The happy ending of The Wizard of Oz happens when Dorothy Gale realizes that as many wonders as there are over the rainbow, you don’t actually have to look that far to find your joy. She famously says, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my […]
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Harbour rising: Halifax’s harbourfront in 2100, come hell or high water
As the eye of Hurricane Dorian spun around Halifax Harbour like a cocoon, it could have been any other grey day in Nova Scotia—were it not for the building floating in the water in Herring Cove. The large boathouse was home to Thomas Reyno’s three boats, two tubes and 45 years worth of memories. Now […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Why right whale extinction is on the horizon
Tonya Wimmer has gotten used to being the bearer of bad news. Every time someone spots a dead right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence—which has happened eight times this year alone—her Halifax-based organization, the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), gets the call. Then it’s Wimmer’s job to notify scientists, government officials and conservation […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s golden addiction to toxic mining
David Clark remembers where he was the day the trouble started. He was walking through the woods on his property in Melrose, a small community on the St. Mary’s River, a two-and-a-half-hour drive east of Halifax. Sun shone through the trees. Beams of light landed on the small brook. The rolling water sparkled. It added […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Inside Canada’s foreclosure playground
Up on the third floor of The Law Courts building in Halifax, down a long corridor from the elevator, is Room 314. It’s an unremarkable space, across the hall from one of the courtrooms. There are a couple of cheap office desks, a few mismatched chairs and an old green filing cabinet in the corner. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Why getting a hobby is a perfect form of punk rock rebellion
S ometimes the pulse of a moment is best tracked not in books or headlines or even philosophy, but a snippet of song lyrics that, looking back, tell more than any diary entry ever could have. Richard Hell and The Voidoids did just that with their proto-punk anthem “Blank Generation,” a niche hit that distilled […]
Posted inArts + Music
Finding Frenchy’s, a journey to the heart of the second-hand phenomenon
Nicole Villeneuve had her fashion awakening in Guy’s Frenchys, filling her closet with ironic t-shirts to wear to high school. For Hanah Thibeault, a plus-size woman, a trip to Guy’s Frenchys means a chance to peruse the same racks as her straight-sized friends. For Rebecca Dimock, Frenchys was the after-church destination of her childhood, clothing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How your paycheque supports fracking in Colorado
I t’s a familiar story. A rich country develops oil fields in a heavily indebted nation with lax environmental rules. Local residents object, saying oil and gas extraction degrades their air, water, quality of life. Protests mount as the foreign energy company steamrolls the permitting process. The rich country tries to influence local elections in […]
Posted inLifestyle
New Brunswick’s high hopes for cannabis
1. With Canada’s Cannabis Act, Bill C-45, passing its second senate reading, recreational legalization is middling toward reality across the country. As the provinces scramble to prepare for the unknown date, New Brunswick is notably on the ball when it comes to cannabis industry development. The province’s 2016 Economic Growth Plan naming cannabis as a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Green is the new gold
“What would you do-o-o for a Klondike Bar?” sings the commercial, a nod to the epic discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896. In the ensuing gold rush, after news of the Klondike’s riches reached the outside world, tens of thousands of would-be gold-diggers giddy’d up and headed for Canada’s north. News of Justin […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The fall of the house of Elmwood
“So much of mankind’s varied experience had passed there—so much had been suffered, and something, too, enjoyed—that the very timbers were oozy, as with the moisture of a heart. It was itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of rich and sombre reminiscences.” —Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of […]