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UofWinds 397, Week 42: Making Justice Imaginable, How Indigenous survival offers a blueprint for everyone's future, XOXO Festival Videos


Good morning. I am writing this issue of the University of Winds from a hotel room in Montreal not far from the McGill University campus. Almost thirty years ago, I was attending McGill during the quiet dark turmoil of the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. Compared to that time, the feeling that I picked up as I walked among the crowds on the street last night is euphoric, although I know much of that vibe is simply because it is a dry and warm glorious weekend in October.

I have been on VIA Rail for over nine hours (over two days) and I have done lots of podcast listening as my eyes unfocused on the red, yellow, and orange of trees speeding past.

Making Justice Imaginable


Instead of lamenting that our nation's public radio broadcaster does not have the resources to provide transcripts of their flagship program dedicated to 'contemporary thought', I will instead express gratitude that we still have a venue where public lectures still have a home and try to convince you to spend 45 minutes listening to a work with only this introduction:

"We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust," wrote Albert Camus. In a lecture delivered at Crow's Theatre, lawyer Lex Gill considers how social and cultural movements can nudge the evolution of law and explores how to keep working for justice, regardless of the odds. 

I only listen to a small fraction of the daily episodes of IDEAS that come and go through my podcast app. I opted to listen to this particular 45 minute lecture despite knowing nothing of its author, because – maybe like you – I am having difficulty seeing how we can find a path towards a more equitable society when there is so much injustice that seems to be undaunted and unchecked. I'm glad that I listened to Lex Gill's lecture. It is personal and clear-eyed about the work that needs to be done.

How Indigenous survival offers a blueprint for everyone's future


I have another IDEAS podcast episode for you, as I find reading on the train somewhat difficult with all the jostling: How Indigenous survival offers a blueprint for everyone’s future by Jesse Wente:

The future we want has already existed — we just need to recover it, says Jesse Wente. In a talk, the Anishinaabe arts leader explains how the best of this past gives everyone a blueprint for a better future. "We are evidence that cultures can withstand global systems change: adapt, and rebuild.

Jesse's talk is affirming while it also troubles the idea of current Canadian sovereignty. And as such, I think its necessary for more Canadians to hear.

Ontario MPP and residential school survivor Sol Mamakwa recently announced that he plans to table legislation so that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation be a provincial holiday in Ontario. I heard two political analysts disagree with Mamakwa on this point because a holiday would mean that schools would close on that day and they consider schools as the vehicle by which Canadians should learn about horrors of the residential school system.

We are still very far away from the idea that Canadians should take personal responsibility to learn and teach each other about what we have done in the name of the nation that we belong to.

XOXO Festival Videos


I was hoping to finish all of the 2024 set of XOXO Festival talks by this time, but I still haven't managed it. But of what I've seen, these are the ones that I can't stop thinking about. Apologies for providing only the official blurbs to these talks but I need to stop writing this newsletter so I can get ready and find some breakfast.

Erin Kissane

Writer/researcher Erin Kissane is working to build better and safer networks for collective survival, with efforts including the COVID Tracking Project, a powerful 40,000 word analysis of Meta’s role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, and current research into the culture and governance of the next wave of social networks.

Ed Yong

Avid birder and Pulitzer-winning science journalist Ed Yong built a devoted audience for his deeply empathetic coverage of the pandemic for The Atlantic, while his two New York Times bestsellers, I Contain Multitudes and An Immense World, shared his curiosity about life on Earth at all scales.

Cabel Sasser

“Don’t waste this. Keep everyone guessing. Make me proud.” When Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser spoke at our second festival in 2013, the Mac software company had just started venturing into games by funding the studio behind Firewatch, an indie blockbuster that launched Panic’s games publishing business and, eventually, the Playdate handheld console.

Last fortnight's question

Please tell me a favourite restaurant, shop, gallery, or place to visit in Montreal.

  • 📓: Drawn & Quarterly!
  • 🥕: Jean Talon Market
  • 🍺: Vices & Versa on St. Laurent (not too far from Jean Talon market which you probably already know rules)
  • K : papeterie nota bene, 3416 Park Ave
  • 🕺: Drawn & Quarterly bookstore
  • D : Having just moved away from Montréal, this is fresh for me. Two recommendations, perhaps at opposite poles of the "indulge yourself" spectrum. The first is Cheskie Heimishe Bakery on Bernard in Outremont, one of the few places where the Haredi and the rest of us come together regularly. The other is Naada Yoga on Casgrain. I'm trying to include more yoga in my travel and can't wait to go back to the lovely people at Naada.

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