Over the years I've become a walking compendium of general knowledge. Perhaps it's because when I was in school a general liberal arts education wasn't considered a sin, and accumulating knowledge for the sake of accumulating knowledge was seen as something normal, not deviant. I would guess that even under those circumstances I was probably a little unusual in the amounts of information I had accumulated on my own.
Part of it comes from my family, in that reading was always considered the first choice for entertainment over anything else. If I complained about being bored, I would invariably be handed a book to read, or given suggestions as to which books to read; it became second nature for me to seek out books at an early age. So much of my general knowledge of things like history, social conditions of different ages, cultures and whatever comes from the number of books I read as a kid.
The fact that I was easily bored also meant that I was constantly looking for new things to be amused or entertained by. So I would devour huge numbers of books on many different subjects and file the information away for another day. It was really quite ridiculous when I think about it now, the amount that I knew almost without being aware of it. When I was in grade twelve I showed up for my end of year exam in European History having studied for French and still finished in the top of my class.
When I told the teacher afterwards what had happened he said that I probably could have written the exam on the first day of school and still done better then the majority of my classmates. I didn't really understand the implications of that until years afterward. But in some ways I'm a bit of a freak because I do have so much information at my fingertips, and I don’t think anything of it. I'm always surprised that not everybody knows the stuff I do.
When I do research on something or somebody now, it's second nature to fall back on the old pattern of finding something to read about it, preferably as first-hand an account as possible that I can find on the web, which in the case of a writer or musician usually means their own website, and for news I'll usually use The Globe And Mail. For historical events I'll try to find at least two sources, an overview and one that substantiates the first; preferably ones that are as neutral as possible. Wikpedia is my usual starting point because they provide the best general overview of a subject. If I want any more specific detail on a subject I can usually find a link from there that will help, or I'll do a search relating to that specific topic.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congratulations Richard! Thank you for sharing with us via the interview. Nice write-up as usual, Lisa.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Uh oh. Back to back Canucks. We really need to plan this better.
3 - SonnyD
Yea, Richard! Great write-up, great interview.
4 - Vikk Simmons
Congratulations. I really enjoyed reading about you, your writing, and your process Keep up the good work.
5 - Richard Marcus
Holleee
do I really sound like that pompus beady canuck...
Thank you very much Lisa and all you other editor types for the honour. Considering all the folk who write on this site and have quite amazing things to say all the time it's enough to make a fella's head swell.
That is until his next article is put on hold for being sensless gibberish. Oh well that gives me about a day or two to revel in this.
Thank you once again,
cheers
Richard Marcus
6 - Donnie Marler
Richard,
Congratulations! Well deserved!
7 - Pico
You write good stuff. Keep 'um coming, Richard.
-P
8 - Kathy Jones
The interview was wonderful reading and the collection of articles is inspiring. I especially appreciated your comment, Richard, that what you found most difficult is this:"getting the words on the page to be as exciting as they sound in my head." Really resonated with my experience, and your persistence has paid off, as evidenced in the quality of your work. Congrats!
9 - Al Barger
Why, some of my best friends are Canadians...
Look, all decent patriotic Americans naturally hate beady-eyed Canucks with their heads so full of lies. Brother Marcus, however, does not indulge in the head full of lies part. He will tend to make somewhat different value judgments than me in some political areas (ie he tends to be more "liberal"), but he's highly respectful of facts and strives to seek truth rather than simply win arguments.
So then, as Canadians go, Richard Marcus ain't half bad. He's one of the good ones.
10 - STM
"Look, all decent patriotic Americans naturally hate beady-eyed Canucks."
Never got over having your blurters kicked from here to kingdom and back in the War of 1812, eh?
Time to bloody well forget that, Al, old boy, and move on.
11 - Al Barger
STM, keep monkeying with US Americans, and we'll execute Terence and Philip again.
Canadians are already skating on thin ice as it is. If you read the fine print, the Patriot Act actually outlaws Canada. That whole country is just one Celine Dion album away from being the new Iraq.
12 - STM
Mate, I have often heard Canada described as "America's hat".
However, I have a copy of Mercator's correctional map of the world, which since north and south are nothing more than human inventions and no-one really knows what is top and what is bottom, has Australia and New Zealand at the top of the world.
The US of course is then below the equator, with Canada below that. Using this map, it is no longer America's hat, but America's undies.
I'm sure they prefer being the hat.
13 - Elvira Black
Lisa and Richard:
What an incredible piece. Lisa, you somehow encompassed the essence of Richard in your brief intro, including the formidable depth and scope of his work. And Richard, I felt like you were inside my head (or vice versa) as I was reading the interview--and if I read you right, that's one of the essential elements of what every writer strives for. You've got it in spades. Congrats!
14 - Duck
How nice of Canada to allow Indigenous peoples use of their own land. How of them.
Seems racist to me when oil companies can go on Indigenous (Crown? Who wers the crown?) Land. Receive hugh tax breaks and I am sure lax environmental controls. Why can these companies sell or do whatever they want?
15 - STM
Ah, it's good to see that land owned by the Government in Canada is still called Crown Land (just like in Australia).
Much of it wasn't used by indenigenous people in the sense that we understand land ownership anyway. Therein lies the problem. A conundrum now being left to others to sort out, just like in the US, with varying degrees of success. Although mostly not.
16 - crushkill
I really like how he loves talking about himself!
17 - DukeDeMondo
Richard, congratulations Good Sir, and that interview was glorious also. It does the site no end of good to have folks like yourself on here. And what a lovely man, also.
18 - alessandro nicolo
Yeah, like the Inuit were going to extract the oil with their kakivak's. No offense. Congrats, Mr. Marcus. Montreal Canadiens - good man.