“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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Finding Lester
In the living room of Joe Orr’s north end Halifax home is a collection of photographs, portraits mostly. Some are old, some more recent. Several of the people pictured here have passed away. At 43, Orr’s lost far too many loved ones already. Others live outside of Halifax, or in different provinces, or halfway around […]
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A long way from home
Tucked in behind the sprawling Wal-Mart and Sears stores of the West End Mall, a little office complex is often one of the first sights greeting new immigrants to Nova Scotia. It’s also the unexpected front lines in the battle to keep them here. Today, in a classroom at the Metro Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA), […]
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In the Nick of time
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!” Peter Saulnier is demonstrating how to laugh like Santa. He holds his very round belly as he points to it.“It has to come from down there,” he says, and gives a jolly laugh. He does some warm up laughs in front of the mirror. Saulnier has a pair of black suspenders […]
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For the love of God
When is a box of toys not just a box of toys? When it’s full of God’s love. This season, Operation Christmas Child will distribute seven million shoeboxes full of dolls, balls, markers, soap and lollipops to children in 95 countries around the world. Along with the treats, Gospel booklets are included in every gift-wrapped […]
