Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Dave Bidini
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Dave Bidini answers Mark’s questions.
Dave Bidini is one of the founding members of rock group the Rheostatics. He is the only Canadian to have been nominated for a Genie, Gemini, JUNO, and CBC’s ‘Canada Reads’. He has published eleven books including Tropic of Hockey, On a Cold Road, and Writing Gordon Lightfoot. Dave Bidini is Editor in Chief, President, and Chair of the Board of West End Phoenix.
MM: How are you doing?
DB: I’m mostly fine, but some days I get ambushed by how fucked-up the pandemic is, and how we don’t know how this ends. It’s an abnormal normal, if you’re lucky. Otherwise, someone you know is dying, and there’s enough of that going around to make it rough to feel okay about these times. Keeping the paper going is a trial, too, and that has me up at night at the best of times. Really, I just miss being in the world because I love the world.
MM: Where are you living and what are your daily routines?
DB: We are at home, which is nice. Everyone is here, and no one is driving each other up the wall yet (although don’t ask my kids this question; I’m probably a major pain in the ass to them). It’s been good shutting down at points, but you can only do that so much. Part of the artist game is to stay on top of what kind of funding is available, and how to make the most of the opportunities, and that can be a boring grind. My routine used to be playing hockey three times a week, but that’s gone, and, frankly, that hurts.
MM: What are you looking forward to most?
DB: It will be great to book gigs, and play, because we were busy before the pandemic and had lots of shows booked for the summer. I crave that. The band was sounding good and everyone was getting along famously. We’ve been working on songs remotely, but it’s not the same. I also miss being at the rink. It’s so meditative for me, skating, and being with the teams are healthy social experiences. I’m probably just getting fat and angry. I need someone to shoot at a puck at my head to make me feel normal.
MM: Do you believe the Covid-19 crisis will leave lasting scars on our world? If so, how?
DB: Hopefully not scars, but maybe a positive legacy about what it means to be together.
MM: If you were a marine animal, what would it be?
DB: Visionary flounder.
MM: Are you currently involved in any citizen science engagement in your community? Swim Guide? Gassy? Monitoring Hub? iNaturalist? Other?
DB: We are trying to tell stories of the world and where we live in what we publish in West End Phoenix, and water, and the environment, is always part of the writing, no matter what the subject is. My son has done some water quality testing and I hope he does more when that kind of thing starts again. Big supporter of Swim Drink Fish and all that Mark does and hoping we can work on some cool projects in the next little while. People are dying to tell their stories, and how we exist in the natural world is a compelling narrative that we can all relate to.
Read more from the Checking In with @waterkeepermark series:
Tanis Rideout
Jennifer Baichwal
Joseph Boyden
Connect with us on Twitter, @LOWaterkeeper and @waterkeepermark.
