Fred Herzog for Canadian Art, I find it…
Read MoreMusic in the City and the Psyche
Update: 28 August 2012 The editors at Harpers have assigned the story. So this piece will be appearing in an upcoming issue of that great magazine. We’re very much interested in the story of PTSD and how it is illuminated by Christian Ellis’s story and the remarkable opera inspired by his experiences. That’s both sides…
Read MoreCreative Chaos Now Available in Paperback
Two things are happening right now that have an intense and resonant connection. 1. The Blue Light Project is published in paperback at the same time as being selected as a contestant for a reality-television-styled vote-based Bookie Award. 2. The Red Gate artists’ collective has found a potential new home, but needs City of Vancouver…
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