Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS 2024 Film: “Valley of Exile”: Canadian Film Fest

It is 2013 and Syrian sisters Rima (Maria Hassan) and Nour (Hala Hosni) arrive as refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. They find a temporary home in a “camp” with Haifa (Najwa Kandakji) and her niece Shirin. Rima is the older sister conservative in views and dress. Nour could be a teenager in any North AmericanContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Valley of Exile”: Canadian Film Fest”

RKS 2024 Film: “Doubles”: Canadian Film Fest

Doubles are a Trinidadian street food. Curried chickpeas (channa) between two pieces of fried flatbread in tamarind and coriander sauce with mango chutney, kuchela and cucumbers. Dhani (Sanjiv Boodhu) who is of Indian descent and his mother run a small roadside stand selling doubles in Trinidad. It is a marginal existence worsened by a robberyContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Doubles”: Canadian Film Fest”

RKS Literature: No Such Thing as a Good Father (Yukio Mishima)

“There is no such thing as a good father because the role itself is bad, Strict fathers, soft fathers, nice moderate fathers-one’s as bad as the other. The stand in the way of our progress while they try to burden us with their inferiority complexes, and their unrealized aspirations, and their resentments, and their ideals,Continue reading “RKS Literature: No Such Thing as a Good Father (Yukio Mishima)”

RKS 2024 Wine: More Pinot Noir from British Columbia’s Okanagan: Oak Bay 2021 Pinot Noir: Time to Defund This Wine Writer?

British Columbia’s Okanagan produces a variety of red wines but we are most likely to see Pinot Noir ex-British Columbia. One reliable producer I have encountered to date would be St. Hubertis & Oak Bay Estate Winery located in Kelowna, British Columbia. From clone CL777 the wine is organic and has been aged in FrenchContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: More Pinot Noir from British Columbia’s Okanagan: Oak Bay 2021 Pinot Noir: Time to Defund This Wine Writer?”

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: The Final Cut: Thank You for Sharing My Journey: Chapter Seventy Eight (78)

My original intention was assisting Bob in the preparation of a children’s book about my time in Cairo as a street dog and my traumatic journey to Canada as a “rescue dog”. Just a few simple pages! However that intent I had was formed at a younger point in my life. My life was muchContinue reading ““Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: The Final Cut: Thank You for Sharing My Journey: Chapter Seventy Eight (78)”

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” : The Final Cut: Reggie Goes to the Land Beyond and Meets Allah: Chapter Seventy Seven (77)

Shortly after returning from our restaurant openings in North Korea I began feeling strange. Suddenly I lost my sense of taste and smell. My beloved chicken kibble stated to taste like sawdust. My cool clean Canadian water tasted metallic. When out for a walk I had difficulty in smelling where to leave my pee mail.Continue reading ““Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” : The Final Cut: Reggie Goes to the Land Beyond and Meets Allah: Chapter Seventy Seven (77)”

RKS Literature: The Kiss of Death (Yukio Mishima)

“For Ryuji the kiss was death, the very death in love he always dreamed of. The softness of her lips, her mouth so crimson in the darkness he could see it with closed eyes, so infinitely moist, a tepid coral sea, her restless tongue quivering like seagrass….in the dark rapture of all this was somethingContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Kiss of Death (Yukio Mishima)”

RKS Poetry (Your Former Medical Dread)

Your Former Medical Dread You recall when you sighedwith a tremble of terrorthat oh no not again to the dentistfluoridated smellhigh pitched whinescold steel slowly penetrating the gums OH STOP IT YOU SADIST! What I meant to say a dental visit Trumpsa urologist visitwhere they seek classified documents in the most secret places Robert K.Continue reading “RKS Poetry (Your Former Medical Dread)”

RKS 2024 Wine: Kacaba 2019 Cabernet Franc: Shivering in Anticipation for the Bronze Baby!

Golly gee on a bottle of Kacaba 2019 Cabernet Franc I see a sticker at the top of the front label indicating the wine has won a bronze medal in Wine Align National Wine Awards (2022) of Canada! I am assured of excellence with this impressive sticker which most likely had to be paid forContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Kacaba 2019 Cabernet Franc: Shivering in Anticipation for the Bronze Baby!”

RKS Literature: The Concept of Ideal Love (Yukio Mishima)

“Nor had he mentioned his concept of ideal love: a man encounters the perfect woman only once in a lifetime and in every case death interposes-an unseen Pandarus-and lures them into the preordained embrace. This fantasy was probably a product of the hyperbole of popular songs. But over the years it had taken on substanceContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Concept of Ideal Love (Yukio Mishima)”