Tuesday, July 23, 2024
By Peter Coffman You know the old saying, ‘possession is nine tenths of the law’. Obviously, that’s never been literally true. And even if it had been, it starts to fall apart when we... More
By Peter Coffman You know the old saying, ‘possession is nine tenths of the law’. Obviously, that’s never been literally true. And even if it had been, it starts to fall apart when we discover that ‘possession’ doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. The story of Tr'ochëk (pictured above) illustrates this. The flat,... More
Monday, July 15, 2024
By Peter Coffman Imagine a stream cascading down a mountain, winding through a lush forest of evergreen and deciduous trees, full of moose, elk, caribou, porcupines, squirrels, and the odd bear feeding on abundant salmon. This is what that place looks like... More
By Peter Coffman Imagine a stream cascading down a mountain, winding through a lush forest of evergreen and deciduous trees, full of moose, elk, caribou, porcupines, squirrels, and the odd bear feeding on abundant salmon. This is what that place looks like after it has been chewed up and spat out – literally –... More
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
By Peter Coffman During his one and only Klondike winter, writer Jack London (of Call of the Wild fame) contracted scurvy. He could have avoided it, had he consulted those who had lived in that place for millennia – the Tr’ondek Hwech’in people. They... More
By Peter Coffman During his one and only Klondike winter, writer Jack London (of Call of the Wild fame) contracted scurvy. He could have avoided it, had he consulted those who had lived in that place for millennia – the Tr’ondek Hwech’in people. They would have told him that adding spruce tea to his... More
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
By Peter Coffman If I say “Dawson City”, you may think “Gold Rush! Canada’s wild west! The land of Sam McGee and Dan McGrew!” That’s the beloved mythology of Dawson City, but in fact the wild west, gold rush period of the town’s history was very... More
By Peter Coffman If I say “Dawson City”, you may think “Gold Rush! Canada’s wild west! The land of Sam McGee and Dan McGrew!” That’s the beloved mythology of Dawson City, but in fact the wild west, gold rush period of the town’s history was very brief – barely three years long. This blog... More
Monday, June 10, 2024
By Peter Coffman I don’t enjoy writing eulogies, and I don’t think I’ve ever written one for a building (although I did once write what I called a ‘requiem’ for one). But for St. Anne’s Church in Toronto, which was destroyed in a fire yesterday, I... More
By Peter Coffman I don’t enjoy writing eulogies, and I don’t think I’ve ever written one for a building (although I did once write what I called a ‘requiem’ for one). But for St. Anne’s Church in Toronto, which was destroyed in a fire yesterday, I have to make an exception. St. Anne’s was... More
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