After 12 years of writing Babel-on-the-Bay, I find it energizes me and gives purpose to my days. I enjoy the approbation of some readers and the criticisms of others. My only connection with Facebook is when the wife points out some interesting pictures of our far-flung family. I tested Twitter years ago and found it wanting. Other than that, I fear for the Internet as it is absorbed into the ever-deeper troubles of a dystopian world.
What brings this spurt of insight into the Internet world is an admired writer from Ottawa telling us about the weaponizing of social media by our parliamentarians. She sees it as a war zone. My problem is not knowing how she finds time for sorting that trash.
She reminds me of Canada’s famed Pierre Berton. Berton was best known for his many, many books about Canadian history. He was accused of trying to make Canadian history a popular subject. We also used to kid that he was not a writer but a factory. He would joke in his Toronto Star articles, once in a while, about the team that assisted him in doing his research. And as a writer myself, I knew that there was always good research backing up what he wrote.
I always wanted to meet Pierre Berton and I think it was our mutual friend Charles Templeton who once kept us apart. That was a time when Chuck and Pierre were doing their popular CFRB radio program from Maple Leaf Gardens while I was working for a different radio station reporting on the same conservative leadership convention. A friend was listening to them on air and told me that Pierre mentioned that I was across the arena from them and would make an interesting guest for their show. I was told that Chuck ignored the suggestion and changed the subject.
I guess I forgot about it next time I saw Chuck. He was standing in front of the orchestra section at the O’Keefe Centre hugging my wife. It’s funny that I remember that scene and I cannot remember what it was we were at the O’Keefe Centre to see.
I often wonder if that old saying about living in interesting times is really a curse or a blessing. I cannot answer that. All I know is it sure keeps me interested.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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