Scripturient

Collingwood Needs a Communications Director and Plan

Yesterday, the Town of Collingwood sent out an email trying to rationalize the town’s budget and tax increase. That release underscores in so many ways why townhall desperately needs both a person and a plan to oversee and guide its communications. And this is coming from someone who also believes the town should freeze all new hiring and stop building personal empires through staff acquisitions in our municipal bureaucracy.* As a former editor and writer, and someone who still collects and reads style guides and books on grammar, I was appalled at this release. You can read it here on ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on the Post-Xmas Days

2024-01-02 2024-01-02 Atheism & Spirituality / Christianity / Culture / Culture wars / Festivals & EventsLeave a comment

I am glad to have reached the first week in January of 2024 without telling a lot of people to simply fuck off and leave me alone during the past month. The urge is, I’m afraid, great and growing stronger every year. The Xmas season does that to me, beginning as it does in early September, when Canadian Tire and other box stores start putting Xmas lights and decorations on display for sale. The selling season continues through the late fall when suddenly every radio station, box store, and most retail outlets seem to play the same, endless loops of ……… click below for more ↓

Review: The Banshees of Inisherin

2024-01-01 2024-01-01 Culture / Film & ReviewsLeave a comment

I had expected comedy. Maybe not laugh-aloud, rib-splitting stuff. Not slapstick and pratfalls. But humour of the British sort. Oscar-Wilde-ish witty dialogue. Banter like that from Fry and Laurie. Joycean innuendo and joie-de-vivre. And a resolution that brought an appropriate closure to the end. Instead, what I got was a Greek tragedy of unresolved pathos, violence, poverty, and misery that left the story — and audience —hanging. Not what the trailers of The Banshees of Inisherin had led me to expect. One Guardian review called it a “flawless tragicomedy of male friendship gone sour.” I couldn’t make out the comedy ……… click below for more ↓

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

2023-12-20 2023-12-20 Books & Reviews / Politics / Shakespeare / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

You might think, while reading Henry VI Part 2, that Shakespeare was writing about recent events, the writer merely masking them in archaic historical dress. Okay, even if you have read some of the Bard’s plays, the three Henry VI plays probably aren’t among the ones you read in university or high school. They can be a slog to read in part because they were among his earliest, and the story meanders a lot. But bear with me. They were the lead into Richard III, a moving and powerful play about politics and personality, one of several in the canon. ……… click below for more ↓

Accuracy, Licence, and the Death of Stalin

2023-12-12 2023-12-12 Books & Reviews / Culture / Film & Reviews / History & Biography / PoliticsOne Comment

One of my favourite movies in my collection — seen three times already on DVD or Blu-ray but likely to be seen more — is the 2017 satire, The Death of Stalin, directed by Armando Iannucci. Wikipedia describes it as depicting: “…the internal social and political power struggle among the members of Council of Ministers following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953.” That’s a bit vague; it doesn’t include the antics, the scheming, the occasional slapstick moment, the brutality of those members, nor what happens with the people outside the Politburo whose parts are also brought into ……… click below for more ↓

Councillor Shits on Democracy

2023-12-09 2023-12-09 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Staff and administration / Taxes2 Comments

In a recent story in CollingwoodToday, Councillor Jeffrey is reported shitting on the democratic process. Rather than respecting a previous decision of council as policy requires, she chose to bring back a vote to add another staff person to our already overstaffed townhall. In doing so, I am confident she was well aware that she was voting to further burden taxpayers, simply because she didn’t like the way the vote went when she wasn’t at the table. Coun. Kathy Jeffery noted that the Nov. 20 meeting occurred while she and Doherty were absent. The two Saundersonite councillors who feel they ……… click below for more ↓

More Oppressive Budget Bullshit

2023-12-06 2023-12-06 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Taxes4 Comments

Council is still eyeing a massive hike to Collingwood property taxes, proving they lack any concern about the problems facing seniors and others on fixed incomes, low-income earners, and the many working-class people simply trying to make ends meet in an increasingly expensive town. Every tax increase, every utility increase, every user fee increase makes their lives harder. No one at the council table seems to have the spine to stand up to staff demands for more money, more employees, more stuff in their offices and parking lots. In a time of inflation, the town should be trimming costs and ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s Affordable Housing Con

2023-12-04 2023-12-06 Collingwood / Council / Housing / Planning & Policies / User fees and costsOne Comment

A recent story in CollingwoodToday has the headline, “Town considering increases to development charges.” Everyone knows that increasing the development charges (DCs) adds to the cost of a new home, making housing even more expensive and less affordable. Right now, it’s extremely difficult to find anything even close to “affordable” in Collingwood. Apparently, the town wants to make it even harder and more expensive to buy new homes… unless, of course, you’re already a millionaire with money to burn.* The proposed increases include (emphasis added): For urban rates development charges for single/semi detached dwellings will increase by $2,653 to $42,855, ……… click below for more ↓

Why is Collingwood So Secretive About its Salt Use?

2023-12-02 2023-12-02 Civic engagement / Collingwood / Council / Environmental issues / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

Road salt is a huge concern in Ontario for its destructive effects on the environment and the infrastructure. Progressive municipalities across the province have been exploring alternatives for years, cutting back, looking for safer ways to manage winter roads and sidewalks. But Collingwood? Try typing “salt management plan” into the search bar of the town’s user-hostile website. Nada. You don’t get any documents; you have to wade through more of the town’s poorly-designed click-fest web pages, trying to find simple information like “how much salt does the town use in winter.” But let me save you the effort: that information ……… click below for more ↓

Reading the Iliad

2023-11-29 2023-12-02 Books & Reviews / Classics / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading Now4 Comments

There was a moment when I was reading The Iliad that I thought to myself, “This is it. This is what the epic is really all about.” Somehow it all seemed to come down to one particular scene and all the rest was just leading up to it. Why I had that epiphany, I’ll explain in due course. But what struck me is that the real message of this epic poem was almost hidden by all the thousands of lines that came before it. I don’t get that many such bright moments when I read, although I read a lot. ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year, Part 4

2023-11-18 2023-12-02 Civic engagement / Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Publicity & CommunicationsLeave a comment

The final piece in the series in CollingwoodToday begins with an egregious error: “Collingwood’s Town Council, elected one year ago on Oct. 24, 2022, is celebrating their first year in office as a group.” Council’s first year in office began with their inauguration on Nov. 15, 2022. Before that, they had no official status. But local media, eh? Maybe I’m being too picayune to expect accuracy from them, but where TF is the editor? The final part of the series is supposed to be about how our council “look[s] toward the future.” Before I comment on their responses, to me ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year Continued Part 3

2023-11-17 2023-12-02 Civic engagement / Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

The third part of the series in Collingwood Today asked members of council what “surprises they’ve experienced so far in their terms.” As a former councillor, I appreciate how stepping into the role for the first time is a bit of a shock; it takes a while to learn everything, everyone, all those policies, bylaws, processes, reports. And, most importantly: how to stand up to staff and represent the residents. Being on council is far more demanding, complex, and challenging than most people expect when they get into office. Right from the first meeting, councillors are expected to deal with ……… click below for more ↓

Barbie: A Review for Conservatives

2023-11-14 2023-12-02 Culture / Film & Reviews / Ideologies / Pop Culture2 Comments

Hey there, conservatives (especially you conservative males!), let’s talk about the Barbie movie. Yes, I know nothing makes you want to take your AR-15 to the local Toys ‘R Us for a well-deserved shoot-up than a film about a girl’s toy (please don’t do it!). I mean, how dare anyone make a movie without guns, car chases, explosions, bullet storms, babes in skimpy outfits, and a beefy male action hero like Jason Statham or Daniel Craig to deal mayhem and death to all and sundry? A girlie movie that stars women who aren’t there just as eye candy, sending a ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year, Part Two

2023-11-13 2023-12-02 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

Part two of the series in Collingwood Today about our council’s first year asked “how councillors felt this council has set itself apart from previous Collingwood councils.” As with the previous piece, the article brought more face-palming moments as some of the council tried to justify their place at the public trough. In the article, DM Fryer is quoted saying “councillors attending many more community events, such as a regular spot at the Collingwood Farmers’ Market, this time around” sets this council apart. Except, maybe not the mayor? I never saw her at the Farmers’ Market once, and I was ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year Considered

2023-11-11 2023-11-11 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

I did a few facepalms while reading CollingwoodToday’s four-part piece on Collingwood Council’s first year in office. CwoodToday approached each of them with questions “about their accomplishments so far, to how this council feels they’ve set themselves apart, and to surprises they’ve experienced so far as elected officials.” No similar coverage was in the increasingly irrelevant Collingwood Connection. Given the ineffective communication techniques the town currently has to reach residents (not to mention the abysmally awkward, user-hostile website…) it is good for readers to hear from the council members themselves, although I think the reporter could have questioned them a ……… click below for more ↓