Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

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January 6, 2017

Tilikum, the most infamous orca in the world, has died.

In 2010 Tilikum was participating in a whale show at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, when he pulled a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, into the tank and held her under the water until she drowned. That incident was highlighted in the documentary film Blackfish which alleged...

January 4, 2017

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New Year's Day, the beach at Duck Bay on Savary Island, B.C. 

It is just gone noon and no one else is about. The footprints belong to the members of our small party; the rising tide will soon wash them away. The mountain ranges of Vancouver Island are visible in the distance.

December 28, 2016

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The annual Boxing Day walk this year was abbreviated due to the weather here in Vancouver. This is Spanish Banks at approximately 11 a.m. We began with good intentions but ended with frozen extremities. (No jokes about wimpy Vancouverites, please.) Since the fish and chip stand in the distance was closed, we sought warm beverages elsewhere. At least we tried.

Happy New Year to all!

December 20, 2016

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November 30, 2016

As a new-hire at the Ottawa Journal in the autumn of 1971 I was assigned to the early shift in the newsroom. Behind my desk by 6 a.m., I was responsible for whatever news was breaking cityside that morning, writing it up and getting it to the editor before deadline at eleven. Much to my own surprise I turned out to possess a facility with the idiom. Snowstorms blanketed the city. Traffic accidents snarled the morning commute. Dog bites man. That sort of thing.

It was a winter...

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