Blog or white ... because it never is.

I was scrolling through Twitter yesterday and I came across a tweet that said "Negreanu is the Trump of poker."  I then went to his twitter feed to see what he was tweeting to try and understand this.  I don't know anything more about Daniel Negreanu that anyone else.  I know his parents immigrated to Canada from Romania.  I'm not sure if that was before or after he was born.  Regardless, he is Canadian and a hockey fan.  He seems pretty happy-go-lucky but it is easy to be happy-go-lucky when you have built a financial empire.  He also has experienced being financially challenged. Who knows what he was like in those penniless days.  Regardless, I couldn't find any evidence of Trumpiness on his twitter feed but his latest tweet was interesting.  It invited followers to refer to his latest blog entry, which he described as either short or brief.  It was neither.  Apparently, he was accepting a challenge from another player to play a certain amount of hands u

No, I haven't been in the sauce.  There is an actual movement in the United States promoting this.  They are called Flat Earthers.  While we were sheltering in place, we watched a lot of great documentaries on Netflix.  This documentary is another one that I would recommend highly that you watch with school aged children. It was fascinating.  The Flat Earthers base their assertions on "science".  They show complex equations to back up their assertions.  It is why I wish we would stop using "science" in any discussions about Covid19.  I wish we would replace it with "best practices".  I think people would accept "best practices" more readily than "science".  Anyway, that is just me. Back to the Flat Earthers,  this is a small but very serious movement.  They have web sites, they give lectures, they have an online store, and they have conventions.  Their aim is to grow. So many ethical issues to discuss.  One of the central no

How do you honor John Lewis?  We have been honoring him for over a week since he took his last breathe on Earth.  It hasn't seemed like enough.  I would have imagined this journey to his final resting place would be exhausting for his family and friends, but, it doesn't look like it has been.  If anything, they seemed to want his journey to go on and on and seemed emboldened to continue his work.   At the beginning of this week, I thought it was a no-brainer to rename Edmund Pettus bridge to the John Lewis bridge.  Even the descendants of Pettus wanted that to happen.  This evening, I don't think it is a good idea.  No matter what the name on the bridge, it will always be known as John Lewis bridge.  And, Bloody Sunday on this bridge was in 1965.  1965 not 1756 or some date not in this century.  Only a generation ago.  Police in Alabama viciously beat unarmed marchers who were only trying to register to vote.  This happened only one generation ago.  That means it i

When the State-of-Emergency was declared, I decided to put aside my own opinions and just let our leaders lead and I would follow.  Actually, I tweeted both the Prime Minister and my Premier every day thanking them for all of their efforts.  Now, in this state of re-opening, we seem to be getting back to our new normal, so I can have political opinions again.   First of all, Andrew Scheer.  What is that anyway?  As far as I am concerned, Justin Trudeau needs to send this man an edible arrangement every month for the rest of his life.  Justin owes his re-election to Andrew Scheer.  With all that happened prior to the last election, the Andrew Scheer factor was the only thing that could have the Liberals re-elected.  But, I am just going to concentrate on what has happened since March.    Everything that Andrew Scheer has said during this pandemic has said has been, well, stupid.  The role of opposition is our government is necessary, however, if ever the country needed to

It is sad, at anytime, to see local businesses close down.  It has been particularly sad seeing a list of businesses who have announced they are not coming back following the pandemic.  You don't have to be an economist to recognize the benefits of supporting local business.  It is very simple, you spend a dollar locally and that dollar is spent locally, and so on and so on.  The provincial government is actively promoting Restart Manitoba.  I support this. Our economy needs a healthy restart.  One thing that I have never really understood, though.  In Manitoba, people who reside in a long-term care facility help pay for the cost of which by paying a certain amount (on a sliding scale) per day that they occupy the bed.  The government subsidizes the majority of the cost.  Providing long-term care services must be very profitable as we see a number of "for-profit" homes in our province.  Here is the part that I don't understand.  There are two corporation

So, the Jets are starting something in Edmonton on Saturday.  Yes, it has been explained to me over and over, but, I still don't get it  Yeah, I get what is happening.  I don't get why it is happening.  The 2019-2020 should just be in the books with an asterisk and no Stanley Cup winner.  That would be the right thing to do.  I have to admit that I wasn't sure that "fueled by passion" was appropriate to the Jets 2.0.  But, I have come around.  Here are the reasons I know they Jets are fueled by passion: 1)  The players, essentially, took care of the Evander Kane problem by giving us permission to articulate that he was a petulant man child and we would be better off without him. 2) It just seems like the more the Jets have become involved in the community, the more passion they feel.  They have come to understand and appreciate what the Jet mean to us and they want us to know that they feel the same about the fans.  3)  I had the good fortune of sittin

I have to start with a disclosure.  My dad had a natural inclination that parents should not teach their children things that are taught in school.  This didn't always make sense to me.  Maybe it was because he taught me so many life lessons that often more valuable than what I learned in school. Maybe that was the point. He wanted the school system to be responsible for traditional academics and he wanted parents to be responsible for moral and ethical development of their children. It wasn't that he wouldn't get involved with my education.  When I asked for help with homework, he would make sure I had the tools I needed to figure it out on my own.  Also, our school system had a policy that in elementary school, children who lived within town limits couldn't have their lunch at school.  That was fine in the warm months but my dad thought it was cruel  when the temperature got below a certain number or when it was snowing creating drifts higher than me.  He went t

Last night I had a dream that Christy (from the show Mom) was either an asset for the Russians and something went terribly wrong and she arrested by the US, tortured, and then traded back to the Russians.  It was like Mom/24/Homeland all fused together.  In the next scene Allison Janey was sitting in a board room presumably with a bunch of other people deciding if the show could go on without Christy.  A silly dream.  Yes.  But, I woke up at 3 am and my body was shaking and I couldn't tell if it had really happened or if it was a dream.  At 3 am, I had to google the show to see if this was in the story line.  The dream was really that intense.  When the state-of-emergency was first announced and we were all subject told to go home and stay home. I started having Covid19 dreams.  I know I wasn't the only one.  I became part of many discussion groups of people experiencing what I was experiencing.  It wasn't so much that dreams were bad or nightmares, it was the int

The loss of John Lewis has hit me really hard.  Actually, it has taken me longer than I would have thought to be able to talk about his loss and his legacy.  I proclaim to be a social justice warrior and in that regard, John Lewis was probably one of the original social justice warriors.  That is not why his loss hit me really hard, though.  He reminded me so much of my Ukrainian grandfather.  Like John Lewis, John Repski was not blessed with an abundance of height. And like John Lewis, my grandpa John Repski shrunk with age.  My grandpa also lived history and fled his beloved "old country" not out of choice but because he had to.  He had been through a lot and it showed on his face, however, even when he was serious, he had a twinkle in his eye and a small hint of a smile.  Looking at John Lewis was like looking at my grandpa.  They had different skin colour, but, other than that, they could be twins.  Remembering my grandpa is also remembering how I had him wrapped ar

Trump really wants schools to re-open full bricks and mortar this fall, ironically in the US, this means August.  However, Trump was asked about his thoughts regarding his youngest son's school choosing to remain closed.  Trump replied, "Eric's still in school?"  Sometime in the last three years, Trump took a cognitive screening test which he aced.  Some people say because it was a cognitive functioning screening test and not an IQ test, it wasn't challenging.  I agree.  I think if they really wanted to test his intelligence, they should have given him a photo array of several women and ask him to identify his second daughter.  Trump would reply, "I have a daughter besides Ivanka?" I'm here all week, folks.  I have to admit there have been some funny bits about him taking the MOCA and doubling down on why it means he is a stable genius.  He is not.  The MOntreal Cognitive Assessment is a screening tool for people living with dementia or w

I decided on March 13, 2020 that we were going to be living in an unprecedented time, so I resolved I was just going to respect my political leaders and follow what ever direction they led.  But, we are now re-opening, so I feel that I can unleash my commentary again.  My provincial political beliefs are strongly influenced by growing up in Dauphin.  We very much were aware of "Perimeter Vision".  That is that people from Winnipeg don't care too much about what happens outside the perimeter.  With the emergence of bedroom communities, perimeter vision is much in the past.  Now, we find that the political power brokers care very much what happens an hour past the perimeter in any direction.  Dauphin is still left out.  I only bring this up because this is a concept that MLA Brad Michaleski doesn't seem to understand which will end his political career.  Don't get me wrong, I like the guy personally.  However, he will be part of Cabinet, so it was quite surp

I have been a contributor to an online poker magazine.  I made one contribution.  Regardless, I have contributed to an online poker magazine which was probably read by ten people.  So, I think I have a credible platform to comment on live poker.  I have made a lot of true friends playing poker.  Usually, I made friends like this.  Someone that I don't know is sitting at my table and they annoy the heck out of me.  (It is possible that it works out that I annoy the heck out of someone else, but, that would be rare.)  Anyway, so I am deeply annoyed and I make eye contact with this person and let them know through my fierce eyes that they are annoying me.  So, every time hence that we see each other, we make eye contact confirming that we are still annoyed.  Until, the inevitable happens.  Someone comes to the table that annoys both of us.  We make eye contact again and then leave the table so we can bond over how much we are annoyed by the third player.  It is like the circle

My mother's favorite contemporary artist was Usher.  Her all-time favorite artist was Louis Armstrong.  Her favorite actor was LL Cool J.  Her favorite journalist was Don Lemon. She loved all things Obama and it literally pained her when someone criticized them.  My mother was many things but she was not a Karen.  What was remarkable about that was that she lived her first three decades in small towns in Saskatchewan.  Like really small towns.  I think if you added up the cumulative population of the communities in which she lived in her youth, you might get 500.  Small farming communities that were populated by Ukrainian immigrants.  Just before she turned 30, she had to face the culture shock of moving to a big city.  It must have been hard adjusting to living in a metropolis like Dauphin, the first place that she lived that had an actual stop light.  The point is that I don't know when she met her first person of colour.  I just know that it wasn't into well in h

When I was a child, politics and current events were discussed at the dinner table.  Before I knew how to read, my parents would talk about history and the impact on current events.  My part was to have curiosity and ask questions leading to more questions.  Once I was able to read, I was expected to be an active participant.  We had very spirited discussions.  I have tried starting these discussions with my grandson.  He hasn't been ready and has told me in his own way.  When the pandemic entered our lives and resulted in stay-at-home orders, I knew we were living in an unprecedented time.  I made a personal decision on March 13 that I would support all political leaders regardless of their ideological leanings.  I really felt that was my contribution as a citizen; trust our political leaders and to follow their recommendations fully.  Well, we were all now is some sort of stage of re-opening, so I am re-opening my political critique.  However, since I am still social distan

As the world moves to re-opening, we are hearing a lot of "Welcome Back."  Our businesses are welcoming us back, our long-term care services are welcoming us back, we are welcoming back sports in our lives, and we are welcoming back family and friends into our homes and hearts.  One of the consequences is that many of us have the theme of "Welcome Back Kotter" as our earworm.  And, there is not much wrong with that.  It is a great song.  You can't help but smile and the words are easy so we can all sing along.  It is the perfect shower song.  However, I do not remember singing it out loud on public transit.  But, as it often happens, the story behind the story is even more interesting.  John Sebastian had some success as a singer/songwriter for his time with The Lovin' Spoonful and his unscheduled appearance at Woodstock, but his fame is "Welcome Back."  Some ABC executives had an idea for a comedy television series that was about a tea

This week, one of my dear friends and former colleague, John Igloria, was recognized as a WRHA Hero.  He is a part of a team supervising operations at St. Boniface Hospital.  I have to admit when I saw the pictures of the team and the recognition, I looked at John and started laughing.  If you know John, you know that he is the reason that the selfie stick was invented.  With John, everything is an occasion and if you are with him, he always wanting to take a selfie together.  I get it.  He is a handsome man with a smile any model would envy.  So, it was a little funny seeing pictures of him not smiling and almost looking down.  That really is the mark of a true hero.  Humble and a little embarrassed to be honoured.  I want to tell you why John has been a hero of mine. First of all, John taught me a lot about dignity.  It seems funny just typing that out.  When you work in healthcare, you treat people with dignity.  What is there to learn?  Frankly, it is not a simple question

Out of the blue today, someone told me that I was important to them.  As it happened, I was having a blue day.  It gave me such a lift.  I decided I wanted to pay it forward.  I want to tell Willy Gault of the famous Willy Dogs why he is important to me.  I also think it is important to disclose that I don't actually know the man, I follow him on facebook.  But, not in a creepy way, but, just because Willy Dogs represents so much of what I chose to see in my vision of Winnipeg.  Here are the things that Willy Dogs represents for me. 1.  There is Always Hope. I don't know much about Willy's story, other than he is in recovery from an addiction.  Addiction is difficult and sometimes the road to recovery can be even more difficult.  It is nice to have a public example of someone who is in recovery.  Whenever I am feeling heavy with the weight of my life, I think of those I know who are in recovery.  I know there is always hope and I decide to keep moving forward. 2.  W

Time does fly when you are having fun.  Time doesn't seem to fly when you are living history.  Well, no that is not quite right.  What I mean to say it that it seems to me that when the world has something historical happening in real time, it seems to set off a domino reaction where you don't have time to appreciate it the significance of such.  Well, that has been the last 42 days.  Not just one news item for us to try and ingest but too much to count:  the surge of Covid19 cases south of the border; the politicization of masks; the legacy of George Floyd; the loss of icon John Lewis; racial tensions out in the open; forcing us to come to terms with white privilege; the rise of the Karen's; the politics of re-opening; tragedy in Nova Scotia; and on and on.  Yeah, a lot has happened in 42 days in the world.  Coincidentally, it has been 42 days since I have blogged.  One of my favorite Ukrainian role models noticed the absence of my blog so I had to put on my traditiona