A beloved teacher’s final advice is a clarion call for public education — and for civilization itself. — This week I lost a hero. She was my teacher. One of those teachers. The kind that stay with you. Maybe you had two or three. Elaine Blais was one of mine. …

200913 | The wind bent forest, Tom Thomson, and the objects of our consideration — Hello from the ravine. The maple felled in April lies on the bank, its dismembered form covered in kudzu, swallowed by green and damp earth. For as long as I am, there will it be. A group of teens walks past: “There is literally a dead body in there.” …

200906 | Young minds, old patterns, and the function of lakes — “Once we get out,” says the young girl to her mother, “we’ll be back.” Bright, green orbs are scattered on the ravine floor. The sky is red, the horizon redder still. Wide-eyed squirrels burrow and stash. The creek has slowed, but still, it runs. It finds its way, the old…

200830 | A geometry lesson, night gardening, and teaching as survival. In the ravine fall the hard, green acorns. You hear them — tokh — connecting with roofs. The squirrels are a flurry — this is their time. Then the static of surveyors’ radios. I ask what they’re up to…

As schools scramble to adjust to learning in a pandemic, an unlikely casualty emerges: the French teacher. — The Herculean Task Though the back-to-school ads have yet to appear, educators are already bracing to return to the classroom. Schools are facing unprecedented logistical hurdles. In many major North American cities, the Covid-19 pandemic remains a real threat. The thought of hundreds of young people sharing desks and rotating through narrow hallways…

200628 | On a neighbour’s death, and a glimpse of his partner in the after. — Hello from the ravine, awaiting the waxwings’ arrival. A man walks along the shaded path. “I want peace,” he says, on the phone. “You can have them until Sunday. That’s a concession. Don’t you want peace? ” His voice is simmering. “That way,” he says, “we have peace.” Above: Alex…

200614 | On the jazz problem, HiFiLo, and music as resistance. — Sister, I promise you I’m changing You’ve had broken promises, I know If you want to change it, you must break it Rip it up and something new will grow Hello from the ravine where children have stopped to look at two raccoon kits huddled on a fencepost. “They’re teenagers,”…

200607 | From Toni Morrison’s ‘Racism and Fascism.’ — Hello from the ravine. Then there were leaves, a wall of them, a hiss of them. Above: Renato Bertelli, Profile of Mussolini (bronzed terra-cotta, 1933) Italicized passages are excerpts from a speech by Toni Morrison in 1995. Published as the essay ‘Racism and Fascism’ in The Source of Self-Regard (2019). …

200531 | My black students, Ibram X. Kendi, and what our job must be. — Hello from the ravine. Above: ‘Mary Comforter of the Afflicted’ by Kehinde Wiley (Stained glass, 2016) *Names altered for privacy* Andre wears a hoodie instead of the uniform. He is tall and friendly, and often rests his head in class, but will perk up if a meaty discussion starts up. …