Historic Quebec Anglo T-Shirt

I have a t-shirt being sent my way shortly.

I lived in Montreal for 23 years before I left Canada to live in New Zealand and eventually Australia to get away from the separatists. To this day I still consider myself a political refugee in response to Bill 22 in 1974 which enshrined French as the sole official language in Quebec and the PQ’s Bill 101 in August 1977 which further undermined English language rights in the province:  https://globalnews.ca/news/1237519/fact-file-what-is-bill-101/

The language debate has recently reared its ugly head again by Quebec Premier Francois Legault who has suggested that a list be made up of “Historic Quebec Anglos” to restrict those on the list to have access to government services in English.

The t-shirts are a satiric dig at the language police in Quebec who have historically censored English in street and shop signs for decades. Make sure you attempt the quiz in the last link below to determine whether you qualify as an HISTORIC QUEBEC ANGLO.

The breaking story:

"There was much gnashing of teeth and consternation last month when the CAQ government let it slip that anglos would still have English-language access to provincial government services like electricity bills and automated telephone menu options — provided they were part of the “historic English community.”

But where would the burden of proof lie?

I mused this might entail having to produce documentation of having ancestors who fought alongside English Major General James Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham in the Seven Years’ War — which began in 1756 — to qualify. Or perhaps the solution might be in having historic anglos tagged with an ‘A’ on their drivers’ licences or health-care cards, or having their homes dotted with an ‘A’ at the entrance…”

Read the full story: https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/brownstein-historic-quebec-anglos-making-statement-on-t-shirts

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/english-government-services-quebec-1.5348007

Buy a t-shirt to support the Gazette's charitable Christmas fund here: https://historicanglos.com

UPDATE 21 December 2019

Further update: 22 December 2019

1,000 T-shirts have now been sold at $20 with proceeds being donated to the Montreal Gazette's Christmas Fund, now in its 53rd year. Over the holiday period a $125 cheque will be given to hundreds of disadvantaged families: https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/lucinda-chodan-ten-thousand-reasons-to-love-historic-quebec-anglos-hint-think-christmas-fund

For further reading FIND THIS BOOK & READ IT:

Just had a quick look. Here are 3 of some very ancient poems about Quebec, after I left the province:

An Anglo in Quebec

Looking at a photo of the Confederation Fathers posing in 1867

is to invite snide politically incorrect commentary-

on beards  sideburns  gender inequity-

     funny looking top hats

     heavy dark suits   & bow-ties.

Looking recently at a pre-referendum video

of Rene Levesque from 1976

chain smoking   clutching the microphone

croakingly proclaiming a PQ victory

blue & white flags surging behind him

it all seemed suddenly & incredibly very very small- 

from here in Australia.

(2001)

Summer in NDG, 1972

1

wafts of diesel smoke spew

from the rears of idling City buses

& slowly ascend the 3 storied terraces on Girouard

2

in the late afternoon light

a gang of young men hang out on the steps

of McLeans   drinking Mountain Dew

     & talking baseball

3

in a back room

Big Larry cuts a block of hash

the size of a pound of butter

4

a Bonnyville 650 explodes into vision

from Upper Lachine Road

in a lethal trajectory

                          the pillion passenger grimacing

clutching the funny bar

as they lean into the corner

5

across the street     secretly

the cops have rented a bread shop

& are recording  the deals

through hidden cameras

6

an Atwater bus 

picks up an elderly couple

headed downtown for a meal

     & a movie

7

the Bonneville threads haphazardly

through the streets again

accelerating brutally-

       the harsh echo of the mechanical roar

       reverberating through the brick walls

              of the inner city scape

8

the fridge door of McLean’s

snaps shut in its characteristic clunk

     I swig at a cool drink

the guys boisterous  spurting in the

fluffy-haired/ growth of 

    boof-headed consciousness

9

the elderly couple

     leave the cinema

& in fast forward mode

visibly age. Die. There is

a solemn, quickly forgotten

   funeral

10

the Bonnyville circles 

again. The dark gleaming 

visors of the

              riders, a blurred

purple 

       bar of light.

first published in Another Toronto Quarterly 2004

4 New Releases (2019) Holy & Intoxicated Publications (UK)

In 2019 John D Robinson of Holy & Intoxicated Publications has released 19 chapbooks by some of the best small alternative press writers in the English speaking world. Here are his last 4 of the year:

Tom Bakelas- No Place To Be

These are poems about mental illness and underclass life from a bloke who has worked in the industry for decades. Bakelas blurs the line between the patient and administrator, moving seamlessly between first and third person. Cover art by John D. Robinson.

Tin Foil

​​

most people i've met 

don't wear tin foil hats 

when completely psychotic

that is a fantasy of some

shit sucking hollywood exec

in hospitals, in streets,

in homes, in jails…

i've never met one 

who wore a tin foil hat

a few years back

i smoked some hashish with 

thirteen books of matches —

i didn't have a lighter—

i went to the pantry

found the foil

constructed an army grade helmet

affixed it to my skull

and felt truly powerful and free

no gamma rays, delta rays,

x-rays, and/or radio waves

were going to get me

as i stood admiring my tin foil hat

in the reflection of the bathroom mirror

i heard a knock on the front door

i ran into the pantry

shut off the light

and simply waited for it to pass.

porch swing

it was 2:30pm when I got there

she sat on her mother’s porch

smoking a cigarette 

she had been awake since 9am

and started drinking vodka around 11am

she told me she needed help 

finding a screw or a nail

to hang something on the wall

the smell of vodka on her breath

turned me on

something about vodka and beer

on a woman’s breath

does that 

she wasn’t wearing any makeup

i said she looked pretty

she told me she cried it all off

the night before

when we couldn’t find a nail

i sat with her 

rocking back-and-forth

in a swing that

hung from the porch ceiling

when she stopped smoking

she wrapped her arms around me

there was no more talking

the creaking chair spoke loud enough

this continued on for some time

after i left

she found a nail

and hung her painting on the wall

on the drive home 

i thought

sometimes we need that 

sometimes we need to simply be

we need quiet afternoons 

with someone 

even if no words are shared

sometimes it’s what 

keeps us

from suicide

or worse

sometimes it’s what

leads us 

there.

(all poems in this article are posted with the permission of the publisher)

What people have said about Tom Bakelas's No Place To Be:

Treading within the shadows of suburban tarmac, into a vanishing point that disappears upon each realisation that, there is No Place To Be. Tohm Bakelas finds a strange and confusing state between hope and isolation, where optimism decays in the perception of itself as a driving force to survive. A perception that is ever-present in our dead-end society. 

Lucy Wilkinson: editor/publisher of Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers Press

Bakelas finds the poems hiding in the quotidian, either skinning them alive to get to their core – or by picking them up and cradling them with a distinct tenderness. Although he maintains a strong voice when he hands these poems over to us, Bakelas does so in a way that takes a step back – allowing us to truly examine something and in turn even ourselves. No Place To Be acts as a taster menu for anyone not yet familiar with Bakelas work, or a much needed fix for anyone that’s been left craving for more.

Gwil James Thomas: poet, writer and inept musician. 

It takes a special set of qualities to understand & champion the needs of those struggling with mental illness. Poets often possess these by nature. This poet has them in spades. Tohm Bakelas lives inside the heads of some of our most troubled brothers & sisters. People simply trying to get along in an over-complicated world. & From his own head come observations & imaginations. Some sweet. Some tragic. Always with empathy. Ever with dignity. If poetry is about opening doors onto the deep reality of who we are as a society & how some of us can be cast without care into turmoil, through no fault of our own, then Tohm Bakelas has nailed it in this collection. –

 Pete Donohue: poet

Gwil James Thomas- In The Barrel Of A Beautiful Wave

Gwil James Thomas includes 14 poems in this collection. The poems are reflective and sometimes have a symbolic or extended metaphoric edge to them. Cover art by John D. Robinson.

The Stag Beetle Song.

I noticed him at the bus stop by the park,

this gentle giant crawling over the road

courageously making his way across 

the unforgiving asphalt – 

holding his jaws to the sky 

with a slow and sure determination 

not once stopping as the vehicle wheels

sped past like randomly fired bullets 

missing him by centimetres each time -

yet miraculously 

the stag beetle made it 

to the other side of the road unscathed, 

as he paused on the adjacent pavement 

and hobbled off out of sight.

What had made him risk life and limb?

Surely, he had all a stag beetle wanted 

back in that park? I pondered –

until I remembered a time that I crawled 

across hell and back for someone 

giving everything I had 

and hoping that was enough 

like a dumb and desperate 

stag beetle in love. 

Stock Car Racers.

An early memory –

under a blood red sky

on a rare late

Saturday afternoon

where my dad was present,

we sat in a 

dilapidated racecourse.

Stock car racers

 tore

around the track –

 twisted

metal

 and

skid

 marks

everywhere.

The weekend warrior

stock car racers

kept their hands gripped

to the wheel,

finding some glorious 

and gregarious escape

from whatever it was 

they did between 

Monday and the track –

as it was for us 

sat on the grass sprouted 

coliseum like steps –

a strange 

sort of 

beauty.

 Bio: Gwil James Thomas is a poet, novelist and inept musician originally from Bristol, England. His written work can be found widely in print and also online. He is the author of the poetry chapbooks: Gwil Vs Machine (Paper & Ink), Hidden Icons & Secret Menus (Analog Submission Press), Romance, Renegades & Riots - W/John D Robinson (Analog Submission Press) and Writing Beer, Drinking Poetry (Concrete Meat Press). Other work can be found widely in print and also online. He was also once a member of the Spanish/British band Irreparables (Nominal Records). He currently lives in San Sebastián, Northern Spain. 

A Blurb about the chap: “Gwil shoots from the hip and pours out barrels of heart onto each page of this new collection. His unique and nuanced perspective will make you want to read each poem again and again. Gwil's writing continues to get stronger and stronger and this is another great addition to what is becoming a fantastic bibliography of work."  

Martin Appleby, Editor of Paper & Ink Literary Zine

Catfish McDaris- Magic Coyote Rain Dance

Front and back covers by the legendary Marcel Herms (clink on to enlarge).

It’s difficult to describe Catfish’s original absurd mayhem on the page. His opening poem "Go Pound Sand" and its intricate word play, free-flowing associations and allusions will give you a blink of an idea of what he does (click on the poem to enlarge):

The best in this chap is his epic poem “The Day van Gogh Died” (from Chiron Review, Issue #74, Spring 2004) and the late great Todd Moore’s review of it (The Hold, June 2004 and The Outlaw Poetry Network).  Also of significant cultural note is Catfish's illustrated short story “Tiger Skin undies” (click on image to enlarge).

Kevin Tosca- Paris by Night

Tosca includes ten short stories in this chap, including seven which were previously published in The Frogmore Papers, The Interpreter’s House, The Broken Plate, Mojave River Review and Otoliths. Despite the romantic associations of the title these are dark, satirical takes on France as a tourist destination especially after the 2015 terrorist attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and on the Bataadan Theatre in Paris. Similar to Ted Hughes’s poem “My Paris”, Tosca grimly exposes the underbelly of the city beneath its tourist façade.

The striking opening short story with the ironic title "Progress" peels away the surface to reveal the political undertones of world realities. Click on to enlarge:

Best of the short stories include “War Drums” and the titular “Paris by Night” in which Tosca satirises the best selling but insipid travelogues of France aimed at well-healed American tourists. 

Tosca’s collection of short stories is certainly amongst the best of the work published by Holy & Intoxicated Publications since its inception.

 Interview with John D. Robinson- PunkAndPoetryPodcast- Episode 2

Zine editor and poet Martin Appleby (of Paper and Ink), interviews poet, writer and publisher John Robinson (of Holy&Intoxicated Publications).  Robinson talks about alcohol & writing, his writing process, his Holy & Intoxicated Publications and what to expect from him in 2020. Find the postcast here (11:04-26:43m): https://soundcloud.com/punkandpoetrypodcast/punk-and-poetry-podcast-002

See also recent updated interview of John D Robinson by Catfish McDaris: http://ppigpenn.blogspot.com

For more information about the books contact publisher John D. Robinson here: johndrobinson@yahoo.co.uk

Book Review Jim Haynes: Best Australian DRINKING STORIES (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2018) 270 pages

I first became aware of this anthology through an ABC podcast of Jim Haynes’s audiobook during Trevor Chappell’s Overnights broadcast a few months ago. Haynes, an ex-teacher, has recently published several anthologies through Allen & Unwin including; The Best Australian Sea Stories, The Best Australian Bush Stories, The Best Australian Trucking Stories, The Best Australian Yarns and the like: https://www.allenandunwin.com/authors/h/jim-haynes

In the audiobook, Jim Haynes uses his own voice to narrate many of the poems, short stories and social histories within this collection. I was drawn into the book, because at the time, I was writing my own set of pub short stories called The Empty Glass, which is scheduled to be published in early 2020. I was trying to figure out if my work was interesting and contemporary and I closely examined DRINKING STORIES to see what I could glean from it. 

Disappointingly, much of the focus of Haynes’s anthology is a nostalgic and sentimental one- looking back on the drinking history and culture of Australia’s long bygone days. About a third of the book comprises of Hayne’s social histories

which are clearly written and entertaining but very general and largely undocumented. 

His best and longest study is of “The Valentine’s Day Mutiny” in which Australian soldiers in 1916 rioted to protest the terrible barrack conditions in Liverpool NSW and went on a wild riot, ransacking several pubs and drinking them dry until order was eventually restored. Referendums in 1917 supported by the temperance movement lead to restrictive laws which banned the serving of booze in pubs after 6 pm until 1955 in New South Wales and 1966 in Victoria.

 Also impressive are “The 99^thRegiment Are Revolting” about the 1846 mutiny and “The Alcoholic History of Australia” in which Haynes provides us with an overview of the role of grog in our history.

The cover perhaps provides a telling clue as to what the reader might expect from the anthology. It appears to depict a 1950s pub crowd of men and women happily toasting  drinks. A superimposed clock reads 10 pm. They are probably celebrating the end to the Six O’Clock Swill- which happened nearly 65 years ago.

For copyright reasons, a lot of the material is very dated- first published in the early 20^thCentury. Despite its title BEST DRINKING STORIES there are only 18 short stories in the collection, including four by Haynes. His best work is his short stories such as “There’s A Patron Saint of Drunks” about Dipso Dan, a hometown drunk from Haynes’s fictional town of Weelabarabak, which he has compiled stories since the 1980s and “Charlie’s Story” about Charlie’s reminiscences about his old man who was badly wounded during World War 2. 

Overall of the 62 pieces in the anthology 36 are poems, 14 of are anonymous and many others are by long dead bush poets such as Steel Rudd, Henry Lawson, C.J. Dennis and E.G. Murphy.

Easily the best work in the anthology is by Kenneth Cook of Wake In Fright fame. His short story “One Hundred Stubbies” especially, and “Snakes and Alcohol” and “The Drunken Kangaroo” are incredibly humorous and brilliantly written! Of more than passable note are the short stories “The Final Meeting of the Book Club” by Jacqueline Kent, “The Lobster and the Lioness” by Ernest O’Ferrall and “The Six O’clock Swells” by Frank Daniel.

Should the reader want to pursue it further, few acknowledgements are made of where the material first appeared. For instance, I had to google  to find out that Kenneth Cook’s “One Hundred Stubbies” was first published in his short story collection The Killer Koala (Sydney, Tortoiseshell Press, 1986, pages 29-36) which is out of print. 

Haynes is a successfully anthologiser of Australian writing but this is feel-good, tame stuff. No swearing, no drunks losing the plot- and consequently, no real insight into the contemporary culture of drinking in Australia. The small brewery hipster movement, alcohol and violence, illicit gambling and prostitution in Kings Cross in the 1970s and 1980s and the inane lock-out laws (recently overturned) totally unimbibed.

Look inside the book at Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/best-australian-drinking-stories-jim-haynes/book/9781760632908.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiZPvBRDZARIsAORkq7dcT7maq6rnj9fi7orG1lZpPt3rSWzDNDAgfYgT3h9T8ElSuAU9kOAaAjFfEALw_wcB

Also discover my thoughts about Jim's amthology and how it helped shape my novel The Empty Glass, previously published by Alien Buddha Press, as well as links to blurbs about it here: https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2898768564399502953/8839712248849047931