Welcome the stranger…

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May 24, 2021

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These folk clearly lack love.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Where is that in this?

The nearer the church the farther from God.

Omar got it right.

Who changes the water? Someone who loves you.

I came to Toronto from Hollywood in 1970 to become part of the most reviled place in the city, Rochdale College, where I became Director of Cinema Studies. Rochdale had no money to pay me. That was fine because I was standing on Faith. I am still standing on Faith.

Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury and Forrest J Ackerman snuck into movies as kids and thankfully they stayed kids all their lives.

Forrest Ackerman “The Wizzard” and some of the monsters that inhabit his mansion. (1969)

This is Marc Sleep. He cooked the WONDERFUL SALVADOR DALI DINNER.

These are some of the many strangers I have welcomed into my life. The man and woman at the back had come the night before. I invited them to THE WONDERFUL SALVADOR DALI DINNER. They took these pictures.

This is “Dirty Dan” from Rochdale College. He left us too soon.

Here I am looking slightly dazed. Next to me is Judith Merril, the mother of modern Speculative/Science Fiction. Of Judy J. G. Ballard (author of Crash and Empire of the Sun) in 1992:
“Science fiction, I suspect, is now dead, and probably died about the time that Judy closed her anthology and left to found her memorial library to the genre in Toronto. I remember my last sight of her, surrounded by her friends and all the books she loved, shouting me down whenever I tried to argue with her, the strongest woman in a genre for the most part created by timid and weak men.”

This is the awesome Jodie Drake a stranger I welcomed into my life. Jody knew the great Billie Holiday. She was the grandmother of Toronto’s jazz and blues scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEumyqsflHs

These two ladies were from the Argentine and the Spanish Embassy.

The man with his face obscured by the camera is Douglas Eliuk. Doug was one of the head honchos at The National Film Board of Canada. He also served as Canada’s Cultural Attache to America. He acted as sous chef to Marc Sleep. For days they brewed up authentic broths from a sheep’s head and a cow’s head for THE WONDERFUL SALVADOR DALI DINNER. Doug was but one of the thousands of strangers I have welcomed into my life as long lost friends.