colemining

[colemining]

Obsessed

If an obsession is “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind”, I admit that there may be some truth to be found in applying that label to me, as a participant in the world as it currently is. It’s hard not to be preoccupied with things in our shared reality at the moment. We live in this world – albeit differently than has been the case in the past, since the…

[colemining]

Out of Touch, Out of Time

Out of Touch, Out of Time

So the siege of Toronto has begun… Imagine, if you will, the pathological privilege that is required to make the opposition of public health recommendations – implemented for the good of ALL of the society that permitted that privilege – and the disruption of that same society your sole focus. YOU can stay home from your job – disrupting the lives those who live in the cities you have occupied,…

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Content Creation

… standing in the middle of nowhere wondering how to begin lost between tomorrow and yesterday between now and then. And now we’re back where we started here we go ’round again day after day I get up and I say I better do it again.’ At the beginning of 2020 I set myself the challenge to read my way through my not-insignificant bookshelves (my Uncle Jim can verify that I have a few books)…

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'When everyone's talking and no one is listening how can we decide?'

‘When everyone’s talking and no one is listening how can we decide?’

Four years, and too little has changed. My gratitude and sincere remembrance has not.

[colemining]

Four Long Years, or It's the End of the World as We Know it, and I Feel Fine.

Four Long Years, or It’s the End of the World as We Know it, and I Feel Fine.

Back before the global pandemic, a group of us used to get together on Tuesdays (why Tuesdays? That’s a story in itself…) and four years ago we convened, per usual, in order to watch the election results come in from that country to the south of us.

I admit, I’d been complacent enough to believe that the result of the 2016 election was going to be straight-forward. I couldn’t imagine any…

[colemining]

35 Years Ago Today

35 Years Ago Today

To diverge a bit from the subject matter that has been consuming my attention lately, I feel like I have to mark an important anniversary today. Admittedly, this impulse came about when a younger work friend said, in all innocence, “what’s Live Aid,” when I brought it up in conversation.

Children.

After I turned into ancient dust and blew away on a gust of 80’s wind, I revisited some of the…

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'Now do education'

‘Now do education’

My post from the other day – calling for an end to the model that permits long-term care homes to be privately owned and administered by profiteering and shareholder dividends rather than care and quality of life – hit a few nerves here-and-there. Not nearly enough, in my opinion (working on expanding the reach – there will be letters and phone calls going out this weekend), but it’s a start.

In…

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NOT for profit

In attempting to find an appropriate way in which to share my voice as more and more are raised in protest and demands for change, it can be tricky to stay in one’s lane while also acting as an ally and advocate of those with differing experiences to my own.

As such, I feel that the best way to participate is to magnify those voices who know about the things outside of my ken, while leading…

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Ain't no such thing as 'Judeo-Christianity'. Theo-idiocy? Yeah, THAT's a thing.

Ain’t no such thing as ‘Judeo-Christianity’. Theo-idiocy? Yeah, THAT’s a thing.

Seems like all I’m doing lately is calling out the IMPOTUS for inherent ignorance and institutionally-supported nonsense. It’s a holiday down south and that guy gave another scripted (yet poorly read) speech, part of which claimed that the US is ‘proud of the fact that the country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.’

Given my current job, it’s sometimes easy for me to forget that I spent a…

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Virology

Something sort of weird happened yesterday. I responded to a tweet – on @Mikel_Jollett’s twitter feed. Reflecting on the the rally about to happen in Tulsa, he commented that it smacked of cultic activity – and he cited his own history having been raised in, and then escaping from an actual cult – Synanon – a story he tells in his recently-released novel Hollywood Park (check it out if you want a…

[colemining]

Virology

Something sort of weird happened yesterday. I responded to a tweet – on @Mikel_Jollett’s twitter feed. Reflecting on the the rally about to happen in Tulsa, he commented that it smacked of cultic activity – and he cited his own history having been raised in, and then escaping from an actual cult – Synanon – a story he tells in his recently-released novel Hollywood Park (check it out if you want a…

[colemining]

Moral Compass — scottishmomus My daughter lent me a book a year or so ago. I started it then put it down.

[colemining]

#ItIsSystemic

I have spent the last few days listening to voices who have experiential knowledge from which my privilege has shielded me. Right now I need to be listening – since I need to learn how best to continue to contribute to this war, so all I will say is this, to those who might be less-inclined to listen to those who know, first-hand, what the hell has been going on, but might listen to me.

As both…

[colemining]

Voices Carry: Next Steps

Voices Carry: Next Steps

Well it’s been an interesting few weeks since I first started trying to articulate what I hope to do with this project. I have, already, had some great conversations that will, I hope, lead to larger ones that will focus positive attention on the change-seeking that should come with the restructuring that will be required as a result of the pandemic. Change that cancome if we isolate and analyse…

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Voices Carry: The Project

Voices Carry: The Project

My all-time most-read post, years later, still gets the hits due to the super-distinctive lyric I used as its title. Everyone knows the song, it seems. And it’s one of those that winds and weaves and takes the listener through a complicated journey that winds through time-and-space with a cast of characters that rivals those in that all-time favourite of mine, The Weight.

I originally wrote that…

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Ordering Chaos

It doesn’t seem like there is anything else on the menu, lately. Everything is in flux and new and different and not in a good and exciting way.

All of us are struggling with the reality of Covid-19 – and the ways in which we deal with the chaos are as myriad as our personalities and life situations.

I tend to likeorder.  Not to the extreme of stifling creativity or preventing spontaneity, but,…

[colemining]

Mene Mene (especially you, MAGAts)

Mene Mene (especially you, MAGAts)

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m doing my best to catch up on reading and paying attention to things that used to inspire and entertain, both, as I navigate the challenges that have come along with this physical distancing and isolating thing. When I’m at my most optimistic/least anxious, I feel lucky to have the extra time to revisit writings and readings that were the focus of my life for a…