SUNDAY FEELD NOTES 17.05.2026
Things I’m feeling on a Sunday afternoon in Atlanta
It’s been a minute. And then a few minutes after that. And then, like an hour and a half more… I’m sorry. I have no excuses other than the weight of the adjunct grind. But now that summer is near, and the respite of few obligations, I resolve to be here more and finally finish up Season Three. No promises, other than good intentions.
DEMOCRACY IN PERIL
I spent some time here in Atlanta this week, courtesy of my union local (SEIU 1973, The 4Cs), at the Jobs with Justice 2026 National Conference: Workers Revive Democracy. This was my first union conference, and I was humbled/inspired/frightened by the experience.
As a Canadian who spends a lot of time working in the US, every day is an education on the Empire. Living in Brooklyn this winter, I learned that New York is an incomparable city that is deeply broken. It is a chaotic, lawless mess and a case study in how American (or in this case, NYC) Exceptionalism, insulation, and class divide have built an unsustainable system of inequity. The city lacks infrastructure on a level I’ve never experienced, and living there in and of itself is a chore. But it’s also an amazing place, made of a singular culture. It is the contradiction of America, both everything and nothing in a single breath.
Zohran gives me hope, but the city is still filled with Cuomos and Schumers and Richie Torreses and Gillibrands… and those are the Dems ffs. Oh, and then there’s this douche bucket.
JwJ in Atlanta expanded my understanding of the implosion of democracy and the root of that villainy. As people spoke or I spoke with people, I was moved by the hope and solidarity of my working-class union siblings. There is a diversity—cultural, racial, socioeconomical, everythingal—within the progressive, union-driven movement for equity and equality that is absent within the ruling class, the Epstein class. I felt, for the first time in a long time, that I was with my people.
But I was shocked by a few seemingly universal ideas. One was that America was once anything other than what it is. Two, that the “Left” has the answer. And three, the absence of the notion that American Exceptionalism is at the root of the grand inequities that challenge the nation in 2026, or rather that have always challenged it.
Perhaps these are naive outsider, middle-class Canadian ideals misreading a complicated nation. But the US is a great experiment that needs new team leads. And I don’t mean Gavin Newsom ffs.
Nina Turner spoke at JwJ, and after that, I’m all in on NINA 28. And add Billy Fletcher Jr. as a running mate, please.
If only Bernie were 40 years younger.
GERMANY
I’ve been thinking a lot about Germany lately. Some because with the Leafs on fire and the schadenfreude that inferno provides, I’m reminded to reach out to my buddy Ian Orti, an expat in Berlin. But also because I think nations and the idea of nations need to explore ambitious change. Germany is one of the modern world’s strongest examples of deliberate national reconstruction: politically, economically, culturally, and morally. They were the enemy of the world for most of the 20th century. But that reconstruction was uneven, externally shaped, incomplete, and is currently under pressure. And I think Western nations in decline due to economic inequity can learn from Germany’s rebirth. Germany shows that democratic recovery is possible, but only through sustained institutional design, historical reckoning, social investment, and constant defense against relapse.
That being said, I’ve never been into schnitzel. So that could be an issue.
HOCKEY HOMESICKNESS
Nothing makes me miss home more than the NHL playoffs, and I look forward to heading north in the next few weeks. Just hearing the Canadian accent and verbiage on Sportsnet feels like everything at the end of a long day. Thank Gord for VPNs.
And there is nothing in the world like Montreal during a playoff run. The spring of 2010 is the setting for some of my most cherished Montreal memories. But I do miss the play-by-play and analysts of my youth: Bob Cole and Harry Neale, even Jim Hughson. Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson are growing on me, but I’m not there yet. The intermissions are waaaaayyyyy better than the days of Don Cherry, though. Ron McLean is at his best without Cherry, bad puns and all. And the intros. Man. Playoff time is like living in a Hip song.
SPEAKING OF HIP SONGS & HOMESICKNESS