Monthly Archive: October 2021

Rowdy U

Back in the day, the 1960s to be exact, when I showed up for first year at the University of Western Ontario, there was an organized frosh week. Purple Spur, a group of senior students, kept us busy all day, doing their bidding. I don’t remember all the indignities we were put through but picking up trash, barking like a dog, and generally feeling degraded were among them. The purpose, of course, was to create a community among the new arrivals. Western had only 5,000 students in those days, compared to 28,000 today, so it seemed easy to make friends....

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Shouting and sharing

In just the past few days I’ve heard several stories about how our society is breaking down. Three involve doctors. In the first case, a patient shouted at a doctor during an in-office visit. In the second, a doctor shouted at a patient. The third involved a patient seen by a specialist who identified an uncommon ailment. “I wish I could call on my residents,” he said, then explained how Covid had reduced the opportunity in hospitals for residents to spend time with doctors. As a result, there will be cohorts of graduates who conclude their studies without seeing some...

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If I ran the world

If I ran the world, here’s what I’d do: * make vaccinations mandatory for all, even the anti-vaxxers and religious pull-backers; the rest of us have constitutional rights, too; * ban any and all tattoos on women; they’re reprehensible; * while we’re at it, lets’s ban those stretch Lululemon-style yoga leggings when they’re worn on the streets as the only body covering below the waist. Some women might be able to carry off such attire, but not many; * send Justin Trudeau to a voice coach to get rid of his annoying habit of pausing to draw a breath on...

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