the watch of time

While the May 15th article concerning the retirement of long-time movie pundit Jay Stone provided an enlightening perspective, there was a glaring omission concerning another of his contributions to the landscape.

I’m referring to the arbiter of modern lifestyle known as his alter persona, Doktor Kultur.  This memorable columnist appeared in The Citizen in the 1990s, complete with his look at the time, a roguishly penetrating glaze.  As the accompanying disclaimer read, “Doktor Kultur provides answers on issues of culture and alternative living, having, in most cases, provided the questions as well”.  No doubt this assisted the good Doktor in having a pretty good sense of what was going on in the questioner’s mind, when fashioning his often cryptic diagnosis.

I won a T-shirt prize in a contest he ran in 1992.  The contest focused on putting updated spins on old sayings.  My winning entry was “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but you might move him out with a golden handshake.”  Imagine my delight at reading that this axiom was chosen among a brace of entries.  Imagine how my balloon popped when I checked the definition of brace in this context.

In any event, I believe a modest tribute to the D.K. footprints of Jay Stone should be remembered, if not exactly immortalized.

I also suggest that the time is right for a re-emergence of this classy cultural commentary.  In the spirit of our sequel oriented times, I nominate ‘Doktor Kultur 2’.

Slightly revised version of letter printed in Ottawa newspaper May 17th