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jmason's links
@jmason_links • Joined: Nov 12, 2024Following the links from pinboard.in/u:jm/ and jmason.ie .
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jmason's links
@jmason_links • Joined: Nov 12, 2024Following the links from pinboard.in/u:jm/ and jmason.ie .
(Automated bot account run by @jmason ) -
The original source code for the Bourne shell in early versions of UNIX is legendarily bizarre, as it was written in "Bournegol", the ALGOL-like dialect of C that Steve Bourne came up with, with a load of macros to make C look a bit like ALGOL 68. This page has a good representative sample. Thanks to Tony Finch for the reminder
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Jason Wilson: US conservative thinktank’s links to extremist fraternal order: Claremont Institute officials closely involved with Society for American Civic Renewal, which experts say is rooted in Christian nationalism
"The president of the rightwing Claremont Institute & another senior Claremont official are both closely involved with the shadowy Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), an exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian “aligned regime”, & which experts say is rooted in extreme Christian nationalism & religious autocracy.
The revelations emerge from documents gathered in public records requests, including emails between several senior members of SACR: Claremont president Ryan P Williams; its director of state coalitions & Boise State University professor Scott Yenor; and others including former soap manufacturer and would-be “warlord” Charles Haywood."
#claremontinstitute #whitenationalism
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/11/claremont-institute-society-for-american-civic-renewal-links -
Friday Links 25-23
A few interesting articles about AI this week. A good interview with Jane Goodall from 2020, and a weird assembler tutorial game.
Also check out the link from Jason at the bottom, I could have copied them all.
https://christof.damian.net/2025/10/friday-links-25-23.html
#engineering #environment #friday #fridaylinks #leadership #links #urbanism
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furiously smashes it down onto the laboratory worktop.
Weyland's greedy visage shatters, creating a dreadful mess. Jason turns to the trolley holding his belongings & lifts his machete and cuff links. Locating the post-coital Hicks, he demonstrates the true force of penetration.To be continued....
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Links for 5/26/24
Surf music has been infiltrated by artificial intelligence, and it's probaby going to get worse.
Tech’s Plan to ‘Ethnically Cleanse’ San Francisco w/ Gil Duran
The Strange World Of… Joe Meek
Here’s what record-breaking temperatures looked like around the globe
CLASSIC? Neil Blender, Jason Jessee, Jay Adams, Stev
https://www.kawentzmann.de/exotic-blog/asides/links-for-5-26-24/
#ClimateChange #JoeMeek #skateboard #skating #SurfMusic #technology #wildlife
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Upstream: Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore: A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things (In Conversation) https://soundcloud.com/upstreampodcast/raj-patel-and-jason-w-moore
(NewPipe can play SoundCloud links)
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Jason Mankey and High Priest: Raymond Buckland – Ep. 7
Jason Mankey is a high priest, author, and my very first returning guest. He’s decided to come back on M3 to talk about his latest biography on Raymond Buckland, High Priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6VEp5axMU
Yes. Jason Mankey, who is a high priest, wrote a book called High Priest, about another high priest named Raymond Buckland.
Honestly, though… does Jason really need another introduction? This is his second time around, so if you want to hear more about his background, you can flip back to Season 1 where we go over all that stuff and Greek Gods.
In this episode, Jason tells me all about his newest book, High Priest. It’s a biography of Raymond Buckland, who is often hailed as “the father of American witchcraft” — a title which even made its way to the book’s cover. Most people don’t see the enormous amount of work that takes place when writing a book like this, including research, travel, and coordinating with many, many other people. In fact, this was the longest that Jason has ever worked on a book. But aside from that, who was Ray Buckland and why did we need a book about his life? We’re going to talk about all of that… and more. Plus, I had to figure out a new signature question to ask Jason at the very end.
You all know how this works, right? Maybe you do. Or maybe this is the first time you’re reading one of these articles. Either way, this is just some written highlights. If you want to get the full scoop, I always suggest watching the entire interview.
Let’s get to it!
Background
Does someone just wake up one morning and decide “well, I think I’ll write a biography today”? Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case here.
(By the way, if you’re looking for more on Jason’s background, like how he found his way to the craft in the first place, I’ll again refer you to Season 1)
Raymond Buckland died in 2017. And although his absence was felt within the community almost instantly, it took a few years for someone to come up with this particular project.
Almost three years later, during the height of the pandemic, Llewellyn (Jason’s publisher) decided that Buckland’s biography needed to be written… and that Jason should be the one to write it. Since he had never written a biography before, Jason was hesitant. He says he eventually accepted because it would be a challenge — and as a writer, sometimes it’s just fun to do something different.
High Priest
High Priest: Raymond Buckland, the Father of American Witchcraft. What a title for a book! And you know what? It took Jason about three years to write it, which represents the longest period of time (as of yet) that he’s ever devoted to writing a single book.
As the name would imply, it’s a biography. And although Jason states in the introduction that he is “most certainly not a trained historian” and “most certainly not a trained biographer,” I’ll just break the tension and let you know that he most certainly does an excellent job at both capturing history and chronicling the impact the Raymond Buckland had on the world of witchcraft.
One of the most important things about this book is that it gives an objective perspective. It isn’t filled with opinion or conjecture. It’s based on facts that were thoroughly and painstakingly researched. And thanks to Jason’s writing style, it’s actually just pretty damned interesting to read.
High Priest by Jason Mankey
As you might expect from a biography, the book starts with Raymond Buckland’s childhood and ends with his legacy. But as you might not expect, the very first chapter includes an analysis of Buckland’s astrological star chart, which was written by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. What a fascinating way to open a book! It gives you such a wide perspective… introducing who Buckland could have been, as inclined by the stars, and then using the rest of the book to tell you who he actually was.
But that’s not the only interesting inclusion. Every chapter, in fact, has its own unique “add-on” (the book officially calls each one an “Exercise”) — and among them are quotes from Buckland’s other books or rituals that he wrote.
Special Privileges
In order to write this biography properly, Jason had to go through a number of sources. When he broke down his writing process for me in the interview, he said he had to start with an analysis of the written information (mostly from Buckland’s books) and then “talk to some people.”
It’s true… he talked to many people during this process — something which should be glaringly evident to anyone who reads the book, as there are excerpts and quotes littered throughout the text (we’ll talk about that later). Among all of those discussions, however, Jason says the most important were the ones with Raymond’s widow, Tara Buckland, who survived her husband. She talked to Jason “many, many, many times” and helped point him in the right direction.
Jason received a copy of Buckland’s unpublished memoir, which would have been called “So Little Time” (a title that Jason originally considered for High Priest, but Llewellyn ultimately chose the final name for the book). He said it was helpful in the sense that it contained a long list of things that Buckland did, but also not helpful because many of those things were related to cars he drove or radio stations that he appeared on. Apparently, Raymond Buckland really liked cars.
At the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio, however, Jason was given some very special privileges. They allowed him access to a collection of documents and pictures, including letters between Raymond Buckland, Gerald Gardner, and Monique Wilson — some of those letters actually appear in the book. Jason says that he doesn’t think anyone who writes books had seen those letters before… and they’re exciting because they had never been documented or written about. Beyond that, they represent a firsthand account of how witchcraft was born in the United States.
I think that when you combine all of these sources, Jason had a collective experience that made him the perfect person to write this biography (despite his multiple claims of not being a biographer).
Buckland’s Impact
I think the big question is this: why did we need a biography of Raymond Buckland? According to Jason, there’s quite a few reasons:
- Ray was one of the first public witches in the United States.
- He was one of the first American witchcraft writers.
- He brought the Gardnerian tradition into the United States.
- He helped come up with the “outer court” system that is used by many traditional witchcraft groups.
- He was one of the first witchcraft elders to say that you could be a valid witch through self-initiation.
That’s certainly a significant list. Would witchcraft exist in the United States without Raymond Buckland? Of course it would. But it would probably look pretty different from what we know today.
And then there’s the matter of his books…
Do you know how many people report that their introduction to witchcraft was through “the big blue book”? They are, of course, referring to Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, which has a strikingly blue cover and features the image of a very large pentagram.
It’s a lot of people. Go ahead, listen to all of my interviews and count how many times it’s mentioned when I ask people about finding their path to Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism in general.
And that’s just one book. As Jason explains during the interview, Buckland may have written approximately 60 (although some of those were much shorter pamphlets and self-published). Starting in the late 1980’s, Buckland became a full-time writer… and he continued to write until his passing.
The Buckland Collection
Llewellyn now has an entire Raymond Buckland collection that they are featuring, of which High Priest is a part!
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Again, Raymond Buckland wrote a lot of books.
What Others Think
In addition to all of Jason’s research, High Priest also contains experiences and remembrances from other notable names within the witchcraft community. As you flip through, especially in the second half of the book, you’ll notice small excerpts written by Tara Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, Selena Fox, Thorn Mooney, and others that detail some of their personal encounters with Ray.
I won’t spoil any of them. I think you should read it yourself.
On a personal note, however, I do have to say that I really enjoyed reading and sometimes re-reading some of these excerpts. I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective.
Other Books by Jason Mankey
Finding Jason Mankey
It isn’t difficult to find Jason Mankey online. A quick google search will pull up a ton of links for you, but you can also start here:
- Instagram @ the_silicon_valley_witch
- Twitter @panmankey
- TikTok @panmankey
- Llewelyn’s Author Page
- Personal Website
- Raise the Horns
If you’re interested in finding him in person, he’s got a pretty packed schedule of festival appearances coming up, which he goes over during the interview.
New Questions
As you may know by now, I ask every guest the same question at the end of these interviews. They have to tell me how they use sound or music in their personal practice.
So what do I do when someone comes back on the show? Do I ask them the same question again? Well… I’m not a big fan of redundancy, so this presented me with an interesting problem.
I had to come up with a new question. I decided to ask Jason about his favorite musical memory.
And to hear that answer, you’ll have to watch the full interview and hear it in his own words.
Conclusion
I truly enjoyed reading Jason’s latest book, but I was also really interested to learn more about his writing process and all of the background behind what actually goes into writing a biography — it’s a pretty monumental undertaking! Remember, that was almost three years of Jason’s life that went into the production of this book.
Llewellyn was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of High Priest so I could get familiar with the book before Jason’s interview — thank you Llewellyn! I decided to do a video review of the book, so if you’d like to watch that, too… you can find it on YouTube.
It was an honor to have Jason back on my show. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft I did to convince him to do this for a second time, but it must have been effective. I can’t wait to invite him for a third time so that he can tell me all about his next book (which he teases if you listen to the full interview).
I’ve got more interviews coming up for you! As always, stay tuned for more soon!
Ah, you have made it to the end! Do you always read to the end? Or is this article just special? Well, either way… I have something to tell you. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a tiny commission. Now go buy some books!
#biography #bookReviews #bookReview #books #buckland #interviews #jasonMankey #m3 #magick #raymondBuckland #season3 #witchcraft #writing
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Jason Mankey and High Priest: Raymond Buckland – Ep. 7
Jason Mankey is a high priest, author, and my very first returning guest. He’s decided to come back on M3 to talk about his latest biography on Raymond Buckland, High Priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6VEp5axMU
Yes. Jason Mankey, who is a high priest, wrote a book called High Priest, about another high priest named Raymond Buckland.
Honestly, though… does Jason really need another introduction? This is his second time around, so if you want to hear more about his background, you can flip back to Season 1 where we go over all that stuff and Greek Gods.
In this episode, Jason tells me all about his newest book, High Priest. It’s a biography of Raymond Buckland, who is often hailed as “the father of American witchcraft” — a title which even made its way to the book’s cover. Most people don’t see the enormous amount of work that takes place when writing a book like this, including research, travel, and coordinating with many, many other people. In fact, this was the longest that Jason has ever worked on a book. But aside from that, who was Ray Buckland and why did we need a book about his life? We’re going to talk about all of that… and more. Plus, I had to figure out a new signature question to ask Jason at the very end.
You all know how this works, right? Maybe you do. Or maybe this is the first time you’re reading one of these articles. Either way, this is just some written highlights. If you want to get the full scoop, I always suggest watching the entire interview.
Let’s get to it!
Background
Does someone just wake up one morning and decide “well, I think I’ll write a biography today”? Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case here.
(By the way, if you’re looking for more on Jason’s background, like how he found his way to the craft in the first place, I’ll again refer you to Season 1)
Raymond Buckland died in 2017. And although his absence was felt within the community almost instantly, it took a few years for someone to come up with this particular project.
Almost three years later, during the height of the pandemic, Llewellyn (Jason’s publisher) decided that Buckland’s biography needed to be written… and that Jason should be the one to write it. Since he had never written a biography before, Jason was hesitant. He says he eventually accepted because it would be a challenge — and as a writer, sometimes it’s just fun to do something different.
High Priest
High Priest: Raymond Buckland, the Father of American Witchcraft. What a title for a book! And you know what? It took Jason about three years to write it, which represents the longest period of time (as of yet) that he’s ever devoted to writing a single book.
As the name would imply, it’s a biography. And although Jason states in the introduction that he is “most certainly not a trained historian” and “most certainly not a trained biographer,” I’ll just break the tension and let you know that he most certainly does an excellent job at both capturing history and chronicling the impact the Raymond Buckland had on the world of witchcraft.
One of the most important things about this book is that it gives an objective perspective. It isn’t filled with opinion or conjecture. It’s based on facts that were thoroughly and painstakingly researched. And thanks to Jason’s writing style, it’s actually just pretty damned interesting to read.
High Priest by Jason Mankey
As you might expect from a biography, the book starts with Raymond Buckland’s childhood and ends with his legacy. But as you might not expect, the very first chapter includes an analysis of Buckland’s astrological star chart, which was written by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. What a fascinating way to open a book! It gives you such a wide perspective… introducing who Buckland could have been, as inclined by the stars, and then using the rest of the book to tell you who he actually was.
But that’s not the only interesting inclusion. Every chapter, in fact, has its own unique “add-on” (the book officially calls each one an “Exercise”) — and among them are quotes from Buckland’s other books or rituals that he wrote.
Special Privileges
In order to write this biography properly, Jason had to go through a number of sources. When he broke down his writing process for me in the interview, he said he had to start with an analysis of the written information (mostly from Buckland’s books) and then “talk to some people.”
It’s true… he talked to many people during this process — something which should be glaringly evident to anyone who reads the book, as there are excerpts and quotes littered throughout the text (we’ll talk about that later). Among all of those discussions, however, Jason says the most important were the ones with Raymond’s widow, Tara Buckland, who survived her husband. She talked to Jason “many, many, many times” and helped point him in the right direction.
Jason received a copy of Buckland’s unpublished memoir, which would have been called “So Little Time” (a title that Jason originally considered for High Priest, but Llewellyn ultimately chose the final name for the book). He said it was helpful in the sense that it contained a long list of things that Buckland did, but also not helpful because many of those things were related to cars he drove or radio stations that he appeared on. Apparently, Raymond Buckland really liked cars.
At the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio, however, Jason was given some very special privileges. They allowed him access to a collection of documents and pictures, including letters between Raymond Buckland, Gerald Gardner, and Monique Wilson — some of those letters actually appear in the book. Jason says that he doesn’t think anyone who writes books had seen those letters before… and they’re exciting because they had never been documented or written about. Beyond that, they represent a firsthand account of how witchcraft was born in the United States.
I think that when you combine all of these sources, Jason had a collective experience that made him the perfect person to write this biography (despite his multiple claims of not being a biographer).
Buckland’s Impact
I think the big question is this: why did we need a biography of Raymond Buckland? According to Jason, there’s quite a few reasons:
- Ray was one of the first public witches in the United States.
- He was one of the first American witchcraft writers.
- He brought the Gardnerian tradition into the United States.
- He helped come up with the “outer court” system that is used by many traditional witchcraft groups.
- He was one of the first witchcraft elders to say that you could be a valid witch through self-initiation.
That’s certainly a significant list. Would witchcraft exist in the United States without Raymond Buckland? Of course it would. But it would probably look pretty different from what we know today.
And then there’s the matter of his books…
Do you know how many people report that their introduction to witchcraft was through “the big blue book”? They are, of course, referring to Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, which has a strikingly blue cover and features the image of a very large pentagram.
It’s a lot of people. Go ahead, listen to all of my interviews and count how many times it’s mentioned when I ask people about finding their path to Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism in general.
And that’s just one book. As Jason explains during the interview, Buckland may have written approximately 60 (although some of those were much shorter pamphlets and self-published). Starting in the late 1980’s, Buckland became a full-time writer… and he continued to write until his passing.
The Buckland Collection
Llewellyn now has an entire Raymond Buckland collection that they are featuring, of which High Priest is a part!
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Again, Raymond Buckland wrote a lot of books.
What Others Think
In addition to all of Jason’s research, High Priest also contains experiences and remembrances from other notable names within the witchcraft community. As you flip through, especially in the second half of the book, you’ll notice small excerpts written by Tara Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, Selena Fox, Thorn Mooney, and others that detail some of their personal encounters with Ray.
I won’t spoil any of them. I think you should read it yourself.
On a personal note, however, I do have to say that I really enjoyed reading and sometimes re-reading some of these excerpts. I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective.
Other Books by Jason Mankey
Finding Jason Mankey
It isn’t difficult to find Jason Mankey online. A quick google search will pull up a ton of links for you, but you can also start here:
- Instagram @ the_silicon_valley_witch
- Twitter @panmankey
- TikTok @panmankey
- Llewelyn’s Author Page
- Personal Website
- Raise the Horns
If you’re interested in finding him in person, he’s got a pretty packed schedule of festival appearances coming up, which he goes over during the interview.
New Questions
As you may know by now, I ask every guest the same question at the end of these interviews. They have to tell me how they use sound or music in their personal practice.
So what do I do when someone comes back on the show? Do I ask them the same question again? Well… I’m not a big fan of redundancy, so this presented me with an interesting problem.
I had to come up with a new question. I decided to ask Jason about his favorite musical memory.
And to hear that answer, you’ll have to watch the full interview and hear it in his own words.
Conclusion
I truly enjoyed reading Jason’s latest book, but I was also really interested to learn more about his writing process and all of the background behind what actually goes into writing a biography — it’s a pretty monumental undertaking! Remember, that was almost three years of Jason’s life that went into the production of this book.
Llewellyn was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of High Priest so I could get familiar with the book before Jason’s interview — thank you Llewellyn! I decided to do a video review of the book, so if you’d like to watch that, too… you can find it on YouTube.
It was an honor to have Jason back on my show. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft I did to convince him to do this for a second time, but it must have been effective. I can’t wait to invite him for a third time so that he can tell me all about his next book (which he teases if you listen to the full interview).
I’ve got more interviews coming up for you! As always, stay tuned for more soon!
Ah, you have made it to the end! Do you always read to the end? Or is this article just special? Well, either way… I have something to tell you. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a tiny commission. Now go buy some books!
#biography #bookReviews #bookReview #books #buckland #interviews #jasonMankey #m3 #magick #raymondBuckland #season3 #witchcraft #writing
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Jason Mankey and High Priest: Raymond Buckland – Ep. 7
Jason Mankey is a high priest, author, and my very first returning guest. He’s decided to come back on M3 to talk about his latest biography on Raymond Buckland, High Priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6VEp5axMU
Yes. Jason Mankey, who is a high priest, wrote a book called High Priest, about another high priest named Raymond Buckland.
Honestly, though… does Jason really need another introduction? This is his second time around, so if you want to hear more about his background, you can flip back to Season 1 where we go over all that stuff and Greek Gods.
In this episode, Jason tells me all about his newest book, High Priest. It’s a biography of Raymond Buckland, who is often hailed as “the father of American witchcraft” — a title which even made its way to the book’s cover. Most people don’t see the enormous amount of work that takes place when writing a book like this, including research, travel, and coordinating with many, many other people. In fact, this was the longest that Jason has ever worked on a book. But aside from that, who was Ray Buckland and why did we need a book about his life? We’re going to talk about all of that… and more. Plus, I had to figure out a new signature question to ask Jason at the very end.
You all know how this works, right? Maybe you do. Or maybe this is the first time you’re reading one of these articles. Either way, this is just some written highlights. If you want to get the full scoop, I always suggest watching the entire interview.
Let’s get to it!
Background
Does someone just wake up one morning and decide “well, I think I’ll write a biography today”? Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case here.
(By the way, if you’re looking for more on Jason’s background, like how he found his way to the craft in the first place, I’ll again refer you to Season 1)
Raymond Buckland died in 2017. And although his absence was felt within the community almost instantly, it took a few years for someone to come up with this particular project.
Almost three years later, during the height of the pandemic, Llewellyn (Jason’s publisher) decided that Buckland’s biography needed to be written… and that Jason should be the one to write it. Since he had never written a biography before, Jason was hesitant. He says he eventually accepted because it would be a challenge — and as a writer, sometimes it’s just fun to do something different.
High Priest
High Priest: Raymond Buckland, the Father of American Witchcraft. What a title for a book! And you know what? It took Jason about three years to write it, which represents the longest period of time (as of yet) that he’s ever devoted to writing a single book.
As the name would imply, it’s a biography. And although Jason states in the introduction that he is “most certainly not a trained historian” and “most certainly not a trained biographer,” I’ll just break the tension and let you know that he most certainly does an excellent job at both capturing history and chronicling the impact the Raymond Buckland had on the world of witchcraft.
One of the most important things about this book is that it gives an objective perspective. It isn’t filled with opinion or conjecture. It’s based on facts that were thoroughly and painstakingly researched. And thanks to Jason’s writing style, it’s actually just pretty damned interesting to read.
High Priest by Jason Mankey
As you might expect from a biography, the book starts with Raymond Buckland’s childhood and ends with his legacy. But as you might not expect, the very first chapter includes an analysis of Buckland’s astrological star chart, which was written by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. What a fascinating way to open a book! It gives you such a wide perspective… introducing who Buckland could have been, as inclined by the stars, and then using the rest of the book to tell you who he actually was.
But that’s not the only interesting inclusion. Every chapter, in fact, has its own unique “add-on” (the book officially calls each one an “Exercise”) — and among them are quotes from Buckland’s other books or rituals that he wrote.
Special Privileges
In order to write this biography properly, Jason had to go through a number of sources. When he broke down his writing process for me in the interview, he said he had to start with an analysis of the written information (mostly from Buckland’s books) and then “talk to some people.”
It’s true… he talked to many people during this process — something which should be glaringly evident to anyone who reads the book, as there are excerpts and quotes littered throughout the text (we’ll talk about that later). Among all of those discussions, however, Jason says the most important were the ones with Raymond’s widow, Tara Buckland, who survived her husband. She talked to Jason “many, many, many times” and helped point him in the right direction.
Jason received a copy of Buckland’s unpublished memoir, which would have been called “So Little Time” (a title that Jason originally considered for High Priest, but Llewellyn ultimately chose the final name for the book). He said it was helpful in the sense that it contained a long list of things that Buckland did, but also not helpful because many of those things were related to cars he drove or radio stations that he appeared on. Apparently, Raymond Buckland really liked cars.
At the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio, however, Jason was given some very special privileges. They allowed him access to a collection of documents and pictures, including letters between Raymond Buckland, Gerald Gardner, and Monique Wilson — some of those letters actually appear in the book. Jason says that he doesn’t think anyone who writes books had seen those letters before… and they’re exciting because they had never been documented or written about. Beyond that, they represent a firsthand account of how witchcraft was born in the United States.
I think that when you combine all of these sources, Jason had a collective experience that made him the perfect person to write this biography (despite his multiple claims of not being a biographer).
Buckland’s Impact
I think the big question is this: why did we need a biography of Raymond Buckland? According to Jason, there’s quite a few reasons:
- Ray was one of the first public witches in the United States.
- He was one of the first American witchcraft writers.
- He brought the Gardnerian tradition into the United States.
- He helped come up with the “outer court” system that is used by many traditional witchcraft groups.
- He was one of the first witchcraft elders to say that you could be a valid witch through self-initiation.
That’s certainly a significant list. Would witchcraft exist in the United States without Raymond Buckland? Of course it would. But it would probably look pretty different from what we know today.
And then there’s the matter of his books…
Do you know how many people report that their introduction to witchcraft was through “the big blue book”? They are, of course, referring to Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, which has a strikingly blue cover and features the image of a very large pentagram.
It’s a lot of people. Go ahead, listen to all of my interviews and count how many times it’s mentioned when I ask people about finding their path to Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism in general.
And that’s just one book. As Jason explains during the interview, Buckland may have written approximately 60 (although some of those were much shorter pamphlets and self-published). Starting in the late 1980’s, Buckland became a full-time writer… and he continued to write until his passing.
The Buckland Collection
Llewellyn now has an entire Raymond Buckland collection that they are featuring, of which High Priest is a part!
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Again, Raymond Buckland wrote a lot of books.
What Others Think
In addition to all of Jason’s research, High Priest also contains experiences and remembrances from other notable names within the witchcraft community. As you flip through, especially in the second half of the book, you’ll notice small excerpts written by Tara Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, Selena Fox, Thorn Mooney, and others that detail some of their personal encounters with Ray.
I won’t spoil any of them. I think you should read it yourself.
On a personal note, however, I do have to say that I really enjoyed reading and sometimes re-reading some of these excerpts. I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective.
Other Books by Jason Mankey
Finding Jason Mankey
It isn’t difficult to find Jason Mankey online. A quick google search will pull up a ton of links for you, but you can also start here:
- Instagram @ the_silicon_valley_witch
- Twitter @panmankey
- TikTok @panmankey
- Llewelyn’s Author Page
- Personal Website
- Raise the Horns
If you’re interested in finding him in person, he’s got a pretty packed schedule of festival appearances coming up, which he goes over during the interview.
New Questions
As you may know by now, I ask every guest the same question at the end of these interviews. They have to tell me how they use sound or music in their personal practice.
So what do I do when someone comes back on the show? Do I ask them the same question again? Well… I’m not a big fan of redundancy, so this presented me with an interesting problem.
I had to come up with a new question. I decided to ask Jason about his favorite musical memory.
And to hear that answer, you’ll have to watch the full interview and hear it in his own words.
Conclusion
I truly enjoyed reading Jason’s latest book, but I was also really interested to learn more about his writing process and all of the background behind what actually goes into writing a biography — it’s a pretty monumental undertaking! Remember, that was almost three years of Jason’s life that went into the production of this book.
Llewellyn was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of High Priest so I could get familiar with the book before Jason’s interview — thank you Llewellyn! I decided to do a video review of the book, so if you’d like to watch that, too… you can find it on YouTube.
It was an honor to have Jason back on my show. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft I did to convince him to do this for a second time, but it must have been effective. I can’t wait to invite him for a third time so that he can tell me all about his next book (which he teases if you listen to the full interview).
I’ve got more interviews coming up for you! As always, stay tuned for more soon!
Ah, you have made it to the end! Do you always read to the end? Or is this article just special? Well, either way… I have something to tell you. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a tiny commission. Now go buy some books!
#biography #bookReviews #bookReview #books #buckland #interviews #jasonMankey #m3 #magick #raymondBuckland #season3 #witchcraft #writing
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Jason Mankey and High Priest: Raymond Buckland – Ep. 7
Jason Mankey is a high priest, author, and my very first returning guest. He’s decided to come back on M3 to talk about his latest biography on Raymond Buckland, High Priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6VEp5axMU
Yes. Jason Mankey, who is a high priest, wrote a book called High Priest, about another high priest named Raymond Buckland.
Honestly, though… does Jason really need another introduction? This is his second time around, so if you want to hear more about his background, you can flip back to Season 1 where we go over all that stuff and Greek Gods.
In this episode, Jason tells me all about his newest book, High Priest. It’s a biography of Raymond Buckland, who is often hailed as “the father of American witchcraft” — a title which even made its way to the book’s cover. Most people don’t see the enormous amount of work that takes place when writing a book like this, including research, travel, and coordinating with many, many other people. In fact, this was the longest that Jason has ever worked on a book. But aside from that, who was Ray Buckland and why did we need a book about his life? We’re going to talk about all of that… and more. Plus, I had to figure out a new signature question to ask Jason at the very end.
You all know how this works, right? Maybe you do. Or maybe this is the first time you’re reading one of these articles. Either way, this is just some written highlights. If you want to get the full scoop, I always suggest watching the entire interview.
Let’s get to it!
Background
Does someone just wake up one morning and decide “well, I think I’ll write a biography today”? Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case here.
(By the way, if you’re looking for more on Jason’s background, like how he found his way to the craft in the first place, I’ll again refer you to Season 1)
Raymond Buckland died in 2017. And although his absence was felt within the community almost instantly, it took a few years for someone to come up with this particular project.
Almost three years later, during the height of the pandemic, Llewellyn (Jason’s publisher) decided that Buckland’s biography needed to be written… and that Jason should be the one to write it. Since he had never written a biography before, Jason was hesitant. He says he eventually accepted because it would be a challenge — and as a writer, sometimes it’s just fun to do something different.
High Priest
High Priest: Raymond Buckland, the Father of American Witchcraft. What a title for a book! And you know what? It took Jason about three years to write it, which represents the longest period of time (as of yet) that he’s ever devoted to writing a single book.
As the name would imply, it’s a biography. And although Jason states in the introduction that he is “most certainly not a trained historian” and “most certainly not a trained biographer,” I’ll just break the tension and let you know that he most certainly does an excellent job at both capturing history and chronicling the impact the Raymond Buckland had on the world of witchcraft.
One of the most important things about this book is that it gives an objective perspective. It isn’t filled with opinion or conjecture. It’s based on facts that were thoroughly and painstakingly researched. And thanks to Jason’s writing style, it’s actually just pretty damned interesting to read.
High Priest by Jason Mankey
As you might expect from a biography, the book starts with Raymond Buckland’s childhood and ends with his legacy. But as you might not expect, the very first chapter includes an analysis of Buckland’s astrological star chart, which was written by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. What a fascinating way to open a book! It gives you such a wide perspective… introducing who Buckland could have been, as inclined by the stars, and then using the rest of the book to tell you who he actually was.
But that’s not the only interesting inclusion. Every chapter, in fact, has its own unique “add-on” (the book officially calls each one an “Exercise”) — and among them are quotes from Buckland’s other books or rituals that he wrote.
Special Privileges
In order to write this biography properly, Jason had to go through a number of sources. When he broke down his writing process for me in the interview, he said he had to start with an analysis of the written information (mostly from Buckland’s books) and then “talk to some people.”
It’s true… he talked to many people during this process — something which should be glaringly evident to anyone who reads the book, as there are excerpts and quotes littered throughout the text (we’ll talk about that later). Among all of those discussions, however, Jason says the most important were the ones with Raymond’s widow, Tara Buckland, who survived her husband. She talked to Jason “many, many, many times” and helped point him in the right direction.
Jason received a copy of Buckland’s unpublished memoir, which would have been called “So Little Time” (a title that Jason originally considered for High Priest, but Llewellyn ultimately chose the final name for the book). He said it was helpful in the sense that it contained a long list of things that Buckland did, but also not helpful because many of those things were related to cars he drove or radio stations that he appeared on. Apparently, Raymond Buckland really liked cars.
At the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio, however, Jason was given some very special privileges. They allowed him access to a collection of documents and pictures, including letters between Raymond Buckland, Gerald Gardner, and Monique Wilson — some of those letters actually appear in the book. Jason says that he doesn’t think anyone who writes books had seen those letters before… and they’re exciting because they had never been documented or written about. Beyond that, they represent a firsthand account of how witchcraft was born in the United States.
I think that when you combine all of these sources, Jason had a collective experience that made him the perfect person to write this biography (despite his multiple claims of not being a biographer).
Buckland’s Impact
I think the big question is this: why did we need a biography of Raymond Buckland? According to Jason, there’s quite a few reasons:
- Ray was one of the first public witches in the United States.
- He was one of the first American witchcraft writers.
- He brought the Gardnerian tradition into the United States.
- He helped come up with the “outer court” system that is used by many traditional witchcraft groups.
- He was one of the first witchcraft elders to say that you could be a valid witch through self-initiation.
That’s certainly a significant list. Would witchcraft exist in the United States without Raymond Buckland? Of course it would. But it would probably look pretty different from what we know today.
And then there’s the matter of his books…
Do you know how many people report that their introduction to witchcraft was through “the big blue book”? They are, of course, referring to Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, which has a strikingly blue cover and features the image of a very large pentagram.
It’s a lot of people. Go ahead, listen to all of my interviews and count how many times it’s mentioned when I ask people about finding their path to Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism in general.
And that’s just one book. As Jason explains during the interview, Buckland may have written approximately 60 (although some of those were much shorter pamphlets and self-published). Starting in the late 1980’s, Buckland became a full-time writer… and he continued to write until his passing.
The Buckland Collection
Llewellyn now has an entire Raymond Buckland collection that they are featuring, of which High Priest is a part!
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Again, Raymond Buckland wrote a lot of books.
What Others Think
In addition to all of Jason’s research, High Priest also contains experiences and remembrances from other notable names within the witchcraft community. As you flip through, especially in the second half of the book, you’ll notice small excerpts written by Tara Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, Selena Fox, Thorn Mooney, and others that detail some of their personal encounters with Ray.
I won’t spoil any of them. I think you should read it yourself.
On a personal note, however, I do have to say that I really enjoyed reading and sometimes re-reading some of these excerpts. I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective.
Other Books by Jason Mankey
Finding Jason Mankey
It isn’t difficult to find Jason Mankey online. A quick google search will pull up a ton of links for you, but you can also start here:
- Instagram @ the_silicon_valley_witch
- Twitter @panmankey
- TikTok @panmankey
- Llewelyn’s Author Page
- Personal Website
- Raise the Horns
If you’re interested in finding him in person, he’s got a pretty packed schedule of festival appearances coming up, which he goes over during the interview.
New Questions
As you may know by now, I ask every guest the same question at the end of these interviews. They have to tell me how they use sound or music in their personal practice.
So what do I do when someone comes back on the show? Do I ask them the same question again? Well… I’m not a big fan of redundancy, so this presented me with an interesting problem.
I had to come up with a new question. I decided to ask Jason about his favorite musical memory.
And to hear that answer, you’ll have to watch the full interview and hear it in his own words.
Conclusion
I truly enjoyed reading Jason’s latest book, but I was also really interested to learn more about his writing process and all of the background behind what actually goes into writing a biography — it’s a pretty monumental undertaking! Remember, that was almost three years of Jason’s life that went into the production of this book.
Llewellyn was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of High Priest so I could get familiar with the book before Jason’s interview — thank you Llewellyn! I decided to do a video review of the book, so if you’d like to watch that, too… you can find it on YouTube.
It was an honor to have Jason back on my show. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft I did to convince him to do this for a second time, but it must have been effective. I can’t wait to invite him for a third time so that he can tell me all about his next book (which he teases if you listen to the full interview).
I’ve got more interviews coming up for you! As always, stay tuned for more soon!
Ah, you have made it to the end! Do you always read to the end? Or is this article just special? Well, either way… I have something to tell you. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a tiny commission. Now go buy some books!
#biography #bookReviews #bookReview #books #buckland #interviews #jasonMankey #m3 #magick #raymondBuckland #season3 #witchcraft #writing
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Jason Mankey and High Priest: Raymond Buckland – Ep. 7
Jason Mankey is a high priest, author, and my very first returning guest. He’s decided to come back on M3 to talk about his latest biography on Raymond Buckland, High Priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6VEp5axMU
Yes. Jason Mankey, who is a high priest, wrote a book called High Priest, about another high priest named Raymond Buckland.
Honestly, though… does Jason really need another introduction? This is his second time around, so if you want to hear more about his background, you can flip back to Season 1 where we go over all that stuff and Greek Gods.
In this episode, Jason tells me all about his newest book, High Priest. It’s a biography of Raymond Buckland, who is often hailed as “the father of American witchcraft” — a title which even made its way to the book’s cover. Most people don’t see the enormous amount of work that takes place when writing a book like this, including research, travel, and coordinating with many, many other people. In fact, this was the longest that Jason has ever worked on a book. But aside from that, who was Ray Buckland and why did we need a book about his life? We’re going to talk about all of that… and more. Plus, I had to figure out a new signature question to ask Jason at the very end.
You all know how this works, right? Maybe you do. Or maybe this is the first time you’re reading one of these articles. Either way, this is just some written highlights. If you want to get the full scoop, I always suggest watching the entire interview.
Let’s get to it!
Background
Does someone just wake up one morning and decide “well, I think I’ll write a biography today”? Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case here.
(By the way, if you’re looking for more on Jason’s background, like how he found his way to the craft in the first place, I’ll again refer you to Season 1)
Raymond Buckland died in 2017. And although his absence was felt within the community almost instantly, it took a few years for someone to come up with this particular project.
Almost three years later, during the height of the pandemic, Llewellyn (Jason’s publisher) decided that Buckland’s biography needed to be written… and that Jason should be the one to write it. Since he had never written a biography before, Jason was hesitant. He says he eventually accepted because it would be a challenge — and as a writer, sometimes it’s just fun to do something different.
High Priest
High Priest: Raymond Buckland, the Father of American Witchcraft. What a title for a book! And you know what? It took Jason about three years to write it, which represents the longest period of time (as of yet) that he’s ever devoted to writing a single book.
As the name would imply, it’s a biography. And although Jason states in the introduction that he is “most certainly not a trained historian” and “most certainly not a trained biographer,” I’ll just break the tension and let you know that he most certainly does an excellent job at both capturing history and chronicling the impact the Raymond Buckland had on the world of witchcraft.
One of the most important things about this book is that it gives an objective perspective. It isn’t filled with opinion or conjecture. It’s based on facts that were thoroughly and painstakingly researched. And thanks to Jason’s writing style, it’s actually just pretty damned interesting to read.
High Priest by Jason Mankey
As you might expect from a biography, the book starts with Raymond Buckland’s childhood and ends with his legacy. But as you might not expect, the very first chapter includes an analysis of Buckland’s astrological star chart, which was written by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. What a fascinating way to open a book! It gives you such a wide perspective… introducing who Buckland could have been, as inclined by the stars, and then using the rest of the book to tell you who he actually was.
But that’s not the only interesting inclusion. Every chapter, in fact, has its own unique “add-on” (the book officially calls each one an “Exercise”) — and among them are quotes from Buckland’s other books or rituals that he wrote.
Special Privileges
In order to write this biography properly, Jason had to go through a number of sources. When he broke down his writing process for me in the interview, he said he had to start with an analysis of the written information (mostly from Buckland’s books) and then “talk to some people.”
It’s true… he talked to many people during this process — something which should be glaringly evident to anyone who reads the book, as there are excerpts and quotes littered throughout the text (we’ll talk about that later). Among all of those discussions, however, Jason says the most important were the ones with Raymond’s widow, Tara Buckland, who survived her husband. She talked to Jason “many, many, many times” and helped point him in the right direction.
Jason received a copy of Buckland’s unpublished memoir, which would have been called “So Little Time” (a title that Jason originally considered for High Priest, but Llewellyn ultimately chose the final name for the book). He said it was helpful in the sense that it contained a long list of things that Buckland did, but also not helpful because many of those things were related to cars he drove or radio stations that he appeared on. Apparently, Raymond Buckland really liked cars.
At the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio, however, Jason was given some very special privileges. They allowed him access to a collection of documents and pictures, including letters between Raymond Buckland, Gerald Gardner, and Monique Wilson — some of those letters actually appear in the book. Jason says that he doesn’t think anyone who writes books had seen those letters before… and they’re exciting because they had never been documented or written about. Beyond that, they represent a firsthand account of how witchcraft was born in the United States.
I think that when you combine all of these sources, Jason had a collective experience that made him the perfect person to write this biography (despite his multiple claims of not being a biographer).
Buckland’s Impact
I think the big question is this: why did we need a biography of Raymond Buckland? According to Jason, there’s quite a few reasons:
- Ray was one of the first public witches in the United States.
- He was one of the first American witchcraft writers.
- He brought the Gardnerian tradition into the United States.
- He helped come up with the “outer court” system that is used by many traditional witchcraft groups.
- He was one of the first witchcraft elders to say that you could be a valid witch through self-initiation.
That’s certainly a significant list. Would witchcraft exist in the United States without Raymond Buckland? Of course it would. But it would probably look pretty different from what we know today.
And then there’s the matter of his books…
Do you know how many people report that their introduction to witchcraft was through “the big blue book”? They are, of course, referring to Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, which has a strikingly blue cover and features the image of a very large pentagram.
It’s a lot of people. Go ahead, listen to all of my interviews and count how many times it’s mentioned when I ask people about finding their path to Wicca, witchcraft, or paganism in general.
And that’s just one book. As Jason explains during the interview, Buckland may have written approximately 60 (although some of those were much shorter pamphlets and self-published). Starting in the late 1980’s, Buckland became a full-time writer… and he continued to write until his passing.
The Buckland Collection
Llewellyn now has an entire Raymond Buckland collection that they are featuring, of which High Priest is a part!
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Again, Raymond Buckland wrote a lot of books.
What Others Think
In addition to all of Jason’s research, High Priest also contains experiences and remembrances from other notable names within the witchcraft community. As you flip through, especially in the second half of the book, you’ll notice small excerpts written by Tara Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, Selena Fox, Thorn Mooney, and others that detail some of their personal encounters with Ray.
I won’t spoil any of them. I think you should read it yourself.
On a personal note, however, I do have to say that I really enjoyed reading and sometimes re-reading some of these excerpts. I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective.
Other Books by Jason Mankey
Finding Jason Mankey
It isn’t difficult to find Jason Mankey online. A quick google search will pull up a ton of links for you, but you can also start here:
- Instagram @ the_silicon_valley_witch
- Twitter @panmankey
- TikTok @panmankey
- Llewelyn’s Author Page
- Personal Website
- Raise the Horns
If you’re interested in finding him in person, he’s got a pretty packed schedule of festival appearances coming up, which he goes over during the interview.
New Questions
As you may know by now, I ask every guest the same question at the end of these interviews. They have to tell me how they use sound or music in their personal practice.
So what do I do when someone comes back on the show? Do I ask them the same question again? Well… I’m not a big fan of redundancy, so this presented me with an interesting problem.
I had to come up with a new question. I decided to ask Jason about his favorite musical memory.
And to hear that answer, you’ll have to watch the full interview and hear it in his own words.
Conclusion
I truly enjoyed reading Jason’s latest book, but I was also really interested to learn more about his writing process and all of the background behind what actually goes into writing a biography — it’s a pretty monumental undertaking! Remember, that was almost three years of Jason’s life that went into the production of this book.
Llewellyn was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of High Priest so I could get familiar with the book before Jason’s interview — thank you Llewellyn! I decided to do a video review of the book, so if you’d like to watch that, too… you can find it on YouTube.
It was an honor to have Jason back on my show. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft I did to convince him to do this for a second time, but it must have been effective. I can’t wait to invite him for a third time so that he can tell me all about his next book (which he teases if you listen to the full interview).
I’ve got more interviews coming up for you! As always, stay tuned for more soon!
Ah, you have made it to the end! Do you always read to the end? Or is this article just special? Well, either way… I have something to tell you. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a tiny commission. Now go buy some books!
#biography #bookReviews #bookReview #books #buckland #interviews #jasonMankey #m3 #magick #raymondBuckland #season3 #witchcraft #writing
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The links for Parts I and II of this series can be found here and here.
Day 3:
We start this day in a hotel parking lot in Edmundston, New Brunswick. The morning air is crisp and cool. Surrounding us are dozens of cars all bearing Ontario license plates. For us, today will be an odd sort of day. Our daughter’s university sits approximately one hour past the city of Halifax. From Edmunston, we could make it to Halifax in about six hours. To do so would pretty much end the driving on this part of our journey. However, before we ever left our home in Ontario, we knew that this trip was going to be about more than simply being on time for university move-in day. It was also going to be the culmination of a farewell tour that our daughter had been enjoying this whole entire summer. Prior to leaving home, Leah got to say goodbye to one group of friends at a day-long pool party in the country. Then she worked her final shift at the Library where she had been employed all throughout high school. As a family we had a final restaurant meal out together. Then Leah finished her last shift at the bookstore where she also worked. The family of her BFF took her out for a final dinner as well. At last it came time for a teary farewell to Gramma and Poppa and down the highway to the east coast we all went. But before arriving at her university town, it had been decided that we would include stops to see my mother, my cousin, as well as my sister and her husband along the way. This entailed driving past the Halifax turnoff, adding another four hours of driving…each way… to get to Cape Breton and back again. For this reason, as we stood in that hotel parking lot in Edmunston about to begin our day, instead of a six hour culmination to our trip, we were faced with the daunting prospect of a ten hour run to the ocean. Crammed as we were into our small spaces that we had carved out for ourselves in our car, with nine hours of driving already under our belts, the decision was made to limit our road exposure on this day and stop for the day in Moncton. Thus, we began today’s stage of this journey with the mindset that we were putting in time. By day’s end, we would still not be where we needed to be to see the people or the places we were really interested in seeing. But, at least, we would be a little closer. That was our reward today…to be a little closer to where we needed to be. So, into our car we climbed. We bid adieu to our Ontario compatriots in the parking lot and set off to travel through New Brunswick.
Driving through New Brunswick is a very different experience compared to driving on the 401 highway in Ontario or driving past Montreal and Quebec City. New Brunswick is all trees and forests, whereas Ontario and western Quebec are all people, cars and shopping malls. The driving can be slow and frustrating while on the 401 but in New Brunswick, the roads are wide open. For hours on end, there are barely any other vehicles on the highway with us. It is just us, the highway and a seemingly endless panorama of trees in all directions. As we drove along, my wife and I actually joked about whether the Trans Canada highway was, in fact, closed and we shouldn’t really be there. But truth be told, New Brunswick is simply this vast province that has, for the most part, retained its naturalized state and has escaped the land baron’s plows for now. It is pristine. The highways are newly constructed, making driving there rather easy. The biggest obstacle to traversing New Brunswick is actually boredom. There are trees everywhere! There is no end to them. Eventually one tires of seeing wooded mountain sides and the scenery starts blending together. It is easy to lapse into a video game mentality and lose sight of the fact that you are driving a real car filled with precious cargo over one hill and down the next, around this curve and then the one after that, eventually straightening out for a while as you are surrounded by nothing but trees, trees and more trees.
A decade or so ago, the CBC held a music contest called The Great Canadian Song Quest. The challenge was for songwriters to create original songs specifically relating to the province in which they resided. The winner of the New Brunswick portion of this contest was a man named David Myles with a song aptly titled “Don’t Drive Through”. Prior to 2010 or so, driving through New Brunswick meant driving on an old two-lane highway. If you happened to wind up stuck behind a truck carrying logs, for instance, it was easy to lose lots of time trying to get across the province. After many complaints, the Government of New Brunswick embarked on an ambitious project to build a new series of modern highways that stretched from one end of the province to the other. It is on these new highways that we find ourselves as we drive on this day. The thing about these new highways is, as David Myles duly noted in his song, that you actually bypass all of the towns and cities in the province where people live and work and go about their daily lives. With the old highway, it may have been a slower trek but at least you ended up driving through every little village and town along the way and could stop at a Mom and Pop diner or roadside vegetable stand if so inclined. Nowadays, if you don’t deliberately take an off ramp somewhere along the highway, you can drive completely across New Brunswick and see nothing at all but trees. So, in order to break up the monotony of driving endlessly through wooded hillsides, we opted to make two stops before arriving in Moncton. The first stop was the world’s longest covered bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick.
A romantic stroll across the Heartland Covered Bridge.The Hartland Covered Bridge spans the St. John River. It is a one-lane bridge that you can drive or walk across. It isn’t really all that long of a span, less than a minute’s drive and maybe three-four minutes to walk across it one way. But it is a sturdily constructed bridge. We enjoyed our little stroll across the bridge, examining all the lover’s hearts and initials that have been carved into the beams over the years. Then, like so many other tourists, when our visit to the bridge was over, we availed ourselves of their public washrooms and piled back into our car and continued on our way. Thanks for the pit stop Hartland!
Our day was divided into three ninety-minute segments. The first ninety minutes took us from Edmundston to Hartland and that epic covered bridge. From Hartland, it was another hour and a half to Fredericton, which is the provincial capital of New Brunswick. We decided to stop there for an early lunch at a diner-style restaurant called Claudine’s. After having seen next to no cars at all on the Trans Canada highway, it seemed extremely busy once we entered Fredericton proper. One thing we noticed was the preponderance of young twenty-somethings wandering around the city. Then we realized that it must have been move-in time at the University of New Brunswick, too. Dodging all of the cars and young adults and roundabouts that seemed to be everywhere, we managed to safely arrive at Claudine’s. This restaurant is located in a nondescript strip mall and doesn’t look like much from the outside. But once inside, we could tell it had been recently renovated and was the new chic hangout for those artsy university types we had been noticing. The food and service there were terrific. We would recommend Claudine’s to anyone else who happened to find themselves in search of a good meal while in “Freddy Beach”, as the locals call it. Bellies full and bladders emptied, it was time to end our drive for the day and head to Moncton.
Until we actually arrived in downtown Moncton, I had no idea the extent to which music would play a part in this day. Prior to arriving at our hotel, the radio stations we were able to tune into came either from nearby Maine, in the U.S. or else, from Fredericton and then, Moncton as we drew nearer to there. Naturally, we heard “Espresso” and “Miles On It” and the other four songs that made up our summer playlist multiple times along the way. But this isn’t the music that I am talking about. As we entered Moncton and neared our hotel, we passed Casino New Brunswick. In front was a huge neon sign promoting an upcoming two-concert visit by punk rock legends NOFX!!!! Wait, what?! Sometime earlier in the summer I had read that these legends were embarking on their final tour ever. *(You can read about NOFX from a previously written post here). Contrary to what you may think, I don’t own that many band t-shirts but I do own one by NOFX. I have respected them ever since I first learned of their existence and now, here they were in Moncton of all places as one of their final live concerts ever!!! Unfortunately for me, the concert dates didn’t jibe with our travel schedule but knowing that I was thiiiiis close to a surprise NOFX concert was enough to start the Moncton phase of this journey off on the right note for me.
When I booked our hotels for this trip, I did so with Leah’s ultimate arrival at university in mind. I did not book anywhere thinking that it might coincide with anything special that might be happening along the way. So, imagine our collective surprise when we finally arrived at our hotel and went inside. We stayed at the Hotel Beausejour, which is a reasonably swishy place for a city like Moncton. As we walked toward the door, I was semi-worried that we wouldn’t be dressed well enough (in shorts and t-shirts as we were). However, once the doors were opened, we were met with a sonic blast that knocked us all off kilter. Hotel chains are known for playing elevator-style music in their lobby areas but at this hotel, we entered to the sound of Country music playing at high, headphone-esque levels. As we approached the front desk to check in, we noticed that the staff were all wearing plaid shirts, blue jeans and straw hats! What the heck was going on here? After a bit of digging we came to learn that Moncton was set to host a three-day Country music festival called YQM Country Fest. Rising star Bailey Zimmerman was headlining on the Friday evening that we had arrived. Jason Aldean was set to headline on Saturday and Luke Combs, of “Fast Car” fame, was closing the festival as headliner on Sunday. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air among the guests of the hotel, almost all of whom we were guessing were in town for the festival. Even in the swanky surroundings, we blended right in with everyone else when it came to our wardrobe. I needn’t have ever worried.
Eric’s Trip.Moncton may seem like a strange place to suddenly be a hotbed of musical activity but the city has a homegrown source of pride that helps it stand on its own merits as a city worthy of musical respect. In the early 1990s, a band called Eric’s Trip was formed in Moncton by singer Rick White, guitarist Chris Thompson, singer/guitarist Julie Dorion and drummer Ed Vaughn (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet). Eric’s Trip became one of the most influential Canadian bands of their time. You may ask yourself how influential could they have been if this is the first time you are hearing about them? Well, let me tell you their story. The members of Eric’s Trip played a form of indie-alternative music that no other major band was playing in Canada at the time. Because they were living in Moncton, they were allowed the opportunity to develop their sound in a rather insulated musical environment. Eventually, in time, a cassette tape that the band had recorded themselves wound up in the hands of a record executive in Halifax. At that time in music history, the musical phenomenon known as Grunge music was exploding out of Seattle, Washington. Bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and many more were all signing major label recording deals, many with a record label called Sub Pop. The folks in charge of Sub Pop had studied the world of music promotion and had modeled Sub Pop after Berry Gordy’s Motown Records in Detroit. In their mind, they understood that Gordy had marketed a “sound” or a type of music that became synonymous with the Motown label. Sub Pop wanted to do the same with Grunge music. They wanted Sub Pop to become synonymous with the Seattle musical sound of bands such as Nirvana. Being business-oriented, the founders of Sub Pop harvested all of the available talent in the Seattle area. Then they turned their eyes to the rest of the world, in search of that next great Grunge-ready Seattle clone. Eventually, this brought Sub Pop executives to Halifax in the early 1990s. At the time, the Halifax music scene was exploding with talent such as Sloan, a very young Sarah McLachlan, Joel Plaskett and his band Thrush Hermit and many more. When local music types started organizing showcases for the visiting Sub Pop executives, one of the bands that caught their ears was Eric’s Trip. Because Eric’s Trip had developed outside of the Halifax bubble, they were perceived by Sub Pop as being fresher, with greater future potential and, as such, they were the very first Canadian band ever signed to the increasingly famous Sub Pop label. Eric Trip’s brand of indie-alternative lo-fi pop rock came just as the Grunge wave was cresting in the U.S. In Canada, that placed them at the leading edge of this movement here. While Eric’s Trip didn’t end up selling that many albums nor lasting a very long time as a band, their influence on other bands is what really makes them important. No less a band than The Tragically Hip name dropped them in their song “Put It Off” from Trouble at the Henhouse with the line that reads “I played Love Tara by Eric’s Trip on the day that you were born” Love Tara was the title of Eric’s Trip’s first album. Because of the role that this band and album played in influencing the development of alternative music in Canada, Love Tara is viewed as one of the most respected and important Canadian albums of all time. The song “Viewmaster”, which I am showcasing in this post, will seem like something you have probably heard before which, in turn, may cause you to wonder what all the fuss was about. The fuss comes in knowing that what you are watching is musical history unfolding before your eyes. Someone always has to go first when starting something new. For me and many others as well, Eric’s Trip went first in Canada when it came to indie/alternative music.
Love Tara by Eric’s Trip.Always an anti-Halifax/proudly Monctonian band, Eric’s Trip and the song “Viewmaster” is what was rolling through my head as we took a family stroll along the Petitcodiac River after supper. This river holds a special place in our hearts because, on an earlier visit when the girls were much younger, we dubbed this river as being “The Chocolate River”. You see, the waters of the Petitcodiac River are crystal clear but the sediment of its banks and riverbed are decidedly a red-brown colour. This, in turn, causes the flowing water to resemble chocolate. Even though Moncton was never our intended final destination, we are all happy to be here. The city has done a good job of developing walking trails along the river. There are also plenty of restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores near the hotel district. On this visit, the excitement of music royalty coming to their city can be felt everywhere we went. It is nice to be in a place where the vibe is so upbeat and party-like. But while we are happy to stroll along the banks of the Chocolate River while eating ice cream, we have other places to be and people to see. Our real journey begins tomorrow. Cape Breton Island awaits and with it, so do important members of my family. Tonight I will wrap myself and my family in the joyous musical atmosphere that Moncton exudes. Tomorrow, it is time to go home.
The link to the video for the song “Viewmaster” by Eric’s Trip can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the official website for Eric’s Trip can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Don’t Drive Through” by David Myles can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the official website for David Myles can be found here.
The link to the official website for the province of New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Hartland, New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Moncton, New Brunswick can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#EricsTrip #GreatBigSea #HartlandCoveredBridge #LoveTara #NewBrunswick #NOFX #TheGreatCanadianRoadTrip #Viewmaster #Moncton
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The Puppet Edge series by Jason St-Cyr continues with a dive into the new code assist and MCP. Full tutorial on how to create your tasks for the new Puppet EdgeOps module using Copilot and the new Puppet MCP server!
https://www.puppet.com/blog/puppet-edge-code-assist
A lot packed in:
- 'Why' code assist?
- Step-by-step to generate a manage NTP server task for an Arista router
- What does Puppet MCP share to the LLM?
- So many resources links! -
"Bytes and Blots"
An #Artmiration of "Gels" by Shawn Douglas and Jason Brown
A dive into the world of scientific exploration and artistic interpretation, the relationship between both, and my own past (links to the article on fx(text) an tumblr below).
#GenerativeArt #DigitalArt #AbstractArt #Artblocks
fx(text): https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/bytes-and-blots
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/boringoldtez/723126343357841408/bytes-and-blots?source=share -
"Bytes and Blots"
An #Artmiration of "Gels" by Shawn Douglas and Jason Brown
A dive into the world of scientific exploration and artistic interpretation, the relationship between both, and my own past (links to the article on fx(text) an tumblr below).
#GenerativeArt #DigitalArt #AbstractArt #Artblocks
fx(text): https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/bytes-and-blots
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/boringoldtez/723126343357841408/bytes-and-blots?source=share -
"Bytes and Blots"
An #Artmiration of "Gels" by Shawn Douglas and Jason Brown
A dive into the world of scientific exploration and artistic interpretation, the relationship between both, and my own past (links to the article on fx(text) an tumblr below).
#GenerativeArt #DigitalArt #AbstractArt #Artblocks
fx(text): https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/bytes-and-blots
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/boringoldtez/723126343357841408/bytes-and-blots?source=share -
"Bytes and Blots"
An #Artmiration of "Gels" by Shawn Douglas and Jason Brown
A dive into the world of scientific exploration and artistic interpretation, the relationship between both, and my own past (links to the article on fx(text) an tumblr below).
#GenerativeArt #DigitalArt #AbstractArt #Artblocks
fx(text): https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/bytes-and-blots
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/boringoldtez/723126343357841408/bytes-and-blots?source=share -
"Bytes and Blots"
An #Artmiration of "Gels" by Shawn Douglas and Jason Brown
A dive into the world of scientific exploration and artistic interpretation, the relationship between both, and my own past (links to the article on fx(text) an tumblr below).
#GenerativeArt #DigitalArt #AbstractArt #Artblocks
fx(text): https://www.fxhash.xyz/article/bytes-and-blots
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/boringoldtez/723126343357841408/bytes-and-blots?source=share -
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/paul-z-simons-pure-black
https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/library/jason-mcquinn-post-left-anarchy-leaving-the-left-behind
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/topic/anti-civ
▀▀▀
#Anarchy #AntiCiv #AntiCom #AntiLeft #AntiWork #Attack #EcoExtremism #Egoism #Illegalism #Individualism #Insurrection #Maraud #Nihilism #Riot #Sabotage
by the way: fvck identity politics! and fvck political correctness! fvck leftism and fvck marxism! — only because of missing Ⓐlternatives of the/a respective topic i also sometimes share red/leftist links — yes, shit, sorry
gender: unicornpiglet • pronouns: fvckyouall • posts in: de/en • potsdam/berlin
▀▀▀
Anarchist News
https://anarchistnews.org
chronik — widerständige momente festgehalten
https://chronik.blackblogs.org
The anarchist project: Act for freedom now!
https://actforfree.noblogs.org
In the Dark Nights there is always the warmth of the fire!
https://darknights.noblogs.org
Attaque — Chronique de la guerre sociale en France
https://attaque.noblogs.org
ABOLITION MEDIA
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org
NOBLOGS Activity
https://noblogs.org/activity
The Anarchist Library
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index
Latest entries | The Anarchist Library (Mirror)
https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/latest
Anarchistische Bibliothek
https://anarchistischebibliothek.org/special/index
Why Elephant Editions? | Elephant Archives
https://archive.elephanteditions.net/special/index
Archive dot org
https://archive.org
Zündlappen — Anarchistische Zeitung aus dem Nirgendwo
https://zuendlappen.noblogs.org
Sans Nom
https://sansnom.noblogs.org
Inferno Urbano
https://infernourbano.altervista.org
Lutter contre le 41 bis
https://luttercontrele41bis.noblogs.org▀▀▀
-
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/paul-z-simons-pure-black
https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/library/jason-mcquinn-post-left-anarchy-leaving-the-left-behind
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/topic/anti-civ
▀▀▀
#Anarchy #AntiCiv #AntiCom #AntiLeft #AntiWork #Attack #EcoExtremism #Egoism #Illegalism #Individualism #Insurrection #Maraud #Nihilism #Riot #Sabotage
by the way: fvck identity politics! and fvck political correctness! fvck leftism and fvck marxism! — only because of missing Ⓐlternatives of the/a respective topic i also sometimes share red/leftist links — yes, shit, sorry
gender: unicornpiglet • pronouns: fvckyouall • posts in: de/en • potsdam/berlin
▀▀▀
Anarchist News
https://anarchistnews.org
chronik — widerständige momente festgehalten
https://chronik.blackblogs.org
The anarchist project: Act for freedom now!
https://actforfree.noblogs.org
In the Dark Nights there is always the warmth of the fire!
https://darknights.noblogs.org
Attaque — Chronique de la guerre sociale en France
https://attaque.noblogs.org
ABOLITION MEDIA
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org
NOBLOGS Activity
https://noblogs.org/activity
The Anarchist Library
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index
Latest entries | The Anarchist Library (Mirror)
https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/latest
Anarchistische Bibliothek
https://anarchistischebibliothek.org/special/index
Why Elephant Editions? | Elephant Archives
https://archive.elephanteditions.net/special/index
Archive dot org
https://archive.org
Zündlappen — Anarchistische Zeitung aus dem Nirgendwo
https://zuendlappen.noblogs.org
Sans Nom
https://sansnom.noblogs.org
Inferno Urbano
https://infernourbano.altervista.org
Lutter contre le 41 bis
https://luttercontrele41bis.noblogs.org▀▀▀
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The Writings of Patrick S. Smith @patrickssmithauthor.wordpress.com@patrickssmithauthor.wordpress.com ·Weekly Update #232
Hello Readers.
I finally got through everything from the book fair a couple weeks ago. Part of the delay is I lost the flier for the con that had all the participants and their links. Now that is find, I can give them their due:
- L. V. Brooks – lvbrooks.com
- Jess L. M. Anderson – stressinabox.com
- Ronald Pepson – amazon.com/stores/Ron-Pepson/author/B0FSSGBZDN
- Tristiny Bell tristinybell.com
- LJ Daniel – IG: author.ljdaniel
- Dale Marie Taylor – daletaylorbooks.com
- Shay Rodricks – authorshayrodricks.com
- Carrigan Richards – carriganrichards.com
- Amber Hansford – amberhansford.com
- Danielle Butler – daniellebutlerwriter.com
- Dog-Eared Creations – http://www.etsy.com/shop/dogearedcreations/
- Brandi Bradley – brandibradley.com
- Loren Lee – authorlorenlee.com
- Tracie Tolentio – talesbytracie.com
- H. R. Parker – authorhrparker.com
- Dragonforge Editing – dragonforgeediting.com
- Lily B. Art – lily-b-art.com
- Dr. Ambroes Pass-Turner – drambroes.com
- T. M. May – tmmayauthor.com
- Dany Lampkin – authordannylampkin.com
- LaTarsha Spurlin – IG: authorlatarsha.r.spulin
- Jamie Lindbert – booksbyjamielindberg.com
- Side Quest Creatives – sidequestcreatives.com
- Samantha Langley – spunkyfantasyparties.com
- Central Creations Co. – FB: Central Creations Co
- Vic Raven – vicravenauthor.com
- Amber B. – amberbauthor.com
- Thomas Lee – amazon.com/stores/Thomas-Lee/author/B0CP8PNZMK
- Kevin Cox – authorkevincox.com
- Gloria Ann Covin – amazon.com/Ways-Successful-Child-Preschool-Grade/dp/B0FQPLMJPS
- Jason Markiewtz – https://www.markiewitzaudioworks.com/
- Shelf Gratification – http://www.etsy.com/shop/shelfgratification
- Lia Rimmert – lisarimmert.com
- Kozmic Press – kozmicpress.com
I have queried Kozmic Press about My Time Among the Elves, so now it is a hurry up and wait situation.
“Hunting for Helen” hit a little snag this past week. I have a scene that I’ve tried twice, but didn’t like how it was turning out. This week will be try number three at it.
Finally, be sure to check out VLog #9 over on YouTube.
That is it for this week, take care everyone.
Interesting in buying one of my books? You can get more information here.
#author #books #creativeWriting #fiction #knitting #Poem #Poems #Poetry #publishing #readers #reading #vlog #WeeklyUpdate #weeklyupdate #writer #Writing
You can support my writing at Ko-fi. -
Alberta teachers’ union files labour complaint, alleges province engaged in ‘bad-faith bargaining’
The UCP used the Notwithstanding Clause to take away teachers rights to negotiate for better working conditions, and to enable them to negotiate in bad faith.
I think this bad faith is similar to the UCP’s use of legislation to punch a hole in Canadian retirement funds when AIMCo gambled away around $1.3 Bln. Links below.
Jason Schilling, the president of the ATA, said at a news conference on Friday that he believes the government is attempting to “rewrite its own commitments,” and that the ATA wants clarification on what was agreed to at the bargaining table regarding the plan to bring in additional teachers.
“What was told at the bargaining table and then was commented afterwards, it seemed to be two different things and we need clarity on them,” he said.
“What will come out of the complaint is hopefully that we hold the government [accountable] for what they said.”
…
In the ATA’s recent email to its members, it said the “ATA understood — and TEBA’s bargaining conduct implied — that these 3,000 teachers were additional to the staffing already funded and announced in Budget 2025.”
Schilling said the government “insists” that the phrase “net new” meant any increase in teachers over the prior year, even if those positions were already funded by Budget 2025.
“If that was their interpretation, then nothing was new at all,” he said.
“The 3,000 teachers they pointed to during the bargaining were already announced, already budgeted and already counted in the 2025 budget.”
…
https://kopitalk.net/c/alberta/p/93282/alberta-tries-to-legislate-ban-on-lawsuits-about-aimco-losses
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-aimco-bill-12-9.6992283
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DJ Hairy Larry Presents Sky City Playing Rain Song
https://sbblues.com/2025/05/04/draggin/
All the musicians in the band are outstanding. Playing at the Arkansas Roots Festival on April 8, 2017 were Nathan Crouch - acoustic guitar and vocals, Grant Camp - bass and vocals, Tanja McKay - violin, Matt Pierce - electric guitar and vocals, and Jason Hatcher - drums, all long time Jonesboro residents.
I will leave links at the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.
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On Donald Trump’s first day in office, the Department of Defense announced a spate of hires, including 26-year-old
#Kingsley #Wilson, who will serve as the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary.
Wilson is the daughter of #Steve #Cortes, a longtime Trump advisor and right-wing commentator who promotes Latinos moving to the political right.
Wilson is also a Trump 2020 campaign alum, and until taking the job at the DoD, ran digital media and communications for the Center for Renewing America, a pro-Trump think tank founded by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought.
She’s also an overt internet troll with a long history of bigoted, xenophobic, and deliberately provocative shitposting.Wilson in many ways embodies the face of the new Trump administration:
she’s worked in the MAGA world for seemingly her entire, very short career;besides her roles in the Trump campaign and at the Center for Renewing America,
she also served as the national committeewoman for the DC Young Republicans.She also briefly worked at Gettr, the social media platform founded by former Trump aide #Jason #Miller and with deep links to fugitive Chinese mogul #Guo #Wengui.
When she wasn’t doing any of that, Wilson was busy reeling off an endless tweets excoriating immigrants and trans people,
advocating for what she called “zero immigration and mass deportations,”
and bemoaning the “death of the West,”
a term popularized by Pat Buchanan and often used by nativist, isolationist, and white nationalist groups to argue that immigration dilutes “Western” culture.At least twice, Wilson also repeated long-debunked lies online about the lynching death of Leo Frank,
a Jewish man who was kidnapped from a Georgia prison and murdered in 1915,
claiming he was guilty of the murder for which most modern historians agree he was wrongly convicted.She also claimed the Black Lives Matter movement had an “affinity for race-based violence,”
and derided George Floyd, the Black man murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis,
a “career criminal,” and scornfully called him “Saint George Floyd.”“If you identify as transgender and/or are undergoing hormone therapy
—you should NOT be allowed to legally purchase a firearm,”
she posted, in one of her many tweets
claiming transgender people are abnormal or mentally ill.“In a healthy country… transgender people aren’t visible,” she tweeted in 2024 (ellipses hers).
Wilson also explicitly lent her support to Great Replacement theory,
a racist and xenophobic conspiracy theory that holds that non-white immigrants are being lured to the United States to replace white Americans.“The Great Replacement isn’t a right-wing conspiracy theory… it’s reality,”
she tweeted in 2024, over a screenshot of a Bloomberg article about the growth of the U.S. Hispanic population.Wilson also called to “make Kosovo Serbia again,”
a particularly weird stance for an American now working in the Pentagon;the United States has recognized Kosovo as an independent state since 2008 and maintains troops there as part of peacekeeping efforts.
Wilson also lent her support for the German far-right party AfD,
tweeting in 2024, “Globalist elites hate AfD because they put Germans before foreign migrants and radical Islam. Ausländer Raus!”Wilson has tweeted the phrase
“Ausländer Raus” at least four times,
including the slogan,
“Deutschland den Deutschen. Ausländer raus.”The phrase, which means, “Germany for Germans, foreigners out,”
is explicitly considered to be an extremist slogan in Germany with neo-Nazi roots;in fact, a 1992 paper about its use among German skinheads is available on a Department of Justice website.
At least one German prosecutor has said that using the phrase is a criminal offense.
Nonetheless, the chant has been adopted by some young AfD supporters.
A video of the chant being sung at a trendy bar in the holiday island of Sylt sparked an enormous controversy last summer,
and again when it was sung a month later at a village festival in Germany.(Non-Germans signaling their contempt for immigration, including accused human trafficker Tristan Tate, have also tweeted the phrase.)
Wilson’s career seems to have followed a dual track,
both making the rounds in DC politics and the Trump campaign and flirting with a career as an online provocateur
—though those roles that are increasingly blurred in the MAGAfied Republican party.During her time at the Center for Renewing America, the Vought-founded think tank, she appeared as a talking head on conservative news sites like The Blaze,
and has appeared multiple times on the podcast of Tim Pool’s, the once “heterodox” streamer who’s become increasingly far-right.https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/kingsley-cortes-wilson-defense-department/
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The Great Canadian Road Trip….Song #74/250: Viewmaster by Eric’s Trip…Road Trip Edition: Part III
The links for Parts I and II of this series can be found here and here.
Day 3:
We start this day in a hotel parking lot in Edmundston, New Brunswick. The morning air is crisp and cool. Surrounding us are dozens of cars all bearing Ontario license plates. For us, today will be an odd sort of day. Our daughter’s university sits approximately one hour past the city of Halifax. From Edmunston, we could make it to Halifax in about six hours. To do so would pretty much end the driving on this part of our journey. However, before we ever left our home in Ontario, we knew that this trip was going to be about more than simply being on time for university move-in day. It was also going to be the culmination of a farewell tour that our daughter had been enjoying this whole entire summer. Prior to leaving home, Leah got to say goodbye to one group of friends at a day-long pool party in the country. Then she worked her final shift at the Library where she had been employed all throughout high school. As a family we had a final restaurant meal out together. Then Leah finished her last shift at the bookstore where she also worked. The family of her BFF took her out for a final dinner as well. At last it came time for a teary farewell to Gramma and Poppa and down the highway to the east coast we all went. But before arriving at her university town, it had been decided that we would include stops to see my mother, my cousin, as well as my sister and her husband along the way. This entailed driving past the Halifax turnoff, adding another four hours of driving…each way… to get to Cape Breton and back again. For this reason, as we stood in that hotel parking lot in Edmunston about to begin our day, instead of a six hour culmination to our trip, we were faced with the daunting prospect of a ten hour run to the ocean. Crammed as we were into our small spaces that we had carved out for ourselves in our car, with nine hours of driving already under our belts, the decision was made to limit our road exposure on this day and stop for the day in Moncton. Thus, we began today’s stage of this journey with the mindset that we were putting in time. By day’s end, we would still not be where we needed to be to see the people or the places we were really interested in seeing. But, at least, we would be a little closer. That was our reward today…to be a little closer to where we needed to be. So, into our car we climbed. We bid adieu to our Ontario compatriots in the parking lot and set off to travel through New Brunswick.
Driving through New Brunswick is a very different experience compared to driving on the 401 highway in Ontario or driving past Montreal and Quebec City. New Brunswick is all trees and forests, whereas Ontario and western Quebec are all people, cars and shopping malls. The driving can be slow and frustrating while on the 401 but in New Brunswick, the roads are wide open. For hours on end, there are barely any other vehicles on the highway with us. It is just us, the highway and a seemingly endless panorama of trees in all directions. As we drove along, my wife and I actually joked about whether the Trans Canada highway was, in fact, closed and we shouldn’t really be there. But truth be told, New Brunswick is simply this vast province that has, for the most part, retained its naturalized state and has escaped the land baron’s plows for now. It is pristine. The highways are newly constructed, making driving there rather easy. The biggest obstacle to traversing New Brunswick is actually boredom. There are trees everywhere! There is no end to them. Eventually one tires of seeing wooded mountain sides and the scenery starts blending together. It is easy to lapse into a video game mentality and lose sight of the fact that you are driving a real car filled with precious cargo over one hill and down the next, around this curve and then the one after that, eventually straightening out for a while as you are surrounded by nothing but trees, trees and more trees.
A decade or so ago, the CBC held a music contest called The Great Canadian Song Quest. The challenge was for songwriters to create original songs specifically relating to the province in which they resided. The winner of the New Brunswick portion of this contest was a man named David Myles with a song aptly titled “Don’t Drive Through”. Prior to 2010 or so, driving through New Brunswick meant driving on an old two-lane highway. If you happened to wind up stuck behind a truck carrying logs, for instance, it was easy to lose lots of time trying to get across the province. After many complaints, the Government of New Brunswick embarked on an ambitious project to build a new series of modern highways that stretched from one end of the province to the other. It is on these new highways that we find ourselves as we drive on this day. The thing about these new highways is, as David Myles duly noted in his song, that you actually bypass all of the towns and cities in the province where people live and work and go about their daily lives. With the old highway, it may have been a slower trek but at least you ended up driving through every little village and town along the way and could stop at a Mom and Pop diner or roadside vegetable stand if so inclined. Nowadays, if you don’t deliberately take an off ramp somewhere along the highway, you can drive completely across New Brunswick and see nothing at all but trees. So, in order to break up the monotony of driving endlessly through wooded hillsides, we opted to make two stops before arriving in Moncton. The first stop was the world’s longest covered bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick.
A romantic stroll across the Heartland Covered Bridge.The Hartland Covered Bridge spans the St. John River. It is a one-lane bridge that you can drive or walk across. It isn’t really all that long of a span, less than a minute’s drive and maybe three-four minutes to walk across it one way. But it is a sturdily constructed bridge. We enjoyed our little stroll across the bridge, examining all the lover’s hearts and initials that have been carved into the beams over the years. Then, like so many other tourists, when our visit to the bridge was over, we availed ourselves of their public washrooms and piled back into our car and continued on our way. Thanks for the pit stop Hartland!
Our day was divided into three ninety-minute segments. The first ninety minutes took us from Edmundston to Hartland and that epic covered bridge. From Hartland, it was another hour and a half to Fredericton, which is the provincial capital of New Brunswick. We decided to stop there for an early lunch at a diner-style restaurant called Claudine’s. After having seen next to no cars at all on the Trans Canada highway, it seemed extremely busy once we entered Fredericton proper. One thing we noticed was the preponderance of young twenty-somethings wandering around the city. Then we realized that it must have been move-in time at the University of New Brunswick, too. Dodging all of the cars and young adults and roundabouts that seemed to be everywhere, we managed to safely arrive at Claudine’s. This restaurant is located in a nondescript strip mall and doesn’t look like much from the outside. But once inside, we could tell it had been recently renovated and was the new chic hangout for those artsy university types we had been noticing. The food and service there were terrific. We would recommend Claudine’s to anyone else who happened to find themselves in search of a good meal while in “Freddy Beach”, as the locals call it. Bellies full and bladders emptied, it was time to end our drive for the day and head to Moncton.
Until we actually arrived in downtown Moncton, I had no idea the extent to which music would play a part in this day. Prior to arriving at our hotel, the radio stations we were able to tune into came either from nearby Maine, in the U.S. or else, from Fredericton and then, Moncton as we drew nearer to there. Naturally, we heard “Espresso” and “Miles On It” and the other four songs that made up our summer playlist multiple times along the way. But this isn’t the music that I am talking about. As we entered Moncton and neared our hotel, we passed Casino New Brunswick. In front was a huge neon sign promoting an upcoming two-concert visit by punk rock legends NOFX!!!! Wait, what?! Sometime earlier in the summer I had read that these legends were embarking on their final tour ever. *(You can read about NOFX from a previously written post here). Contrary to what you may think, I don’t own that many band t-shirts but I do own one by NOFX. I have respected them ever since I first learned of their existence and now, here they were in Moncton of all places as one of their final live concerts ever!!! Unfortunately for me, the concert dates didn’t jibe with our travel schedule but knowing that I was thiiiiis close to a surprise NOFX concert was enough to start the Moncton phase of this journey off on the right note for me.
When I booked our hotels for this trip, I did so with Leah’s ultimate arrival at university in mind. I did not book anywhere thinking that it might coincide with anything special that might be happening along the way. So, imagine our collective surprise when we finally arrived at our hotel and went inside. We stayed at the Hotel Beausejour, which is a reasonably swishy place for a city like Moncton. As we walked toward the door, I was semi-worried that we wouldn’t be dressed well enough (in shorts and t-shirts as we were). However, once the doors were opened, we were met with a sonic blast that knocked us all off kilter. Hotel chains are known for playing elevator-style music in their lobby areas but at this hotel, we entered to the sound of Country music playing at high, headphone-esque levels. As we approached the front desk to check in, we noticed that the staff were all wearing plaid shirts, blue jeans and straw hats! What the heck was going on here? After a bit of digging we came to learn that Moncton was set to host a three-day Country music festival called YQM Country Fest. Rising star Bailey Zimmerman was headlining on the Friday evening that we had arrived. Jason Aldean was set to headline on Saturday and Luke Combs, of “Fast Car” fame, was closing the festival as headliner on Sunday. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air among the guests of the hotel, almost all of whom we were guessing were in town for the festival. Even in the swanky surroundings, we blended right in with everyone else when it came to our wardrobe. I needn’t have ever worried.
Eric’s Trip.Moncton may seem like a strange place to suddenly be a hotbed of musical activity but the city has a homegrown source of pride that helps it stand on its own merits as a city worthy of musical respect. In the early 1990s, a band called Eric’s Trip was formed in Moncton by singer Rick White, guitarist Chris Thompson, singer/guitarist Julie Dorion and drummer Ed Vaughn (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet). Eric’s Trip became one of the most influential Canadian bands of their time. You may ask yourself how influential could they have been if this is the first time you are hearing about them? Well, let me tell you their story. The members of Eric’s Trip played a form of indie-alternative music that no other major band was playing in Canada at the time. Because they were living in Moncton, they were allowed the opportunity to develop their sound in a rather insulated musical environment. Eventually, in time, a cassette tape that the band had recorded themselves wound up in the hands of a record executive in Halifax. At that time in music history, the musical phenomenon known as Grunge music was exploding out of Seattle, Washington. Bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and many more were all signing major label recording deals, many with a record label called Sub Pop. The folks in charge of Sub Pop had studied the world of music promotion and had modeled Sub Pop after Berry Gordy’s Motown Records in Detroit. In their mind, they understood that Gordy had marketed a “sound” or a type of music that became synonymous with the Motown label. Sub Pop wanted to do the same with Grunge music. They wanted Sub Pop to become synonymous with the Seattle musical sound of bands such as Nirvana. Being business-oriented, the founders of Sub Pop harvested all of the available talent in the Seattle area. Then they turned their eyes to the rest of the world, in search of that next great Grunge-ready Seattle clone. Eventually, this brought Sub Pop executives to Halifax in the early 1990s. At the time, the Halifax music scene was exploding with talent such as Sloan, a very young Sarah McLachlan, Joel Plaskett and his band Thrush Hermit and many more. When local music types started organizing showcases for the visiting Sub Pop executives, one of the bands that caught their ears was Eric’s Trip. Because Eric’s Trip had developed outside of the Halifax bubble, they were perceived by Sub Pop as being fresher, with greater future potential and, as such, they were the very first Canadian band ever signed to the increasingly famous Sub Pop label. Eric Trip’s brand of indie-alternative lo-fi pop rock came just as the Grunge wave was cresting in the U.S. In Canada, that placed them at the leading edge of this movement here. While Eric’s Trip didn’t end up selling that many albums nor lasting a very long time as a band, their influence on other bands is what really makes them important. No less a band than The Tragically Hip name dropped them in their song “Put It Off” from Trouble at the Henhouse with the line that reads “I played Love Tara by Eric’s Trip on the day that you were born” Love Tara was the title of Eric’s Trip’s first album. Because of the role that this band and album played in influencing the development of alternative music in Canada, Love Tara is viewed as one of the most respected and important Canadian albums of all time. The song “Viewmaster”, which I am showcasing in this post, will seem like something you have probably heard before which, in turn, may cause you to wonder what all the fuss was about. The fuss comes in knowing that what you are watching is musical history unfolding before your eyes. Someone always has to go first when starting something new. For me and many others as well, Eric’s Trip went first in Canada when it came to indie/alternative music.
Love Tara by Eric’s Trip.Always an anti-Halifax/proudly Monctonian band, Eric’s Trip and the song “Viewmaster” is what was rolling through my head as we took a family stroll along the Petitcodiac River after supper. This river holds a special place in our hearts because, on an earlier visit when the girls were much younger, we dubbed this river as being “The Chocolate River”. You see, the waters of the Petitcodiac River are crystal clear but the sediment of its banks and riverbed are decidedly a red-brown colour. This, in turn, causes the flowing water to resemble chocolate. Even though Moncton was never our intended final destination, we are all happy to be here. The city has done a good job of developing walking trails along the river. There are also plenty of restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores near the hotel district. On this visit, the excitement of music royalty coming to their city can be felt everywhere we went. It is nice to be in a place where the vibe is so upbeat and party-like. But while we are happy to stroll along the banks of the Chocolate River while eating ice cream, we have other places to be and people to see. Our real journey begins tomorrow. Cape Breton Island awaits and with it, so do important members of my family. Tonight I will wrap myself and my family in the joyous musical atmosphere that Moncton exudes. Tomorrow, it is time to go home.
The link to the video for the song “Viewmaster” by Eric’s Trip can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the official website for Eric’s Trip can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Don’t Drive Through” by David Myles can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the official website for David Myles can be found here.
The link to the official website for the province of New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Hartland, New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Moncton, New Brunswick can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#EricsTrip #GreatBigSea #HartlandCoveredBridge #LoveTara #NewBrunswick #NOFX #TheGreatCanadianRoadTrip #Viewmaster #Moncton
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A few dollars, even that little if that's all that you can, will be greatly appreciated and goes to a tangible cause with a finite timeline. I cannot speak to what will happen to the original archival material following digitizing, but paper does have an expiration date, so the sooner anyone is able to step up with anything the sooner Jason can get back to the business of preservation.
Links are in the article linked below.
#tallship #Internet_Archive #Archive_org #history #posterity #legacy
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RE: https://mastodon.archive.org/users/textfiles/statuses/112323615004071766
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#aiIsBullshit #bbsTheDocumentary #cheshireCatalyst #heartworms #jackieAndLaurieShow #jackieKashian #jasonScott #jesusandmarychain #podcast #trueDetective
https://evilgeniuschronicles.org/b/35i
I play a song by The Jesus and Mary Chain; I talk a little about seeing The Jesus and Mary Chain in concert; the big dog is getting treated for heartworms; I’m staying in the developer relations slack for now; I am so glad I don’t have to take jobs with AI firms seriously; I never used my real job title; Jason Scott eulogizes Cheshire Catalyst; things go from useful to junk to historically interesting; I am enjoying throwing decaying photo albums away; I am going to collage bullshit photographs; Jackie Kashian lost her patience with button pushers; I am no longer rounding up transactions for charity; I watched True Detective Seasons 3 and 4.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, March 9 2024.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Support this show on Patreon
- Jesus and Mary Chain’s song “Girl71” on YouTube
- Jesus and Mary Chain official site
- Jason Scott
- BBS Documentary
- Cheshire Catalyst
- Jackie Kashian goes off on button pushers
- Follow this website on Mastodon or anywhere in the Fediverse at @dave@evilgeniuschroniclesorg
- Join the EGC Discord
- Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
- [email protected] is my Bookwyrm account
- My Keybase account
- Subscribe to the shared RSS from my own TTRSS install
- Auphonic podcast production tool is so good!
- Theme song provided by the Gentle Readers
You can subscribe to this podcast feed via RSS. To sponsor the show, contact BackBeat Media. Don’t forget, you can fly your EGC flag by buying the stuff package. This show as a whole is Creative Commons licensed Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. Bandwidth for this episode is provided by Cachefly.
http://evilgeniuschronicles.org/audio/egc-2024-03-09.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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#aiIsBullshit #bbsTheDocumentary #cheshireCatalyst #heartworms #jackieAndLaurieShow #jackieKashian #jasonScott #jesusandmarychain #podcast #trueDetective
https://evilgeniuschronicles.org/b/35i
I play a song by The Jesus and Mary Chain; I talk a little about seeing The Jesus and Mary Chain in concert; the big dog is getting treated for heartworms; I’m staying in the developer relations slack for now; I am so glad I don’t have to take jobs with AI firms seriously; I never used my real job title; Jason Scott eulogizes Cheshire Catalyst; things go from useful to junk to historically interesting; I am enjoying throwing decaying photo albums away; I am going to collage bullshit photographs; Jackie Kashian lost her patience with button pushers; I am no longer rounding up transactions for charity; I watched True Detective Seasons 3 and 4.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, March 9 2024.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Support this show on Patreon
- Jesus and Mary Chain’s song “Girl71” on YouTube
- Jesus and Mary Chain official site
- Jason Scott
- BBS Documentary
- Cheshire Catalyst
- Jackie Kashian goes off on button pushers
- Follow this website on Mastodon or anywhere in the Fediverse at @dave@evilgeniuschroniclesorg
- Join the EGC Discord
- Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
- [email protected] is my Bookwyrm account
- My Keybase account
- Subscribe to the shared RSS from my own TTRSS install
- Auphonic podcast production tool is so good!
- Theme song provided by the Gentle Readers
You can subscribe to this podcast feed via RSS. To sponsor the show, contact BackBeat Media. Don’t forget, you can fly your EGC flag by buying the stuff package. This show as a whole is Creative Commons licensed Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. Bandwidth for this episode is provided by Cachefly.
http://evilgeniuschronicles.org/audio/egc-2024-03-09.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download