John Lathrop

Background

In October 2005 my late wife, Mariann, was hospitalized in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This being Canada, that meant that she entered, as a patient, a nationalized health service. Canadians are proud of their health service, their ‘public option’. In fact its quality is variable. Canadians can be even more cut-off from the rest of the world than Americans.

After six weeks, two CAT scans, two misdiagnoses and three weeks in hospitals (two hospitals–she spent two weeks in the wrong one by administrative accident), she was finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Unless you’re the CEO of Apple, this is a death sentence with a six month time frame. read more »

Whip It teaches American hockey sportsmanship

Last night I watched Drew Barrymore’s Whip It with friends at the house of a prominent psychologist in Calgary. I approached the film with a lack of enthusiasm. The setting, a women’s roller derby team in Austin, Texas, did not immediately appeal to me.

But I was quickly sucked in to an adolescent coming-of-age story told with humor, a light touch, and real consideration and appreciation for the characters. read more »

Coming!

Galleys, or, to use a modern term, proofs, have arrived for The End of the Monsoon. This is the last state–unless there is a further, final proof–of my involvement in the actual publication of this book, at least in the UK, Europe and Commonwealth read more »