Category: Memoir
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U. A Few Close Calls (con’d)
She introduced herself as Betty, a nurse, back on vacation from Hamburg where she lived with her German boyfriend. From the barstool beside over the following hour, Betty spoke of growing up in the tightknit ‘coloured’ neighbourhood of Arcadia, in then Salisbury, Rhodesia. She said she had hardly recognized her home in returning for her…
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O. A Few Collages (con’d)
In September 1985, when my wife brought our infant daughter home from the hospital in Harare, I held her for a long time on my lap, gazing into her dark brown eyes. ‘Who will she look like, grown up?’ I wondered. ‘What will her personality be like?’ What will her voice sound like?’ In pangs…
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O. A Few Collages (intro.)
Introduction: A couple of years ago, I posted ‘A few Snapshots’. They were a selection of family vignettes hoped to be of interest to anonymous readers. Their primary intended audience, though, was my grown children. As I stated in the introduction to that posting: ‘Although historical accuracy is always aimed for–– I apologize for any perceived mismatches…
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S. A Few Pinches of Native Soil (con’d)
A Kentucky-born friend and I have joked about the commonalities of our respective boyhood territories. In growing up, we both found ourselves at odds with ole timey religion, country music and conservative ‘values’… Outside of Acadia, the Canadian Maritimes–– like southern Appalachia–– retains a dominant Scots-English-Irish population. There is considerable evidence that rural Maritimers are…
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S. A Few Pinches of Native Soil (intro.)
Introduction: About a decade ago, I planned to write a monograph about my oft uncomfortable relationship with the province of my origin. That project faltered with the usual exigencies. From the muddle of notes made in preparation for a first draft, I have pulled out pieces which I have hopefully, battered into some coherence……
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W. Levity Redux (con’d)
The best people– a little phase that conveys so much! As if there were a class of people who are a species apart from the common lot of homo sapiens–– a more highly evolved species with more perfect bodies… A manager of an exclusive hotel certainly has a nose for the best people–– and has…
Coprolites in Amber (etc.) 