J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

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Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Chrysler, Just West of Cadillac

Today is Canada Day. We used to call it Dominion Day. A holiday ought to celebrate an idea, right? Like Independence Day. I wonder what our (Canadian) idea is?
John Ralston Saul, in A Fair Country, "argues that the famous 'peace, order, and good government' that supposedly defines Canada is a distortion of the country’s true nature. Every single document before the BNA Act, he points out, used the phrase “peace, welfare, and good government,” demonstrating that the well-being of its citizenry was paramount. He also argues that Canada is a Métis nation, heavily influenced and shaped by aboriginal ideas: egalitarianism, a proper balance between individual and group, and a penchant for negotiation over violence are all aboriginal values that Canada absorbed. Another obstacle to progress, Saul argues, is that Canada has an increasingly ineffective elite, a colonial non-intellectual business elite that doesn’t believe in Canada. It is critical that we recognize these aspects of the country in order to rethink its future."

Notes and photos from Alex Emond, on a Saskatchewan trip, back in early May:
"I spied this 1925-ish Chrysler from the road and went onto a farm property to take these shots. There wasn't anyone around, because its seeding time ... anyway , it's a grand old car , crank start and all . You wouldn't have to take off your Stetson to drive this regal ride . This was just a little west of Cadillac (Saskatchewan). "-AE

I'd say an original, or very close to. Wonder where it's been in 90 years? Was it one of the scout cars Capone's crew of gunslingers drove, escorting whisky trucks  across the 49th parallel? My uncle, Staff Sgt Billy Lillis, in charge of the RCMP detachment at Medicine Hat, Alberta in the ninetween-twenties, was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the Force for being too friendly with bootleggers. I have the transcript of his trial. After his discharge he hit the skids and ended up a janitor living in a rented room above a pool hall in the Hat. Buried in the Catholic cemetery. No one in the family ever knew what became of Uncle Billy. On a research trip twenty-five years ago I walked into the bar of the Canadian Legion in Medicine Hat within five minutes I was talking to a gent who remembered "Wild Irish Billy" and his wild blue eyes.

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