On your marks.

Neil Gaiman is a very popular author in my social circle and though I loved Good Omens, I never got around to reading any of his other works. Given that everything seems to come highly recommended, I wasn't sure where to begin so I thought I'd start with something small: "Books have sexes; or to be more precise, books have genders" is an essay Gaiman wrote for Powells.com, an online bookseller. Dealing (disppointingly) only peripherally with gender, it's actually about the process by which an author uncovers the book which lurks inside of them.

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~trying to blog it out got me thinking about commitments, choices, struggles and stakes with her musings on motivation and the appeal of work that might, at times, seem fruitless or even masochistic.

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And speaking of thankless work and extended treatment, The Tyee is carrying a series of pieces by David Berner, a "writer, actor and radio talk show host who also happens to have run a treatment program for addicts." "Drug Treatment Can Work" is the second in a three-part response to the BC Liberals' plans for the province's addicts.

Were we able to help everyone? Of course not. Our success rate remained constant at around 25 percent. But there are three important things to remember about that number: 1) According to basic Judeo-Christian belief "If you save one human soul, you save the world!" 2) A batting average of .250 will get you into baseball's hall of fame and a return of 25 cents on the dollar will make you Canada's next billionaire. 3) Our per bed costs were comically low, less than $20,000 per annum, because this was not a "medical model."

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My primary interest in the endless addiction debates is treatment, treatment and more treatment. I know from personal experience that treatment is possible and affordable. I have known every mayor of Vancouver for the past 40 years and most British Columbia premiers. Even though treatment is touted as one of the four famous pillars, I have yet to meet one mayor or premier who is prepared to invest in treatment.