Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

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January 6, 2016

One of the best reasons I know of to get out of bed every morning is the expectation that Sadie Stein might have posted one of her delightful reports at The Paris Review blog.

Yesterday Ms Stein revealed herself to be the only other person besides myself (OK, I'm exaggerating) to use the term quasquicentennial in a sentence. Next time you are at a dinner party, tell everyone to turn their cellphones off and ask if anyone knows...

January 6, 2016

The generosity of family allows me to spend time regularly on Savary Island, a small piece of paradise adrift in the Salish Sea. 

For Christmas this year I acquired a camera, the first I have owned since I toured Europe in 1966 with a little Kodak Instamatic. I have recently been conducting forays on foot into the history of Vancouver and I've felt the urge to record what I see.

Here are some results of the convergence of these two enthusiasms -- Savary Island and photography...

December 23, 2015

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December 22, 2015

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Many years ago I lived in an apartment with Babe Rainbow. When I moved out and then got married, the Babe took a different path but she turned up recently and once again adorns the walls of my office.

Babe Rainbow is one of a series of "fictitious lady wrestlers" imagined in 1968 by the British artist Peter Blake. Blake is still going strong, as...

December 17, 2015

According to BookNet Canada, 88 percent of Canadians read at least one book last year. I guess that is good news; apparently only 76 percent of Americans did.

But if you are going to read just one book in 2016, then I'd like to recommend that you make it the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was released earlier this week.

The summary of the report is online,...

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