Thanks Michael, I agree.
I’m not in Toronto right now, but someone just sent me a note that this article, that refers to artists as “communists, socialists and blatant waste-a-holics” is the cover story today’s The Toronto Sun. The online comments to this particular article are cracking me up: Someone is making some very good points under the username “artist” and the usual riff raff are having a hard time keeping up intellectually so they are resorting TO RESPONDING IN CAPS LOCK!

Very good journalism for an “arts” guy. Kudos for taking on a subject the Canadian press neither has the patience or chops for. It takes eyes and ears on the street to challenge the dark Harper narrative. Only by the grace of the Muses that Harper hasn’t done better with his narrative, so it will take constant viligent ad hoc writers to take on the challenge and not rely on traditional lamestream media for the other side of the story to be told.

I also wanted to thank the Facebook group Can This Onion Ring Get More Fans Than Stephen Harper for posting a link to this post today. Traffic went through the roof and you can read an additional 63 comments to this post on the page.
For the record:
On…

Thanks for your kind words Megan.

Obviously this is a scary situation. Fortunately the Harper gov’t is only representative of a fraction of Canadians and their appeal is shrinking. Brian Topp pointed out in the Globe and Mail this week that if you compare their #s to the combined results of the Canadian Alliance and PC parties before the merger, less people are actually identified as Conservative since Harper took over. If the opposition is able to put the needs of the country ahead of internal party politics, there is an extraordinary opportunity get rid of these guys. If you explain what is going on here to any non-Canadian with a knowledge of the Parliamentary system, they’re just like, “Why doesn’t the opposition get together and stop this from happening?”

I think civil society has to put a lot more pressure on the parties to stop putting their needs ahead of the country with an emphasis on the right-leaning folks that surround Ignatieff who would rather lose an election than share power with anyone else.

Michael, thank you. I always enjoy reading your thoughts, and this is no exception. I mean, maybe ‘enjoy’ is the wrong description, perhaps ‘scares the shit out of me’ is more appropriate, you get the idea.

I’ll be honest, when the ‘homegrown’ controversy first hit in the Sun my reaction was “oh… The Sun” in a wistful, and admittedly condescending kind of way. I was in grant-writing hell, and didn’t really give it a lot more thought.

I spoke with Frid long before any of the controversy about her piece came to light. We were talking in context of publicity, different approaches and how to frame things as a first-time playwright and so on. She’s a lawyer, and this was one of her first plays. It was based on her experiences, her visits, her conversations. It sounded interesting, and it didn’t occur to me that it would be controversial. Turns out getting publicity wasn’t an issue for the piece.

Unfortunately I was sick as a dog through all of Summerworks and wasn’t able to see anything, but I certainly wasn’t surprised when I read the reviews saying it was not promoting terrorism at all in anyway.

I’m glad you took the time to point out this other angle, forest for the trees and all that.

Hey Duncan,

Kevin co-authored the script with Jonathon Young.  He’s sitting next to me right now! Thanks for your comment.

What a fabulous experience. Their work is fascinating, but unforuntately I’ve never had the opportunity to see a production or their creation process.

When I was in Vancouver two years ago, I had the chance to speak with the GM. They were just in the process of building the cultural centre and amping up for the olympics.

I love the way they worked ‘No exit.’ The multiple perspectives and the layering of film and theatre processes as a way to explore the existential under currents in the play are invigorating.

Is Kevin Kerr working on the project?

Enjoy the experience. I look forward to your comments afterwards.

Summerworks was amazing this year. In my opinion this list is too short. So much good theatre.

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