8 Everyday Phenomena

A list of remarkable things and events in no particular order

1. A well-written obituary. One where the curious details of a stranger’s life can convey their essence and somehow move you: a chess scholarship won in 1972, an annual belly-flop into the public pool to kick off summer, beating all the nieces and nephews at poker every Christmas, thirty-six years devoted to kite-making. The Economist writes the best ones.

2. Street lamps at dusk & neon signs for ordinary things like Frank’s Shoe Repair gleaming red or Nettoyeur 3 hr Service in electric blue.

3. A book that fully immerses you into another world, blurring the lines between this one and that one for at least a few days.

4. The millisecond-by-millisecond evolution of the human species is shaped by the new minutiae of everyday life. Think: dating apps, stand-up scooters, 4-day bachelorette parties, mid-century furniture nostalgia, Gen Z’s current affair with conservatism, tourist bans, doom-scrolling, the return of vinyl, Tim Hortons selling pizza, Love Island, the Rooneyverse, couples therapy, etc. Yeah, all that stuff is altering our DNA and in turn our outer world, in one endless cycle moving us toward uncertain outcomes. I don’t know whether to be fascinated or horrified by that idea. I suppose it’s just our task to consciously take the good, reject the bad, and do something about any residual damage.

5. A good pair of house slippers waiting for you when you get home and why it’s so freakin comforting.

6. Getting unexpectedly caught and mesmerized by a phrase, a song, a painting, or a scene. It sweeps over you and you’re frozen in place, as though the curtains have closed and the theater’s gone dark and the words, or the note, or the scene is still ringing within you.

7. Justin Trudeau’s public persona over the last 9 years. Today, he resigned and as his faults and mistakes continue to be discussed exasperatedly, I suspect we shouldn’t take for granted that in an increasingly polarized and unstable geopolitical landscape, Trudeau managed to maintain a persona of decency, care, and respect. Though many of his policies and decisions may not have reflected such values, we should probably continue to expect dignified messaging and conduct from our leaders, something we can still do on this side of the border, under the assumption that their words and behaviors have a powerful influence on how we each relate to one another.

8. And finally, if I were to declare a winner of the everyday phenomena: the jagged little branches of frost that cling to windows on the coldest days and sparkle briefly on the glass just after the sun’s gone down, like tiny fallen stars in your living room.

(8 Everday Phenomena… perhaps part 1 of a series?)