May 29, 2009
EcoChamber #8: Michaëlle Jean’s misleading seal feast
Image credit: Sgt Serge Gouin, Rideau Hall By now, you’ve probably heard about the Queen’s representative eating the raw heart of a dead seal this week. But there is more going on here than just heating up the old debate over the Canadian seal hunt — the news event continued a tradition of misleading the Canadian public about this issue. General Michaëlle Jean’s legitimized the Canadian... [More >>]
May 28, 2009
Queerly Canadian #13: The Lesbian Fashion Crisis
Does this suit make me look queer? We’re less than a month away from Pride Week in Toronto, which kicks off with the Dyke March — also known as the Saturday when thousands of half-naked queer women take to the streets between Church and Yonge. Lately, I’ve been wondering if this mass shedding of clothes isn’t really about celebrating our sexuality and glorying in the freedom of Pride, so much... [More >>]
May 28, 2009
Socialism without socialists in Wired Magazine
The new new new new new new new new new new economy. Wired magazine’s current issue contains an interesting essay that’s worth a read, called (in Wired’s loveable hyperbolic style) “The New Socialism.” With the U.S. economy still in a tailspin and “socialism” back on the political radar there (Obama: is he, or isn’t he?) the time is ripe to seriously... [More >>]
May 28, 2009
The big deal with free
What does “free” look like? This was the prompt sent out to a group of local Toronto artists around two months ago. The results, which were hung along the fourth-floor hallway of the Case Goods Warehouse in the Distillery District last weekend, elegantly captured a word that is part economic reality, part political manifesto, and part new age mantra. There were photographs of wistful-looking children,... [More >>]
May 27, 2009
So bad it’s “Goode”
The Goode Family: Putting a cartoon face on P.C. thuggery At a yuppie-friendly health food supermarket, Helen Goode pushes her shopping cart down the produce aisle. She reaches a mound of green apples reading “Conventionally Harvested $3.99/lb.” Just beside these lies another mound of apples, labeled “Organic $5.49/lb”, followed by a selection of “Sustainably Harvested Organic” apples,... [More >>]
May 27, 2009
Cash for Conserving?
Untapped oilfield or conservational goldmine? Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park is home to one of the planet’s most richly diverse ecosystems. Beneath it lies enough oil to generate some billions of dollars in revenue. What’s a poor Andean nation to do? Hold off drilling in exchange for cash, it turns out. In 2007, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa proposed a novel solution: the Yasuni oil fields... [More >>]
May 27, 2009
ThisAbility #28: Everybody was Cane-Fu Fighting
Grand Master Mark Shuey leads an army you don't want to mess with. Last week, I saw this disturbing surveillance footage. It really does speak for itself and is just one example of a recent rise in violence and robbery preying on seniors and people with disabilities. No one is off limits. (They probably never were.) Vulnerability equals victory for criminals (and sometimes cops) who figure disabled... [More >>]
May 26, 2009
A kid’s-eye view of HIV/AIDS in Africa
Toronto-based NGO Africa’s Children—Africa’s Future, which runs programs and advocates for HIV/AIDS orphans and other children in sub-Saharan Africa, has an interesting photography exhibit on right now as part of the annual Contact festival. AC-AF provided cameras to African kids, aged 12-18, and asked them to document the world around them, particularly the consequences of HIV/AIDS.... [More >>]
May 22, 2009
EcoChamber #7: Canada’s nuclear problem
It is my birthday this week. As I turn 25, there is one question I face: do I have a future? My life from here on out, and the lives of my generation, will be shaped by the choices we make now. The choices we make depend on one word: energy. We are at a precipice. We either make a paradigm shift in the 21st century with our energy consumption. Or we stand to repeat the 20th century with “fossil... [More >>]
May 20, 2009
For those in need of some true, patriot love
The furor over the new Conservative attack ads, which were released early last week, has thankfully started to die down. But their central jab — that Ignatieff has been out of the country for 34 years and is only back because he is a political opportunist — has continued to inspire a stream of Facebook groups and blog and Twitter posts that keep making their way into my electronic consciousness.... [More >>]
