The Return of The Blog without Karl Malden.

In a pre-internet time (does anyone remember that?), a title like The Return of the Blog could have been a perfect title for a really low-budget horror movie that was not particularly scary and had lots of bad actors.  However, I like those movies and I recently met a friend who really enjoys them too because of their complete awfulness.  I however had to mildly rebuke him and another friend for not knowing who Karl Malden was.  Of course, Karl Malden never starred in any bad movies.  Nonetheless, The Return of the Blog is indeed what is happening.  Pretend the Internet doesn’t exist and the blog is some awful creature that is going to take over your town after efforts in the first film to bury it in the Nevada desert failed.

This blog was overtly, and excessively political for almost all of its existence.  It’s something I came to regret.  During the recent election campaign in Canada, I became bewildered.  I realized that for many reasons, I’m not a very good partisan of any kind.  I’ve tried all three major political parties now and realize none of them represent me completely.  I think I’ll become one of those independent people who supports whatever party and candidate is best on an election-by-election, person-by-person basis.  As a citizen of a free country, I don’t feel like I should be obligated to adhere to one particular party and ideology with such rigid adherence anyway.  As for the election, I’m mostly just glad it’s over and Stephen Harper is no longer going to be the head of our government.  Could we have done better than Justin Trudeau?  Probably, but Mr. Mulcair disappointed and there were no viable alternatives.  Could we have done worse than Justin Trudeau?  Of course, and it would have meant another four years of Stephen Harper.  Notice how I say Stephen Harper and not the Conservatives.  Hopefully it was Stephen Harper and those closest to him who were all that tainted the party.  The organization could again be moderate and reasonable as past versions of the Conservative party were.  Another Joe Clark, or an honest version of Brian Mulroney is what it needs.  Another leader in the style of Diefenbaker or Stanfield would be phenomenal.  And as for the NDP; the instructions for it are simple.  It needs to carefully examine its existence and decide what it means to be a progressive political party in 21^st Century Canada.  Crowding the middle with a mixed bag of half measures taken from both the Liberals and Conservatives won’t cut it.  Having support in Quebec is crucial, but it should not mean getting soft on national unity and taking help from separatists.  Brian Mulroney tried this with the former Progressive Conservatives and the results were far from what he wanted.

Ok, so enough with the politics.  This blog is going to be much less political.  It needs to better reflect my work as a graduate student, my values, my experiences, and above all, humour.  Those things fortunately transcend the divisive boundaries of politics.  Our world is a much better place if we ignore what do not have in common with each other and can share what we do have in common.