accuses Lord Alfred Douglas of in De Profundis shallowness is a significant recurring one. When I think about those people whom I did not like, identify with or parted with, I would be inclined to concur.
Many shallow types. Very frivolous. Lost and obsessed in/with things that didn’t matter in any consequential way with/to Real People, centered persons with their own integrity and depth. True vacuous phony baloneys and hypocrites.
Winnipeg childhood:
Hugh, my longest and earliest friend. We started in grade 1 in 1955, later going to the same high school and university. We lived on the same street. We are still friends today and have exchanged visits. We continue to talk about the past, our old school friends, cultural trends, the arts, and music. Hugh is a bright guy and was the first friend I looked up to and deferred to, knowledge-wise. (With a special nod to Dave, his car bud, who joined us in high school daze.)
Winnipeg high school:
Wayne, musical friend. Wayne and I started hanging out in grade 11, playing in his basement for 3-4 years. I memorably broke his house’s back door window carrying in a rented Vox amp. We also sat in my cousin’s beater which caught fire in Wayne’s backlane on a trip to Lundar, which was not destined to be! Wayne and I re-established contact in Calgary where he worked as the main computer guy for the city. We did demo tape recordings of my 20+ songs in the ’80s which were praised by the likes of Jack Richardson (Guess Who producer), Rita McNeill, and Glen Campbell’s manager! Wayne and I last played together here a few years back and saw him and his wife in Calgary when we were passing through last summer. The bond and spirit are still palpably thick and deep.
Winnipeg teachers:
Betty, my gr. 5 teacher, still living in Winnipeg. We reconnected during the 100th anniversary of my elementary school at which I was the main speaker. She was the first nice teacher I ever had. Still a nice lady who e-mails me humor from time to time.
Brian, my funny, witty gr. 11 teacher. who influenced me in choosing English as my major in university and in choosing English teaching as a career. We were just talking this morning (he was humming a song from Madame Butterfly in the background as he looked for a pen) and I’m sending him my last two books of poetry. Brian was the first adult I showed my poetry to in 1967 during my first year of university.
Edmonton teachers:
The late Professor R. Glenn Martin who taught me Ed CI English at U of A. Glenn said I was the only person who ever sent him a Christmas card each year. He was a very interesting guy who knew Robert Frost at Harvard. He also talked with me about Emily Dickinson, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, and Beethoven quite often. One winter I escorted him several times to the Edmonton symphony. We had many great conversations about music and the arts at a nice restaurant downtown before the shows. When I last saw him in hospital, he was whistling a piece from Beethoven. I gave his eulogy at his funeral. One of his poems, “Winter Weather Forecast”, is elsewhere on this blog.
The late Stu Millman, supply teacher and jazz bassist in Tommy Banks and Charlie Austin bands. We had many wonderful conversations about jazz during jazz shows. Since he passed, there has been no one to replace his veritable fount of jazz knowledge and information. “As Good As It Gets” is a poem dedicated to Stu on this blog. I read it with his last group the Charlie Austin Trio at the Yardbird Suite.
The late Dean McKenzie, English teacher, musician, artist, and poet. He was the closest thing to Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg this city has ever had. Dean-o aka ‘Fada’ was 1/3 of Spiritus, a poetry trio I read with in the ’80s and ’90s. Dean dressed in a tutu as a wrestler in a play I co-wrote for the Edmonton Fringe called 60 Minutes Live from Loon River. In short, he remains Edmonton’s closest thing to a poetic legend. I gave a eulogy and read one of his poems with the Andrew Glover jazz combo at his truly remarkable celebration of life.
The late Glen Kirkland, English teacher extraordinare. The head of English for Edmonton Catholic and one-time president of Alberta’s English Council. We met in 1977 in a night grad class of three Ed CI students, and went on, in 1980, to write and edit the Connections textbook series. We later did 40+ textbooks and guides, appeared at scores of teacher conferences, talking to thousands of teachers up to 2010 (the last 10 years by myself). We edited an anthology of Alberta teacher poetry and also appeared in Spiritus, a performance poetry trio. Significantly, I learned to write free verse poetry from Glen. He always gave me solid feedback on my work. Glen is also the only friend I have cried for while giving a eulogy for him. That probably says it all re. his relatively young death.
Gerry, another English teacher and one-time music teacher. Gerry is/was always there for people he worked with or was friends with. He is the most knowledgeable person about film and film history I have ever met. A true friend, he got me post-retirement work at Alberta Film Classification. We had one very memorable trip to Slave Lake which likely sealed our friendship for life. On the way back, he twisted my arm to stop at an A & W for a “cold frosty” (root beer). We still meet whenever we can at Smitty’s on quiet evenings and the conversations continue about American history, England and Scotland, film, and books.
Jerry, another retired English teacher. Jerry took over textbook writing with me after Glen passed in 2010. Our best book might have been Inside E-Media (2010), but the publisher that commissioned it backed out. He is as knowledgeable as Glen (and then some) was about English and its teaching. I learned much more about the subject area thanks to Jer. But he is also very astute about many subjects. We continue to bemoan Trump and the decline of standards in culture and grammar via our steady, ongoing e-mails and occasional meetings.
Ken, a retired Social Studies teacher I first met in 1975 at McNally. He was the first teacher who memorably befriended me and we instantly became bar pals, getting into numerous scrapes, sharing many books, and going to many movies together. Ken is a very funny fellow who considers me his personal comedian. I always manage to find something to kid him about. Ken is very interesting and has travelled the world widely. Our only trip together was to Grand Centre, to which he had never been to before. We get together with the wives (his wife was a nurse and has had many colorful stories as well) twice a year.
Edmonton Stroll of Poets Friends: Kadrush, Clint, and Gerald. I continue to meet with these guys at Stroll of Poets readings; they are a lot of fun to chat up.
Kadrush is an Albanian poet living in Edmonton who has used my editing services. I wrote an introduction for one of his books which he also translated into Albanian. I appreciate the bottles of Kosovo wine he has brought me back from his trips home.
Clint is an ex-principal, retired educator with the Spirit of the Great Heart. He is also the best reciter of poetry in Edmonton and a bona-fide prairie boy. I recently gave Clint my rare signed Wallace Stegner’s Wolf Willow in appreciation of his friendship.
Gerald is currently the top male poet in Edmonton. He was in charge of Interdepartmental Studies at the U of A and has a broad-based knowledge of many subjects, especially poetry. His transition from science to the arts began with a haiku book he read on a flight to Japan. I will be bestowing a coffee table book on Wisdom, a topic he has been writing about, the next time I see him.
………………………….
Addendum:
Ken, ever-youthful music teacher, pianist-vocalist, and co-founder/member of Fudge, my teacher duo/trio that played live at Strathcona High functions–teacher and student from 1990-2003. Ken and I were very close (another musical soulmate) and gigged many times. He loved the ‘old music’ and went the whole 10 yards with anything we did together. Playing-wise, you couldn’t ask for a better alter ego/soul brother than him or (above) Wayne. We were very ‘tight’ and on the same page musically speaking. What larks, eh, Fudge?
Secondary English teacher
1972-75: Grand Centre High, Grand Centre, AB (now Cold Lake)–Bonnyville School Division. At that time there were no jobs in the city and I taught ‘in the country’ to build up my credentials. I was offered three Edmonton jobs about the same time in June 1975 and chose Edmonton Public.
Edmonton Public Schools:
1975-84: McNally Composite High
1984-1986: J. Percy Page High
1986-2002: Strathcona Composite High
…………………………………………………………………….
I got into teaching English because of my interest in literature in high school (Silver Heights Collegiate, Winnipeg) and university (University of Winnipeg, University of Alberta–BA and two Grad Diplomas in Education and English). I had a second major in History. Over the years I also taught Drama and Academic Challenge courses including an original Academic Challenge Seminar and original thematic options in poetic song lyrics and literary themes.
…………………………………………………………………….
What I most happy to do was to introduce students to great authors and works as well as to the main themes of literature and life. My approach was idea-centered and seminar style quite often. I also did 1970s pioneering work in teaching general/diploma/non-academic students which led to three rounds/editions of textbooks: one for each grade. My 50 + student textbooks and teacher’s guides were used and authorized in every Canadian province over the years beginning in 1980. They are still used today and I continue to receive royalties several times a year.
(with student band, noonhour live performance of the songs of Bob Dylan, the late 70’s at McNally)
Like magic, the annual PBS broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s concert.
Finishing with “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”, certainly the most beautiful classical concert music piece in the world, followed by the audience enthusiastically joining in to handclap the orchestra through the most popular classical audience participation closer “The Radetsky March”.
Always included are many beautiful visuals of the hall, the main and nearby buildings, historical places, and scenes of the countryside, often accompanied by inspired ballet choreography. Enough to gladden and brighten any melancholy mood.
Equally memorable and entertaining is the summer concert show, the best that tv has to offer by way of classical concerts each year.
Lady and the Tramp, a 1955 Disney classic, is still a perfect movie for 6-8-year-olds, for whom the scary fight scenes are quite manageable. The narrative is a good one about a romance between a pedigreed cocker spaniel and a free-spirited mongrel. The other dogs are funny and nobody/no parents die for a change!
The animation is very engaging and atmospheric with many scene changes. The music is appropriately melodramatic and Peggy Lee contributes two outstanding songs: “He’s a Tramp” and “We Are Siamese” (about two evil cat-villains). The spaghetti restaurant scene at Tony’s features the teary “This Is the Night” and is itself a classic moment in cinematic history.
A safe, thoroughly entertaining, strongly recommended family movie that more than stands up tall after all these years. With much humor directed at adults, too.
(Staying up late looking for Waldo)
Always a family event here. Grandkids getting into the spirit more and more.
New Year’s Day a.m. always starts beautifully with the Rose Bowl Parade on tv with mimosas, pop tarts, and leftovers from the night before.
(last of the party poopers)
(gingerbread man time)
you star in yet another unnecessary version of Jack London’s Call of the Wild (a violent dog story). Harrison Ford.
Listen to the hummingbird
Whose wings you cannot see
Listen to the hummingbird
Don’t listen to me
(from the recommended, posthumous album Thanks for the Dance)
“The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
–Eden Phillipotts
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous.”
–Aristotle
“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.”
–Thoreau
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
–Camus
“Every man’s memory is his private literature.”
-Aldous Huxley
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
–Mother Teresa
“Come forth in the light of things. Let Nature be your teacher.”
–Wordsworth
“Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done?”
–Matthew Arnold
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
–George Eliot
(Brian hamming it with the Art Club which I hung out with one fall Sunday at the legislature and Union Station; friends Hugh and Dave on the ends of the upper row)
A cold call today out of the blue from my 83-year-old grade 11 SHCI English teacher. (I am also still connected to my first favorite (grade 5) teacher at Bannatyne who also retired in Winnipeg.)
What a slice! Brian remains intact though he said his declining short term memory cost him his car this year. He is also on a waiting list to go into a St. Boniface cathedral residence. As usual, we talked of drama, literature, books, classical music, though we didn’t get to film this time around.
If the grade 5 teacher affected my choice to teach, Brian influenced me to choose English, what with his memorable teaching of Robert Frost and Macbeth. He remains a funny, witty, ironic, sensitive guy who, back then, struck me as the guy with an ideal job and the artsy persona I aspired to even then.
It was truly a slice to meet him and (recently deceased) George, my witty gr. 12 teacher in Winnipeg in the 1980s after I published my first textbooks. Brian appreciated the influence I credited him with and last phoned about 8 years ago. He was delighted I was still alive though he thought I and my wife were still in our 50s! Anyway, it was a very civilized fun conversation of olde and I will ring him back in 2020 to keep in touch.
(a Marlon Brando memento of my artsy high school years in makeup for gr. 12 play)
