An enjoyable mystery from Canadian favourite Thomas King.
I don't know if I thought this was King's best work, and the whodunnit - a murder tied into aAn enjoyable mystery from Canadian favourite Thomas King.
I don't know if I thought this was King's best work, and the whodunnit - a murder tied into a cyber crime - was just ok for me, but I will definitely continue to read the series.
I hope that protagonist Thumps, a former cop-turned-photographer who still can't resist following a trail of clues, will get a more fleshed-out back-story in subsequent volumes. I liked him though, and some of the other side-characters in the small Indigenous town of Chinook were promising as well. For now I am sufficiently intrigued....more
This short collection of short essays captured the early days of the pandemic well.
From discussions of how her relationship to time shifted during theThis short collection of short essays captured the early days of the pandemic well.
From discussions of how her relationship to time shifted during the pandemic, the racism of the uneven pandemic response (and of police), the connection between privilege and suffering, Smith deftly weaves the personal and the political into sharp commentary. In her series of snapshots of pandemic encounters in the second half of the collection, she captures how odd our social sphere became in those early days. How precious these small social encounters with near-strangers, with loved ones - how we noted them, when they were exceptional.
Reading it was an odd time warp. Culturally and politically, we have seemingly moved on from the lessons we all claimed to learn during those first couple years. So much of that early pandemic discourse... about the benefits of slowing down our lives, applauding health care and service industry workers, being in it together, protecting those more vulnerable... it's a rhetoric that seems dated now. A lifetime ago.
A phrase of Smith's when she speaks of the basic social democratic foundation - things like reliable free health care, a social safety net - today being treated as radical ideas, struck me as more relevant than ever. She comments, "what modest dreamers we have become." I hope we can dream bigger....more
4.5 stars. This book was pure fan service. The "autobiography" of the fictional Captain Kathryn Janeway, read by Kate Mulgrew, the actor who played Ja4.5 stars. This book was pure fan service. The "autobiography" of the fictional Captain Kathryn Janeway, read by Kate Mulgrew, the actor who played Janeway on Star Trek: Voyageur.
The book has basically three sections - pre Voyageur, during Voyageur (which is consistent with what happened in the show), and after Voyageur. My favourite was the first section, which also seemed to be the most detailed, giving a lot of information and anecdotes about Janeway's early life leading up to her first fateful command as Captain of Voyageur. I liked it because it felt the most narratively smooth. The period after the death of Janeway's father was quite poignant and relatable as someone who lost a parent a little younger than the fictional Janeway.
The middle section was basically a bunch of short summaries of and reflections on things that happened while Voyageur was in the Delta Quadrant - so, everything fans know from the show. A fun recap that probably would be somewhat less meaningful if you hadn't seen the show, but who would read this who hasn't seen the show?? Anyway.
The last part was your typical epilogue where everyone lives happily ever after (other than the people we already know died on the show). I love that in the utopian vision of Star Trek, in the future, we can just switch careers at any point and follow our passion. That would be so nice. But Janeway, of course, is Star Fleet through and through.
I was compelled by the title of this book when I was browsing in a book store. I also saw that one of the contributors, Ilya Parker, of Decolonizing FI was compelled by the title of this book when I was browsing in a book store. I also saw that one of the contributors, Ilya Parker, of Decolonizing Fitness, is someone I have followed on social media for a long time.
This collection of essays is by a diverse group of fitness professionals who are bringing critical perspectives to the industry, challenging the racism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, and misogyny so ingrained into fitness culture.
Most of the essays are personal in nature with similar themes, where the author bought into mainstream fitness culture and came to a point - e.g. through injury, loss, political awakening - that caused a shift in their mindset and goals. Decolonizing fitness means moving away from perfection, placing aesthetics above wellbeing, valuing hardness over softness, understanding bodies as ever changing and contextual, and putting achievement before values of inclusion and social justice. As we learn and unlearn, we must also reach out and be in community with each other, holding each other in compassion as we grow and change. Decolonizing fitness means recognizing fitness spaces as political.
I liked best Lawrence Koval's essay "Unknowng the Gym: Moving toward Imagination as Liberation." Koval challenges us to think beyond the way that physical gym spaces prescribe our movements, the way we use and take up space. Why is a treadmill for running and not dancing? Why are box jump boxes for jumping and not building towers? White supremacy is maintained by not questioning the way that certain spaces work. Even if we decide to use a gym in a 'traditional' way, we need to ask why it is set up the way it is, who it is meant to serve, and to what goal. What if you went to the gym not with a goal such a weight loss, or getting 'fit,' (whatever that means) but just because? I also found the history of gyms, and their role in the construction of white supremacy, middle-classness, nationalism, and masculinity and femininity, super interesting in this piece. Koval's reflections on fitness culture as part of a carceral apparatus that encourages us to "make good citizens of ourselves" were also thought-provoking.
If I have a criticism of the book it's that while the essays were each unique in their story framing (each author's personal experiences) they came to feel a little repetitive in that they are all making very similar arguments about fitness and the fitness industry.
Nevertheless, this felt like a valuable read as even in more progressive spaces, we seem challenged to disrupt the shibboleth that is "health" and this provided a much needed discursive intervention. Reading these stories also made me feel in community, in a sense, as someone who has struggled with injuries, never quite fit into gym culture, and had had ups and downs in my movement journey and relationship to my body as a neurodivergent queer and trans person. Even the 'pros' struggle with these things and may need to shape new stories around them....more
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