The Story Behind on The Violets of Usambara on IChannel, and the Power of Blogging

Ichannel, a specialty cable channel, has asked me to do a blog this month as part of their book club. I'm the first writer to do this for them and so the parameters are pretty much up in the air. It took some thinking, but I decided the most interesting thing I could write about was the story behind The Violets of Usambara. Heaven knows, if you get me started talking about the travel and reflection that went into writing the book, I can go on for a couple of hours. There should be enough to keep me going for the month of May! Please check it out and tell me what you think.

The power of blogging was brought home this morning when the news came out that a much-heralded investment by Morgan Stanley in a high-tech center in Montreal is actually something of a smoke-and-mirrors. The new installation which was supposed to create 500 well-paid jobs will actually only involve about 300: 200 were already here and will only be transferred from one company to another. The contradiction was pointed out last week by a blogger and La Presse followed up.