When it comes to rape, the idea of consent is necessary but fundamentally flawed. It is primarily a legal term that has failed women in Canadian criminal law and its popular use in dialogue around sexual assault misses the point. The idea of consent unwittingly reinforces the premise of rape culture. I once worked in […]
Voice of the City
Posted inNews + Opinion
Lessons from December 6
There are some dates that just have baggage. December 6 has SO much baggage. We mark the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion on December 6. A French ship was packed with small containers of picric acid, TNT, guncotton and benzo that were dangerous enough on their own, but together would form the most deadly […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Citizens of the disaster
Even as the fires raged on December 6, 1917, many Haligonians were seized by a sudden generosity. “Citizens came in large numbers ‘flocking’ to give us places to put people,” reported Frank Gillis, an alderman from Ward 2 in the South and West Ends and chair of the relief committee’s transportation subcommittee. “One said ‘We’ll […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Student-led campout put divestment back on the table at Dalhousie
A few days ago I addressed the Dalhousie board of governors on an issue that hasn’t been discussed in that room for three years: fossil fuel divestment. Students made it impossible for the university to ignore the issue any longer by staging a week-long campout on the quad in front of the iconic Henry Hicks […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Today I saw justice, if only for a moment
Today I watched a young woman show up, prepared to testify about the atrocities that have happened at the hands of trash bags, abusers, modern day slave traders. Today I watched as a brave young woman stepped forward to speak out about Halifax’s “dirty little secret.” Today I saw this same woman prepare to stand […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Under-mining Nova Scotia’s protected wildernesss
I’m a Haligonian. And like most Haligonians, I’ve had to work pretty darn hard to find a way to stay here. For me, that meant going away for several years to learn new skills and then come home. When employment in my field wasn’t available when I returned, it meant creating my own opportunities. For […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Believe in Nova Scotia, not coal-fired billionaires
Last week the owners of the Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton laid off 49 workers, or just over 35 percent of the mine’s workforce. The bad news was delivered to the workers without warning from Kameron Coal, a subsidiary of the Cline Group, which is owned by US billionaire Chris Cline. Although the mine […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The politics of bullshit
What is political bullshit? Figure out what people want, then tell them what they want to hear. Make claims that aren’t true but can’t easily be disproven. If they are disproven, attack personally whoever disproves them. If you have to, make stuff up. Promise whatever it takes to win a vote. If you break a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Making space for oppressed people is an act of love
When I was in bands with a bunch of men and boys in my tween/teenage years, no one bothered me. I was protected by my all-straight male bandmates. Once I launched my own solo project, all of the outside noise and interest in my music (for all the wrong reasons) began to open my eyes […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gothic Voices of the City
Every year the Dalhousie Varma Prize is awarded to English students who compose original works of gothic fiction. The award is named in memory of Devendra Varma, former professor emeritus of the university and former honourary vice-president of the Vampire Research Society. For your spooky enjoyment this Halloween, here are last year’s first, second-and third-place […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Discrimination: a part of Dalhousie’s heritage
Dalhousie has a long history of discriminating against those who are not in power. Since its inception as an institution, its function has been to reproduce the existing power structure in the society. I write this in response to the cases of Masuma Khan and Kati George-Jim. After Facebook comments around Canada 150 declaring “white […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
We stand with El Jones
As faculty members at Mount Saint Vincent University and concerned members of the Halifax community, we write to express our outrage at the racist caricature of El Jones, our colleague at MSVU, that appeared in the pages of Frank Magazine. The cartoon showed Jones, along with Halifax’s poet laureate Rebecca Thomas and others, at a […]
