Exciting news: I’ve been asked to teach a workshop on memoir writing at the Kingston WritersFest in September! It’s one of the best Canadian festivals, one I’ve long wanted to attend. Now I’ll be there as a participant, able to attend talks and workshops, like in San Miguel. Thank you, Merilyn Simonds!
Perfect weather here, at last — mild, sunny through a bit of a haze, probably from the wildfires in the west. Yes, the smoke reaches this far. The garden is underway; in a few weeks, lots of blooms. How does it happen, every year, from shrivelled brown nothingness to a burst of glory in only a few weeks?
More good news: I went to Mrs. Angus’s weekly protest Grandmothers Against Genocide at Bloor and Bay at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, meeting Annie and some of her social justice friends. Not a big crowd but signs waving on all four corners. Lots of honking and bike bell ringing in solidarity, although also, as I reported on FB, some anger, raised middle fingers, and one guy cycling by who shouted, “Fuck your mother, I hope you die!”
All righty then.
After my FB post, a Jewish writer friend challenged me furiously on FB Messenger, calling me “one of Hamas’s useful idiots.” “What would YOU have done on October 8?” he asked. I replied that Israel has brilliant technology, surely they could have developed a way to target Hamas fighters without slaughtering, to date, 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, destroying everything in sight, and now starving them to death. We exchanged contentious notes back and forth but, after I suggested we should both read Colum McCann’s Apeirogon about this insoluble conflict, ended by discussing books.
I wrote my friend I’m now reading the extraordinary Orbital by Samantha Harvey, which he’d read and agreed — it’s superb, unique, more than worthy of the Booker Prize. Never read anything like it. She somehow imagines with incredible vividness what it’s like to live on a space station, not just for one astronaut but for six different personalities. Space travel is not something I’m particularly fascinated by, and yet in her telling, with her exquisite language, I’m riveted. Highly recommended.
If only Musk and Trump could draw down their battle by discussing the books they’ve recently read. LOL! Loved a FB meme: “Trump and Musk feud over whose father loved them less.” Unfortunately — true.
On another note, I’ve ordered from the library the book everyone is discussing, Miranda July’s All Fours, but it’ll be awhile. There are 541 holds for 225 copies. Sigh. A lowly writer can only dream.
More happy reporting: yesterday I heard children shouting and cheering and went outside to see what was happening — a long line of kids, some with rainbow face paint, holding handmade signs and Pride flags, chanting, “Love is love!” I guess a parade from the school nearby. Everyone, including the teachers, looked proud and happy. Tears of pride and gratitude at being Canadian.
Speaking of which, I’ve been having gut issues which may be leading to back pain. On Monday I saw my doctor, briefly. Thursday I had a blood test and next week will have an ultrasound, to see what’s going on in there. Speedy! And more good news: a dear friend who’s bipolar just spent a few weeks at CAMH, going in suicidal and coming out bouncing with positive energy. All, of course, free, thanks to Tommy Douglas. May I repeat: pride and gratitude at being Canadian.
Saw a program on PBS, to which I recently sent a donation because it’s an endangered species, about memory and aging. Since my grandmother had dementia, memory is something I have on my radar. His prescriptions: exercise and meditate every day; learn something new; lift weights; take probiotics and various supplements, most of which I thought excessive (choline? tyrosine?) but yes to Vitamins D and B; limit alcohol (hmmm) and prioritize sleep. Drink green tea, and eat blueberries, leafy greens, garlic, mushrooms, and onions, wild caught oily fish, healthy oils (olive, avocado, coconut,) walnuts, and raw cacao. I’ll have to make do with my daily dose of dark chocolate.
All righty then. Got most of that covered.
Oh, and banish what he calls ANTs: automatic negative thoughts. Write them down, he said, and ask yourself, Are they true?
I’ll take that to heart. “For some time, I’ve accomplished little because I’m a lazy slug.”
“Is that true?”
2 Responses to “Charlie Angus’s mother for Gaza, and the amazing Orbital”
Hi Beth, we’re having beautiful weather right now in Paris. Yes, I absolutely agree with you about Gaza and I deplore the seemingly gratuitous and disproportionate killing of all those Gaza civilians, women and children included.
I deplore, also, the remaining Israeli hostages stashed somewhere in Gaza – in cages, in tunnels, in basements and god knows where else – and don’t understand why they haven’t been rescued by now. Their poor poor families not knowing where they are and if they’re dead or alive.
Have you seen this exhibition in Toronto? Hard to watch, but necessary. I think people forget the absolute savagery of the Hamas militants and the equally savage violations they exacted on the concert-going Israelis. They might also forget that Iran is their benefactor.
Since the early 1990s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been sponsoring Hamas with military aid and training and financial aid. Iran has remained a key patron of Hamas, providing them with funds, weapons, and training.
https://novaexhibition.com/
Juliet, good to hear from you. No, I won’t see that exhibit on Hamas savagery. I don’t watch movies about the Holocaust either. I am fully aware that human beings are savages, don’t need to be reminded with nightmare images. As I would have said to the guy on the bike, no one is excusing Hamas. But the slaughter of Palestinians is so out of proportion — it’s a war crime. And now the Israelis have started another war, which may spread. It’s horrifying. Standing on the street holding a sign seems pathetic, and yet what else can we do?