Ambling through Purgatory
One of the unexpected pleasures of living in Victoria has been to get to know and very much like Kevin Micheal Grace, aka The Ambler.
In a properly ordered universe Kevin would have either a fellowship in some form of think tank, a university sinecure or the editorship of a small but well respected magazine of opinion. The universe is not well ordered and so Kevin has no source of steady income.
As regular readers know, I have no time at all for social conservatives in their happy clappy fundy mode. None. But I have a great deal of time for humanists, secular or religious.
Kevin is, at root, a humanist in the broadest sense of that word. From a deep love of classical music to a knowledge of punk which would shame Mr. K, the ability to make a convincing case that Looney Tunes are the fulcrum of modern American culture, an understanding of English literature which can place with great precision the exact references in Kingsley Amis or measure the extent of Orwell’s influence, an understanding of NFL football and a passion for the nuance of rock video iconography, Kevin takes the total cultural output of the West as his potential field of study.
He also writes about politics with a perspective which is 90 degrees askew from the left, right or center. It is not so much that Kevin disagrees with the Liberals or Tories or NDP; rather he cannot imagine what sin Canada could possibly have committed to have been plunged into the purgatory of such mediocrity and mendacity. He is equally perplexed by the American’s willingness to elect George Bush – twice – and the English embrace of Tony Blair.
All of which makes Kevin a very hard sell in a media culture dominated by left/right pidgeon holing.
Which brings me round to the pitch: it is Ambler Preservation month. I know ffrom bitter experience that it is difficult if not impossible to do good work with not the slightest clue where your next dollar is coming from. Kevin does brilliant work powered mainly by re-used teabags and very, very old bread.
In Kevin’s situtation $5.00 or $10.00 makes a real difference and $50.00 is a gift of the Gods. Go make a difference and preserve The Ambler.
(And, if you run a blog, please think about mentioning Ambler Preservation. )