Elspeth Brown and the Pride of M.A.C Cosmetics $6.50 Vol. 27, No. 4 May 2019 The Vancouver That Could Have Been by SPENCER MORRISON KRZYSZTOF PELC The Myth of Canada GEOFF WHITE Kosovo Twenty Years Later MATTHEW J. BELLAMY Televised History LEANNE TOSHIKO SIMPSON On Mental Health Publications Mail Agreement #40032362. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept. PO Box 8, Station K, Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 Vol. 27, No. 4 • May 2019 2 Letters 20 The Soap Myth 31 The Horizons Beyond Leslie Buck, Brian Danko, Bill Engleson, A Holocaust artifact in a post-truth era Living with albinism in a dark world Murray Reiss, Edward Harvey Daniel Panneton Emily Urquhart 3 To Nie Kanada 22 Positively Shady 32 Classical Accompaniment Our country through the eyes of others The glamorous activism of M.A.C Cosmetics The arrangement that shapes my characters Krzysztof Pelc Elspeth Brown Adam Foulds 7 Taking Refuge 25 Reading with Mental Illness Poetry Nineteenth-century Americans look north For us, the finish line is a mirage Interior with Sudden Joy Michael Taube Leanne Toshiko Simpson Erin Emily Ann Vance, p. 9 10 The City That Could Have Been 27 The Cherokee Scot Aluminum Vancouver didn’t just happen A new edition of a wartime memoir Kayla Czaga, p. 11 Spencer Morrison Donald B. Smith Theseus Amanda Jernigan, p. 15 14 State of the Unions 28 Well Versed The birth and promise of Unifor How poets describe the indescribable The Girl Who Turns to Bone Amy LeBlanc, p. 21 John Baglow Bardia Sinaee 16 Blind Spotting 29 Cautionary Tale The CBC’s narrow take on Canadian history A woman shouldn’t have to Matthew J. Bellamy explain herself Rose Hendrie 18 Defence Mechanism Questioning the Kosovo War, 30 Blurred Borders twenty years later The human stories behind immigration Geoff White David Wallace John Baglow wrote The Public Walter Scott Prize. His latest book Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a a PhD in folklore from Memorial Service Alliance of Canada: 50 is Dream Sequence. writer living with bipolar disorder. University of Newfoundland. Years . and Counting. He was Her work was featured as part of the organization’s executive vice- Rose Hendrie has contributed to the 2018 Bell Let’s Talk campaign. David Wallace taught English president for nine years. the Sunday Times, Precedent, and literature at Humber College, in The Walrus. She is currently writing Bardia Sinaee is a poet and Toronto, for twenty-one years. He Matthew J. Bellamy teaches history a novel. contributing editor for the LRC. retired in 2014. at Carleton University. In 2006, he won the National Business Book Spencer Morrison holds a PhD Donald B. Smith, professor Geoff White is a former diplomat Award for Profiting the Crown: in English literature from the emeritus of history at the University and journalist. From 2009 to 2013, Canada’s Polymer Corporation, University of Toronto. He works as of Calgary, is writing a book about he served as a political counsellor in 1942–1990. a policy analyst in Ottawa. non-Indigenous perspectives of First Pretoria, South Africa. Nations. Elspeth Brown, an associate Daniel Panneton is the education Illustrations by Christy Lundy, professor of history at the University and programs assistant at the Sarah Michael Taube was a speech who has done work for the Boston of Toronto, spent twenty years and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust writer for prime minister Stephen Globe, Reader’s Digest, and writing and researching her new Education Centre, in Toronto. Harper. He has a master’s degree Monocle. book, Work! A Queer History of in comparative politics from the Modeling. Krzysztof J. Pelc, an international London School of Economics. relations professor at McGill Adam Foulds wrote The Wolf’s University, just won the CBC Short Emily Urqhart, a National Mouth, a novel shortlisted for the Story Prize for “Green Velvet.” Magazine Award winner, earned With Thanks to Our Supporters Made possible with the support of an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Ontario Creates Literary Review of Canada 340 King Street East, 2nd Floor Toronto, ON M5A 1K8 [email protected] Letters EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kyle Wyatt [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Rachel Tennenhouse POETRY EDITOR Moira MacDougall FICTION EDITORS Basil Guinane Cecily Ross COPY EDITOR Barbara Czarnecki EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Alexander Sallas CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Alex Berry, Murray Campbell, Bronwyn Drainie, Beth Haddon, RE: “BETTER VOTERS” BY ELIZABETH MAY who supported Ottawa’s United We Roll protests. Mohamed Huque, Mark Lovewell, (MARCH 2019) Wernick opined, “I worry about my country right Molly Peacock, Robin Roger, now. I worry about the rising tide of incitements to Bardia Sinaee lizabeth May begins her review of David violence when people use terms like treason and PROOFREADERS EMoscrop’s Too Dumb for Democracy? by elu- traitor in open discourse. Those are the words that Cristina Austin cidating her views on the environmental crisis: lead to assassination.” Amidst public outrage, he Suzanne Mantha our climate is changing in ways that will lead to resigned three weeks later. ADVERTISING/SALES catastrophe, this trend is probably due to human I wonder how SNC-Lavalin-Gate would have Michael Wile [email protected] activity, and most of us refuse to recognize the unfolded if Wernick — as well as Jody Wilson- situation or its dangers. She then exhorts us to Raybould and Justin Trudeau, for that matter — had BUSINESS MANAGER Paul McCuaig “turn off our reptilian brain.” Does she really think first read Fagan’s review. Nevertheless, I suspect BOARD OF DIRECTORS that’s helpful? it’s going to take a lot more political transparency Jaime Watt (Chair); Neena Gupta Personally, I wouldn’t recognize my reptil- before the public service vision that Dennis C. Joseph Kertes; John Macfarlane, ian brain if it stared me in the face. In fact, May’s Grube articulates in his book can find its legs. C.M.; Amela Marin; Don McCutchan; approach reinforces the problem many of us “less- Trina McQueen, O.C. gifted” people have with experts. They seem more Bill Engleson CORPORATE SECRETARY interested in waxing erudite than advancing argu- Denman Island, BC Vali Bennett ments. To put it crudely: cut the crap. ADVISORY COUNCIL May gets back on track by suggesting we adopt RE: “THE SUPERPOWER NEXT DOOR” Michael Adams, C.M.; Alan Broadbent, C.M.; Carol Hansell; a non-partisan approach. But it takes two to tango. BY KRZYSZTOF J. PELC (APRIL 2019) Don Rickerd, C.M. Yes, we must seek consensus, but let’s not pretend SUBMISSIONS all of us come from the same point of departure. rofessor Pelc claims that George W. Bush’s See reviewcanada.ca/submissions for guidelines. Ppolicies “look mild compared with the current SUBSCRIPTION RATES Leslie Buck president’s assault on global governance.” That’s In Canada, $56/year plus GST/HST ($68 for libraries and institutions). Outside Canada, Vancouver only if you exclude his massively murderous inva- $86/year ($98 for libraries and institutions). sion of Iraq. For all of Donald Trump’s attacks, his SUBSCRIPTIONS AND CIRCULATION May’s critique of Too Dumb for Democracy? is right body count, including civilians and enemy combat- Literary Review of Canada P.O. Box 8, Station K, Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 on the money. We have the ability to resolve prob- ants, pales in comparison to that of almost all his [email protected] (416) 932-5081 • reviewcanada.ca lems, especially those of our own making. But, as recent predecessors. she writes, we must educate ourselves. Founded in 1991 by P. A. Dutil Design concept by Jackie Young/INK Society can eliminate the use of fossil fuels Murray Reiss The LRC is published ten times a year by through solar, wind, and water, yet we procrastin- Salt Spring Island, BC the Literary Review of Canada Charitable Organization (no. 848431490RR0001). ate. Indeed, it seems only near-death experiences Donate at reviewcanada.ca/donate. inspire corrective action. But when it comes to the RE: “ALL THAT JAZZ” BY GEORGE ©2019 Literary Review of Canada. All rights, earth’s survival, that can’t be our instigator. The risk FETHERLING (MARCH 2019) including translation into other languages, is too immense. Canada’s government, concerned are reserved by the publisher in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and all with corporate sponsorship in the next election n 1961, a colleague and I bought the Scene, other countries participating in the Universal Copyright Convention, the International Copyright cycle, is content to give lip service to voters. Ia Victoria jazz club, from the lawyer-cum- Convention, and the Pan-American Copyright Convention. Nothing in this publication may be We can influence our political leadership, how- saxophonist Wally Lightbody. It was right across re produced without the written permission of the ever. Vote intelligently — vote to survive! the water from Vancouver and also featured big publisher. names like Phineas Newborn and Charles Mingus. ISSN 1188-7494 Brian Danko After Mingus packed the Scene for a week Literary Review of Canada is indexed in the Canadian Literary Periodicals Index and the Burlington, ON straight, I had the pleasure of taking him to Canadian Index, and is distributed by Disticor and Magazines Canada. Vancouver for his Cellar gig. He was a big man with RE: “SAY IT LOUD” BY DREW FAGAN a short fuse and had cut his teeth in New York’s (MARCH 2019) toughest neighbourhoods. I saw evidence of this when a burly customer made a racist comment. read Drew Fagan’s review of Megaphone I wonder if the B.C. Lions, whom George Fetherling I Bureaucracy through the lens of SNC-Lavalin. mentions, fared any better.