Heather Johnston lives within smelling distance of the Otter Lake landfill. In 1993 she bought property on the edge of a wilderness area to build a house. Two years later, the city announced it was putting the new landfill three kilometres away from Johnston’s land, a few minutes down the highway from Bayers Lake. The […]
Sam Littlefair-Wallace
Posted inNews + Opinion
Books and mortar
In the summer of 1989, an 138-page journal about antimicrobial science arrived at Dalhousie’s health sciences library. It was the July issue, and it wore a red paper cover that bore the title in big white letters: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Over the next months, the subsequent issues arrived, and librarians piled them on top […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Plan bee
It’s early June, and Michelle McPherson is standing in an empty backyard in the north end. McPherson is a beekeeper. Until 10 days ago, her first and only beehive, almost one year old, stood under a pine tree in a corner of the yard. “A month-and-a-half ago, I realized I had a very, very strong […]
Posted inLifestyle
A story of suspense
Cait Anthony is dangling 250 feet in the air, crying. Her arms, legs and torso are bruised and aching. Ocean waves are breaking on rocks in the gorge beneath her. Her boyfriend is yelling at her to stand up. Cait, 23, is a slackliner. She’s hanging from her safety harness, strung to a slackline that […]
Posted inArts + Music
Wanna slack off?
Those who slackline are commonly referred to as “slackers.” The name couldn’t be more fitting; slacklining is relaxing, easy to get into and best done with friends in the sun. If you want to give it a try, the folks at Mountain Equipment Co-op (1550 Granville St, 421-2667) can set you up with a slackline […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The art of the deal
In the summer, students forget that frugality exists. Tuition becomes a distant memory. Sunshine and spirits numb the pain. In September, the shit hits the fan. But living on a tight budget doesn’t have to mean becoming an anti-social miser. Saving money works best if you approach it as a game. Are you able to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Book nooks
I can remember the last day I did research at the library. I was in grade four and had already begun copy-pasting my projects from the internet. (Coincidentally, it was the same day that my best friend’s older brother introduced my best friend and I to internet porn on a library computer.) But primarily, libraries are […]
Posted inArts + Music
The architect of like
Imagine it’s the not-too-distant future. You invite your friends over to watch a movie, log into Facebook, then press play. You proceed to watch a movie with you and your friends as the main characters. There’s a Halifax techie bursting onto the scene who’s working on an app for that. Last October, Jason Nickel, a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Ariel comes to life
Raina the Mermaid has communicated with seals on the eastern shore, dodged jellyfish in the Atlantic Ocean and been chased by snapping turtles in the lakes of HRM. Raina has wavy red hair and wears a seashell bra. From her head to the tip of her scaled, orange tail, she is more than seven feet […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
It’s Halifax’s economy, stupid
Fred Morley compared Halifax to his childhood in a phone call on Monday. “We’re like one of those kids, maybe we were all accused of this at some stage: ‘He’s not working up to his full potential.’ I don’t think that we’re living up to our full potential in Halifax and I think we can […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cousin & wife
A group of volunteers sits in a circle of chairs in the lunch room of The Red Cross in Halifax. They’re all activists for different kinds of equality: an environmentalist; a social worker; a children’s rights activist; a gay rights advocate and a youth worker with the YMCA named Fadi. Fadi, 28, is a Kuwaiti-born […]