Voice of the City

North is Freedom is the name of the nasty monument outside the Halifax North Memorial Public Library. This summer it was absent for more than two months, carted off to Cowie Hill for storage while its base was chipped out and replaced, leaving the library plaza an ugly construction site. But now it’s back. Curses! […]

I have come to a time in my life when my love for Halloween is not reciprocated. I am too old to trick or treat, but don’t have kids to take door-to-door. I am too young to have friends hold home costume parties, but not young enough to head downtown clad in costume. And not […]

One of my favourite ways to get around town is also the most old-fashioned ways to get around town. Some days I wonder why I put up with all the distracted drivers, missing crosswalks, annoying push buttons and being the lowest class citizen at intersections, but then I remember the joy of moving slowly, allowing […]

The fact that tanning beds can give you skin cancer is the most ingrained cliche on our disease-prevention radar. The vast majority of us are proud to say we’ve never used one and even prouder to say our province bans them for people under 18. But after my aunt, Ginny, was diagnosed two years ago […]

Late last Thursday evening the actor John Dunsworth was draped over an armchair in a living room on Moran Street. Dressed from head to toe in crisp black—suit, shirt, socks, shoes—he looked like an elegant priest. Handsome. In a sense he was a priest. Thom Fitzgerald and Doug Pettigrew have been shooting their first […]

Darrell Dexter, we need to have a talk. Things aren’t going so well between us these days. We started off so great. You won me over with your optimism and your folksy charm. I voted for your party as I always have, and you won an impressive majority and made lots of dandy sounding promises. […]

For the price of our new convention center, Nova Scotians could be enjoying free education from primary school right up to college and university. It’s that simple, and yet the idea of universal education, much like universal health care before it, has been labeled impossible by the powers that be. What then, is so radical […]

Was I surprised? No, and that’s sad. I’m outraged that I wasn’t surprised but that so many people were. All I have to say is, OPEN YOUR EYES. Start looking around you, and please intervene where you can to point out the blatant acts, tweets, words, posts, songs, posters and media that feed into rape […]

Day One On way to bed see first bed bug on floor. Time: 11:24pm. Momentarily paralyzed by shock and sense of disaster. Apprehend with wad of toilet paper. Flush. Return to the bed, flick down top sheet. Bed bug skitters away from light. Apprehend. Flush. Retreat to the living room. Fire up computer. Play games. […]

I used to live with a feminist. I would laugh and shake my head when she went off on tangents about equality and sexism, thinking it was all in her head. I was quite happy with the status quo and saw no reason to waste my time fighting against something invisible and quite possibly non-existent. […]

A greenbelt is starting to form around the edge of the city and that’s a good thing. That near-urban wilderness, with its many lakes and vast forests, is something that makes Halifax such a great place to live. Want to go for a hike in the woods? No problem. Want to go for a swim […]

A couple weeks ago on a sunny Saturday afternoon, neighbours ranging from babies to seniors painted a 20-metre-long mural on the asphalt of a residential street. Meanwhile others played games, danced in front of a small stage with live music, BBQ’d, gave away lemonade and chatted with neighbours who were strangers minutes before.  This is what […]