Chris Wiebe
@chriswiebe
Husband, father, volunteer, advocate, Anglican. Prof & former Canada Research Chair at the UofW. Deputy Warden St Johns
Bill Blaikie, long time NDP MP/MLA, on fossil fuels in 1990: “We were reaping what we had sown ‘by our excessive dependence on fossil fuels, and on oil in particular.’” When would “the Western world wake up to this dependence and begin charting new energy policies”? Not with Kinew and the MB NDP.
(Mild Odyssey spoiler) There aren’t too many hills to die on in life, but I will die on the hill that the ending of Nolan’s The Odyssey is the same as the ending for The Dark Knight Rises. They even have the same actress. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Imagine it being 2026, and we are watching Canada burn or be engulfed by record breaking climate accelerated floods, and then as a leader making a statement like this about how great it is to be supporting oil and gas. Imagine that this Premier has been called “progressive” and a possible future PM
“Hey did you want to see The Odyssey this weekend?” “Actually I am kind of interested in seeing THS THDPSSSSPS.”
Reading “The Hobbit” to your children is wonderful until your son points out you are the same age as Bilbo and too old for adventures.
Someday, images like this will be in a history textbook. That is, if the world doesn’t burn up first.
Drout’s “The Tower and the Ruin” is a great book that explores the deeper themes of Tolkien’s work. I wasn’t ready for the ending and a too close to home discussion of death. But that is a key driver of Tolkien’s work (and theology).
George Grant with a letter about the decline of universities written in 1952: “A university is not a factory, nor is it a high school…the laws under which they are governed are not the same… Therefore, the use of any metaphors from the factory or high school are misplaced about universities.”
Some Winnipeg history. Here is the grave of Derek Bedson at St John's. Bedson was the private secretary of Diefenbaker. In 1958, Duff Roblin appointed him Clerk of the Executive Council of MB. Bedson was a close friend of George Grant. Grant would later dedicate “Lament for a Nation” to Bedson.