Minneapolis
From a trusted friend:
ETA: if you want to share this, I’d appreciate it if you could do it w/o my name attached, via either a screenshot or a copy/paste with identifying details removed. I’m probably being overly paranoid, but oh well. Thank you, friends.
Things I have seen with my own eyes as of 11:23 AM Pacific today, January 12, 2026:
—ICE ramming a civilian car through a red light on Snelling in St Paul, dragging an injured, screaming white American woman out of it, kidnapping her, and leaving her wrecked vehicle partially blocking one of the busiest streets in the city.
—An unmarked ICE vehicle blocking a residential street. When a (white, American) man pulls up behind it, an agent demands to know why he’s “following them.” When the man explains that that he’s just trying to get home from the grocery store, stopped because there’s no room to pass, and had no way of knowing he was even behind an ICE car, the agent says “haven’t you learned anything from the past few days?” (What is the lesson? “Don’t drive?”)
—ICE kidnapping a white American teenager from a Target parking lot (the boy is a curbside-pickup employee) and dumping him in a Walmart parking lot eight minutes later, bleeding and bruised.
—ICE agents dragging a white American man from his car at a gas pump, kneeling on his neck until he apparently loses consciousness, and then kidnapping his limp body.
Word is that the woman and the gas-station man were targeted as “known activists.”
We remember our friends
From Nov. 2011:
I had a favourite tree. It was in a little marsh beside Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus. Since I started teaching there, I always stopped to gaze at this tree on my way into campus and back on my way out to the bus stop next to Liquidation World. I must have taken more than a 100 pictures of it. When I got my cat, Dig, he reminded me of this tree — dignified, if ragged, and beautiful. It is a weird but real grief – my beloved tree has fallen over into the swamp.
The header of basil.CA was taken from the third photo, above. I had forgotten that until today.
Winter term
I am really looking forward to this term, to teaching “Information Gathering,” a new class for me. It’s essentially a course in investigative journalism. The course description:
The information used to develop communications materials comes from many sources. Students research and evaluate information from print and electronic records, databases, and interviews. They examine issues relating to how information is gathered, stored, retrieved, and disseminated. Students enhance their creative and critical thinking skills through finding and evaluating information.
Right down my alley!
I am grateful for the opportunities University Canada West has given me.
New Year’s Resolution
From the wonderful Bryan A. Garner:
The Spectator recently ran a sharp piece titled “The Post-Literate Society.” Its thesis? We’re turning away from books. Attention spans are shrinking. Thought itself is drifting back toward the oral, not the written. Katherine Dee, the author, even writes of “the collapse of writing.”
That collapse may already be here.
You can moan about it. Or mock it. Or howl at the moon.
But in law, words still rule. Ours is a literary craft, and the written word isn’t retreating from the courtroom or the contract anytime soon. That means you have an opening—an invitation—to stand apart.
How? Read. Every day. Offscreen. (Most people already surrender six to nine hours a day to glowing rectangles.) Read slowly. Study the craft. Absorb technique. You’ll sharpen your own.
As for a New Year’s resolution—why not start there? Make one that lasts.
Judith Viorst
When my mother died, I kept just a few of her things, including her manual typewriter and some books by Susan Sontag, Anne Sexton, and Judith Viorst. Here’s a wonderful interview with the 94-year-old Viorst.
‘Paint It Black’
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions very often, but I really do need to listen to more big band jazz.
Deborah Silver is a marvellous singer.
“Ellie on Wheels”
A former student of mine Elaine Bartels has a truly terrific YouTube channel up and running.
Ellie On Wheels is a channel devoted to nomad life. The goal is to be happy, be free, and to not only survive as a nomad but to thrive with joy, good health and prosperity. Nomad life is a broad term for someone who moves their home frequently. Whether your home is in a car, a van or a trailer, nomad life is a chance to live as you want, on your own terms, without the burden of a mortgage or rent every 30 days. This channel is about living your life in to your best ability while living on wheels. I encourage you to be open to new ideas of what home looks like, and to be curious about what home means to you. I’ve been on a 8 year journey in 8 different vans, surviving in Canada in the most beautiful scenery, during the best and the harshest conditions. Nomad life or, my “life on wheels” began suddenly for me, I was not prepared. I have learned much along the way, I’d be happy to share my knowledge about surviving as a nomad on wheels. I call my vans my “no rent plan” vans!
Some meaning
I’m lucky I’ve been able to extend my teaching career a bit, at University Canada West, after taking Kwantlen‘s retirement buy-out. My two advanced professional communications classes this term are really wonderful. A special bonus is that one of the classes starts at 8AM on Monday morning.
It was a good day.
I received another royalty cheque yesterday. The textbook Dave Ingre and I wrote has been in print and in continuous use for almost nine years. That’s a long time for a textbook.
My fall classes at University Canada West have been lovely. Going into this week I had been in quite a funk, but my two classes earlier this week revived my spirits. My students rescue the best in me.
Hard to know what to write and publish these days …
This clip is still getting through: “The Siege of AR-558” – written by Ira Behr and Hans Beimler. The late actor Aron Eisenberg plays the young cadet. Armin Shimerman is Quark.
.Quark tells his nephew something about humans.
Fall classes
I have two at UCW, including a Monday morning 8AM weekly gathering, starting tomorrow. Having students to guide and teach is a most profound blessing.
A leader leaving
The last couple of years were especially challenging for Kwantlen’s outgoing president, Alan Davis, but he was a superb leader for most of his term. I’m grateful to have worked at our university with him at the same time. Here’s a fitting send-off from Kwantlen’s senior administrative team:
Dr. Alan Davis is not a big fan of farewells and doesn’t want a fuss about his departure as President, but we did want to recognize him and a few of the changes we have seen during his leadership over the past 13 years. What follows is just a sample of those changes.
In 2012, KPU created the Brewing and Brewery Operations program, which earned many awards and catalyzed the industry in western Canada. We have added Entertainment Arts programming that plugged into B.C.’s thriving film, television and gaming sector and KPU has also added a bachelor’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Next week, KPU will establish a Faculty of Graduate studies as it continues to work towards adding its first masters programming.
Through it all, student success remained a guiding light for Dr. Davis, which he told the Runner in January. “In the end, if we’re a strong institution, then we’re better able to fulfill our mission, which is to teach students. Student success is what we’re all about.”
The university also became deeply involved in social justice during Dr. Davis’s time. The role of Indigenous Elder in Residence was created in 2015, and the university has benefited from Indigenous writers, artists, and designers in residence. We’ve added tuition waivers for students from the seven local First Nations and developed the xéʔelɬ Pathway to Systemic Transformation Framework. In 2020, KPU launched the Task Force on Anti-racism. Flowing from that, we now have an Office of Equity and Inclusive Communities and an EDI Action Plan. The university has signed the Scarborough Charter, the 50:30 Challenge and is seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
There has also been growth in the areas of research and scholarships. KPU added the Applied Genomics Centre, the KPU Research Farm, the Seed Lab along with many major grants and research chairs. Teaching and Learning Commons was also added to support faculty and KPU started Canada’s first Zero Textbook initiative to reduce the cost of learning for students. To support and create more opportunities for mature students, the university expanded Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR).
We have also seen several new buildings, including: the brew lab, which was built in Langley in 2014, the new Wilson School of Design, the revamped Spruce building, which opened in 2018, and Civic Plaza became KPU’s fifth campus in 2019. KPU has received funding to build a new day care facility in Surrey and it is also working to add student housing for the first time.
Dr. Davis has been at the helm of KPU for more than a quarter of its history. He has overseen unforgettable positive development of the institution as it matured into the polytechnic university status it gained in 2008.
Despite the externally driven challenges the university faces today, KPU remains far stronger than when Dr. Davis arrived. That is great for our students and their education.
Thank you, Dr. Davis.
Gone, home
I handed in my final two sets of marks the other day. My retirement starts September 1. I have some off-boarding things to do before then – get rid of my laptop, throw out old student exams confidentially, pass off some projects, etc. Most of my department cadre is already gone, and my leaving isn’t creating any waves with the current crew. That’s OK, if notable, too.
Sunday Morning
I was finishing up the preparation for my two classes today – first ones ever on a Sunday! – when I heard a woman, in tears and sounding drunk, walking by on the sidewalk below me: “I used to LIVE here – *fuck* YOU!” We know the feeling.
July 4, 2025
When I lived in the States, July 4 was always my second-favourite holiday, after Thanksgiving. There were no particular requirements other than conviviality: hot dogs and frisbees in the park with friends. Even after I moved to Canada, that buoyant mood always came upon me on this day. Today, however, is poignant to a painful degree. I’m sending love to my American family and friends.
Image: “Three Flags,” by Jasper Johns, in The Whitney Collection.
Don’t hide.
Before I taught my class this afternoon, I visited The Pendulum Gallery downtown to view my friend Lincoln Clarkes‘ marvellous photo exhibition again (it closes tonight). The gallery is a terrific space, which I had *almost* to myself. The two women there, from England, came up to me and started a conversation – a few minutes into which the older of the two asked me whether anyone had ever told me how quite odd I seemed.
Many polite people have asked me that question, and my answer’s typically something like this: “It’s amazing that I’m even allowed outside.” (It is.)
Today, however, I was still trying to find the words when the younger companion said, “Just take the hit and go on.” I did, we all did.
I had the best morning!
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