XXLife @71
Left Stage, Exit Right
Free from Artifice
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Art Show & Tell, of a Point of Order, add a little ice cream, my just reward. A young woman, lingering with a tattooed crowd in downtown Edmonton near the library, complimented my artwork. After finishing my rapidly melting ice cream in the 24°C heat, I walked over to her gang to show the backside, titled Disorder. Suddenly, a young man lunged at me. "Get the f*** away from here!" he snapped. Before I could react, the group's matriarch—Mama Tattoo—spoke up. "I like your painting," she said, her voice steady. The young man’s demeanor shifted. He looked at the artwork again, his expression softening. "That's an amazing piece of art," he admitted.
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Website Updated August 11, 2026
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Alberta 31st Legislature Quick-Drawn Conclusions, without a press pass from the Public, not empty press gallery. It is, one of the great Alberta political ironies playing out next to Alberta Separation: Naheed Nenshi, having inherited the NDP’s historic Old Strathcona stronghold — a riding so orange it practically glows in the dark — is now preparing to abandon it for a Calgary seat in the next provincial election. A symbolic migration, really: the party’s new leader returning to his old municipal stomping grounds, leaving Edmonton’s safest NDP district to fend for itself while he re‑roots himself in the city that made him famous. And yet, for all the talk of renewal, modernity, and progressive momentum, Nenshi presides over a predominantly female Loyal Opposition caucus — a striking visual in the Legislature, though the party machinery around them still feels unmistakably like a man’s world. The optics say one thing; the habits say another. Typically, on most days in the Alberta 31st Legislature, the press gallery seats sit empty during question period. The Premier shows up on time and stays for the full shift, listening to questions from members. Meanwhile, the Loyal Opposition Leader arrives late, punches out early, and leaves the chamber to its echoing acoustics of democracy's debates. But the moment the cameras appear, the (Hon) Nenshi's gravitational field changes.
Often, after question period for the leaders, I take the elevator from the fourth floor down to the basement, next to the cafeteria — as I’ve done countless times before — and find the room suddenly packed with reporters, lights, cameras, and Mr. Nenshi drawing full attention from the legacy media. The Legislature chamber may be half‑empty, but the basement scrum is standing‑room only. It’s a choreography Alberta politics knows well: the performance happening not where laws are debated, but where microphones and loyal photo ops create a clustered F... (Grande Staged Democracy). The Painter, AI Edited.
