Shulgan.com

Tyson and facial tattoos

I saw James Toback's Tyson doc and have two thoughts about it. One: Back when Tyson first got that facial tattoo I thought it was a freakish thing to do. I actually was somewhat appalled by it. I interpreted it as a symbol of the depths to which Iron Mike had sunk. But in Toback's documentary the facial tattoo comes off as this beautiful symbol of the boxer's courage. A scar. A war wound. A symbol of the battles he's been through and the fact that he's nevertheless unbowed and unbeaten. There's a peculiar dignity to it that leaves me wanting to have something similar. I left that movie wanting a facial tattoo, which is something I've never felt before. But what would I get? Not the same sort of Maori slash that Tyson has. Maybe something on each temple. Ooh, that would hurt -- getting tattooed on the temple.

The other thing about Tyson that I loved was the boxer's honesty. How often do we ever see someone speaking honestly about anything? Never. People censor themselves. Censoring yourself is probably the intelligent thing to do. But Tyson doesn't censor himself at all. That's what's so fascinating about him, and the film. Really, the film is nothing -- most of it amounts to a single interview shot with multiple cameras with the edits covered by some really awesome B-roll. It's the honesty that captivates, that keeps you watching. What the hell is he going to say next? Paraphrasing here, there's a moment at the end of his last fight where he says something like, "I'm done. I just don't have it anymore. I just did this fight for the money and it was a bad decision -- I'm doing a dis-service to the sport I love."

The movie has changed my mind about Tyson. I went into it thinking the guy is a bum. And he is, in one way. But he's an intelligent, honest bum, and in the end that honesty redeems him. For someone (me) who is currently writing a memoir chronicling my rebellions against fatherhood, this about-face the documentary has prompted in me contains an important lesson: Honesty redeems.

BC trip for National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction

Natalie and I had a great time in Vancouver at the awards ceremony for the National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction earlier in February, which ended up being won by Newfoundland's Russell Wangersky for Burning Down The House. All the same, it was a completely first-class event. The organizers flew in from Montreal Pierre Trudeau's son, writer and documentary film-maker Alexandre Trudeau, to introduce me during the awards presentation. His introduction (posted above) was flattering and gracious and generous and about a million other nice things as well. As you can see from my short speech (posted below) I was pretty floored.

Free Martin Goodman

In conjunction with this essay I wrote for the Toronto section of the Globe and Mail, I cut together a short film about snow-clearing on the Martin Goodman trail. The film is about the runners, cyclists and pedestrians who use the lakeshore trail in the winter, and the way this season's snow-clearing has changed their lives. Thanks to everyone who participated. Take a look and let me know what you think!

Canadian Death Race

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mark S
Date: January 23, 2009 9:13:01 AM EST (CA)
To: Ben Kaplan, Myles M
Cc: Chris Shulgan
Subject: RE: DR2009

C’mon, now.  Let me just say a couple of things about the death race.  First, it is awesome.  Second, it is hard.  I don’t mean to sound lame but I think the second time was harder than the first, I was shaking before beginning my leg of the race because I knew what to expect.  The fear of the known was greater than the unknown.  When I reached the summit of Grande Mt. in shorts and a long sleeve shirt in 0 degree weather at the beginning of August and began slushing through snow with freezing rain the size of gumballs pelting my face (hands too cold to access my gels for a little oomph) I couldn’t stop asking myself why I was doing this for a second time.  Sometime running long distances is more about the little goals than the ultimate, like making it to that bend in the road 100 metres ahead and then the boulder 50 metres beyond that…if marathons are a test then this is the final exam.  In my final 100 metres, which has the slope of your basement floor, I was trying to figure out how I was going to pull myself across the finish line because I really thought I was going to collapse and ultimately I did but fortunately had made it past the finish line.  Did I mention that Johnny K saw a family of bears on his leg?

The thing about death race is that it’s not just the weekend you need to commit to, it’s really months of hard work and two months of ridiculously time-consuming punishment.  A few words of advice, if you’re going to do it you need to commit or it’s just not worth doing it.  Committing means marathon-style training with a day of hills and a day of yassos in your routine.  I’ll be happy to coach you guys from a distance but this year a combination of factors is going to keep me from doing it.  It sounds like you’re assembling a team with the right amount of brawn, stupidity and dedication to make this a success but unfortunately I’ll have to catch you in another year.

On 1/22/09 3:41 PM, "Christopher Shulgan" wrote:

Boys...

A couple notes / updates / thoughts on DR 2009

Charitable component
--As Johnny K suggested, incorporating a public service element and using this as an opportunity to fight colon cancer will make everyone feel nice about themselves. So far as I am concerned, colon cancer it is. Start the cleansing! Er, I mean training.

Actual peeps
--You will notice from the email CC: fields a couple of new names up there. Ben Kaplan is a features writer for Toronto's National Post newspaper and Myles M. is a photo editor for a mag up here and both are down to do the race as well as just generally being stellar individuals. Just stellar. This means we have more than enough people to fill one team and probably can do two teams. Witness the following arithmetic:

Currently committed to doing the race are the following names: Brad, Johnny K, Chris Shulgan, Mark H., Ben Kaplan and Myles.

Maybes: Mark S. Mike D., Lucy, Rich

Let's all work on making those maybes into affirmatives. I have called Richie a couple of times over the last couple of days. He may be hibernating. Any word from Lucy? She sounds amazing.

So far as my brother goes I have committed to giving him Indian wrist burns until he agrees to run. He is too good a runner not to have aboard the team.

Brad I am hereby assigning you to do the same thing to Mike D.

That makes the biggest wild card Rich. Please devote some time to thinking about whether anyone knows a possible 10th runner if Richie is not able to run this year because of his stress fracture injury.

Basically, at some point we will have to figure out whether we have 10 firmly committed, then determine how to divvy up teams (US v. Canada?), (Bankers v. Decent People?), (Vets v. First-Timers?). If we do have two separate teams then I'll try to work out a way to secure additional accommodation.

Oh, one more thing: Johnny K already has booked his flights -- his info is below, he's flying in on Thursday, July 30, and then flying out on Sunday, Aug. 2. Johnny also has a van booked. Let's all try to book flights that get us in at similar times.

To sum up, your homework is:
--work on Mark S. Mike D., Lucy and Rich to commit to the race
--failing any of above, find additional people to have two full teams committed
--think about creative ways to raise money for our trip and the fight against colon cancer
--train, train, train

In other words, things are progressing, this will be mind-blowing fun, I'm excited.

Best,
Chris

A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows

Photo by afagen

Important things afoot today, and you can feel it. Never before have so many pundits and political commentators begun columns like this one with the words "never before." I mean, I'm excited too. But did you see the lead story in this morning's NY Times?

"More than any president since he was an infant, Mr. Obama has taken a place in society that extends beyond political leadership. He is as much symbol as substance, an icon for the young and a sign of deliverance for an older generation that never believed a man with his skin color would ascend those steps to vow to preserve, protect and defend a Constitution that originally counted a black man as three-fifths of a person. He is a celebrity president in a celebrity culture, cooed over for his shirtless physique on the beach and splashed on the cover of every magazine from Foreign Policy to People. What his political opponents sought to portray in the campaign as arrogance is now presented by his aides as comfort with power and the responsibilities that go along with it."

Expectations like the kind the above rhetoric illustrates cannot be fulfilled. They just can't. Obama-mania today resembles the sort of consumer fads that gripped North America over, say, the Rubik's Cube or the Hammer dance. How long before the inevitable backlash?

I hope long enough to erase the effects of his predecessor, who haunts us still. Two vestiges of Bush 43 made it to front pages in recent days: The fact that Canadian border services turned back at the border the founder of the Weather Underground, William Ayers, who was due to speak at the University of Toronto Monday night. And the revelation that Omar Khadr placed Maher Arar at an al-Qaeda safehouse in Afghanistan.

Both events deserve a giant give-me-a-break. Khadr's placing Arar at the safehouse is clearly an accusation made under the influence of torture, and has as much credibility as any other accusation made during torture. Accusations like Khadr's are the reason torture has a stigma as an interrogation technique: It doesn't work. And the fact that Ayers was turned back at the border is reflective of the grim us-versus-them human-rights-be-damned militancy that trickled down from the White House and evidently pervaded even the ranks of Canada's border services.

Hopefully today marks the end of such tactics. Hopefully. Cripes, I hope Obama doesn't blow it.