Address to the Global Civic Public Salon 3 April 2013 My mother passed away seven years ago this past Sunday. And I was having lunch with Sam and Lynn a couple weeks back and told them a bit about her and my father, and the crazy, unlikely story of how they met. And Sam said: […]
Author: Timothy Taylor
The 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 […]
1 Ordinary Cook, 35 Impossible Recipes: Outtakes from a week in the culinary trenches
My article about cooking incredibly difficult food from the most insane cookbooks of the year is running over at Cooking Light. 1 Ordinary Cook, 35 Impossible Recipes (“Can a home cook learn anything from the supercomplicated cookbooks of the world’s most celebrated chefs? We asked Timothy Taylor to dive into the deep end and throw […]
Happy Hunting
Buster, Buster. A lot of people have been through the loss of a pet. I’ve been through it before. Now, as of this past Tuesday January 29th, I’m going through it again. His name was Buster. He was a Chocolate Labrador. In just under 12 years, he became so involved in the life of my […]
The Way Things Are: Fred Herzog’s Art of Observation
First published in Canadian Art Winter 2013 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 to the top […]
Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jog
I set out to find wild elephants. That was my big idea. I pitched the story that way. I left on the plane with only that in mind. I got much more. In a couple months, the article about my trip to the Yunnan Province in southern China will run in EnRoute Magazine. I don’t […]
Pilgrimage Redux
Gone for a few weeks to China on a gig for EnRoute Magazine. Spotty to nonexistent internet while I’m gone. Taking: 2 blank notebooks, 5 pens, a knapsack, and zero preparation. Returning with: 2 full notebooks, a crucially necessary new attitude, and photos of elephants. Enlightenment is an outside possibility.
Coffee and Coral Snakes: Batesian Mimicry at Work and Play
From Vancouver Magazine Fall Issue 2012 *** Note: I was inspired by the always-fascinating work of Eric Falkenstein (at Falkenblog) in my application of Batesian Mimicry to consumer behaviour. *** It will have escaped nobody’s notice that Vancouver is a top-ranked city in at least three categories. We’re always high on those “liveable city” lists. […]
A 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 […]
Encountering 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 […]