writing

NOTES FROM A NEPAL DIARY ESSAY FOR CBC RADIO’S MORNINGSIDE 1987

“We're soon within reach of the monastery at Thyangboche. Not long ago we sighted Everest for the first time, though it was too far off to be very dramatic. Anyway, for the past few hours my eyes have been mostly on the ground — absorbed in the patterns made by the soles of walking shoes. In the sand I can see Aztec shrines, the city plan of Ur, drawings from Gray's Anatomy. On a trek at this altitude, the blood drums in your temples, and it’s hypnotic.”

GOING DARK ESSAY FOR CBC RADIO’S TAPESTRY 2006

Where we live in rural Nova Scotia, the power goes out about as often as the tides do, so we may have a spiritual leg up on those who live in cities. We sit around the wood stove, make hot chocolate, light candles. And every time the light goes back on there’s a feeling, mingled with the relief, of some sadness. Of something touched, and lost again... It’s made to order as a spiritual test.

CATASTROPHE & KITSCH WHY TITANIC WON’T STAY DOWN

Well before James Cameron got around to it, I began writing about the multiple meanings of TITANIC. Not how or why the ship went down, but why the myth beguiles us so. And tracing some uncanny parallels with my own life story.