November 28, 2008
The skinny on flu shots
Here in Toronto, I’m hiding in my apartment as the temperature hovers just above zero and I’m wondering how it is that I turned out to be such a wimp when I spent my formative years in Winnipeg, the land of cold and snow and over-sized Halloween costumes fitted over snowsuits. It seems to be an annual tradition that each time the clocks change in the fall, Canadians forget how to drive,... [More >>]
November 25, 2008
ThisAbility #6: Riddle Me This
Why does the Econo Lodge at 335 Jarvis St. have a push button automatic door with a handicap logo on it, but a single staircase that leads inside? Why does Bar Burrito on Yonge & Sheppard have a step leading into their restaurant, while the restaurant right next door is on level ground? Why does the Quiznos across from College Park have a step outside the front door, when other places on the same... [More >>]
November 24, 2008
Book Review: Margaret Atwood’s Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth
The economy is on a lot of people’s minds as Canadian newspapers warn of recession and the United States deals with its subprime mortgage problem. And so this might be the perfect time to read Margaret Atwood’s new book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth. Consisting of five essays, each presented during this year’s Massey Lectures, Atwood provides a discursive overview of... [More >>]
November 21, 2008
Another day, another hissy fit
Forget about the drug store commercials that tout pharmacists as friendly neighbourhood fixtures who look out for your family’s well being. The Ontario Medical Association is downgrading them to med-school dropouts who can’t tell a tummy ache from metastatic stomach cancer. A new proposal floating around Queen’s Park would allow pharmacists to diagnose simple ailments (under strict... [More >>]
November 20, 2008
World Philosophy Day!
November 20th, 2008, is World Philosophy Day, an annual celebration initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This year, in Palermo, Italy, a set of philosophers will gather for talks under the theme “Rights and Power”, and with titles like “Human dignity, civil community and public authority”, “From the Mediterranean... [More >>]
November 20, 2008
Run a deficit. Please.
Yesterday was the Speech from the Throne, the strange annual ritual where the government writes a speech and the Governor General has to read it in Parliament. The Conservatives laid out a cautious — NDP leader Jack Layton dismissed it as “very timid” — and cost-cutting agenda, with a focus on the economy. There were also references to banning bulk water exports (yay) and increasing... [More >>]
November 19, 2008
Margaret Wente, the race thinker
Margaret Wente has now covered race and its discontents in two consecutive issues of The Globe and Mail. Yesterday in her opinion piece, “Testing, testing, bigot 1-2-3″, she described an outwardly, and unabashedly, prejudiced aunt – a woman who would often have a nasty thing to say about the black people she called “coloureds”. This personal sketch then led itself to a... [More >>]
November 19, 2008
Have you taken our reader survey yet? You could win an autographed copy of The Shock Doctrine!
You’d be surprised how close the resemblance is between This Magazine’s offices and the set of “The Price is Right.” The shag carpeting, the spinning contraptions, the screaming fans — it’s quite the work environment. But of course the thing that unites us most are the FABULOUS PRIZES that are available. If you come on down and take our 2008 readers’ survey,... [More >>]
November 18, 2008
ThisAbility #5: Walking between worlds
I have a favorite Thai restaurant, here in Toronto, called Salad King. There’s nothing I love more than selecting how many chilies I want with my mango chicken, but I can’t take anyone I know there — or at least, not unless they can conquer the huge front step outside the front door. But in typical able-bodied fashion, I usually don’t even notice. I just park the scooter outside... [More >>]
November 17, 2008
Guest Blogger: Fracturing the rainbow alliance
[Editor's Note: from time to time we feature guest bloggers on important issues. Email editor at thismagazine dot ca to enquire about contributing.] BY CATE SIMPSON Forty years after the Stonewall riots, Julie Bindel, writing in The Guardian earlier this week, claims that trans men and women haven’t earned the right to be recognized by an organization named for the movement they started. She... [More >>]
