Montreal

I feel like I'm heading dangerously north as the year turns.....something ominous is heading south...I'm not used to that feeling, but it's an interesting one....fortunately it wasn't bad election news, which is what I'd received when I last came to Canada a day after the most tragic election of my lifetime in 2016. But here in Canada, in 2019, civilization prevailed and Trudeau squeaked through...and it set the tone for the numerous experiences that followed....a country that seems to be working, where the social contract isn't so threadbare

Was reading some poetry by Susan Howe on the flight from New York and thought this line described the state of the U.S. perfectly:

"a central contradiction, once discovered/leads to collapse or evolution"

She's been reading Hegel perhaps (wish more people would!)....and it applies widely: to racism, unregulated capitalism, income inequality, ad infinitum

Canada gives me hope..

Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh and leader of the NDP, was pulling in the progressive vote, but his party didn't do too well, so while Trudeau won (he's kind of a parallel to a fairly progressive - but not a lot - U.S. Democrat), the parliament lurched right, which will create challenges for civilization, as we all know that's what conservatism has become worldwide - a dangerous rigidity that precludes progress, while coddling the rich and fearful

Montreal is a lovely city to walk around in...compact and full of interesting architecture, numerous boulangeries and bikes!

One of the most impressive bike networks I've seen, with two-lane bike highways, can be found throughout the plateau (the French eastside of the city)...a lot of bikers here

My basement airbnb room under this building...good mattress, good sleep, nice hosts - a Quebecois couple. And it was a share, so I didn't have to feel guilty about impacting the rental market...this will be the only city where I don't have friends to stay with, but that may change.....sweet David who I read with at Stock Bar (see below) offered me his guest room in his loft just a handful of blocks from this place, also on the plateau, which is definitely the best place to stay...he's a polyglot, speaks like 10 languages and taught many of them as a profession 

...the plateau's the French side of town, so no English to be bothered with, though they're all mercifully bilingual and friendly after I stumble 

out my "bonjour...comment allez-vous...ce vous plaît...

je voudrais... merci beaucoup" ....I'm now intent on learning French and thinking a year in Montreal might be just the way to do it...really, really enjoyed it here....

Mural by Miles MacGregor & Gene Pendon

Leonard is everywhere, which caused me to hum "Suzanne" a fair amount on my long, endless walks...when I wasn't humming "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," courtesy of the subway, which plays the first few bars to indicate arrival and departure of trains/doors closing - I don't think it's intentional as it's just an electronic signal, and no one else seems to mention it...but...there you have it....

"Suzanne" is really one of the most beautiful songs to me...and the writing/lyrics are perfect...I actually think Leonard offers the ultimate and most succinct expression of the Jesus myth in this song...he's a poet and actually started out as one....

Took a hike up Mont Royal which rises above the city behind McGill University and downtown.....

Yes, there was a leafblower.....in a deciduous forest/natural reserve...think you missed a spot (absurd and an attack on biodiversity)...people criticize Quebec for its bloated civil service and arts budget, and this kind of thing may in fact be the downside of that excess, but if the alternative is the rabid and brutalist capitalism of no arts budgets and/or no housing like down south, je préfère le Québec

Argo, the English language bookstore where I read with Felice Picano, Nicola Sibthorpe& Madelaine Caritas Longman

 ... and a little creative English on the street

Ran across some Argentines.....

I'd been considering renting a car in Montreal for the trip to Ottawa before settling on Greyhound, and in the AVIS office a woman in front of me was saying she spoke neither French nor English...but I know that accent anywhere...meet Maria Luisa y Victor from La Pampa Province in Argentina, smack dab in the middle of the country where tourists never go, so I haven't been, but now I have an invitation, so if I get back to Argentina, hope to see them...they are cereal farmers...

Speaking of Argentina....they had an election as well and the Peronists are back, with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as VP...one of the stories in Falling is about an Argentine election and the Peronists 

Sadly, I have no vegan meals to report as this city is awash in butter and meat (there are of course vegan places, I just didn't get to them)...but I did do some reading on the subject, which I'll share....the meatless burger boom

...which dubs me a flexitarian, though I prefer "jack vegetarian" as I default veggie always (jack meaning 'lapsed' or 'half-assed')

Patrick Brown, the creator of the Impossible Burger, is super interesting and controversial...he's a scientist with the goal of eradicating animal meat production/consumption 100% by 2035...I'm game to do it tomorrow...even if I have to give up...

this non-vegan treat and guilty pleasure of mine...French can even make junk food sound slightly more gourmet....give me a bag of souffles

The churches here are a tad dark and foreboding, all grey stone under a grey sky - and I think of the weird Jesus&Mary-morphing that happens as the myth moves north from its origins...as many of you know I'm something of a student of Catholicism...raised a Marian heretic, I've always been fascinated by how Catholicism not only adapts but morphs due to culture, weather, etc. Catholicism makes the most sense to me in Italy, Spain, Mexico where it's really a goddess earth religion...I noticed right away here that the French flavor is way more Jesus-focused and I think that plays into the widely-accepted theory about northern people (the Quebecois I'm told are predominantly northern and Breton) tending to focus on a cold male sky god while southern people worship mother earth (see Leonard Cohen's take on the J-Man above). To draw an analogy... in Mexico, Jesus is Mary's tween son with some problems at school, getting bullied and crucified and moping about....but she's the goddess, and dad left a long time ago. Here in Quebec it's all about the son, heir to the godhead, and in his mid-twenties saying "Mom, I can't call you everyday, I have to get crucified and shit...I'm the son of man, for chrissakes. Talk to Dad."

I think the Jesus/God stuff is way more dangerous than the Mary stuff....just as masculinity is more dangerous than the feminine...it made me less interested in entering churches here

Speaking of the sacred and profane, I read with Felice Picano at STOCK, a stripper bar - note pole next to Felice...we read with a few locals, including Johanne Pelletier, Su J. Sokol & David Tacium, who I mentioned above

Simone, who despite his good looks, wants to get into real estate...what about poetry? I offered...

Beer and shots at McKibbin's Irish Pub with Felice Picano and Richard Burnett, who is a journalist and queer activist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city...

He shared so much about Montreal's gay history, which is fascinating and includes the 1648 commutation of a death sentence for a gay man in the army - thanks to the Jesuits - with the condition he'd agree to become an executioner. Good old Catholic justice. There's a novel in that worth writing.

He also helped me to understand the Montreal police department's shameful history of violence, harassment and homophobia, which ultimately made Montreal a leader in the gay rights movement in Canada

Another amazing story is that of his mother, Diamond Lil, who is from Mauritius, a small island nation off Madagascar. As part of political family there, she took on religious extremists who were trying to shut down the pride march and has begun an international dialog as part of her activism.

Diamond Lil and her son - feel the love... hope to meet her next time I'm here...and all this on my mom's birthday...happy birthday mom from your little kid who was always wearing hats....haven't changed :)

On the way to the bus station, I stopped for a pastry and coffee and was soon joined at the one little table by two people speaking Spanish (they're both trilingual, as I'd like to be)

Victoria from Ecuador and Emile! Bouchard! as he likes to emphasize it...3 1/2

They gave me a nice sendoff....next stop.....

Ottawa

Oct  26, Sat., 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm - Reading/Q&A 
Heart & Crown Pub

67 Clarence Street (Middle Room)
w/Felice Picano

(613) 562-0674

Toronto

Oct 30, Wed., 6-8 pm - Reading/Q&A
Glad Day Bookshop
499 Church St.
w/Felice Picano
(416) 901-6600

Minneapolis

Nov. 4, Mon., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave.
w/Raymond Luczak
(612) 822-4611

Nov. 6, Wed., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Quatrefoil Library
1220 E. Lake St.
(612) 729-2543

Seattle

Nov. 9, Sat., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Elliott Bay Book Company
1521 10th Ave.
w/Alvin Orloff
(206) 624-6600

Portland

Nov. 16, Sat., 11 am, Radical Faerie Coffee
Triumph Coffeeshop
201 SE 12th Ave.
(971) 229-1631

Nov. 17, Sun., 6 pm, - Stage Reading
Crush Bar
1400 SE Morrison St.
w/Daniel Elder
(503) 235-8150

Los Angeles

Nov. 22, Fri., 7:30 pm - Reading/Q&A
Skylight Books
1814 N. Vermont Ave.
w/ Alvin Orloff & Tara Jepsen
(323) 660-1175

Palm Springs

Nov. 27, Wed., 6–8 pm – End of Tour Book Party
Palm Springs Cultural Center
2300 E Baristo Rd.
(760) 325-2582

Oakland

Dec. 5, Thurs., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
E.M. Wolfman Bookstore
410 13th St, Oakland
w/Alvin Orloff & Brontez Purnell
(510) 679-4650