When do the needs of the few really outweigh the needs of the many?

The seal hunt – This is one of the most contentious issues around, galvanizing people such as Paul McCartney against it. On the surface, it would appear to be an easy thing to categorize. But there is so much more involved that we don’t usually hear about. If one is a deer hunter, then a […]

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Seventeen months and ten years.

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of my first trip to Newfoundland to start the photography on the book which was to become Arn? Narn, I find myself still deeply involved with it and Newfoundland. And that’s a really good thing. After the publication, there was a whole bunch of interest in the book. […]

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Cowboys from Newfoundland.

I really hope this comes to Discovery Channel in the US. ‘Cold Water Cowboys’ puts spotlight on Newfoundland By Steve Tilley (Cold Water Cowboys/Facebook) It says something about Newfoundland’s legendary hospitality that when fishing boat captain Richard Gillett is talking to a reporter from the mainland – as those on the Rock refer to the […]

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The more things change…

So even with revenues from oil bolstering the economy of Newfoundland, it still faces an uncertain future as the oil is expected to run out. This is the ongoing problem with n culture or society based on an extraction economy. Population of Newfoundland and Labrador predicted to plunge over next 20 years Sue Bailey, The […]

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So what? Big deal.

So the fish are gone in Newfoundland. So what? Big deal. Right? Wrong. So very wrong! After more than twenty years, our species, the virus known as man, hasn’t learned a blasted thing. We are still fishing carelessly and without regard to the outcome and the future. Gotta have our sushi. Kitty has to have […]

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Everybody’s talkin’…

Well, not everybody but quite a few. I’d like to share a review from The Memphis Flyer of my book Arn? Narn. In the interest of full disclosure, it pretty much lets you know where I do my day job…(what, you think all authors drive Ferrari’s and sip Mojitos by the pool while channeling Norman […]

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A Newfoundland Christmas post-Christmas poem

I Just received this this morning from a friend of mine in Newfoundland. Sometime ago, I wrote about Mummering at Christmas time in Newfoundland. This little poem does a good job in describing it. Hope you enjoy it. A Newfoundland Christmas by James Rogin ‘Twas a night after Christmas in old Newfoundland. The fire in […]

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All things considered, I’d rather be in St. John’s.

Nine years ago today, I was purchasing gear and planning for my first trip to Newfoundland. Little did I know how transforming a journey it would become. I would be leaving in just four months for this then new adventure. And that adventure has continued nine years later. How was I to know what effect […]

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We interrupt this blog to bring you… Halloween.

Last night being All Hallow’s Eve, I couldn’t help but put something of a Newfoundland spin on it. At Christmas time in Newfoundland, in addition to all the normal festivities including the prerequisite kitchen parties, is the custom of Mummering. I’ve written about this previously, but I’ll recap. Complete strangers, oddly dressed, descend upon unsuspecting […]

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It’s your turn.

For a year now, arnnarn.com has been publishing my experiences in Newfoundland and about producing the book Arn? Narn. There is still more to come as we get closer to publication date – six weeks away – and I’ll still be writing about what happens afterwards! But as I have in the past, I’d like […]

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We drive around, eat some fish, listen to music, talk to Newfoundlanders, and go to a dance.

With bellies full and hearts settled, we set out to explore. We have a map but plan on using it only if we get lost. If you know where you are in relation to the sea, you should be alright. That was our plan and we stuck to it. We visited some antique shops in […]

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Watching the fog roll around and drinking wine.

After the initial concussion of our cottage by the bay, Carla and I are acting like we live there. We could do this – downsize and do it here. We don’t need all: the clothes, furniture, tchotchkes, appliances, whatever that we have. This is life simplified. This is life without pretense, life without malls, life […]

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Hi Ho all over again…Part 2

After our momentous arrival in St. John’s, daylight has finally arrived and we leave the hotel, but not before tipping generously the still on-duty, unbelievably helpful concierge. We grab a taxi and head over to the airport. It is still a bit too early as the car rental counters aren’t open yet, so we just […]

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Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to… (with apologies to Snow White and her minions, not to mention Steve McQueen).

In the estimation of my wife, I had become obsessed with Newfoundland. Yeah, alright, it’s true. (Could an intervention be far behind?) The two trips up there had been transformative experiences for me. Now that she had seen what I had seen, she wanted to go there. Who was I to argue? Planning the trip […]

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Mummer Dearest. (Don’t worry about the wire hangers.)

For a lot of people, the idea of mummers is garishly dressed men in otherworldly and fanciful, often feathered outfits marching in a parade. Almost as if RuPaul had been on a bad acid trip. Making it worse is that it was usually held on New Year’s Day morning in Philadelphia. As if a hangover […]

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Come from away’s are welcome here.

I’d come from a long way away. I’m not from Newfoundland and more’s the pity, to me at last. I’m a “come from away.” That is the gentle term Newfoundlanders use to describe visitors or people who have moved from a different part of this province or another country to this new one. Come from […]

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Fame! I’m gonna live forever!

Or so goes the title song from the movie “Fame”. It is still several months away from the publication of my photography book “Arn? Narn.”. Yet, even this far out, interrupting of what I’m sure for my dear readers is a riveting accounting of my travails in the darkroom, I am cranking up the star-making […]

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Billy Joel, I ain’t. Not even Tiny Tim! Or “Uptown Girl” meets Miss Vicki and hilarity ensues.

Ah, the infamous kitchen parties with which I was to become intimately familiar and soon. Like now!? I meet Gerard over at Red’s, of course and where else?, and we go over to his house and have a beer before we head to the kitchen party and start to get serious about this. If there […]

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Losing my religion… not exactly.

It’s Sunday morning. I had my coffee, it’s just grey outside, too early for Red’s (do they open on Sunday?), too early for most things after a kitchen party. So I’m wandering around on a rather quiet morning and notice a small but steady stream of people walking towards something. To where? I’ll follow in […]

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Part 2: Kicking back at Red’s Lounge…

The afternoon was spent walking around the island taking pictures of local signage, laundry lines, wind turbines, boats (mostly in dry dock as there was no fishing here either), and coves. If it moved I photographed it. If it stood still, I photographed it. Yup, there I was again, taking pictures of nothing! But really […]

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Kicking back at Red’s Lounge, meeting the locals, being told where to go (in the nicest way possible, this is Newfoundland after all), and having my first beer in Ramea. Part 1.

When traveling, one of the best ways to get the feel, the flavor, and the social climate of a new locale is to visit the local watering hole. And on Ramea. the best one is Red’s Lounge. Red’s being the best bar/lounge is not only my opinion, it’s also the opinion of all the locals […]

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Abducted by sea turtles AND the talk of the town.

With all apologies to the bard (Ramea, O’ Ramea, where art thou O’ Ramea?), Ramea is a small island off the southern coast of Newfoundland and I arrived safely on the good ship (well, ferry) Gallipoli. For those who may be history minded, Gallipoli is the name of a horrible battle in World War I […]

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It’s hard out there for a…fisherman.

OK, if I was to start a new career, I don’t think it would be as a fisherman. No, that requires real work, long hours, danger, a tremendous amount of uncertainty, harsh weather, roiling seas, low wages, and oh, did I mention danger? In a line from the film “The Shipping News”, Billy Pretty explains […]

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Newf-a-licious!

Newf-a-licious – it sounds like it could be a TV show on Bravo, E!, or Oxygen. Happily, it’s not that at all. Instead, it’s a word just coined to describe native Newfoundland cuisine. Oh, all the expected dishes are available and there are some very fine restaurants pushing the envelope for the foodies out there. […]

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I’ll have the Shiraz de Fogo, please.

If grapes grew in Newfoundland, this is what I imagine they would look like. Indigenous to Newfoundland among other plants are the partridgeberry/lingonberry, bakeapple, elephanthead lousewort, mint, thistle, and pearly everlasting. Some of these I’d known of, well, maybe two or three. The others were new to me. But, nowhere on the island, not on […]

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I go, you go, Fogo!

From a more hopeful time. Pardon the silliness of the title, but I’ll be off to Fogo Island on the north coast of Newfoundland. It, after arriving in St. John’s, will be the first stop in my second […]

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Launching a…house?

House launching scene from the film “The Shipping News” Moves are never fun in spite of what it might say on your U-Haul rental – “Adventures in Moving.” Hah! It doesn’t say what kind of adventures though. Broken china, strained backs and relationships, and an absolute, total lack of energy or enthusiasm for anything to […]

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“If the devil will take her…”

Living Planet, St. Johns, NFLD It’s all about the music – the only “weapons” in this picture are musical instruments. Imagine driving around for several thousand miles in silence. You could sing to yourself – that’s an option but one that runs out of novelty real fast. You could also play license plates by yourself […]

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Man Cave by the sea.

New Year’s Eve in a shanty sounds a lot worse than it really is. Shanty doesn’t have the same connotation in rural Newfoundland as it does in the States. A shanty is the small building/house/cabin on the coast used by fishermen as a residence when going to and coming from the sea. It is for […]

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“We’re not fulltime stupid.” Really?

One of the small pleasures in traveling is watching local television. Usually it’s some buffoonish weatherman trying out material for his audition reel. Other times it can be just the silliness of a marble-mouthed reporter unable to pronounce the name of a perp or a foreign town. That said, I’ve nothing to say about Newfoundland […]