[Image-1] The opioid crisis we hear about in the news has not escaped Nova Scotia. The chief public health officer recently reported that 49 Nova Scotians—between one and two per week—died from opioid overdoses in the first eight months of 2016. Around 11 people each day are taken to provincial emergency departments for opioid overdose. Effective […]
Voice of the City
Posted inNews + Opinion
It’s a hard road for Dylan-defender
[Image-1] The drunk woman behind me kept screaming his name. “Bob!” “Bob!” “Bob!” So I was grateful when security ushered her out of the small Tampa, Florida auditorium. But I understood the sentiment. I was screaming his name too, quietly, in my head. To paraphrase Joan Baez, not everyone’s into Bob Dylan but for those […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Memories of Mumford Terminal
[Image-1] A concrete isthmus juts out at Mumford Terminal offering a convenient jaywalking point. Its well worn footpath proves what the city has long suspected: transit riders are criminals. There’s a terminal building at one end, which is a great place to get out of the rain or the snow unless you want to catch your […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Keep pushing back: A response to #ubcaccountable
Last week, as I was writing about the many ways Métis women of 19th Century Red River were abused, dismissed, and denigrated, the CanLit world blew up. Social media in Canada became a minefield of blame, high dudgeon, hurt feelings, belligerence, and bitterness. And right on cue, Margaret Wente piped up—women, again, are throwing themselves […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Colonization over reconciliation in Alton Gas fight
[Image-1] Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? These are senator Murray Sinclair’s four fundamental questions for understanding ourselves and finding meaning in our lives. Last week I saw senator Sinclair, Manitoba’s first Indigenous judge and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, speak […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A letter to my sons about Trump
[Image-1] Like literally millions of people, I am in shock. You’ve watched the debates, the interviews, the news—Donald Trump is the worst of the worst and somehow, he is now going to be the leader of the free world. I have been apolitical my whole life. I am not proud of it but I won’t […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Why we support Nova Scotia’s teachers
[Image-1] When we started up Nova Scotia Parents for Teachers two weeks ago, our Facebook page quickly gathered around 400 members. Since our first bit of media coverage last Wednesday, membership has soared to over 5,000 and counting. We hope that premier McNeil is taking notice. As a group of concerned parents and grandparents of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Who’s afraid of social justice?
[Image-1] I’m a university professor and I don’t often give trigger warnings in my classes. My decision to use them or not isn’t ideological, it’s contextual. Even though I’m the instructor and the one with the PhD, the classroom doesn’t belong only to me. Students have responsibilities to me and each other; I’m also accountable […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How many people have you slept with?
[Image-1] How many people have you slept with? The first time hubby and I broached this topic we were dating a week or two and I avoided it because I knew anything close to the truth was going to cause a problem, and I really liked this guy. I had no issue with my number, no […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gothic Voices of the City
Every year the Varma Prize recognizes Dalhousie University English students who compose original works of gothic fiction or poetry. Funds for the prize are donated by Bill Blakeney in memory of Dr. Devendra Varma, former professor emeritus of Dalhousie and former honourary vice-president of the Vampire Research Society. Submitted for the approval of The Midnight […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The invisible election for school board seats
[Image-1] The biggest turnover in the October 15 municipal vote happened at the nearly invisible level of local government—the Halifax Regional School Board. Elected school board members are so low-profile that mainstream Nova Scotia news outlets virtually ignore the races, even in Halifax, home to the largest school board in Atlantic Canada. Nine elected school […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What is council for, Halifax?
[Image-1] Council is for the people, all of the people, for so many of their everyday needs. For their bodies, their minds and in many ways their souls. How can it be that in the 21st Century, this brave new Canada of Justinian selfies, G7 status and pursuit of a new Security Council seat, the question […]
