Benjibopper

actually, come to think of it, this was my second publication since returning. the first was called 'Ghana@50: It's good to be home' and was published in TouchBASE Magazine, which focuses on foreign policy and immigration. But they aren't online so I can't give a link.
 

Congratulations. I will read and report.
 

It reads well. I cannot participate in the discussion, but I'm glad you had this opportunity.
 

This was really good. I got a small sense of the neighborhood politics from it. Eminent domain is a huge issue everywhere. Nobody wnats to be encroached upon or have more traffic flooding past their front doors, not to mention that people and organizations often have two very different ideas about what "just compensation" constitutes.
 

It is so reassuring to read that politics on the mini scale is just the same the world over. Nice article. I am always interested to read the names of streets etc they can give a flavour of a place. Chembucto Road sounds so Shipping News oh well I'll just take 5 for a small day dream.
 

Chebucto not Chembucto same thoughts.
 

EOTR: thanks very much. it's an all too common case of government not listening to the people who elected it, or even asking what they think.

Eric: so far this neighbourhood has asked for no compensation at all. They don't want the project, period.

Kissa: Chebucto is the Mi'kmaq word that describes the Halifax peninsula.
 

So, town planners suck just as much over there, huh?

I've sent a couple of 'Angry From Fishponds' rants to the local paper about similar issues.

On an unrelated note, I finally got around to checking in the unexpected 80's funk of Bruce Cockburn's 'If I had a Rocket Launcher'

Most enjoyable.
 

Hey Toast: yeah, planners are great fodder for writers - I recently sold a rant to a local policy journal that I'm quite excited about, comes out next month. As for Cockburn, he's one of many folkies who expanded his repetoire with the times, like L. Cohen, B. Dylan, and S. Gainsborough of France. Cockburn's range is impressive, but he is the most overtly political of the above listed and has maintained the sharpness. Unlike Dylan who is now selling Cadillacs. Not that I'm dissing Dylan, his music speaks for itself, but as far as politics goes I'll take Cockburn.
 

Congratulations!!!!-=doing happy dance=-
 

Can't argue with published material, whatever the subject.

Way to go!
 

It's awesome that your published, that you have a voice and it is heard.....
I probably shouldn't comment on the context, but.....
I live in a really small town, which happens to be in the path of two big cities, and the commuters, well, they sort of rule the highways....the egos, the pocketbooks....
a few years ago, the city planners
condemned by "imminent domain" tiny little houses on one side of the highway to widen it, and make room for the new water mains.....
A 70 year old friend of mine was in their path...her cherished home "condemned" and off she went to die of heartbreak instead of old age, in a ten-times-the-price-she-paid-for-hers, duplex. The house still sits there, crumpling, aching.....empty....

They widened the road, but we still don't have city water.....
 

Nice job and good writing!
One question.. what is the CRNA like in terms of SES? Because, in my limited experience, that can have a pretty profound effect on how seriously their complaints are taken...
 

Myutopia: happy dancing right back!

Ivan: actually I argue with published writing all the time. vehemently. but thank you, it's a nice little start in this one-donkey town. If I can't make it here, I can't make it anywhere.

Singleton: it is awesome and I feel privileged and lucky. Your story is heartbreaking. You know it's those personal stories that really shape the world, much more so than hack-kneed computer models and high-fallutin' theories. The road was also widened at my place (or what I thought was my place) when I was eight years old. Everyone affected fought it to no avail, except a compromise on 'my' house, which was renovated to make way for the wider road (the one that recently killed my poor sweet cat), which is too fast now for safety. It's still residential.

PP: Thank you. I'd love to answer your question, but first can you tell me what SES and CRNA mean?
 

Wow, congratulations...!

"Chris Benjamin lives in Halifax"

Who knew Benjibopper had a professional name!
 

Hi Josie. That's just a pen-name because I don't think they'd take benjibopper seriously.
 

Very cool! Congratulations! Why do the minds who see people as pawns on a chessboard always get elected?
 

BBE: Thanks. I think it's because they're the ones to most often run, they're the kinds who want that kind of power. They are also always trailing behind the brightest and most innovative minds. Those bright and innovative minds are the true leaders, and our greatest hope. No, this does not include Al Gore, nobel laureate.
 

I heard that Dylan was marketing his albums through Starbucks a while ago.

Bizarre.

Also Bizarre; Prince had his latest album given away free with The Daily Mail - a notoriously right wing newspaper over here. Ironic, or tragic? Hmm.
 

Toast: tragically ironic? the thing about dylan is i'm not sure how involved he gets with the marketing of his music; i suspect he just signs the business end off and his biz guys take care of it. but as for the cadilac ad (which you can see on youtube) it is strange, he's selling a $50k SUV, and there's all this debate at the youtube posting about whether he's being ironic, supporting the american working man, or selling out. dog knows why artists do what they do, but i feel i have to take their art as seperate from the individual. still, it's nice to see a guy like cockburn who seems to walk the walk, who is an activist as much as he is an artist.