Archive (Page 11) • Hit and Miss • Buttondown

Hit and Miss #238: Links on ambition, resilient building, and more

March 27, 2022

Good morning! I was up late playing Cities: Skylines last night (no regrets), but I bounced back with a triple espresso to start my day—it’s hard to predict...

Hit and Miss #237: Doing our parts

March 20, 2022

It’s here—we’ve gone from “springlike” to “spring”, at least officially. There’s still snow on the ground, and ice in the rivers, but it’s melting quickly....

Hit and Miss #236: Seeking beautiful moments

March 13, 2022

(A sombre reflection on the current moment. I invite you to skip ahead to the end for two beautiful links, if that’d do you best.) Two years ago, with COVID...

Hit and Miss #235: Chase the sun (redux)

March 6, 2022

Good afternoon! It was a tough week. And I was barely reading the news. It feels weird to have a tough week when the world is on fire (literally,...

Hit and Miss #234: War in real-time, in all its ugliness

February 27, 2022

Hi there. It’s been quite a week, eh? The overwhelming story, in print and online, has been Ukraine. “Overwhelming” applies, in every sense: it is...

Hit and Miss #233: Goodbye (?) to the occupiers

February 20, 2022

Hello! It’s been (yet another) interesting week in Ottawa. A few reflections, for posterity: Over the last few days, downtown Ottawa has looked very...

Hit and Miss #232: Savouring silence

February 13, 2022

Good evening! I returned to my apartment on Monday to find the street below mostly clear of vehicles, and enjoyed, for the first time in a few weeks, a quiet...

Hit and Miss #231: Acoustic assaults

February 6, 2022

Good morning! An opening note: when I sent last week’s newsletter, it was titled “Honk honk”. I later learned this is a dogwhistle phrase. There’s no need to...

Hit and Miss #230: Occupied

January 30, 2022

Hi folks, I hope you’re doing well. I’d planned to follow up last week’s newsletter, saying “But we can’t do it alone” and examining where the public service...

Hit and Miss #229: Playing for team public

January 23, 2022

Good evening! It’s been a lovely weekend—I hope the same for you. This week, The Globe and Mail ran a number of articles on outsourcing by the federal...

Hit and Miss #228: Where have the snow days gone

January 16, 2022

Good afternoon! It’s blustery here in Ottawa, and it looks like we have an enormous storm headed our way. I miss snow days, whether staying home from school...

Hit and Miss #227: Melancholy and drama, but peace

January 9, 2022

Good afternoon. Something about an overcast winter day, gloomily raining after a day of sunny but freezing skies, causes feelings of melancholy and drama....

Hit and Miss #226: Digging roots

January 2, 2022

Good evening, and a good new year to you! I just jolted out of bed, realizing I hadn’t yet sent this newsletter—blame it on a day of driving. I haven’t had...

Hit and Miss #225: A few books feed us well

December 26, 2021

Good morning! Today’s the last Sunday of the year. It’s been a head-turning few weeks, capping off months full of ups and downs. I’m trying to take what...

Hit and Miss #224: Staring down the barrel, at least the memes are good

December 19, 2021

This issue is just COVID. There’s a gallows humour quote at the end, if that’s your jam; if you’d rather keep your mind on other things, sit this one out and...

Hit and Miss #223: Fragments

December 12, 2021

The paper didn’t arrive five out of six days this week, so I didn’t read as much as I normally do. When this happens, I turn often to Twitter to feed my need...

Hit and Miss #222: What we lose

December 5, 2021

Hi! This post is going out scheduled, as I’m on the road back to Ottawa today. T and I were up visiting her mom in northern Ontario, which was a splendid...

Hit and Miss #221: Outrunning the food coma

November 28, 2021

Good evening! I’m racing a rapid onset food coma, so will keep today’s newsletter pretty short, focused on the links, which we’ve aplenty. (Tonight’s food...

Hit and Miss #220: Stories within stories

November 21, 2021

(non-disaster links at the end of the email!) If you’re in Canada, there’s a good chance you heard of the terrible rains, floods, and mudslides that came...

Hit and Miss #219: Silent commemoration

November 14, 2021

Richard Wagamese’s Embers, a book of meditations shared in beguilingly simple language, opens with a chapter called “Stillness”. It includes this passage...