Glenn Kubish

Happy end of the week, y’all, from snowy Edmonton. In addition to the 22 trick or treaters who came up our front steps on Halloween, here are three other things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude.                                         1. Franciscans   The dark season is upon us in Edmonton, and the red eyes out there are watching the days get shorter. The red eyes I mean are the stop lights at intersections in the evening, the taillights of the cars lined up on Fox Drive, the aviation lights on top of university buildings on Saskatchewan Drive.  These red lights remind me of Jawas, the miniature, humanoid scrap dealers from the sands of Tatooine.   All we know of the faces of the Jawas are the glowing eyes set in the recesses of the cowls of their rough habits. They look like little Franciscans. I pedal by a house on 102 Avenue with five, metre-high cypres...

**** No spoilers. Youth preserved nicely. **** A long time ago I was in the seventh grade, and the talk in the school hallways of my corner of the galaxy was about a new movie, Star Wars. Looking back to those now far, far away days, I realize it was my first encounter with binge viewing. It wasn't good enough to go to Star Wars. You had to go to Star Wars 80 times, like Danny McGee. A long time ago This was because Star Wars was something completely different. It didn't matter that it was the oldest storyline in the universe. It was brand new for us. And it wasn't just better than Charlotte's Web and The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Wonderful World of Disney and whatever else we were watching. It obliterated them. There was no way back. And there was no way of knowing how many years until The Empire Strikes Back would arrive to blow our minds. The only option was to keep coaxing money out of our parents to keep watching Star Wars, keep depositing ourselves i...