The first thing I did in 2007 was file into the United States Capitol’s rotunda to say farewell to Gerald Ford, the only president ever to have lain in state while I was on the East Coast. The entire experience lasted only about an hour. The line was short and was hardly a […]

I’m in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, on my way from central Alberta to central Virginia. I haven’t been south of the border in several months now, and I thought I’d pause to mention that the USA is still the USA. It is not Canada. For one thing, I’ve been in the States nearly […]

I’m back in Edmonton after a three-week stay in Vancouver. During those weeks I lived right in the thick of torrential wind and rainfall, the largest water emergency in Canadian history (forcing over a million people to boil their water for 12 straight days), and then record, unseasonal snowfall and cold temperatures just […]

Today I left Edmonton, Alberta—my Canadian home base—to go to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I’ll spend the next three weeks. On the walk down to the Asian supermarket after I got in, I was trying to think whether there are two major U.S. cities that are as different as Edmonton and Vancouver. I […]

I just got back from the Canada-U.S. Fulbright orientation in Ottawa, so as you might expect I have a thick lip, a slight limp, and a busted thumb. Don’t believe anybody who tells you that the Canadian Foundation for Educational Exchange can’t throw a first-rate three-day party.
All great times, of course, start with a […]

I’m not inclined to blog. I am, for one thing, perplexed by the number of private-life details that folks reveal in their blogs and worried that I’ll end up doing the same thing. I remain concerned, but I’m realizing that a blog will be an efficient, although impersonal, way of updating family, friends, […]