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Bill Williamson
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Focus Magazine Nov/Dec 2016
Sept/Oct 2016.2
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Everything posted by Bill Williamson
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Victoria: going, going, gone?
Bill Williamson commented on Gene Miller's article in Development and architecture
I'd love to have council candidates like you describe to vote for. -
Get used to food shortages in the very near future. California is not going to provide us with the usual abundance of fresh produce we are used to eating. We are not going to get food air-cargoed in from South Africa, Venezuela, and New Zealand. 100 years ago Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands were net food exporters to BC. We could feed ourselves and others but not with Mangoes in January, of course. Start buying as much as you can from our local farmers right now because they need the support in order to build towards the food abundance that we will need starting next year. We need to build back our ability to be more self sufficient in a way that globalization of our food supply has weaned us from.
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Get used to food shortages in the very near future. California is not going to provide us with the usual abundance of fresh produce we are used to eating. We are not going to get food air-cargoed in from South Africa, Venezuela, and New Zealand. 100 years ago Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands were net food exporters to BC. We could feed ourselves and others but not with Mangoes in January, of course. Start buying as much as you can from our local farmers right now because they need the support in order to build towards the food abundance that we will need starting next year. We need to build back our ability to be more self sufficient in a way that globalization of our food supply has weaned us from.
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All of the new buildings going up and already here are bland, faceless, square boxes devoid of any unique features that make them interesting to look at and improve the sense of our city being different from Anytown, USA, or for that matter, Lethbridge or Mississaga.
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Justice Verhoeven's flawed decision on Fairy Creek blockades
Bill Williamson commented on David Broadland's story in Forests
"The Law is an Ass" some wise person quoted long ago. Cases and judgements like this seem to clearly prove the truth of it. "The Rule of Law" is not necessarily "Justice" -
Small City, Big Talent: Victoria’s Modern Dance Scene
Bill Williamson commented on Robin J. Miller's story in Books
Killing for no good purpose is disgusting and against sensible conservation practices. -
Small City, Big Talent: Victoria’s Modern Dance Scene
Bill Williamson commented on Judith Lavoie's report in Reporting
Killing for no good purpose is disgusting and against sensible conservation practices. -
What a wonderfully rational approach to the hysteria around the 'dangers' of urban wildlife.
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What a wonderfully rational approach to the hysteria around the 'dangers' of urban wildlife.
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Big History in Little Victoria
Bill Williamson commented on Gene Miller's article in Development and architecture
The ever articulate, multi-syllabic Gene nails it again. Great piece. I'll always see those square, featureless boxes piled up as 'file drawers for people' in the future. There is not one amazing, innovative building being put up in Victoria which is why everyone fawned over the only mildly different Atrium. It was the last squeak of imagination here in town. Are there no architects in Victoria with the ability to design something not square and boring? -
As a lifelong member of the provincial NDP, I cancelled my membership the day Horgan said the dam would go ahead. I have never given them another dime and I never will. Go Green.
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Steeple-less church raises question
Bill Williamson commented on Gene Miller's article in Development and architecture
Gene is brilliant at clearly expressing our inchoate feelings of homeness in the few neighbourhoods left that are still examples of 'human scale' that vertical human storage highrises do not deliver. Neighbourhoods like Fernwood, Oaklands, and Gorge-Tillicum are examples of what I believe should be our future not the horrors of the Hudson 'neighbourhood'. -
“Your Consent is Not Required”—a disturbing new book by Rob Wipond
Bill Williamson commented on Amy Reiswig's story in Books
I feel abused and deceived by the BC Government that should be above this kind of lying. -
“Your Consent is Not Required”—a disturbing new book by Rob Wipond
Bill Williamson commented on David Broadland's story in Forests
I feel abused and deceived by the BC Government that should be above this kind of lying. -
A rare opportunity to save a forested watershed
Bill Williamson commented on Leslie Campbell's report in Reporting
It's a wonderful piece of nature that needs to be saved. -
"Why does profit take precedence over science?" That's an essential question in our rapacious capitalist society. It is also present in the precedence given to "The Economy" over people's lives in the pandemic. Thousands are dead but the economy must come first. Medical experts plead for lockdowns that are denied over concern for business interests. It is a universal problem in our society.
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The “Blessed Unrest” and the public good
Bill Williamson commented on Leslie Campbell's story in Books
"Why does profit take precedence over science?" That's an essential question in our rapacious capitalist society. It is also present in the precedence given to "The Economy" over people's lives in the pandemic. Thousands are dead but the economy must come first. Medical experts plead for lockdowns that are denied over concern for business interests. It is a universal problem in our society. -
Once you've read this bit by Gene, there is a fascinating article in The Atlantic that expands on the idea. It's an idea that Gene is not alone in suggesting. "We may, once again, have hit the civilizing limit. It always feels different, the result of some distinct narrative, some particular set of claims, or personalities, but it’s always the same: a civilization, an empire, reaches a stage at which communication fails and the arguments, the “why” of a culture, become ambiguous, self-contradictory, less-shared or share-able. Still, the cultural enthusiasms underlying the idea of social improvement make objectivity or thoughtful pause difficult (and modesty nearly impossible); make us reluctant to understand things as operating in cycles…even though cycles in nature surround and shout at us; not least that you don’t get better, just older." The Atlantic's article is called "The Next Decade Could Be EvenWorse." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/can-history-predict-future/616993/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20201113&silverid-ref=MzYyNTYzNDYxMTI5S0
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Once you've read this bit by Gene, there is a fascinating article in The Atlantic that expands on the idea. It's an idea that Gene is not alone in suggesting. "We may, once again, have hit the civilizing limit. It always feels different, the result of some distinct narrative, some particular set of claims, or personalities, but it’s always the same: a civilization, an empire, reaches a stage at which communication fails and the arguments, the “why” of a culture, become ambiguous, self-contradictory, less-shared or share-able. Still, the cultural enthusiasms underlying the idea of social improvement make objectivity or thoughtful pause difficult (and modesty nearly impossible); make us reluctant to understand things as operating in cycles…even though cycles in nature surround and shout at us; not least that you don’t get better, just older." The Atlantic's article is called "The Next Decade Could Be EvenWorse." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/can-history-predict-future/616993/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20201113&silverid-ref=MzYyNTYzNDYxMTI5S0
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I have read every one of Gene's articles in Focus from the first time I discovered them until this one. Gene writes about life and also Victoria in ways that make me think that I am seeing with new eyes even though I was born and raised here. I always look forward to a new edition of Gene's musings and ramblings about the city I love almost as much as he does. Anything he writes is worth the time. I am very glad he is going to continue to appear in Focus.
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I have read every one of Gene's articles in Focus from the first time I discovered them until this one. Gene writes about life and also Victoria in ways that make me think that I am seeing with new eyes even though I was born and raised here. I always look forward to a new edition of Gene's musings and ramblings about the city I love almost as much as he does. Anything he writes is worth the time. I am very glad he is going to continue to appear in Focus.