The Gaspereau Review

The Gaspereau Review

The best piece in this relatively new east coast journal is a gripping essay by Susan Haley. The piece, Little Susan & The Big J.D., pits Haley against the insurmountable economics of chopping down forests. It begins with Susan admitting that she keeps two separate diaries. There is her “forestry” diary in which she calmly addresses the clear-cutting of lots adjacent to her own: “went out and looked at Irving’s cut again…The cuts turned out to be much more extensive than the Irving Manager let on”; and her more traditional daily diary. Although the piece focuses on juxtaposing Haley’s forestry diary with an essay on our collective failure to protect our natural resources, it is her early admission that gives the work its power. It’s as if Haley has to separate her observations of the forest’s decline from her daily life. In a world that constantly broadcasts what we don’t want to hear, we are forced to distance our opinions from our actions, from our day to day. (HN)

lit journal, #8, 100 pgs., $20 for 4, PO Box 143, Wolfsville, NS

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