Day 961: Knocking On Russian Wood

originally published August 18, 2014 For those of us who actively seek out ladders under which to stroll, or who have completely forsaken blessing those who sneeze, superstition is a delightfully goofy window into the obsessive-compulsive static residue of the mind. What racist hoodoo has condemned genetically black-furred kitties to the bad-luck pile? Why does […]

Day 960: Day Three Of Peace & Music

originally published August 17, 2014 “And maybe it’s the time of year, yes, and maybe it’s the time of man. And I don’t know who I am but life is for learning.” As the bone-soaked and weary revelers packed together their tin-foil hash pipes, their mud-crusty jean-shorts and their near-sentient hangovers to leave the festival, […]

Day 959: Day Two Of Peace & Music

originally published August 16, 2014 “Said I’m going down to Yasgur’s farm, going to join in a rock & roll band. Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.” Somewhere amid the cultural symbolism and the anthemic declarations of a generation’s identity lies the actual music performed at the Woodstock festival. […]

Day 958: Day One Of Peace & Music

originally published August 15, 2014 “I have come to lose the smog And I feel to be a cog in something turning.” I have been trying to reconcile my relationship with the Woodstock festival for more than 20 years. “These are your grandparents,” I told my daughter as the movie played in our living room […]

Day 957: All About Fucking

originally published August 14, 2014 When I rolled this project over and booted it out of bed more than two and a half years ago, I had to decide where to place that bar of ethics beneath which my words would never limbo. I have never sold out to become a corporate shill (yes, my […]

Day 956: ‘Scuse Me While I Bust This Guy

originally published August 13, 2014 “Show them as scurrilous and depraved. Call attention to their habits and living conditions; explore every possible embarrassment. Send in women and sex; break up marriages. Have them arrested on marijuana charges. Investigate personal conflicts or animosities between them. Send articles to newspapers showing their depravity. Use narcotics and free […]

Day 955: Conquering The Energy Problem, Wang-Style

originally published August 12, 2014 What if I told you that I’d recently unlocked a treasure of scientific magic so potent and transformative it would affect the way everyone on the planet conducted their everyday lives. “But wait,” you might say, “haven’t you been spending the past 955 days writing a bunch of hastily-researched yet […]

Day 954: Edmonton Summers Exist For The Folk Fest

originally published August 11, 2014 As my fingers bluntly stab my keyboard, weighted down by a hangover from sun and loud music, I wonder how I’ll get through today’s chosen topic on Chinese science education without passing out. It wouldn’t be my first afternoon spent with the lopsided grid of a keyboard’s footprint etched into […]

Day 953: Please Forget Me (When I’m Gone)

originally published August 10, 2014 There are a few moments in my life that I wish could be collectively forgotten by all who had witnessed them. Throwing up in my high school parking lot after downing a half-bottle of Southern Comfort at 1:00 in the afternoon. Shooting that spitball in the sixth grade that missed […]

Day 952: Death And Money

originally published August 9, 2014 One might assume upon skimming this month’s selection of articles that the author has developed an unnatural preoccupation with death. The author would courteously disagree, and would remind you that no preoccupation with death is unnatural, unless it escalates to unreasonably eccentric behavior, like keeping makeup instructions for the undertaker […]