Posts in the Barris Beat category:

Barris Beat

Blue Heron at 35

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Three extraordinary booksellers (l-r) Barbara Pratt, Marilyn Maher and Shelley Macbeth – who owned and operated Blue Heron Books over 35 years – celebrated the store’s 35th anniversary Nov. 23.

Recently, I dropped into one of my favourite haunts in Uxbridge and asked a member of the staff if she had a copy of the new book by Philippa Gregory. After a quick dash to the non-fiction section, she retrieved Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History. She recommended it, something I always appreciate from staff members at Blue Heron Books. In fact, as I left, I offered the best compliment I could think of at the time.

“Lots of women making history at this establishment,” I said. And I meant it.

In Dr. Gregory’s nearly 700-page treatise, the author doesn’t focus on the obvious handful of heroines in British history – Elizabeth I, Agatha Christie, Florence Nightingale or Margaret Thatcher – but rather the legions of women who competed in jousts, designed ships, mills and houses, or enlisted in the armed services. (more…)

Barris Beat

History becoming the realm of youth

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The storytellers of our society tend to be our elders. In most European cultures, and indeed First Nations cultures, the laws, the lineage and the lore are generally gathered and told by the senior members of society. That’s why the stories of young researcher and military historian Rebecca Murray proved so refreshing to me.

“Kate Reid served as a WD (Women’s Division) in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War,” Murray explained during her presentation at a history conference I attended in Calgary last week. “She was my Nan, and one of 17,000 WDs in the Air Force.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Get some. Miss some.

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Firefighters in the Blitz, 1940.

The public-speaking appearance was half done. At intermission, last Friday night in the central-Alberta city of Camrose, I sat at a table signing books and listening to feedback from members of the audience.

A woman approached; with her British accent she offered her take on the subject of my evening talk, the Battle of Britain. She was a child in London during the Blitz in the summer of 1940, when she said her father had served in the London fire brigade fighting fires German bombers ignited each night.

“When he came home in the morning after fighting fires all night, I remember his face was completely black with soot,” she said, then drawing imaginary circles around her eyes, “except the white around his eyes where he’d warn protective goggles.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Warrior with a bucket of sand

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Fire watchers had tools, but during the Battle of Britain their greatest weapon was courage.

I’ve flown into Heathrow, the city of London’s major civilian airport, dozens of times – seeing a sky full of jetliners lined up to land at Europe’s largest commercial airport. But not until I met Torontonian Dorothy Firth, who lived there during the Second World War, had I ever imagined what the skies over that city might have looked like during a period known as “the Blitz.”

“It was always a nasty sound and a horrible feeling when the air-raid sirens went off,” she told me when I met her a few years ago, “because you never knew how fast the German (bombers) were coming.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Traits that bind a town

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You know how you sometimes rundown a mental checklist on your way to work or play? Have I called so-and-so? Have I got all my ducks in order?

This week, on my way from Halifax Airport to deliver an audio-visual presentation at a bookstore in LaHave, Nova Scotia, I suddenly wondered if I’d asked the bookstore proprietor to supply a digital projector for my talk.

“No,” said the LaHave bookstore owner. “We don’t have one.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Of character and characters

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Barry Penhale & Jane Gibson receive lifetime achievement award from Ontario Historical Society. 2019.

Look closely on the walls of their sunlit living room: There’s a framed lifetime achievement certificate, as recognized by the Ontario Historical Society. The citation praises Barry Penhale and Jane Gibson for their many years of professional and volunteer work bringing history and heritage to the attention of Ontarians.

The OHS presented the award to this extraordinary couple in 2019. Seated in his favourite armchair in that living room, Penhale smiled modestly.

“History isn’t something any one person owns,” he told me last week. “It’s about preserving and celebrating what we’ve all experienced.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Tunnel vision

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Ontario’s premier wants to replicate Boston’s “Big Dig” under Hwy 401

Among our Thanksgiving traditions, particularly when we invite guests to our gatherings over Turkey dinner, our family usually engages in “What if?” talk. Often the Q&As reveal attitudes among family members we didn’t know. Other times, it’s a chance for guests to tell us about themselves and stimulate conversation. Over Monday’s turkey dinner, my granddaughter hit me with this question:

“Twenty years from now, what looming event do you think you’ll have difficulty explaining?”

I thought long and hard about challenges we’re all facing today – democracy threatened by the race for the presidency in the United States, global preparedness for the next pandemic, pushing back xenophobia in Canadian society, ensuring career opportunities are there for our grandchildren and their children.

But I guess, if I’m still around in 2044, I’ll probably find it difficult to rationalize how western civilization, with as much access to information as any society in modern history, didn’t recognize and rise to the challenge of slowing climate change.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to rationalize our incompetency,” I told my granddaughter “for failing to save the planet from greenhouse gases.” (more…)

Barris Beat

The Order of things

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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon & I right after my appointment as Member of the Order of Canada. Oct 3, 2024.

It generally goes like clockwork. And, since Governors General have officiated at investitures to the Order of Canada at Rideau Hall since 1967, they pretty much all happen with precision. Last Thursday went mostly that way. About halfway through the procession of 56 recipients, Ken McKillop, secretary to the Governor General and ceremony MC, called my name.

As instructed, I walked to the front of the hall, faced the audience and McKillop read a citation about my work preserving military heritage. He finished by turning to the Governor General and said, “Excellency, Dr. Barris.”

I looked back as we both realized the “Doctor” title wasn’t accurate.

Nevertheless, I moved to a spot in front of Gov. Gen. Mary Simon. She stepped forward and began attaching the Order of Canada medal onto a hook pinned to my left lapel. (more…)

Barris Beat

“Well aware” isn’t good enough

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Volunteer firefighter with dashboard green flashing light.

Down from the 6th Concession I came, driving eastbound on Brock, this week. I slowed into the new 50 kilometre-per-hour zone. Then, I spotted him. A pickup heading the opposite direction with a green light flashing clearly on his dashboard. I pulled to the curb right away.

Then, a white SUV whizzed past me into the centre of Brock Street in a big hurry to make a left turn north onto Quaker Village Drive. An awkward moment followed, as the firefighter dodged the SUV. Finally, he passed en route to the firehall. I pulled up beside the SUV, still sitting in the left-turn lane. I honked my horn. She rolled her window down.

“You know that’s a firefighter trying to get to the hall, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” she said dismissively. “I’m well aware,” and off she sped into her left-hand turn, visibly ticked off at my scolding. (more…)

Barris Beat

In the hands of veterans

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Nobody’s idea of travel fun.

Crowded kiosks inside Terminals 1 and 3 at Pearson. Automated luggage processors. Swamped ticket counters. Endless security lines. Chaotic airline gate waiting areas. Scrambling for carry-on space in overhead bins. And lacklustre service in the air.

None of these places has been a welcoming spot for Canadians flying domestically recently. Indeed, when my wife and I went through all those figurative minefields last weekend, I think the overwhelming question we asked ourselves was:

“Why would anyone actually want to attempt air travel right now?” (more…)