bright land

+ i've been reading all weekend, and am just at the end of brian fawcett's virtual clearcut. it's a memoir, essentially, built on one fact: the bowron river clearcut, just southeast of prince george, his hometown, can be seen from space. it's a good book, especially so for its basis in one simple fact. it's something i want to delve into.

+ facts:

• vancouver is the 3rd most livable city in the world.
  
• "the west wants in" / "the west is in now"
  
• dubai exists.
  

+ it's a book about prince george, but it's really a book about british columbia. well, really, about british columbia in the world. it's also about men, and friendships.

+ i went shopping for books today, at pulpfiction on main and broadway. i found two more sharon butala books that i don't have yet - coyote's morning cry and wild stone heart. i may have more sharon butala than any other single canlit author now. wait, no. i have 10 atwood. only 8 butala. i like sharon butala more, though. it's strange, though; her themes don't generally resonate with me, and she can be quite awkward with her construction at times, as with the end of the forth archangel. but it's the pantheism and naturalism, especially as connected to western canada as a concept that really affect me, again, especially in contrast with predominant portrayals of the canadian west.i wrote an essay once, in which i contrasted sharon butala's west with that of george melnyk. melnyk has also contrasted the canadian west with the american west, suggesting that canada's is sociological while the US' is ecological. i want to know more about this. i want to know where i live.

+ and i am delving into canada, again. part of it is knowing that i'll be leaving the country this summer for two weeks. i need to know where i am from before i can understand being somewhere else. part of it is watching so much hockey. talking about hockey. meeting people in bars and talking hockey. going to hockey games with friends. going to hockey games with my dad. watching the vancouver giants play against the prince george cougars. i am also taking a canadian history course this summer. i'm getting resettled. tomorrow i will go to buy my textbooks.