January 30, 2009
Profile: Red Thread – Multiracial womens’ organization in Guyana
pic courtesy of SHAGGY ISAAC It was a combination of two striking stories in the Toronto Star today that got me thinking about Red Thread. The first was Maher Arar’s public critique — he asks, if journalists aren’t looking out for the marginalized, who is? The second story was the gut-wrenching reports of gang rape and religious violence in India in 2008. During my time at OISE/University... [More >>]
January 30, 2009
How many is too many?
If you haven’t heard at least whisperings of octuplets born in California this past week, you might want to get your hearing checked, or at least pick up a paper. Any paper. Any blog. Any radio station. The story is everywhere. The new octet is only the second set of living octuplets. The first, the Chukwu family, exploded in size a decade ago, but lost the smallest baby a week after birth. If... [More >>]
January 29, 2009
Reuse and Recall – thoughts on the food industry
As an aspiring organic gardener/farmer, and a lover of good eats, I’m always taken in by news about food. I just want to explore three things here: biodiesel, peanuts, and corn syrup. This morning it was reported that Calgary is thinking about manufacturing biodiesel for city busses out of beef tallow. The idea is that if the fuel is coming from cows, it’s not coming from the fields... [More >>]
January 28, 2009
Shooting Star(buck)s
It’s not just the feds who are releasing their budget this week. It seems that both coffee dealers and buyers are doing an analysis of their pocketbooks and retro snappy purses, including the infamous Seattle-based Starbucks. Because of overexpansion that caused what is referred to as “cannibalization” (starbucks eating starbucks, or competing with itself) as well as competition... [More >>]
January 28, 2009
Introducing This Magazine’s new logo
This Magazine has been around since 1966, and it’s worn a lot of different looks since then. Magazines are fashion-conscious things, always changing outfits, checking themselves in the mirror, and trying again. This last refreshed its design in 2004, and so we thought it was time to do it again. Just to preserve the suspense a moment longer, I’ve obscured the logo above. But you can click... [More >>]
January 28, 2009
What a crazy concept..
Earlier today there was a headline on Yahoo!’s homepage that caught my eye, “Liberals demand budget change”. What was this all about, I wondered, could we be in for some more political drama? Sadly, no. The big budget change turns out to be the inclusion of three “detailed progress reports”, something that can be summed up as one of the most obvious ideas ever. I’m... [More >>]
January 28, 2009
Ignatieff Liberals declare victory, and surrender, in one deft move
Michael Ignatieff’s press conference this morning was quite the performance: the Liberal interim leader told the assembled press that he was putting the prime minister “on probation.” Which is an odd metaphor to use, since probation usually follows punishment. The decision to amend the budget and pass it is more like rewriting the law after the crime has been committed so that it’s... [More >>]
January 27, 2009
ThisAbility #13: Parental Control
When Lenore Skenazy admitted, last spring, that she let her nine-year-old ride the subway alone, she set off gasps from many fearful and concerned parents. After all, her son Izzy was still single-digit age and the world is a “Dangerous place these days” and “Who knows what could happen.” I could call bull-shit on those theories, but Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller already... [More >>]
January 27, 2009
Obama and the Middle East
I’d really like to write something clever about Obama and the Middle East. I’d love to comment on his commitment to end the war in Iraq, his appointment of Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell as his special envoy to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, or even his reiteration of the right for Israel to “defend” itself. I’d love to provide deep insight into how... [More >>]
January 27, 2009
Postcard from Washington: In the belly of the beast
[Editor's Note: From time to time we feature guest bloggers on the site. Eva Salinas, who edits news columns for the magazine, was in Washington D.C. for the Obama inauguration last week, and sends this dispatch about her experience. To propose guest blogs, email editor at thismagazine dot ca.] BY EVA SALINAS And what a beautiful beast it was. Last week, by some wonderful twist of fate, I found myself... [More >>]
