Author Archive
December 29, 2017 by Robin Rowland
The Last Jedi is a (flawed) classic that completes the mythic cycle. Luke Skywalker is still a hero.
(CONTAINS SPOILERS) Star Wars: The Last Jedi is Luke Skywalker’s final chapter in the mythic cycle that George Lucas began with the original 1977 Star Wars film, now called A New Hope. That’s why, despite the flaws in any Hollywood movie, The Last Jediwill become a classic. As every Star Wars fan knows, Lucas based the character of […]
January 27, 2017 by Robin Rowland
Kitimat Chronicles III launch
A big crowd turned out Wednesday night, January 25, 2017 for the launch of Kitimat Chronicles III, the third volume in the self published history of the Kitimat valley and region by Walter Thorne and Dirk Mendel, the follow up to the popular Kitimat Chronicles I and Kitimat Chronicles II (Good Reads links) The stories […]
December 13, 2015 by Robin Rowland
Robert Heinlein’s nightmare vision. The US elects a dictator in 2016.
In the year AD 2100, an evil Dictator rules the United States. He maintains power through the clever use of advanced science and pyschology. And he is backed by a dedicated military clique…. From Robert A. Heinlein, the dean of space-age fiction, comes this thrilling novel of a soldier who dare to defy Authority who […]
October 2, 2015 by Robin Rowland
Re-elected Harper government to crack down on dual citizens of Beringian origin
A re-elected Harper government would crack down on dual citizens originally from Beringia, sources are saying. The sources say Harper and his advisors consider many Beringians to be a threat to Canada or at least to Harper’s vision of Canada. According to Statistics Canada there were at least 1,400,685 residents of Beringian origin in Canada […]
April 24, 2015 by Robin Rowland
Haisla author Joe Starr weaves magic in short story collection
In the opening short story of Haisla First Nation author Joe Starr’s collection, Nuyem Weaver, an elderly woman, the weaver, makes her last journey, by canoe, to the site of an abandoned village where the yellow cedar trees call to her so she can strip the bark and weave a new floor mat, a thlee-we […]
March 16, 2014 by Robin Rowland
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the children of veterans
On Sunday, March 16, 2014, the lead item on CBS Sunday Morning was about how the trauma of war is often passed on to the children of veterans. The item concentrates on the current crisis with U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and also touches on Vietnam through the story of Christal Presley who took […]
January 24, 2014 by Robin Rowland
Marmite kept my father alive.
Updates with CFIA statement saying Marmite not banned When I was a little kid my father insisted—yes insisted—that I eat my Marmite. This morning I woke up to the news that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has apparently banned Marmite, a yeast extract spread, in this country, along with some other British “comfort foods.” (After […]
May 12, 2013 by Robin Rowland
The salmon of wisdom The raven of war Legends from the Celtic northwest
The salmon of wisdom The raven of war Legends from the Celtic northwest Kitimat Museum and Archives Annual General Meeting & An Illustrated Talk by Robin Rowland, beginning at 7 p.m., May 28, 2013 For most people today, the image of Wales, Ireland and England conjures up Downton Abbey, with its rolling hills and green fields dotted […]
January 24, 2012 by Robin Rowland
Snowmaggeden? Not for Kitimat, but still a bit too much snow
It’s been snowing in Kitimat since Friday. With Kitimat called “Snow Valley” and the word Kitamaat meaning “people of the snow” in the language of the Tshmishian First Nation, snow in Kitimat is not usually news. The gauge at the FireHall says 91 centimetres between 6 pm Friday and 9 am Monday. Environment Canada records […]
January 4, 2012 by Robin Rowland