Maggie Helwig

Okay, so Trump has now explicitly told them they're going to war against their own people, so I guess that was more the point of this, and "I don't wanna look at your fat asses" was a gratuitous gesture to set the tone.

Also that they should commit more war crimes.

Pete Hegseth has honest to God called the US top command from around the world to Washington so he can tell them they look fat.

Carrying a change of clothes in a drybag is always a good idea ...

Some of that was because the middle school was further from my home so I couldn't go home at lunch. And it was a bigger building with more students, more places to beat people up, fewer adult eyes on things.

I have to say, grades 7-8 were where the torment and bullying really peaked, at a level that almost destroyed me. Elementary was difficult, high school was pretty bad, but 7-8 were the worst years of my life bar none. It wasn't till university that I really started to feel human.

Sky full of gannets declared terrorist organization.

Lack of child care means I can't be at Dufferin Grove today, as the City tries for a second day to evict the encampment there, but if you can get there, please do. They are trying to destroy homes and a community.

Same. (Though I could not honestly say I am boycotting travel to the US, when travel to the US would be so nearly impossible for me that I haven't found it worth trying for many years ...)

I think my dad was one of the country's most underestimated poets, so I'm always happy when someone mentions his work. Thank you!

T.S. Eliot would be the biggest influence, especially on my early work (Eden was my second book, and the first should be forgotten). John Donne. Gwendolyn MacEwen. Later, Tim Lilburn and I worked on some projects together, and he was an influence on my work as well. Those would be the top ones.

And we did talk about the Bible a lot, though not Adam and Eve all that much.

That book was actually based on a book of prints that I gave him for Christmas one year ...

Nope. He was my dad.

Yeah, go after the most famous living academic in the world. That'll go well.

Someone in the comments suggested that she is perimenopausal and just had her first hot flash. For some people, hot flashes can be accompanied by panic/fear reactions, and even skin reactions. It's extremely unpleasant even if you know what it is. But yeah. Not remotely fentanyl.

I think she doesn't actually like humans. I admit that some days this is an easy feeling to have, but you can't base public policy on it.

I think an autistic dog is ... a cat.

I mean, I'm on a list with Tanya Talaga and André Alexis, so I'm not going to win, but hopefully this will still get some attention on the issues ...

@maggiehelwig.bsky.social 's ENCAMPMENT has been shortlisted for the 2025 Toronto Book Awards!

Established by Toronto City Council in 1974, the Toronto Book Awards honour books of literary merit that are evocative of Toronto. View the full shortlist here: www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/tba/

People were fighting the banning of Margaret Laurence when I was in high school in the 70s. We're back to that again?

Oh man, I would love to be in a room with Garth Mullins. Terrific book.

That was unclear. Meaning I only ever watched that one season, when I was little. So the idea that someone went back more than twenty years later and *revived* the thing is crazy. Maybe I should watch it and try to understand why.

Another Old here, whose mind is blown to discover that many episodes of The Jetsons were made in the 80s. WHY?

I tried, didn't work for me. I have emailed them.

Same, I'm in Canada. I can't even write to the law firm, as their general on-line contact form demands that you select a state.

Oh yes, not questioning your general point, just Hildegard as a sort of outlier, and her convent as a probably terrifying place for some to be ...

I don't think music was absolutely everything to Hildegard, but I do think if you entered her abbey you were conscripted into her sometimes gruelling musical creativity, like it or not. (I have always assumed I would be the sister who washed dishes so the others could sing).

Photos don't capture the extent to which the City turned today's garbage pick-up into a show of force; I didn't photograph the dozen or more uniformed City staff forming a phalanx on the sidewalk. Shown: the Claw seizing garbage bins for disposal, so they can't be used to throw away garbage ...

Well, Encampment would have made it into the top ten if it weren't for the unslakeable desire of Canadians for Herman Classics ...