Pop psychology gospel says it takes three weeks to make a habit stick. Just ask anyone with a Pinterest account, where elaborate, 21-day “life hacks” are pinned into ubiquity. Fast-food monolith McDonald’s knows it, too: Why else would it discount its coffee to a dollar a cup just long enough to make you change your […]
Opinion
Posted inNews + Opinion
Let’s Talk about action
Today is the day. The day I mute every thinkable combination of words and hashtags across all social media platforms. The day I turn off the television and radio and anything that could have advertisements. The day I wonder if I can detach my retinas by rolling my eyes too hard. Today is Bell Let’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Failure of imagination drives the COP26 deal to cut transportation emissions
Resolving the climate crisis isn’t just about shifting from one technology to another; it’s about shifting our ways of thinking and being. It’s a point that often gets missed in conversations about major greenhouse gas emission sources. That was illustrated at the recent 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit, in Glasgow, where governments, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dear mayor and council, you can’t blame the protesters because none of you were there
I am writing to denounce the municipality’s complicity in the eviction enforcement that gave rise to the police violence around the old library on Spring Garden Road on August 18, 2021. I am especially outraged after seeing some post-protest comments from municipal elected officials and HRP spokespeople, which ranged from weak to odious. None of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A back-to-work to-do list for the new Nova Scotia legislature
Nova Scotia is the “home of responsible government in Canada,” the place that launched parliamentary democracy in Canada on October 2, 1758. This auspicious beginning lead to a minute 250 years later, back in the early aughts, when all these folks were singing our praises, and many Nova Scotians were walking around wearing D250 swag and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Why don’t we have access to our lake in North Preston?
Recently, my brothers and I bought some Jet Skis and kayaks. Mostly as an entrepreneurial investment, but also for our own enjoyment. Over the past month, we have been to about six different lakes and bodies of water across the HRM, enjoying the water ourselves or renting our boats out to folks. We reflected and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Why I *still* choose not to celebrate Canada Day
Barbara Kentner. Colten Boushie. Tina Fontaine. Joyce Echaquan. Rodney Levi. Chantel Moore. These are the names of only a fraction of the Indigenous people who Canada and its systems have let down since 2015, when my first article about July 1 came out in The Coast. The magnitude of each of their names should weigh […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The residential school legacy of Kamloops and beyond
When I heard the news that a series of unmarked graves containing the remains of 215 children were discovered at the former site of the Kamloops Residential school, I was shocked. But not surprised. My name is Bryson, I am the son of a Residential School Survivor, the nephew of Residential School Survivors and the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Palestinians rallying against abusive policing in Gaza end up grossly policed here in Halifax
After one of the worst years of my life—my dad, the glue of our family, passed away in September and my elderly mom, sister and her daughter, both with special needs, moved in with me—I had pulled away from social media and everyone else because of all the family issues and my new responsibilities. I […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
On witnessing the atrocities of war and colonialism in the digital age
This is the age of the smartphone and internet, the age of the civilian-journalist. Seven years ago I watched on YouTube as a barrel bomb was dropped on a Syrian neighbourhood, killing several civilians, one of them my ex-boyfriend. He and the others were at the site of a previous bombing, civilian rescuers attempting to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
I miss everything about live music
On an October weekend in 1974, French novelist Georges Perec was busy noticing all the things others spend a lifetime not paying attention to: Passing buses, slants of light and the way pigeons swoop in unison, as if they’re on their way somewhere important and not just about to shit all over the front steps […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The birds of Owls Head need a wingman
Love will soon be in the air—for barn swallows, that is. Courtship during the upcoming mating season will feature elegant aerial displays. Cobalt blue, cinnamon and chestnut-coloured, the barn swallow is a striking species. But it’s in flight that these birds go from interesting to incredible. Barn swallows are aerial acrobats, which have been recorded […]