The sound of one hand packing
Artists earnestly repeat bromides like “it’s the journey, not the destination,” but an artist’s path needs a destination. Mark Strand once said, “If I knew where I was going I probably wouldn’t go there.” But eventually we do need to find that we’ve ended up somewhere, and unpack.
Dr Essai’s life checklists: No. 1, Reading Strategies
Surgeons and physicians have embraced the quality assurance and error avoidance of a smart checklist. Why not the rest of us? Why not checklists for life?
To write the best story, sometimes you must get out of your own head
Dr E's amanuensis, Mr K, recently published this essay on Nieman Storyboard.
The book report for March 2023
I made my way through a couple of door-stoppers this month, including an American classic. Yes, I am feeling pretty good about myself.
Did not foresee going to work in a Montréal bank
Or, the pleasures of writing in a cavernous space rife with data streams
Cold, rainy late March Montréal, city of
Shame on you, Atticus Finch!
The blue jay is a magnificent bird, the punk rocker of the feeder with its crest of blue feathers standing straight up on its head, brash and raucous as it takes the stage, loud as the Ramones.
You’re good to go, Cortés; you too, John Winthrop
Viking raiders in the 8th and 9th centuries left no evidence that they ever bothered to rationalize pillaging the British Isles. Seven centuries later, something had changed.
The book report for February 2023
Or, seriously, Tao Te Ching twice?
Lingering covid-19 symptoms, plus a new cold and possibly bronchitis, provided Dr Essai with
G-L-O-R-EYE-EYE-EYE
Coiled in the 2:37 of that track was all the explosive energy and carnal appetite and wild joy that the grownups in charge had been trying to tamp down since Plymouth Rock.
Happy break-a-tooth-on-a-hard-candy-heart day
A Christian martyr named Valentine was executed around 270 CE by Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, despite having healed his jailer’s daughter of blindness. Talk about ingratitude.
