confluence, episode 27

Posted on 25 February 2018

A weekly collection of ideas and writing that have resonated with me. Read below or subscribe to get future editions in your inbox.

Last night I went to watch some bands and I realized I’ve been going to shows by some of the musicians there for about 15 years.

Right now I usually see them at the local legion, but I’ve watched them in pizza places, pubs, coffee shops, restaurants, theatres, a record shop, and above a bookstore, most of which are now closed (!).

When I started going to shows I found out about them via a local online forum, but now it’s Facebook.

I used to stream their music on MySpace, and we’ve gone through several other iterations including Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

The places and platforms change but they keep finding ways to put their music out there and I keep finding ways to listen to it.

Top ten

I’ve been thinking about our communities, especially after discovering two of the writers I valued most on Twitter had left the service. I realized I’ve become too dependant on social networks to keep me connected to people whose ideas I valueand so am putting a renewed focus on subscribing to blogs and columns via RSS (if you don’t know what RSS is, then you should read this.
I went to see Black Panther and it prompted some (spoilery) thoughts on blockbuster movies encouraging audiences to engage in moral deliberation. If you have no plans to see the movie, you should still read Catherine Nichols’ essay “The Good Guy/Bad Guy Myth” which has nothing to do with Black Panther but has coloured my overall thinking about the way we tell stories right now. If you do go watch the movie, Sameer Vasta has collected all the best post-movie reading links for you and I to enjoy.
I picked up a book of essays by Zadie Smith and have been enjoying it immensely. One piece, in particular, prompted me to write my own on the small injustices of changing climates titled ‘Elegy for a Chickadee.’
Interestingly enough, two of the other essays in the book cover the importance of libraries as a public space and the dangers of Facebook as a public space. Those two themes were woven together by Frank Chimero in his newly published talk, “The Good Room.” He writes, “I once heard that a library is one of the few remaining places that cares more about you than your wallet,” as Smith writes, libraries are “the only thing left on the high street that doesn’t want either your soul or your wallet.” Both are concerned with where on the internet we can gather that doesn’t want our wallet. It’s worth asking.
Speaking of Sameer Vasta, he shared an article by Henry Gabar called “In Defense of the Small City” which, as a defender of small cities, I definitely enjoyed.

“Vibrant small cities not only offer a hedge against the health of our big ones—certain as that health seems now—but a number of distinct perks of their own. They’re small enough for regular people to participate in politics and make a mark on civic life; small enough for responsive, local ownership over institutions and infrastructure like banks, broadband, retail, and food production; small enough for short commutes and easy access to nature. Newly populated by immigrants, small cities are no longer the staid, conservative outposts they once were. It’s time for some big ideas about how to make them viable again.”
Another week, another young Indigenous person dies with no one being held responsible. It’s tough to say any individual case is a direct result of systemic racism but, just as it’s tough to blame any individual forest fire on climate change, we should still pay attention when the country is burning.
On that topic, I found The Sunday Edition’s discussion of how to reform Canada’s jury system illuminating. The impression I came away with is there are changes that could be made without completely doing away with the ability of lawyers to challenge jurors they don’t want to be part of the trial— namely, working harder to improve non-white participation in jury pools. Michael Enright asked, with so many problems in the legal system already, how high of a priority is this to which former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci replied, ”I believe the most important societal issue facing Canada is its relationship with Indigenous people.”
Via Jason Kottke I discover Switzerland has enshrined animal dignity in its constitution which in turn led me to read David Foster Wallace’s essay “Consider the Lobster”. Despite many previous recommendations I’d never gotten around to it, but oh my goodness is it amazing. Make some time for it.
I went to the Exploration Place’s photo collection of Lheidli T’enneh members in the early 20th century. It struck me that it is one of the few times I’ve seen Indigenous people of this time as they were, rather than how settlers imagined them to be.
I don’t tend to share much of the writing that comes after a mass shooting in the USA. So much of it feels entrenched and unable to move the needle. However, this piece, from a hospital employee on the difference in how an AR-15 style gun destroys the human body when compared to other weapons, I’m sharing.