South of the border, U.S. president Donald Trump is facing a barrage of mockery for the fact that his proposed border wall is “a 1st-century solution to a 21st-century problem.” Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge, given the way our own government struggles to implement technology. On Tuesday, Catherine Tully, Nova Scotia’s information […]
Opinionated
Posted inNews + Opinion
Forget about commuter rail
Won over by the irresistible romance of railway? I’ll try to conjure up the experience of what might be to come. Chuffing slowly but surely along by the shores of the Bedford Basin, you soon leave the crappy sprawling environs of Bedford behind you. Hark! The call of an eagle penetrates the soft rhythmic clatter […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Totem poles and online threats
In 2017, I wrote a poem called “What Good Canadians Do” for the Canada 150 events that were held on the Halifax Common. It was a part of my official duties as the city’s poet laureate. I was tasked with writing something celebratory about a country that was built on the removal and eradication of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Alternative Christmas plans
Ah, the holidays. Finally, the time of year when you can participate in that long-standing Halifax Christmas tradition of having your entire social circle head to Ontario while you’re here by yourself. Great! The yuletide season can be festive, delightful and frustrating all at once. From terrible Secret Santas (really, hand sanitizer?) to over-indulging in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Support the artists that create your fantasies
You’re probably a thief. If you’re not a thief, you have knowingly benefited from the work of another thief. Watch porn much? Maybe you aren’t a thief and you do buy your porn. Maybe you do support the creators whose content you’ve long enjoyed on Tumblr for free. Excellent! Keep paying for your smut. Changes […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
On journalism and biting the hand that feeds you
Last week, as part of their Fall Economic Statement, the federal government announced several initiatives to provide financial support to news organizations, including tax credits to support the production of original news content and to support subscriptions to Canadian news media. They also announced additional direct support for non-profit local news organizations to create open […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gender reveal redux
Professionally, I never came out when I came out. I just disappeared. I couldn’t deal with it. For most of my career, coming out in any way would have demanded doing so very publicly. I held those kinds of jobs—advocate for people with disabilities, legislative researcher, assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, communications person for […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A war on every front
You are eight years old and today is the first day of fishing season. Your father has finally taken you out with him and even bought you your own pole. Though you’re too young to understand adulthood, you can tell that this is how you become the person you hope to be. Your chest swells […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sharing nudes: Advice for all the Tony Clements out there
On Tuesday, November 7, amid the Ameri- can midterm election results starting to roll in, Conservative MP Tony Clement issued a statement admitting to sharing nude images online with a person other than his wife. This came as no shock to many twenty-something women who quickly took to Twitter to share stories of creepy Instagram […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax is not Canada’s Black Mecca
Growing up in Toronto we all thought of Nova Scotia as Canada’s Black Mecca. My parents, like so many others, were Black immigrants born either in Africa or the Caribbean. They moved to Canada during the first Trudeau era—moving to Canada’s largest city promised economic prosperity, safety and inclusion. However, our elders had no idea […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How I learned to embrace the Halloween spirit
I celebrated my first Halloween at 22. And since this is now in print, I have to publicly apologize to my God-fearing parents. Sorry, mom and dad, but I am still a good boy. Growing up Baptist in Jamaica, Halloween wasn’t really a big deal. In fact, it was rebuked. As the end of October […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Football and Canada’s duty to consult Indigenous nations
As problematic as football is, with the Washington R*****ns and the Kansas City Chiefs, the game holds a special place in my heart. For those of you who don’t know, my father is a residential school survivor and without getting into the nitty-gritty traumas of his experiences, it left him with a deficit when it […]