On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

I've been reminded over on TrekBBS that there's ongoing medical fundraisers for two writers whose work on comic books and on Star Trek I've enjoyed reading and re-reading over the decades.

Mike W. Barr

Peter A. David

1. Some ways to better communicate with deaf people:

https://www.theguardian.com/shared-moments/2023/oct/06/shouting-doesnt-help-10-things-i-want-hearing-people-to-know-about-deaf-people?

2. Concerns about access to vaccines for seniors in Canada:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-vaccine-seniors-fall-1.6988082

3. The WGA won. Here's why it matters, from at least one perspective:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/07/screenwriters-won-a-historic-victory-against-ai-the-rest-of-us-should-follow

4. Cult of Didulo vs. Richmound, SK:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cult-of-self-proclaimed-queen-of-canada-threaten-sask-village-with-public-executions-1.6988680

5. Landsowne 2.0 disputes:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lansdowne-2-0-green-roof-1.6990040
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lansdowne-2-0-price-tag-jumps-to-419m-3rd-tower-dropped-1.6988602

I am listening to All In a Day on CBC Radio One, and Alan Neal is fielding questions from kids about Christmas. One about what do reindeer enjoy games-wise got pivoted to SF writer Julie Czerneda - turns out she's also a biologist! - and Julie just improvised an answer about how antlers can be repurposed as hockey sticks!

(Yes, Julie and I chat on occasion at bookstores, at Can-Con events, and so on.)

I actually got some writing done today. A friendly acquaintance pointed out an online live-video workshop being run out of Sandy Hill Community Health Centre with help from the Toronto Writers' Collective. So, two pieces of therapeutic writing done this afternoon. I got to "meet" people living across Ottawa, in Toronto and in Churchill, Manitoba, and one participant was participating from one of the west African nations.

Right hip is aching off and on, probably from some of the awkward/heavy lifting done so far as part of the culling.

I got a scale I can use to set up pricing and shipping properly with Canada Post for my eBay sales.

My next sleep machine appointment is tomorrow morning. More culling when I get home, I expect.

Masha Gessen on moral clarity:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-are-some-journalists-afraid-of-moral-clarity

Making a note to re-read at whatever leisure I still have.

So.

Martin died Sunday night and I found out late Monday. Other people knew him better than I did. I was one of a few hundred friendly semi-regular acquaintances of his on Facebook. I enjoyed some of his comics writing, and probably some of his TV scripting too without making the connection until today.

Oh, and I got reminded by the various obits of this: he started out Canadian. Born in Québec under another name.

It still hurts.

Glad I knew him at all, though.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/marty-pasko-writer-on-superman-doctor-fate-and-roseanne-dies-at-65/

...Christie Blatchford is no more.

As a consumer of the works of many newspaper columnists from across Canada and the wider worlds, I don't know yet what I make of that. She hasn't been one I've followed closely in recent years. So "indifferent" might be a good adjective for my opinion right now. Some of you in my audience will have other opinions...?

I'm listening to Michael Enright interviewing Linda McQuaig about the state of threat facing Canada's public wealth these days...crown corporations, public ownership, and social order...and she's got a new book out: The Sport and Prey of Capitalists on the current situation in Canada.

It was going to happen today, but for the rain.

I don't expect to be there at the protest - day-job obligations! - but I do expect local traffic to be affected, including the traffic towards the Sheraton Ottawa for Can-Con 2019's first day.

These are all, as you'll see, linked. And I am worried.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mosley

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walter-mosley-quits-star-trek-discovery-using-n-word-writers-room-1237489

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/opinion/sunday/walter-mosley.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Update 9 Sept 2019: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a few thoughts on the matter.