December 6 made Jean Steinberg want to scream. So, last year, to mark the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre and the National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women, she did. Steinberg and a friend planned a moment of screaming—not silence—on the corner of Spring Garden Road and South Park Street. “It was […]
Lezlie Lowe
Posted inNews + Opinion
Joyce MacIsaac, bridge ambassador
Joyce MacIsaac has the blinds open in her toll booth on the A. Murray MacKay Bridge. She’s doling out quarters and counting the axles on semi-trailers and watching, watching, watching…always watching: cars, passengers, lanes, drivers pulled over talking on cell phones, cargo vans rumbling at her down Highway 111, dogs popping their heads out of […]
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Anti antigens: the H1N1 refusers
Rachael Smith-Bakhache won’t be dragging around her kids for H1N1 shots this week. And not anytime after that, either. “It’s my choice,” says the 38-year-old mother of two. “And I don’t think I have to stand up and tell you why it’s my choice.” But she will, if you ask. And explaining why her family […]
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Shambala shindig
The fourth Shambhala Congress is upon us. Yes, upon us. All of us. Because Shambhala Buddhism has been a central part of the culture of Nova Scotia since its founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, decided in the mid-’80s that Halifax was the most spiritually congenial place on earth to bring teachings on compassion. “It’s been what […]
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Dry ice’s spooky airs
It’s like Tom Fleet doesn’t know what he’s got in his hot little hands. Or maybe it’s that dry ice—the must-have of heavy-metal roadies and scary-movie set decorators—is just so been-there-done-that for Fleet that he simply can’t share the enthusiasm we everyday Halloween-lovin’ schmucks feel about the stuff. “Yeah, I sometimes use it at Halloween,” […]
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Doing it right, finally
Graham Murphy’s cell phone is ringing.It’s inventory time at JA Snow Funeral Home and the number of caskets and urns isn’t adding up. “Sorry about that,” he says, hanging up with well-whaddya-gonna-do? expression. Murphy is the general manager at JA Snow, Halifax’s oldest undertaker, now owned by Alderwoods Group Canada, Canada’s second-largest funeral home operator. […]
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City diner
>Jen Stotland plucks a loose, lovely light purple petal from a bed in the Public Gardens. “Mallow,” she says, placing it quickly in my open palm. Eat it? Yup. The whole thing? Just pop it in your mouth. You can eat the leaf too. I do. “It’s a little bit slimy,” she says. “It’s really […]
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Dalhousie’s tea-riffic drinking society
Hot tea means comfort. A different kind of comfort than coffee or, say, vodka Jello shots. And while Orientation Week rears its over-excited head around the campus of Dalhousie University, members of the Dal Tea Drinkers’ Society hope students can take a break from the bedlam of first semester to take solace in the comfort […]
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Andre Rochefort: primo bowler
A primo bowl Modest to a fault, champion bowler Andre Rochefort is knocking them over in the five-pin world. There are about 600 five-pin bowlers in Nova Scotia right now. And Andre Rochefort is the best. He’s got top high average (which is the highest score for a full year; in bowling that means 90 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gus’ noise problem
Halifax indie rockers. They’re touchy about their music venues. No wonder. They keep losing them. A fault in the business model is one thing. But what really stings is when a good venue—Cafe Ole, Birdland, The Blues Corner—is lost because of noise complaints. Dimo Georgakakos is a somewhat expected champion of keeping indie rock healthy, […]
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Milking it
Cows are simple. There’s no other way to put it. They stare. And right now there’s a good two dozen staring at farmer Rick Rand. Staring, chewing, staring, chewing. It’s not love. At least not on the Holsteins’ part. Cows respond to being fed and being milked, which takes Rand, for his herd of about […]
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Wanting to suck
Ask yourself this: who doesn’t want to drive a suck-up truck? OK, OK, suck-up truck isn’t the proper name. Technically, it’s the Tennant ATLV. That stands for All-Terrain Litter Vehicle. City workers call it “the Tennant”—it’s an alien-looking sit-on vacuum the size of a Bobcat with a wide ground-level sucker on the front and a […]
