Writing With a Broken Tusk
Writing With a Broken Tusk began in 2006 as a blog about overlapping geographies, personal and real-world, and writing books for children. Since March 2024, Jen Breach (writer, VCFA graduate, and former student) has helped me curate and manage guest posts and Process Talk pieces on this blog.
The blog name refers to the mythical pact between the poet Vyaasa and the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha who was his scribe during the composition of the epic narrative, the Mahabharata. It also refers to my second published book, edited by the generous and brilliant Diantha Thorpe of Linnet Books/The Shoe String Press, published in 1996, acquired and republished by August House, now part of Reading Is Fundamental, and still miraculously in print.
Posts on this site reflect personal opinion and commentary protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Hell, No, Don’t Go: Canadian Stories (and American Avoidance) of Vietnam War Resistance
As we near the 51st anniversary of the fall of Saigon, marking the end of the Vietnam War (known in Vietnam as the American War) we find ourselves looking into the abyss of the war with Iran. This one’s been declared by an American president for reasons at best unclear, at worst whimsical and thoughtless. It makes more sense than ever to look back upon that 20th century war with two names.
Last year, I attended a talk by Joline Martin about her nonfiction book, War Resisters: Standing Against the Vietnam War. The book offers a contemporary perspective on the struggles and triumphs of the American Vietnam war resisters who crossed the border into Canada and settled on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They are an invisible minority and Martin’s book sheds light on how it felt for them to leave friends and families. She recounts the compassion they encountered, the hurdles they overcame, the heartache that resulted from their life-changing decisions, and what they contributed over the years to their new home.