July/August 2006
"Those who have no memory have the much greater chance to lead happy lives."
- W.G. Sebald
July/August 2006
Swimming with Mao
by Xujun Eberlein
By the time I left China, I had either thrown away or lost my childhood collection of memorabilia from the Cultural Revolution
International Affairs
The Long Walk of the Kuchi
by Adnan Khan
A nomadic tribe confronts the latest chapter in Afghanistan’s tumultuous history
Art
Secret Adventure
A series of illustrations on the theme of “secret adventure.” » View Photo Gallery «
More Stories in this issue
Letters
July 2006
ndp Endgame James Laxer’s perceptive critique of the New Democratic Party’s role in our recent
Sightings
A Family Affair
by Ken Alexander
For columnist Andrew Coyne, a telltale line in last spring’s budget was the promise to improve the tax treatment
Poetry
from A Little Useless Geometry & Other Matters
by Rosmarie Waldrop
WATER Hopelessly conformist to any vessel, wavers beneath the smallest breath, takes on the colours of childhood. If you try to reason it
Memoir
The Changeling
by Gail Gallant
On top of the TV there was a picture, colourized and framed, of baby Gail sitting on my father’s knee, with her name printed in the top right corner: Gail Gallant at 3 months
Travel
Where Beauty Has No Ebb
by Mark Anthony Jarman
Dublin is overrun with Eurotrash. To get to know the real Ireland, seek solitude and solace along the country’s many beaches
Poetry
Untitled
by Michael Turner
What kept her eyes open was not the muscles in her head but an interest in everything about her. Every day, something new, or something she knew
Poetry
A Song for the Yak
by Gary Barwin
I feel pain a yak says when I stick a backgammon set in my eye or Celine Dion I should clarify the yak says grammar is a rich ape that
Field Notes
Driving Lessons
by Joseph Boyden
New Orleans, 2004 — The heat of the day has given way to an inky, balmy Louisiana night, our car windows rolled
Style
Reawakening the Brief, and Other Unmentionables
by Julia Dault
A good set of underwear can reveal who we want to be
Literature
The Ends of the Earth
by Lisa Moore
The literature of two island outposts, Newfoundland and Tasmania, has captured the international imagination
Field Notes
My Doomed Voyage
by Helen Humphreys
Greenland, 2000 — The expedition was operated by an adventure-tour company, but the Lyubov Orlova was an
Memoir
My Life with Tolstoy
by David Gilmour
It was an ill-advised journey. You don’t go to Jamaica in August unless you grew up there. Too hot. And those roosters.
Field Notes
High School Confidential
by Douglas Coupland
Vancouver, 2006/1970s —This past spring I worked with four friends from my 1984 art-school grad class ripping
Poetry
How I Became Exquisite
by Stuart Ross
There in my favourite bar, Legends, whose walls were plastered with photos of Theodor Herzl and that girl who sang “You Light Up My
Imaginings
Its a Smallwood, After All
by Wayne Johnston
There are occasions when, looking out from the top storey of the Independence Building, Joey Smallwood wishes he could
Further Reading
July/August 2006 Bibliographies
by The Walrus Staff
Bibliographies from the July/August 2006 issue
Music
Life After the Death of Jazz
by Alexander Gelfand
The sound you hear over the bellyaching of purists is jazz’s fresh new blend
Anthropology
Plants with Soul
by Michael Posner
How a mind-bending plant-based drug made its way from the Amazon jungle to the US Supreme Court
Security
A Very Dark Place
by Tom Fennell
In the panic after 9/11, Canada enacted anti-terrorism legislation that curtailed civil liberties in favour of national security. Faced with American pressure, is the Harper government poised to go even further?
