One fish, two fish, buy a green fish
To the editor, While I understand that Liz Feltham wasn’t thinking about the future of the oceans when reviewing the Little Fish Restaurant and Oyster Bar (“Shore thing,” May 24), the days when we can order seafood without thinking—and asking—about where it comes from and how it was caught are over. Just a few months…
In the dark
To the editor, Just to follow up on this week’s On Patrol notice (“Ticket #05240783,” May 24). I, too, walk past the Public Gardens each night. After the recent vandal attacks on the gardens people were urged to keep an eye out for suspicious activity after-hours. Only problem is, at night the Public Gardens are…
But, people like free stuff
To the editor, Regarding Lezlie Lowe’s article “Green bulb, red light” (May 17): How could Home Depot giving away free CFL light bulbs be such a bad idea? People could actually take the bus. And for those who actually shop, throwing in a couple of freebies doesn’t sound so bad. Or maybe going to an…
Catching Amy
Dear Lezlie Lowe, Nice job and great article. I could go on but…ah…good article. Thanks for the inspiration (and especially you too Amy) and for sticking up for the truly marginalized folks we all usually choose to forget about. By Anonymous
Catching Amy
To the editor, I loved the heartwarming story “Chasing Amy” and it makes me realize we should not think higher of ourselves because we have what seems like more. I have had ups and lots of downs, but one thing that is strong and can’t be taken away is someone’s love for life. This is…
Catching Amy
To the editor, I would like to commend Lezlie Lowe for her brilliant article on Amy. It was a beautiful tribute to her life. I believe Amy would love this article because it will change the way people view squeegee kids and all homeless people. What an excellent article, I hope it affects people as…
Catching Amy
To the editor, I just finished reading “Chasing Amy” and it’s one of the most powerful pieces of journalism I’ve read any time, anywhere. Such a heartbreaking story, and told with such compassion and honesty—many thanks to writer Lezlie Lowe. I didn’t know Amy Lee Collins, but Lowe has brought her to life here, given her a…
Catching Amy
To the editor, Kudos to Lezlie Lowe for the “Chasing Amy” feature. This is one of the best pieces of print journalism I’ve seen yet. It places a new meaning on the squeegee people we all see every day. There will be more Atlantic Journalism Awards coming your way with writing like this. Keep up…
Catching Amy
To the editor, Lezlie Lowe’s article “Chasing Amy” (May 24) totally killed me. I had to stop reading it at the Ardmore because I was crying too much, even for a diner. Lowe’s writing was brilliantly heart-wrenching and empathetic without ever straying into romanticism or pity. She should be very proud of this wonderful work…
The land of the lost
As the post-9/11 secular world gets the message out that we fear Islamists, not Islam, the Christianist movement in the States is also gaining momentum. Today in Kansas the Creation Museum opens, offering a history of the world based on the biblical tall tale that God created the universe in six days. The Creation Museum…
Ink Wars
So this tattoo is a little intense. The faces on the left side of dude’s back are Star Wars villians; Luke, Yoda et al are on the right; a pair of crossed light sabers pulls the whole thing together. The original pic is here. It’s just one from this whole gallery of shots from a…
Graffiti challenge — Playground on the Common
City officials have a suburban-parent approach to graffiti artists, so you’d expect them to move quickly to clean the graffiti off a playground. You know, to protect the young, impressionable kids from having to see what the nasty teenage hooligans do with spraypaint. But I sent in a complaint about graffiti on the nice new…
Graffiti challenge — South Street garbage can
The city claims it wants to know about — and will quickly act to eradicate — any graffiti on public property. So on Monday, April 23 I sent this complaint through the snitching site: “The city’s black plastic garbage can, fastened to a pole near the convenience store at 6070 South, has many tags on…
Graffiti challenge — Robie bus shelter part two
On the way to work this morning, I noticed the tags on the Robie at Jubilee bus shelter still haven’t been cleaned off. That makes it 36 days since I alerted the city to the graffiti-covered piece of public property. For its part, the city promised to do the clean-up within three days of my…
Home and Away
St. John’s author/actor/playwright Joel Thomas Hynes (gravedigger Nick Crocker on the sorely missed Hatching, Matching & Dispatching) is in town on May 24 at the Seahorse (1659 Argyle) to read from his new novel, the funny but nasty Right Away Monday. This book reads like a weeklong bender and hangover wrapped up in a dirty…
Knocking the rocks-off rock box
Apple turned itself into a business powerhouse by making the MP3 player sexy, but apparently it doesn’t want the iPod to get too sexy. The company is threatening to sue British sex-toy store Ann Summers for using Apple-inspired graphics in ads for the iGasm, a vibrator that plugs into an iPod and throbs to the…
Doc-tor Death
I spent my teenage years in Doc Martens, mimicking idols like Joe Strummer. But now I would like to retrieve one of those wee boots and kick the ad exec responsible for this tasteless campaign. Dead rock stars—Kurt Cobain, Joey Ramone, Sid Vicious and yes, Strummer–in heaven a’la George Burns or Patrick Swayze–wearing gowns and…
The good and the bad re: On the Lot
Good: Carrie Fisher. Anytime you’ve ever intentionally laughed at the Academy Awards, she probably wrote it. She’s the perfect judge for this thing – old-school Hollywood, the fanboy wankers love her (seriously, did we have to see the guy say “Princess Leia, 20 feet away from me”? So pandering!) and she knows what’s she talking…
Word on the street
Last summer, Halifax saw it fit to rename a portion of Gerrish Street after local boxing hero and first black sergeant-at-arms, Buddy Daye, who passed away in 1995. Good move. Not only was Daye thoroughly deserving of the honour (Daye helped set up the Black Cultural Centre in Nova Scotia, and offered guidance and support…
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage engages in a complicated interplay of letters.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Channel your inner Bill Gates, Libra, says Rob Brezsny.
And the brand played on
Rick Emberley was in full rhetorical flight last Thursday when he proclaimed that “the science attached to branding has migrated into destinations.” The Halifax pollster was addressing marketing types, business execs and government officials lunching in a windowless auditorium at the World Trade and Convention Centre. The well-dressed crowd had gathered to celebrate the new…
Building connections
Unlike doctors and nurses, lawyers or teachers, architects don’t often speak up about the work they do. While the media often makes “starchitects” of a handful in the profession, the majority of architects labour in silence and under the watch of an often vocally disapproving, fretful public. There are those who appreciate new and unconventional…
Chasing Amy
Amy Lee Collins had to go to the hospital. But she didn’t want to. She hated hospitals. So she said to the two friends she’d been spending the day with at her North Park Street basement apartment, “I’m fine. I’m fine.” She had already had one seizure. Then there was another. Then, in time, another.…
First personal
A collection of art and writings from Amy Lee Collins.
The last picture show
In the 2002 documentary Searching for Debra Winger—in which Rosanna Arquette explores the life of the working Hollywood actress via famous contemporaries like Holly Hunter, Jane Fonda, Frances McDormand and Diane Lane—Adrienne Shelly has one short but revealing scene. She tells a story of how her agent has gotten her an audition, and he’s told…
Lawn order
Thousands upon thousands of Haligonians are poisoning the environment, endangering children and breaking the law. And they’re being aided and abetted by corporations that put profit above community values. Halifax’s pesticide by-law prohibits the use of pesticides and herbicides on all property in the SuperCity, from Ecum Secum to Hammond Plains, without a permit. The…
Shrek the Third
The second funniest joke in Shrek the Third could have served as a warning to the movie itself. The titular green ogre (voice of Mike Myers), his sidekick Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Latin catthrob Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) have left the land of Far Far Away to find a replacement for the king. They…
Shore thing
Little Fish may be the more casual, baby sibling to the elegant Five Fisherman, but that doesn’t mean it’s simply a mini-version of the big dining room upstairs. Little Fish has its own identity and menu, and a fabulous oyster bar with an oyster “happy hour” every afternoon. I’ve had several meals at Little Fish…
