Lewis Burwell Puller
Lt. Gen. Lewis Burwell Puller, known as Chesty, is the most decorated US Marine ever. Included in his medals were five Navy Crosses, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star,…
Jane Goodall 1934-2025
When I was in second or third year Anthropology at UWO, I took a primatology course to satisfy the requirement of having a physical anthropology credit. We watched a National…
Trump Predictions
(Guest post by Jim Stewart) Prediction: Buyer's Remorse? By Remembrance Day this year (2025), the US will be experiencing the Mother of All Buyer's Remorse. The Reaganesque question "Are you…
Musk’s Legion
In normal times, this would be a headline only in the Weekly World News, not in pretty much every paper out there: “Inside Musk’s plan to make a ‘legion’ of…
Death at Greenway
Death at Greenway (2021) by Lori Rader-Day is a murder mystery set at the time Agatha Christie was writing her murder mysteries. It’s also set in a house she owned…
D-Day in 1944 NQ
Newfoundland Quarterly - June 1944 Review of the War - W. J. Browne Allies Invade France On Tuesday morning, June 6th, the Allied forces which had been preparing to invade…
What Trump said
It’s easy to forget things. But some things shouldn't be forgotten. So in case you’ve not been following Donald Trump news, and you’re looking back at his time as president…
Coronation 1937
My mother kept some newspaper clippings about the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. They’re in what I think is her first scrapbook.
The Wolves of Winter
Novel by Tyrell Johnson, The Wolves of Winter, 2018 Simon & Schuster A young woman and her family had headed north from the United States, ending up in the Yukon.…
Vietnam Vets
Canada was part of America’s Vietnam War. Not officially, but in providing men for it and harbouring them from it. Anyone alive in the 1970s probably has had their life…
Elizabeth, 1951 Canada
A page from my mother’s scrapbook. For five weeks in the fall of 1951 Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip toured Canada. It was her first trip here. My mother kept…
Prescription Points
As of today, we won’t get a small rebate on prescription drug costs in New Brunswick. The NB College of Pharmacists, in their wisdom, decided it was “unethical” to give…
Dr. Elliott Leyton
Dr. Elliott Leyton, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, died in St. John’s on February 14, 2022 at the age of 82. He leaves a huge hole…
Queens and Consorts
Seventy years ago, in classrooms and public venues in the UK and Commonwealth, people sang God Save the Queen for the first time in 51 years. On February 6, 1952,…
Molly Ann Gell
In 1807 a Wolastoqiyik girl named Molly Ann Gell entered the Sussex Vale Indian Day School in Sussex Corner, New Brunswick. It was run by The Society for the Propagation…
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley was fashion stylist to the stars of Washington DC in the mid-1800s. As dressmaker and companion of Mary Todd Lincoln, she worked in the White House during…
Prince Philip’s Horses
"If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she isn't interested." That, it is said, is how Prince Philip described his daughter Princess Anne. But if the amount of time he…
The Trump Goodbye
Every day there's something on the television screen that you've never seen before. Something that you want to capture for your own historical record. The departure of Donald J. Trump,…
General Jack and Warrior
Warrior was called "the horse the Germans couldn't kill." He was a war horse. The 15.2 hand Thoroughbred gelding was General Jack Seely's charger. Gen. Seely was a British career…
In The Army Now
Bill Stewart received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Minnesota on December 18, 1941 (See Pt. 2). That was 11 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed.…
English Channel 1944
William Stewart, a US Army Air Force Captain in World War II, tells about his flight across the English Channel on December 15, 1944. Enemy planes were a risk, yes,…
NB Regiment K.I.A. on D-Day
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, landed at Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They landed at what was code-named Nan Red…
Rwanda 25 years ago
Lest we forget: 25 years ago a genocidal massacre in Rwanda started. Nearly a million killed in 100 days. Here is what it was like, a couple months after it…
Roger Gonzales
A poster of a young man in Tegucigalpa's central square. Kidnapped April 19, 1988. It's in a photograph I just happened to take when I was there one year later.…
Honduran Contra Camps 1989
Donald Trump calls it "the Democrat Party led... assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador..." (Twitter Oct. 18, 2018). A caravan of migrants started in Honduras, headed…
World War I Reunion 1987
From the archives of my mother: the story of four men, and a bottle of Crown Royal, at a very special World War I reunion: Battery mates knock back last…
York and Mountbatten Weddings
A big year for royal weddings. Tomorrow, October 12th, Princess Eugenie will marry. In May, her cousin Prince Harry married Meghan Markle. Both large, lavish and televised. But, in between…
West Virginia
In 1971 my parents and I drove through West Virginia on our way from Ontario to Kentucky. We'd never been there before and it was stunningly beautiful. So we took…
Princess Harry
On Saturday, Meghan Markle will become Princess Harry. That is when she will marry Prince Henry of Wales, second son of the Prince of Wales and better known as Prince…
Ford Ontario
The Ontario Progressive Conservative party yesterday chose Doug Ford as its leader. That's Doug, brother and advisor to the late Rob Ford who has to have been the weirdest mayor…
One Trump Year
One Trump year is like one dog year - very long! Tomorrow, January 20th, is the first anniversary of his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. A…
Halifax Explosion
Halifax Harbour, December 6 1917, two ships collide. An explosion, followed by a tsunami and a fire that burns much of the city. The next day, a major snowstorm. A…
Code Talkers
In the early part of World War II, the enemy was breaking every military code that was being used in the Pacific. This created a huge problem for strategizing against…
Passchendaele
The Battle of Passchendaele ended 100 years ago today. It is also called the Third Battle of Ypres and the "Muddy-est, Bloody-est of the whole war." The latter is what…
Diana 1961-1997
Twenty years ago today Diana, Princess of Wales died at the age of 36. She was the daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer and 15 times great-granddaughter of King Henry…
David Duke and Donald Trump
David Duke said "we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump" during the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville VA on Saturday. David Duke, former Imperial Wizard of the…
Canadian Songs
So, for Canada Day, I looked for Canadian songs that evoke a sense of place, of history. Those songs that everybody knows a few lines of, to sing at public…
Un-American Affairs
A selection from More in Anger (1958), a collection of essays by American social critic and satirist Marya Mannes. From 1904 to 1990, her life spanned most of the 20th…
King George VI
Sixty-five years ago today, Great Britain's King George VI died at the age of 56. The King is dead, long live the Queen. George VI's daughter became Queen Elizabeth II.…
First Hundred Hours
In his first hundred hours - from midday Friday to this afternoon, President Donald Trump has been busy. Signing executive orders: Directing all federal agencies to ease the "regulatory burdens"…
Royal Wedding Anniversary
Happy anniversary, Elizabeth and Philip. November 20th marks 69 years since their wedding. Four children, 8 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren. Three heirs apparent to the British throne - son, grandson, great-grandson.…
Trump Imagery
What is the appeal of The Donald as president? Trump imagery over Trump policy, I suspect. But why? Reading The Englishman's Boy, I got a clue from a 1923 fictional…
Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel
Below is a list of the Newfoundland Regiment soldiers killed at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. There are many more; those killed in the lead-up to the battle, those…
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 90th birthday today. My mother, two years older, grew up with the Queen. From her teen years to adulthood, Mom kept scrapbooks about the Queen's life.…
US: The New Brunswick Option
For disenchanted Americans, I have an escape plan that keeps with historical tradition - New Brunswick. In case of a Trump win in the US presidential race, Cape Breton has…
Dr. George Park 1925-2015
Today, Dr. George Park died at the age of 90. He was a retired professor of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He was my thesis advisor and he and…
Nim the Chimp
Project Nim is a film by James Marsh about Nim Chimpsky, the chimp who was raised from infancy as a human in order to explore the learning of language in…
Rodeo Kings
From St. Thomas Dog Blog July 8, 2011. Sadly in this year's Stampede, 2 horses died in chuckwagon race crashes. William and Kate opened the Calgary Stampede and attended the…
Beaumont Hamel
In Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1st is Memorial Day. It's been that longer than it's been Canada Day. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. But July 1st has had special significance…
Royal Charlottes
The first British royal Charlotte was George III's queen. She is best known as the founder of London's Kew Gardens and for perhaps having black ancestry. Born in Germany in…
VE Day 70th
May 8th 1945, VE Day marked the end of one part of World War II. Victory in Europe. War with Japan continued until two atomic bombs were dropped in July.…
Lotto Red Chamber
Is the Senate a place for 'sober second thought' or what, in 1985, then-reporter Mike Duffy called “a task-less thanks” for political party helpers? Senator Mike Duffy is on trial for…
World War I
It seemed like a good idea at the time. That’s the explanation I come up with for why World War I started. Virtually the entire world became embroiled in war…
The Uncles’ Great War
An uncle and two great-uncles are my touchstones for the First World War. The one I knew best was Charles Scanlon, husband of my mother's older sister Ada. He was 20…
War and Peaceniks
“Where have all the flowers gone, and the young men gone for soldiers every one.” A Pete Seeger song. The death of that great warrior for peace made me think…
Mom, Christmas Postie
In the early '60s, my mother worked at London’s postal sorting station during the Christmas rush. It was for a few weeks when the volume of mail overwhelmed the sorting…
Baby Prince George
In the past three days, the royal baby has been born, brought home, had pictures posted on Facebook, and been named. A boy named HRH Prince George Alexander Louis of…
Queen’s Secret: Review
Last week I saw a book called The Queen's Secret by Charles Templeton. Curious to see if it was by the late Canadian journalist of that name, I pulled it…
Chinua Achebe
Today, the great Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe died at the age of 82. If you have never read his books, this would be as good a time as any to…
HRH Baby
With the expected Royal baby, there will be a kinship situation that hasn’t existed since Queen Victoria reigned. There will be 3 generations of direct heirs apparent to the throne:…
Idle No More
Our ancestors wanted this land Canada so damned bad that they crossed the ocean, crossed the country in wagon trains, fought each other, fought the indigenous peoples, and cleared forest…
Newtown CT
When smoking was still permitted in restaurants, you’d sometimes see signs: “No pipes or cigars.” That was because the smoke from those is much stronger. To me, this is a…
Newtown Kids & Dogs
A lot of dogs in Newtown, Connecticut will be working overtime in the solace department. There are children and adults who will need the love of their pets to help…
Library Science
Sometimes a simple thing happens that makes you realize what you should have done. One day at the library, I was reshelving books that had been left out. There were…
Mr. Otto Kelland
A while back, I was looking online for a family in response to a query. I found them. A note on their kinship chart said the wife was sister of…
Poppies
My dad had a whole collection of poppies. Mom kept the ones that we bought every year and pinned them on the top of a wallhanging in the dining room.…
War of 1812
In 1814 we took a little trip - Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’ We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught…
Fanshawe Riot: Educating fools?
Last weekend, St. Paddy’s Day, London Ont. joined the ranks of cities of fools. Violent, vandalizing fools. Students at Fanshawe Community College in the city’s east end overturned cars and…
Ocean Ranger 30
Thirty years ago the Ocean Ranger drill rig sank off the coast of Newfoundland. The entire crew, 84 men, drowned. During the early hours of February 15th, in a bad…
Drifting into Doom: Book
It was a dark and stormy night when I began reading Earl Pilgrim’s Drifting into Doom: Tragedy at Sea. Winter rain blew at the windows and tree branches hit the…
Musée Acadien PEI
If you have a drop of Acadian blood in your veins or if you just enjoy the distinctive sound of an Acadian fiddle, a place for you to go is…
Attawapiskat ‘Solution’
In a Sun Media op-ed column this week, Jerry Agar suggests a solution for the people of Attawapiskat, the embattled Northern Ontario reserve: leave it. He points out that doing…
Notre Dame du Mont Carmel, Ile St-Jean
The church and graveyard at Mont Carmel on the west coast of PEI. Here, the island feels like it should be called by its old name, Ile St-Jean, when it…
Attawapiskat
Look at Google News today: “Send troops to help Attawapiskat.” For a month, we’ve read about the Band Chief declaring a state of emergency over the lack of housing and…
Recorded Campaigning
This election I don’t know who I’m going to vote for. When the electioneering machine started cranking up, so did the recorded messages. You know, the taped messages that lazy…
St. Thomas Ford Plant
In Grade 11, at St. Thomas’ Arthur Voaden Secondary School, I was the only girl, and only Art student, in an English class with Shop boys. I had read most…
Rwanda
Seventeen years ago, one hundred days of genocide ended in Rwanda. It was part of a long-standing conflict between Hutu and Tutsi, two groups who uneasily co-exist in the small…
The Waitress Club
My very first job was waitressing. It was a street corner restaurant with booths and tables, bigger than a diner but not fancy. I had just arrived in a city…
Tilting at Windmills
Thinking about why so many oppose windmills for power generation, my mother and garbage disposal came into my head. Specifically, her reaction when the town brought in a recycling programme.…
Losing Sgt. Ryan
Tuesday morning, I turned on the tv to watch my tape of Coronation Street. But on CBC, I saw the funeral procession for Sgt. Ryan Russell of the Toronto Police…
Sarah Palin and Targets
The first time I saw Sarah Palin on television, I was impressed. It was soon after she was announced as John McCain’s running mate for the 2008 US presidential election.…
Pipelines through Paradise
This past October, there was a documentary by Karin Wells on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition about a RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition) to document and showcase the coastal British Columbia…
People without sense to come in out of the rain
Last week in our community paper, the St. Thomas/Elgin Weekly News, there was an article about a good and caring citizen and chiropractor Dr. Denise Colledge. For the second year,…
Panhandling: Community or transaction?
This summer, I was driving and listening to, I think, Tapestry on CBC Radio. A man affiliated with a Cathedral somewhere was talking about panhandling near the church. His thesis…