“I only met you this morning, but to me you’re already permeated by all sorts of phantom figures”, so Derrida in ‘The Science of Ghosts’. We encounter each other daily, social species who we are. Small talk, deep talk, virtual talk, body talk, no talk. Our interactions range from split second glances to long conversations […]
Read more "Vive les fantômes!"The Logic of Bamboo “… unlike the trees, bushes, and shrubs, the few shoots of bamboo along the back fence began to multiply… and, at first, we were enamored by the vitality of its soaring elegance. . . and when the fleshy stems of its invasive roots began to proliferate and crawl below the earth’s […]
Read more "Leidenschaftliches Denken and the ‘Big Crunch’ of Discourse"A post first year law school essay on the journey of jurists-as-servants, as explored through poetry… You have just completed your first year of law at a prestigious Law School, including a course on ‘The Foundations of Canadian Law’, a course that purports to align with the Faculty’s vision “as directed towards the formation of […]
Read more "Law meets poetry, or what have you learned about how to serve?"This is a story of idols and icons, theology and an economy in the service of the Church. It is a story of power, control and the strategic management of affect. It is a story of madness, of states of being lost and of unanswered unanswerable questions… Once upon a time idolaters ran wild and […]
Read more "On fallen gods, human longing and infrastructures of affect control"Longing visits me once in a while and every time it catches me by surprise, doling out bitter and sweet. I know that I shouldn’t be surprised because a piece of my heart did go with you that day, like a silent traveler, appreciating how you journey through life, so far away. And in longing […]
Read more "Ana’s Poem"The Law is a cold monster: it disrupts social bonds, erodes emotional attachments, and imposes an abstract utilitarian rationality (Hart, Scott). But what if such critiques are completely misleading? What if the continuous production of faith and attachment are crucial to the dynamics of the legal system? (Fuller) This essay will argue that patterns of […]
Read more "The Emotional Logic of Law"‘Last Chance’, a film directed by Paul Emile d’Entremont, gives voice to the struggles of five people who are seeking asylum in Canada. Trudi (Kingston, Jamaica), Carlos (Colombia), Jennifer (Beirut, Lebanon), Zaki (Egypt) and Alvaro Orozco (Nicaragua) have all experienced various degrees of state persecution and everyday acts of physical and psychological violence in their […]
Read more "The Faces of Structural Oppression – Reflections on Paul-Émile d’Entremont’s ‘Last Chance’"