I avoid cabs when I’m alone. Usually, I’d rather walk. However, sometimes I’ve had a few drinks and it’s cold or I’m in uncomfortable shoes, so I’ll wave a taxi down from the sidewalk. When I get in the car, my eyes immediately dart around for a licence number. I’m ready to jump out if […]
Opinion
Posted inNews + Opinion
The perfect silence in Syria
I was in Grade Five when the teacher asked me, “What do you want to learn as a second language, English or French?” In some parts of Syria, kids had the chance to choose between the two. That was the first important decision I had to make. I felt joy at the idea of having […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Centre is just the latest in long line of big, bold failures
By virtually any measure the Nova Centre in downtown Halifax has already been a bad deal for the public. You can debate how bad it’s been, and you can wonder how we ended up in this mess, but we can all agree that it’s been bad. It’s also the latest in a long line of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A lesson for Stephen McNeil
If we’ve learned anything during the protracted negotiations between the province and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union it’s that there is a massive gulf between how teachers, students and parents understand the current state of public education, and how premier Stephen McNeil sees it. This gap was never clearer than when McNeil claimed he needed […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
We love bus route number 1…as is
[Image-1] First, the context. In The Coast, a tiny article about a transformed transit network appeared. Some people read it more closely and started spreading the news: Halifax Transit had decided to make changes to its bus routes; among others, route 1. Not long after, people in my neighbourhood started knocking at doors and sending […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Domestic violence still at our doors
Over Thanksgiving weekend, in the early hours of Sunday, my partner and I were woken by the sounds of a very loud fight happening in the apartment above us. A man’s voice screamed continuously, loud bangs and crashes from what we assumed was furniture being thrown around. A woman’s voice cried and pleaded. My partner […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
On Rwanda
[Image-1] Rylan Higgins’ recent letter to the editor hopes to convince readers that good intentions are simply not enough to assist in progress for the people of Rwanda. Higgins’ fear of action is what the Ivany Report says is also what is holding back Nova Scotia. What Higgins refers to as good intentions, we like […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Irony Generation
Just wanted to comment on the piece by Tara Thorne in the Back to School Guide (“Ironic, man,” September 3). That was hands down one of the best opinion pieces I have ever read—sad, funny, honest and regrettably all too true. I was actually a little shocked that The Coast even ran it. After all, […]