MyWestworld

Searching for Shangri-La

Posted on 14. Jan, 2009 by Kerry Banks.

2

Over the Christmas holidays I watched an excellent documentary on PBS entitled “The Search for Shangri-La.” The episode, one of a four-part series called “In Search of Myths and Heroes,” was narrated by British historian and broadcaster Michael Wood, who takes us on a remarkable journey into one of the most remote and austere places on [...]

Continue Reading

Baseball’s Valhalla

Posted on 07. Jan, 2009 by Kerry Banks.

1

A few years ago my brother and I made a pilgrimage to Cooperstown, New York, to see what is arguably North American’s most famous sports shrine–the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was early summer and we drove down from Toronto, a seven-hour, sun-baked trip through a rural landscape of green rolling hills, cornfields and [...]

Continue Reading

Murderous Cities

Posted on 04. Jan, 2009 by Kerry Banks.

6

In October I was on a trip with an obnoxious American travel writer who remarked that she found Winnipeg to be a dangerous city. I suppose just about anywhere can appear threatening if you end up in the wrong neighbourhood, but this writer, who lived in New York, had already made several disparaging remarks about Canada, and [...]