Work

Sarah Densmore stands up, fingers gripping the sides of a piece of fluorescent-pink bristol board. Thick black marker-printed letters command, “MAKE IT RIGHT 2 STAFF AT NIGHT.” She sets it down, and picks up another: “HONK FOR SAFER LABOUR STANDARDS.” “That one got the most response,” she says.These signs are remnants from a rally that […]

For going on 10 weeks, members of the Carpenters, Millwrights and Allied Workers Union have been regularly picketing a construction site at the old YWCA lot on the south end of Barrington Street, protesting the contractor’s use of non-union labour to build a new seven-story luxury apartment complex at the site. “We believe that the […]

A twinkle-eyed girl bounces up and down, waving at the jolly fellow who returns the gesture with a beaming smile. The man is dressed in red velvet and black boots, and boasts an impressive white beard. “I want to keep the spirit of Christmas going as long as I can, and I want people to […]

John Chisholm has a busy winter ahead of him, and he’d like to keep it that way. The third-year Saint Mary’s University student is trying to fast-track his marketing degree. To do that, Chisholm is taking six classes in the coming winter semester. Technically, it’s an overloaded schedule, but if all goes according to plan, […]

A former street beggar borrows $100 and buys a cow, and she now earns enough to feed her children by selling milk door-to-door. A tenant farmer borrows $500 and buys the land he’s worked for decades; the money he used to pay in rent he now uses to build a house. A peasant borrows $20 […]

For some, the term “do-it-yourself” (or “DIY”) evokes images of a Bob Vila-type handyman installing their own light switches or toilets. For others, it means a lifestyle comprised of responsible choices—a slower pace of life in a supportive community. For the most part, Iris Porter identifies with the latter definition. While her DIY theory also […]

It’s Sunday morning and I’m sitting at my computer, paralyzed. To the left of my keyboard is a pile of unopened bills. I’ve been collecting them all week; walking downstairs to the mailbox, picking them up, sorting out the pizza flyers and political campaign brochures, and shuffling everything else—all bills—into a pile that I throw […]

Steve Kronski, a produce worker at the Quinpool Superstore, likes his job. With the company for several years, Kronski says his job is less than exciting, except when someone finds a spider in the produce. Kronski (not his real name) says a black widow spider was captured a month ago. Some of the types of […]

I have this song in my head, an old song by Queen. “Radio Ga-ga.” My partner’s been singing it a lot lately, and so have I. “Radio, what’s new? Radio, someone still loves you.” That’s what we’ll have to find out, now that there’s a deal, now that the lockout is (almost) officially over. You’ll […]