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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Black Box by K.V. Johansen The Black Box by K.V. Johansen. March's Life Skill is GENEROSITY. Here are some books in our online catalog, Alexandria (Alex, for short), about generosity : Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming. Historical Fiction. Summary: After a young Dutch girl writes to her new American friend in thanks for the care package sent after World War II, she begins to receive increasingly larger boxes. The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau. Fiction. Summary: When a generous quiltmaker finally agrees to make a quilt for a greedy king but only under certain conditions, she causes him to undergo a change of heart. Under the Lemon Moon by Edith Hope Fine. Summary: The theft of all the lemons from her lemon tree leads Rosalinda to an encounter with la Anciana, the Old One, who walks the Mexican countryside helping things grow, and an understanding of generosity and forgiveness. The Black Box by K.V. Johansen. The poet Douglas Lochhead died this week. He was a friend, and a gentleman, and he’ll be greatly mourned and missed by all who knew him. I first met Douglas when I was an undergraduate. The head of the English department, another poet, Michael Thorpe, snagged me in the hall one day and told me I should go see the university’s writer-in-residence. I was a bit wary, as I had enrolled in a creative writing course the year before, and then withdrawn after about six weeks, having been told by the instructor, disdainfully, “You don’t need character development in science fiction.” I wasn’t much interested in university writing instruction after that. But I dutifully went along to see Professor Lochhead, who was actually head of the Canadian Studies department, during his Writer-in-Residence office hours. Somewhat to my surprise, this charming, white-haired professor was delighted to see me and eager to take home and read whatever I wanted to show him. I gave him what I had on hand, which was a science fiction short story that I think I’d written for some contest or other. (Come to think of it, that won something called the Graham Atlantic Creative Writing Award at the university, and then was accepted for publication by a small sf magazine in the US, which, of course, proceeded to go out of business before publication. Too bad, as it was about a race of alien shapeshifters, one of whom was a sort of sleeper agent on earth, her past forgotten. The title was “Changeling” and this was some years before Deep Space Nine was on the air.) Anyhow, the next day I got a note, written in red ink on a sheet torn from one of those soft, canary-yellow scratch-pads, saying, “Congratulations, I have just read a professional short story …” That was the start of a long relationship, which turned into friendship along the way (during which time I learned to appreciate some contemporary poetry, too). Professor Lochhead supervised a summer project for which I’d received a grant; the project was to complete a fantasy novel I’d been working on fairly steadily since grade eleven, when time allowed. My father had just died and the other man who was to have such an influence on my self-confidence as a writer, the biologist Dr. Allen Keast, didn’t at that time know I wrote fiction. (However, he had had me — it’s now safe to tell this — editing and revising a paper or two submitted for a multi-author work on forest bird-communities; I was a mere child of twenty, officially a research assistant doing scientific illustration, and it was felt that the publishers, and possibly the authors of the papers, would not approve if this hatchet job by an undergrad became known.) I would have persevered in writing stories even without Professor Lochhead’s encouragement, but it was so, so important, at that point in my life, to have someone else outside my own head confirming to me that I could write, and write well. He patiently read drafts of this novel (full of shapeshifters, demons, politics, and war — and no, it wasn’t the ur-Blackdog) as it developed, telling me what seemed muddled and confusing, what could be tightened, and, very importantly, what was done well and why . I went off to U of T the next year, but we kept in touch, and eventually, when I ended up back in Sackville, our friendship was renewed. We exchanged books and had the occasional glass of wine together, and talked about writing and gardens. I was living in the heart of his landscape, the marshes he wrote about in so many of his collections, and his words helped me to see this flat, sometimes barren and bleak, little part of the world in both finer detail and impressionistic sweep of colour beneath the sky. Earlier this morning I had an email from a friend in Ontario talking about her visit down here, saying, “the landscape was enriched for us, … by the way Prof. Lochhead had described it in his writing — we think of the marsh as his marsh.” I think Douglas has done that, made the Tantramar his marsh, and it will remain so. No-one, having read his poetry, will be able to enter this landscape without having his spare word-painting, bold outline and fine miniature, an added layer of sight enriching their own vision. If you’re not familiar with Douglas’s poetry, you can hear a reading recorded at the launch of his last book of poetry, Looking Into Trees . Douglas’s health kept him home on that occasion, but various of his friends (including myself) read for him. It was recorded for CHMA and is available through his publisher’s website here. There is also an interview with Douglas about his life and work, here. David Johansen. For two decades, the musical career of singer/songwriter David Johansen has been shaped by his considerable versatility. In the early 1970s he was the flamboyant lead singer for the New York Dolls, a rock and roll band heralded as America ’ s answer to the British group the Rolling Stones. With its male members sporting teased bouffants, outrageous makeup, and women ’ s clothing, the New York Dolls became a prototype for the punk rock groups that emerged later in the decade. Since the mid-1970s Johansen has also performed as a solo act — without makeup or costumes — and has recorded both original compositions and old favorites in a variety of genres, including rock, rhythm and blues, and reggae. While never a commercial smash, Johansen was consistently praised by critics and developed a fiercely loyal following; in a High Fidelity critique of his album Live It Up, Mitchell Cohen declared, “ David Johansen simply has terrific taste in music, a belief in its capacity to merge passion and craft, and a gregarious ringmaster personality. ” In the mid-1980s Johansen adopted the persona of Buster Poindexter, a Las Vegas-style lounge singer, and performed a time-tested repertoire of saloon standards, including ballads, Latin songs, and blues. While seedy and slick, the tuxedoed, pompadoured Buster is more than a caricature; Rolling Stone writer Deborah Frost called Poindexter ’ s act “ timeless, ” adding, “ wherever there ’ s a piano bar, he ’ ll have a home. ” “ Buster can have this great life in the public eye and take the rap for everything, and then David can go home, ” Johansen told Margot Dougherty in People, “ It ’ s the most brilliant thing I ’ ve ever done. ” Formed the New York Dolls. Growing up in a large family on New York ’ s Staten Island, Johansen took to music early, singing the rock and roll favorites of his older siblings. As an adolescent he would often sneak off to Greenwich Village and Times Square to hang out with other teens interested in the music scene; during high school he sang and played the guitar for such local bands as Fast Eddie and the Electric Japs and the Vagabond Missionaries. By late 1971 Johansen had joined musicians Johnny Thunders, Rick Rivets, Arthur Kane, and Billy Murcia — with the later addition of Sylvain Sylvain and Jerry Nolan — to form the New York Dolls, playing regularly at the Mercer Arts Center in lower Manhattan. A local cult following developed around the group, attracted to its outrageous look, offstage decadence, and searing rock songs about adolescent confusion and revolt. The Dolls ’ s music showed the influence of such groups as the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, and the Rolling. For the Record … Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY; son of an insurance salesman and a librarian; married Kate Simon (a portrait photographer). Education: Graduated from Port Richmond High School. Singer and songwriter, mid-1960s — ; performed in local bands, including Fast Eddie and the Electric Japs and Vagabond Missionaries, while in high school; lead vocalist for the New York Dolls, 1971-75; solo performer, 1975 — ; assumed persona of lounge singer Buster Poindexter and performed with backup band Banshees of Blue, mid-1980s — . Member of avant-garde acting troupe Ridiculous Theatrical Company following high school; actor appearing in motion pictures, including Candy Mountain, Married to the Mob, and Scrooged; guest on television programs, including The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live; has appeared in television commercials. Awards: Recipient of New York Music Award for best cabaret singer (as Poindexter). Addresses: Record company — RCA Records, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036. Stones, with lead singer Johansen exhibiting some of the characteristics of the Stones ’ s Mick Jagger.