Duality

That's the theme of Talking Fresh, for which I'll be one of the writers. It's not that interesting a word, but plenty generative enough in terms of thematic fibre (whereas "roadkill", the theme of last weekend's Writing North in Saskatoon, was lively as an idea but not that useful as a theme).

When my time comes to address this theme, I think I'll start by goofing around.

Dualities are everywhere, I will point out, often on either side of a slash--stroke, I will call it (after the English), as in clothing-stroke-objects.

We're either in or we're out. We can do it or we can't.

In one official language or the other.

This self-explantory plaque across from the Hotel Sask in Regina raises dualities of race, religion, power, centre-stroke-margin, life-stroke death.

In literary-theoretical circles over the last few decades, simple dualities, aka binaries, have been pooh-poohed because they deny difference or pluralities of voice, identity, etc. Here we see some ambiguity--the plus of one theoretical stream, the one of the other.