seanessay.com Tonight I was at a long table among Olympians. Remember when a local boy won a medal in boxing and then went on to become not a “sports professional” but a lawyer? Willie deWit, now a Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, is living out the old “have a well rounded life” ideal […]
Inviting and Welcoming Russian Athletes
seanessay.com “Hey sports fans, how ‘bout them Ukrainians?”… Underneath the big money-devouring questions of whether we should act quickly to help Ukraine, including “Should we manufacture ammunition?” are the small inexpensive questions about athletes on the world stage. Some say Russians should be allowed among the rest of us at international events provided they compete […]
Canada Versus the Orcs, 1972
seanessay.com My niece, two decades ago, asked me, “Uncle, what’s a communist?” The girl was innocent about the Reds smothering free thought over a quarter of the globe: Just as certain adult well meaning liberals are today. As an American philosopher would say—Looking at you, Germany—those who forget the history of Russian Orcs are condemned […]
Olympic Dreams Drifting and Collapsing
seanessay.com Values? The Olympics? Fixing the Games? As with the meaning of “education,” or “Christmas,” if we snooze on pondering the meaning of the Olympics then we end up drifting over to the default of other people’s values. Then we lose, as many other minds are “imprisoned” from having known almost only professional sports, or […]
Olympic Dreams Gone With the Bigots
At the Tokyo Olympics, according to a CBC radio documentary, women athletes were discriminated against. Must history repeat? Can we learn? My younger self wrote about “equal rights” in my old blog, so here are patches of old essays. I can never forget her. She was a pretty biathlete who wanted to be an Olympian. […]
Puritan Proposes Hanging Out
seanessay.com The Peanuts cartoons had an arc where Peppermint Patty (struggles in school) is trying to teach Monica (wears glasses and reads) how to “hang out” at the mall: Patty demonstrates leaning on the wall looking sleepy eyed. Monica doesn’t get it. Back when I was more uptight I shared a duplex—we chose the place […]