Article on Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau. Photo by Sarah McNeill

Part 1 of my article about Justin Trudeau is now online. You can read it here. I am very grateful to the riding office for arranging the interview, and of course to Trudeau himself for showing up on a rainy Sunday morning for 50 minutes of questions.

Speaking of things Liberal, I will be at the function hosted in the Old Port later this week. Leader Michael Ignatieff will be there. Speaking of things political: have you heard about the Alberta government’s plan to allow parents to withdraw their children from school courses where they — horror of horrors! — might learn about homosexuality? Not to mention that other abomination against God: the Theory of Evolution.

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What more to report on the writing front? Work continues apace on a new article about the past, present and future of urban parks. Meanwhile, I’ve hit a roadblock with my project at TextNovel, where I’ve been posting new chapters every few days. The site was hacked over the weekend; it now seems partly back to normal, but my story has been directly targeted for sabotage. Somebody changed the title to “Why?” The description was changed to, “C’mon now, really, Why?” Then the preface was changed to “This is a fun site, Let people have some fun here now. Be considerate and happy.”

I personally find this ominous, not fun. I thought TextNovel was an adventurous and innovative move into making writing more accessible and exciting to participate in. It followed in the footsteps of Japanese popular culture, where young people download entire works of fiction to their cell phones for perusal on the bus, train, back of the classroom… It’s exactly the kind of site that a hacker should leave well alone. Ah well, happiness has never really been a hacker’s goal, has it? His own glorification, that’s his goal.

To all the hackers of the world: you are leeches.