The Brown Knowser

My god, but 2020 sucked. With COVID-19 keeping us in lockdown for much of the year and with travel restricted, I often found little time to pull out my cameras and capture images around the Ottawa area and a few places in Ontario. I should clarify: I had no interest in subjecting myself to other people's germs. I went to the grocery stores as seldom as possible and stayed away from restaurants, pubs, gyms, and any place where there was even a remote chance that people could get too close to me. I did get out as often as I could, and when I did go out, I usually picked up a camera of some kind to capture whatever was out there. With two D-SLRs, two 360-degree cameras, and a smartphone, I did manage to take advantage of the greater outdoors to capture some images that I'd like to share in my annual, end-of-the-year post. Warning: as is typical with these posts, there is some content that may be considered not appropriate for the work environment. Actually, there's only...

It wasn't a case of nerves, this time. It wasn't a case of laziness, though I'm sure that there was, perhaps, a little of that. It came down to the pandemic and my overwhelming reluctance to get close to people, particularly the people I don't know. My project was a bust, but I look at the success—my ability to keep the virus from spreading through my encounters with total strangers. Though the risk was low, it wasn't zero. And if COVID-19 is going to spread through low-risk interaction with strangers, I wasn't going to be responsible. I wanted to get outside and photograph another 100 strangers, a pandemic version of my project from a few years ago. But the more I thought of it, the more it dawned on me that it wasn't a good idea. This year, the only time I've taken my camera outdoors, I've made an effort to ensure that I kept my distance. With the exception of a photo shoot that I did in the summer, I have avoided group photo meetups. There was tha...

This is a Christmas unlike any that we've had in our lifetime. I hope that all of you, no matter what you celebrate, are safe and happy, socially distancing. Let's be good to one another.

I first posted this story in 2011 and have now made it my holiday tradition.  If you haven't read it before, I hope you enjoy it. If you have read it before, I'm hoping that you make it your holiday tradition in reading it again. Merry Christmas and best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season! At first, we did it out of excitement for the season and impatience, unable to wait until morning. Later, it became a game about how far we could go, about how much risk we were willing to take. It was a test in organizational skills and stealth. In time, it would become a ritual. The first time we crept from our bedrooms and down the stairs, anxious to see what Santa had left us, my younger sister, Jen, and I faced our biggest obstacle: each other. "Go to bed," I whispered, not wanting her to make any noise, thereby arousing the attention of our parents, who had only a half hour ago, or earlier, had gone to bed after placing our wrapped gifts under the tree. Our older ...

First told in December, 2014, this Christmas tale is now a Brown Knowser holiday repeat. If you're new to my blog, I hope you enjoy it; if you've read it before, I hope that it puts you in the holiday spirit. He  never cared for Secret Santas in the office, or anywhere, for that matter.  He  d id n't feel the need to pick a random name from a hat and then try to figure out something about  that practical stranger  ( he  just kn e w  that, as luck  would have it, he would  pick  the name of someone  that worked in a distant part of the office, someone that he  d id n't know well), and he would then spend money and time choosing a gift that  would  not enrich the life of that individual , would not be something  t hat  would  give th at individual  anything that  he or she would  truly want. He  used to participate in Secret Santa at work, feeling compelled by peer pressure....

This blog post was originally posted on December 20, 2011, and has become a traditional  Brown Knowser  holiday tale. If you have read it before, I hope you enjoy it again. If this is your first read, I hope it won't be your last. * On some level, I'm not a fan of Christmas. Not of the decorating, nor of the card giving (actually, the Brownfoots have pretty much given up on that front), nor, especially, of the shopping. I hate going near the malls and department stores at this time of year: fighting crowds, standing in lines, searching for that ever-elusive parking space. Not being religious, the spiritual side of Christmas is lost on a cynic like me. Our family doesn't go to church, participates in no rituals that have long ago been stolen from the Pagans. We have no manger on display, no angel on high. My participation in these year-end, winter festivities usually includes some shopping, taking the family to a farm to search for and cut down our tree, and ...

The following is a draft excerpt from my novel, Gyeosunim . If you haven't read my previous novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary , be warned that there are spoilers and you may be missing some context. Saturday, May 11, 2019 It was something that I had wanted to do in 1997 and in 1998, but had never found the time. And though Tanya and I had visited Seoul many times in 1997, we spent the majority of time with my old friend from Ottawa, Naomi. Naomi Warner was an economist and financial advisor with First Canadian, an international bank, and had lived in the U.N. Village, in Hannam-Dong. She had arrived in Korea a few months after I had settled in Chŏnju: when she had learned of her posting, she contacted me to let me know that she would be arriving, and she gave me her Seoul address. On my first trip to Seoul, I sought out her upcoming residence, took some photos, and sent them to her. Naomi had been Kristen’s best friend since university. After Kristen’s death, Naomi constantly trie...

Image via Google Every so often, I take a look at the posts that I've published on The Brown Knowser and I evaluate whether I should continue writing similar posts, whether I should change other recurring posts, and if I should introduce something new or bring something back. With that in mind, moving forward to 2021, I'm going to make some changes to my blog and bring some segments back. Sometimes, I feel that posting only one photo for my Wordless Wednesday isn't enough, so I'm going to post more photos if I feel I have a subject that requires more than one. There have also been times where I have felt that some explanation around a photo needs explanation, or that I want to describe how I composed and captured a shot, so I'm also bringing back Photo Fridays . However, I still want to continue with my Friday Fiction , so I'm going to alternate these posts or post whatever seems more appropriate for that week. There are no rules in having a blog and I don...

Image via Google The year is almost over. No doubt, 2020 will go down as one of the worst years ever. So much has been put on hold this year or cancelled altogether. And with the cold weather coming in, many will feel the frosty isolation more acutely. I can't wait for the year to be done with. As of this coming Thursday, I'll be on vacation and won't have to think about work until the first week of the new year. In some ways, I won't even have to think about this blog, but in a way that signals relief over being tired of it. Since I returned to The Brown Knowser , I've enjoyed writing and I hope you've enjoyed reading. But even though I've enjoyed providing mindless nonsense to you, I do need a break over the holidays, to spend time with my family, to focus on my fiction, and to rest my brain. If you've been following this blog over the years, you're aware that I repeat some Christmas posts. They're lined up and ready to go. I've already pre...

The following is a draft excerpt from my novel, Gyeosunim . If you haven't read my previous novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary , be warned that while there are no spoilers, you may be missing some context. Friday, February 27, 1998 I’m sure that I heard my alarm when it rang, at seven o’clock, but I didn’t actually respond to it until more than an hour later. Though my head felt heavy, seeing the actual time shook me awake and made me scramble. I had just over forty-five minutes to get to the university. As quickly as I could, I showered and shaved, and threw on my black two-piece suit that I had had custom-tailored for me, in Pyeongtaek, not far from the Osan Air Base. Brad and I had travelled there, one weekend, to have our suits fitted, and returned the following weekend to pick up the suits. They were so well made by Lim’s Tailor Shop that we returned again, last fall, to have another suit made for each of us. That time, I had a lovely navy blue, pin-striped three-piece made. W...