john wilson

he was a charicature. one of those people who is simply larger than life. he was a curmudgeon: he could be ghastly rude, completely unpleasant and seriously condescending. however, he could also be hilarious: he could make you burst into a smile when he did that little swivel of his chin and his famous wink. he never changed: 25 years earlier he was still writing and spouting the same things. he was an idealist, a visionary and as sharp as a wit. he was dogmatic, rhetorical and full of life.

i still remember the first time i walked into john's classroom. he clearly took control of the room, made a few jabs at some students he recognized and then proceeded to inform the class that these lessons, more than any others we would be forced to take, would be ground-breaking and life-changing and were a requirement of good canadian citizenship. he was unabashedly patriotic, espousing a view of canada so wholesome, idyllic and beautiful it's no surprise so many of his students were enchanted with it.

he was a solid academic but not solidly academic, if you can understand the distinction. he hated people who weren't interested in the ideas behind learning but instead were only interested in living off of learning. he was not interested in the publishing game, he wasn't interesting in holding offices for their sake. what he committed to, he did with the utmost passion. he was a fierce negotiator, a brutal enemy but a dear friend. his ideas were clear: political progress lay in the creation of an alternative politics- political maturity lay in the acceptance of a social democratic/labour force. regardless of whether this force was ever elected to lead, they were there to wreak havoc on the system and to use the forces available to them as opposition to admonish the government and force it on to the straight path (something that could summarize john's life, really).

i can still recall him telling me about his christmas party conversations with, then VP Academic, Jim Kalbfleisch. As he was the Faculty Association President, Jim had come over to wish him a merry christmas and john simply said something like: "if i had my wish, i would string you up from the top of the ceiling by your legs". he wasn't one for formalities, nor for hiding his opinion. but deep down, he respected the process, he loved the "art of being a nuisance" and eventually could even be persuaded that the people on the other end of the bargaining table weren't completely evil.

he had no sense of fashion- the same outfit every day for years. he was obsessed with systems- there is no more complex an order for getting things done than in the centre for election studies at uw. he was moody- he once responded to "good afternoon" with "what's good about it?". he was flirtatious- no woman could avoid his occassional comment about the "finer sex". yet it was all of his gargantuan characteristics that made him the mensch that he was. he will be sorely. missed.