Throughout my life, I have been so fortunate to have so many mentors, people who taught me, guided me, supported me, constructively (mostly) criticized me, and greatest of all, inspired me. One of my earliest preceptors had a profound impact on my academic motivation, my career, and my burgeoning squash skills – John Russell Fairs, Jack, as we all know him. So much has been written about him in terms of his immense contributions to many sports, especially to the game of squash. Perhaps the best overall introduction to Jack is this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlqB6_Q0zjk So very apropos of the mastery aspect of Jack’s impeccable skill as a true student and…

At best, the legend revealed beneath this image is apocryphal; I prefer allegorical. Over the years, I have read and digested a lot of books on mythology and symbolism. Indeed, Joseph Campbell and I were on a first name basis, so familiar was I with his many books especially those on myth, mythology, and the hero with “a thousand faces.” At times, I have been drawn to works of art, toured museums, and have been privileged to have stared in awe at the magnificence of a Rembrandt or sculptures by Rodin’s The Thinker or his Iris, Messenger of the gods or Michelangelo’s The David, the latter’s majesty and beauty drawing…

Today, as I turn 71 years of age, I choose to look in my life’s rear-view mirror. In particular, I have been thinking about my boyhood in the black and white 1950s.Television shows were in black and white; photographs were black and white – perhaps dreams were too. The 50s were and remain for me enigmatic, mysterious, and compelling all at the same time. Immediately, I think of Edwin Brock’s marvellous poem, Five Ways to Kill a Man… There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.You can make him carry a plank of woodto the top of a hill and nail him to it.To do this properly you require…

On March 15th, I wrote a blog entitled, The Ides of Corona March. It was coincident with the beginning of Ontario’s Corona virus-induced shutdown with social-physical distancing regulations, the closing of most businesses (except those deemed “essential services”), and the start of what we term the “new normal” of living with the COVID-19 reality and threat. Currently, decisions are being made all over the world about re-opening; how to re-open – in stages, all at once; what to expect, how best to protect oneself as well as others. Questions loom about very realistic concerns such as, is it too soon? Have we flattened the curve enough? Will there be a…

Alexander – Sandy – Joseph Young, Jr 16 April 1938 – 6 August 2000 Restigouche River ~ runs from the Appalachian Mountains, northwestern New Brunswick to Chaleur Bay, Quebec Sandy Young was and remains my dear friend. Ripped from this world by GI cancer, had he lived he would be 82 the middle of this month, 16 April 2020. I miss him greatly and think of him very often; he taught me so much, and more than any other person I have ever met, in his company, I and we laughed so brazenly, so deeply every single time we met. We shared an indescribable bond with perspectives about life that…