On the Queen as an example of duty

We have heard many opinions about Queen Elizabeth II, ranging from fawning admirers to resentful critics. For me, this range of commentary, coming out of ideological commitment is of little interest. Ideological thinking is inherently unreasoned, therefore of little value if we wish to speak of any profound human truth. Ideological thinking is a reductive …

A Lesson for PR pros in Robert Redford’s “All is Lost”

It’s unusual that film makes you think about public relations strategy, but Robert Redford’s All is Lost recently did this for me. I happened upon it accidentally, while perusing the new rentals on iTunes. Redford’s performance is masterful: an epic battle of a man against the elements, alone on his damaged keelboat, adrift after a freak …

An inspiring act of kindness in Chicago

Every so often, we have  an experience that reaffirms our belief in the goodness of people. This morning, it was my turn. I have spent the last several weeks running to six conferences, presenting five papers and delivering one keynote speech in three different time zones! It has been quite the month and I am …

Time passes, life passes us by. What’s important?

We are sometimes confronted by the reality of the progress of time, aren’t we? I have spent my precious few free hours the last week watching a series of documentary programs called the “Up Series”. This series was brought to my attention by Melonie Fullick (@qui_oui), who wrote a very thoughtful blog post about it. …

A great night at the Hamilton Supercrawl 2011

On Saturday night, I went to the Hamilton Supercrawl, to listen to Basia Bulat perform a number of arrangements of her pieces with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) on the main stage. It was a great performance – Basia sounded great, as did the HPO. In fact, listening to conversation around me, there was a lot …

A night at TIFF: Great seats for “Albert Nobbs,” terrible TIFF PR film short

Last night, Annelisa Pedersen (Executive Director, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra) and I went to the Toronto International Film Festival to see the world premiere of “Albert Nobbs” by Rodrigo Garcia, who is the son of famous Latin American write, Gabriel García Márquez. The film starred Glen Close (who was also co-producer) in a gender-bending role that …

The end of men? No – it’s just time to for men to change.

It looks like men have had it. According to Hanna Rosin, in her article The End of Men, from The Atlantic Monthly, it’s women rule the roost and bring home the bacon. What’s a man to do? Many excuses are put forth about men’s failure to compete in school, in the marketplace and in the …

Montréal, je t’aime.

Sometimes, my mind wanders, during that brief moment between dusk and night, as my eyes adjust to the dimming light and advancing twilight makes the edges of tree branches seem soft and hazy against the paling sky. My mind wanders back through misty memories to moments I would like to relive or retrieve. Perhaps it …

An evening at AGO Next: “All the World’s a Stage.”

On Tuesday of this week I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario to and AGO Next event. Since I am a member of the AGO Next group, I am invited to attend lectures and preview art exhibits at the AGO every month. This month the theme was performance art and called “All the World’s …