I am the only person to have ever complained in public about Christmas Daddies. Christmas Daddies is the seasonal telethon, broadcast by CTV across the Maritimes. This year it’s on Saturday, December 3, from 11am to 6pm. It raises money for underprivileged children. The story of the beginning of Christmas Daddies, recounted at christmasdaddies.org, is […]
News
Posted inNews + Opinion
Democracy watch
Canadians have learned a few things about Haiti from our mainstream news outlets. We’ve learned that it’s the birthplace of our governor general, Michaelle Jean. We’ve learned it’s been affected by Atlantic storms this hurricane season, and we’ve learned that the UN is playing its part to disarm local gangs. What we haven’t learned is […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Leaving
Shortly after I arrive at the party in New Orleans, a woman hears that I’m leaving town. “So why are YOU moving?” she asks, narrowing her eyes. Her meaning is clear. Why am I not pulling on my gloves and strapping on my facemask and pitching in to help clean things up on Magazine Street, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Toxic art
I love New Orleans. But after anchoring myself there for half my life, I still don’t understand it all that well. If this city has a soul, I think I’ve only caught fleeting glimpses of it. One of these glimpses occurred in 1993, when I had the chance to interview musician Danny Barker. He was […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Part 1: Getting out
“Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright.”—Randy Newman, “Louisiana 1927” New Orleans is gone. I left it behind me on Saturday, with my two kids in the backseat, the soundtrack to Shrek on the CD player. My wife, a pediatrician, was on call for the weekend and stayed behind. She […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Part 2: City of the dead
“I can’t go back there,” says my wife, Tami, talking on the cell phone. We’re driving from Carencro into Lafayette to find an insurance office and check out the food stamp line. She listens to the caller, a friend of mine from high school. “That would be great,” Tami says. They’re talking about Minneapolis. Every […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Part 3: Just a little while to stay here
Lafayette, Louisiana She just stares at me, the Iowan volunteer. Silver and green Mardi Gras beads drape around her neck. She pushes a blank form across the table. “It’s been a long day,” she says. Sitting next to her, another volunteer quickly smiles. “Welcome,” she says. “You came to the right place.” I tell them […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Part 4: The new New Orleans
“Why is this our problem?” I say this to Cindy. My family and I have been in her home in Carencro, Louisiana, about 150 miles west of New Orleans, for a month now. I say this to her when she brings up the matter of the various children in our evacuee household, trying to plan […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Save-the-world tour
After nearly five months and thousands of revolutions of their bike pedals, the group of young activists who comprise the Otesha Project Coast2Coast Tour is wheeling into Halifax. The team hit the road in Vancouver on May 2, with 15 riders, and has since visited nearly 100 cities and towns across the country, speaking to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Finding Fudge
The crowd is still the same, a group in search of a drink and a good time, and welcoming any gender, race and sexual preference. People still frequent the club for weekly events such as karaoke and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights. The renovations, new sign, and new ownership and staff indicate there’s been […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Happy meter
It is not everyday that one hears a former prime minister declare that “the conventional development or economic growth paradigm is seriously flawed and delusional.” But that is exactly how Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley, Bhutan’s current home minister and former prime minister, opened his keynote speech at the Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness held […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Window pains
Uniacke Square is a low-income housing development with only one through-road. Turn down Uniacke Street—which stretches from Gottingen to Brunswick—and almost immediately you’ll notice unpainted plywood, like punched-in teeth, covering the street-level windows and front doors of two brown-brick townhouses. Look a little higher and farther down the street to see shards of glass where […]