Slogans, Boosterism, and Being the City of Waterfalls
A slogan does not make for a great city, nor does a single dominant culture. Hamilton is best branded as the City of Waterfalls, no matter how much effort and money is put into creating other brands. Why the City of Waterfalls? It describes Hamilton best, the brand…
Loving Your Hometown and the Hometowns Which Adopt You
"Thanks, your tourist dollars are appreciated", Dan Jelly says to me after I my purchase four Hamilton neighbourhood maps at Hamilton’s Mixed Media shop. It is March 2, 2020 and I’m visiting Hamilton to give a lecture at McMaster University. For the 2019/20 academic year, I was a…
Gary Hart: When US Journalism Stopped Ignoring Politician's Private Sexual Affairs
When should journalists report on the personal affairs of politicians? It is a good question to which the answer reveals much about the person responding and the state of the society they are living in. I came to age during the Clinton White House sex scandal, and observed…
Boxing Day Line-ups and Paper Flyers in the 1990s
Let’s go back to the 1990s, specifically to the once great festival of shopping – Boxing Day. The big box store is not yet fully dominant, just-in-time efficient delivery with minimal on-hand stock is not yet dominant either. Now, I’m going to sound like an old man saying…
Playing St. Nicholas at UofT
December 6, 2019, Berlin, Germany. I awake to discover a bag of chocolates placed in front of my hotel room door. It is St. Nicholas Day in Germany and it is traditional there for St. Nicholas to fill boots which children leave out the night prior with gifts…
Christmas Eve and Friends – Dec 24
Meals with friends, carols at St. Patrick’s Church, and more camaraderie with friends – these are the Christmas Eve traditions are important to me. The friends I see, the community I’m part of, all come together on this day. It starts with Christmas Eve day lunch. My friends…
Personal Blog Post: The Second Hamilton COVID Mockdown
Hamilton is back in “lockdown” for a second time. The entire Province of Ontario enters “lockdown” on December 26. While the second time, this one is very different than March to May. Globe and Mail health columnist André Picard refers to the half-measures as a mockdown, which is…
Political Leaders Wishing to Be Liked at All Times During COVID End-Up Failing to Be Liked at All
The number of COVID causes in Ontario is rising, hospitals are operating over-capacity, there are already record numbers of COVID patients admitted to Intensive Care Units, and more patients are coming. The expected wave has become a crisis, and after weeks of seeming denial, Ontario Premier Doug Ford…
Age Shall Not Wear Them, Nor The Years Condemn, 2020
I spent the summer of 2003 posted to the Infantry School at CFB Gagetown. There I served alongside many who already complete a tour in Afghanistan, many who would go to Afghanistan, and sadly some who would not return home from Afghanistan. I’ve been thinking much the past…
The People Who Made Us Better Along the Way
A playlist is often more than songs, much as songs are more than words. They stir emotions, enable us to relive memories, and to relief our stresses. I listened to President-elect Joe Biden’s speech tonight. His writers decision to include references to the devotional Christian hymn On Eagles…