Editor’s Notebook

© by John Arkelian

The best of writing, photography, art, and argument – on everything from film to foreign policy.

“Ever dreamed of subscribing to a cultural magazine that doesn’t seem to be eating out of the hand of half a dozen media magnates? Something pluricultural and unassuming but nonetheless covering everything worth seeing, reading, doing or listening to for a season? Well, it exists, and in Canada to boot!”

“There is no on-line version or web site, which either makes John a dinosaur or a man of character. (I opt for the second, since the editorial team occasionally has a kind word for me.)”

John Howe — Canadian artist and co-conceptual designer on all three “The Lord of the Rings” motion pictures.

* Editor’s Note: The age of the dinosaurs has at last come to an end — with the arrival of this website!

Presidential Politics 2016:  Cry the Beloved Country

On October 24, 2016

© By John Arkelian

How can it come down to this – in the greatest nation on Earth, the best hope for mankind, the land of the free and the home of the brave? Have the lights gone out in that shining city on a hill? The presidential election campaign poses […]

Presidential Politics 2016:  The Riddle of the Skittles

On October 24, 2016

© By John Arkelian

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump’s son used a confectionary parable to illustrate his father’s concerns about the danger that a real or potential extremist might get into the United States along with throngs of refugees from such war-torn places as Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Imagine, he […]

“In the Land of the Lotus Eaters: The Sorry Spectacle of People Addicted to Gadgets”

On July 30, 2016

Artsforum Coins a Phrase: Behold the ‘Hand-Held Self-Affirmation Device’

© By John Arkelian

Our (negative) review of the new movie “Nerve” coins a phrase for

Keeping One Eye on What Really Matters – Illustration © 2016 by Linda Arkelian.

those ubiquitous telecom devices into which so many faces intently […]

Unfit to Govern in America

On June 19, 2016

© By John Arkelian

Those who seek to keep the truth from the people are unfit to govern that people. In an egregious abuse of process, the Espionage Act is being used to prosecute whistleblowers in the United States. Under the Obama Administration, there have been nine prosecutions under that Act […]

Unfit to Govern in Canada

On June 19, 2016

© By John Arkelian

No one wants to be harmed by a terrorist attack, but there’s a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being the victim of a terrorist. Of course, we all sympathize with (and grieve for) the tragic victims of extremist violence; and of course we should […]

Where Liberty is and where it is not

On June 19, 2016

Here are words worth repeating – particularly in a time and place where our precious legacy of liberty is being daily eroded by complacency (and by fear of real or imagined dangers), subverted by the self-interest of the powerful, and perilously neglected by its ordinary citizens (and by their once vigilant […]