Incoherency Manifest: What I’m Writing About Currently

Hello all! I know it’s been a hot minute. For those unaware, my main new years resolution this year was to attempt to write something I feel is publishable once a week to this newsfeed and let me tell you I am already struggling with it. Because I still want to fulfill my promise to myself for literally the first full week of the year, and I have still yet to find something I feel is well rounded and researched enough for me to actually send it out. As such, I’m going to take this full week to write about what I am writing about, quite original I know. As in the nature of this newsletter in its own, these topics barely connect to any coherency beside just what I find interesting or want to talk about so bare with me as I now ramble through a series of topics anyone else would find terribly boring most likely.

The main topic I’ve been neck deep in researching is the DEW line in the Canadian north and the lasting impact it had on some of the more developed settlements of the north. As a most basic overview for those unaware, the DEW line was a series of radar sites in the Canadian arctic built and operated by the Americans with little discussion with the local inuit. The sites existed largely from the mid 50s to mid 60s but some sites survived until the 80s when it was largely reorganized into its modern form with a very very small amount of the original sites (and even less of the original infrastructure). The construction of these bases is so genuinely fascinating as they are so completely isolated that everything had  to be flown in and constructed with so little regard for the environment, leading to an equally fascinating impact after the Americans left the bases and literally everything behind in some cases. Hearing first hand stories from folks I work with about the legacy of places like “Barrel Beach” in Kuujjuaq in Nunavit where american diesel barrels completely destroyed the ability for harvesting of whales on a beach because of the amount of metal rusted shards littered around and embedded themselves into fresh catches. Not only is a lasting legacy of American imperialism combined with canadian colonialism, it also hits big into a deep feeling of exploration and the feats of man that are so incredibly difficult to imagine how they were built (I’m sorry but it's bonkers that they would just heli-lift in huge antennas to the middle of nowhere) and how it still is sticking around in some forms today. Hell, it’s worth mentioning the only places in the north that can give me my heavenly promised treat of Tim Hortons are settlements that have the last few remnants of the DEW line operating. At this point, I am just waiting on requests and emails to bounce back so I can actually get some of the numbers and perspectives I would love to hear about and that I need to really get my point of the story home. I would love for it to become enough that I can have it published more than just a few paragraphs weekly.

In a similar vein, but on a potentially larger scale, I have started collecting far too much research and information about the history of civilian, commercial, aviation in the Canadian arctic. There is so little recorded information about the period of time between the late 40s to late 80s that it could almost be regarded as lost to time, and if I myself can scratch my itch of curiosity along with writing a coherent history of the north. Things like Buffalo airways is just about the only written material historically of the period mentioned, I however want to try and round out this especially expanding on what was going on in the north east as opposed to the west near Yellowknife. Companies like Air Nunavut, Ken Borrek, First Air, Bradley and so many others are having their history lost to time before our eyes somehow. The people who worked in this time are retired or getting close, and any time I have ever spoken to that generation of cargo boys, the stories are insane and I have the deepest human need to make sure their stories will be written down for the future. Hell I would absolutely love to write a book out of it, I really think there's enough stories from this time to really pack out a full book of tales.

Turning away from the north now, one of the things I have another need to write about but I genuinely do not know if I can describe it in words well enough yet is about exploring being sapphic. I, for the longest part of my life, was almost afraid of women, especially in any sort of romantic or relationship sense. It’s crazy as a result, that since I really started to embrace my gender identity back in the first half of last year, I am becoming increasingly immersed into the world of sapphics and it is so much better than anything I have ever experienced as my former self as a gay man. The community is stronger, healthier and also just more fun, and well that's a much more summarized sense of community. I really am still struggling to find the right words to explain how euphoric it feels to be a part of it. I especially want to try and eventually write about trans sapphics and how much even MORE better that is, regardless of trans masc or fems it's all so lovely.

One thing I have written about a few times, and distinctly never published because I couldn't really enough pride in the quality of my writing along and especially with my self-editing abilities which if anything, are much more sorely lacking compared to writing, is the development of my own self style and how I have finally found myself happy and secure in in recent months. Hearing pretty girls talk about how they like my outfit or being told by one of my best of friends that I “have a look” is fully out of the blue for me and I would eventually like to examine the differences between my modern styling and how I feel  about it, and comparing it to the fashion and style I had and expressed myself back in the days of ‘yore’ when I was in highschool or especially, right before transitioning in university. As evil as the blond twink phase might be, I still wore clothes like a dope and now I think I have something that is ‘me’.

I know this post really is a bit of a nothing burger,but I hope you enjoyed it or at least the prospects of what's coming soon. If you want to stay tuned for when these eventually come out (hopefully), make sure to subscribe to my newsletter, Incoherency Manifest.