How to Research a Slumlord! In this era of hyper neoliberalism, we are so used to tax-cutting governments chopping regulations off the books to allow the Blessed Free Market to guide human existence. This caveat emptor mentality, however, means lots of vulnerable, marginalized and economically precarious people are hung out
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Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Decline in Media Credibility and Profitability
Last August the Pew research Center released the results of its latest study on how much the American public trusts the media. This has been part of an ongoing study since at least 2002, and ever since the first report, … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Canada Day +1, Our Quiet Genocide
A banner drop during last night’s Canada Day celebration in Toronto’s Mel Lastman Square. (Photo: IdleNoMore.ca) Canadians are so nice. We have such a happy, positive self-concept. This makes it quite hard to address the quiet genocide of first peoples that our nation has conducted for centuries. What is genocide?
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
I was thinking of the lines from that Fairport Convention song this week as we walked through Toronto on our three-day mini-holiday. I can still hear Sandy Denny’s wonderful, haunting voice singing the chorus of that dreamy, sad song, as … Continue reading →
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Paris Rising, Montreal Falling, Neither Bodes Well
The two great French cities of the world, well, Montreal used to be worthy, are having some development conundrums. Paris has decided to add a dozen highrise buildings but away from the city centre – the Eiffel Tower must always be the dominant structure there. So Paris does have limits,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Did Earth Day Not Quite Do It For You This Year?
Some years, Earth Day clicks for people in a profound way. I’ve spoken to a few who were distinctly non-plussed with how things didn’t come together for them and their dreams this year. If you need some optimism for the rest of your week, check out this compendium. Pay attention
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Hidden City Festival 2013
The Dufala Brothers have been selected to be part of the Hidden City Festival in 2013. Their installation will be at Globe Dye Works, and will feature materials sourced through RAIR. Check out their video! We have the dormant, yet exciting Canada Malt Plant along the Lachine Canal in Montreal
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Only art can save us now
The world needs creative interpretations of global issues, not better descriptions of things people are accustomed to. by Santiago Zabala Perhaps rather than God, as Martin Heidegger once said, it is art that can save us. After all, artistic creations have always had political, religious and social meanings that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Our Rape Culture: Rehtaeh Parsons’ Unfortunate Legacy
And another one gone – a victim of assault and revenge porn enacted and filmed by a bunch of teenaged boys who had more power than they might have ever imagined: they could kill from a distance. As Elizabeth Renzetti says of these double-barrel assaults, they are, “not just an
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Pidgin Picket, the Housing Crisis and the State
The Role of The State in Gentrification, the Housing Crisis, and its Ability to Relieve or Maintain the Current Situation by Rachel Goodine Pidgin, a new fine-dining restaurant located on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, moved in to the neighbourhood on February 1 of this year, prompting plenty of controversy. It’s
Continue reading350 or bust: Trust & Vulnerability: A New Business Model For Music Industry?
For TED Talk Tuesday on 350orbust, Amanda Palmer shares a revolutionary way to approach the music business. Paradigms are shifting all over the place, folks!
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Rising rhetoric of a new “yellow peril”
The 1921 “Ethnic Outreach” Campaign(Courtesy Past Tense Vancouver) The complaints are familiar – “Asian immigrants are taking our jobs,” “Asian immigrants are buying our property and keeping us out.” Instead of being complaints found in the Richmond Review’s letters-to-the-editor section, however, these are the complaints that were found in a
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: CoastalTarSands.ca Launching Today
Today is WORLD WATER DAY and I’m honouring it by launching my next media campaign http://coastaltarsands.ca There’s very little time left before the Harper government plans to approve the Enbridge Corporation’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project in early 2014. This plan includes hundreds of supertankers navigating through the inside passage along
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Richard Bergeron of Projet Montreal in Verdun on Sunday
How To Put Montreal Back On Track with Richard Bergeron Sunday, March 24, 3pm Centre culturel et bibliothèque de Verdun 5955, avenue Bannantyne Verdun (QC) H4H 1H5 Canada ***English below L’association Projet Montréal à Verdun a le plaisir de vous inviter à une conférence du chef de Projet Montréal,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: #SpinAlert: Light Rail for the Valley Instead of a UBC Subway
Who Framed Roger Rabbit reminded us all of the Great American Streetcar Scandal: cars over mass transit. Now, in the lower mainland we have the UBC tunnel over light rail to the valley. This week, we start with a transportation spin alert. Last week, Allen Garr wrote an interesting piece
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Free Speech and the Privatization of Public Space
Donald Smith was protesting a sign at Glenmore Landing in Calgary’s southwest Sunday that bans political demonstrations. [CBC] The privately owned parking lot near the prime minister’s constituency office asserts that protesting is prohibited. On the surface, this looks like the prime minister is impeding the constitutional rights of expression
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: International Women’s Day 2013
International Women’s Day: What’s the way forward? By Judy Rebick | March 8, 2013 As an aging feminist I am often asked to speak about the progress we have made as feminists and how much is left to do. It gets depressing sometimes because of the persistence of violence against
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: William Close plays the Earth Harp at the Temple of Transition Burning Man 2011
As good as it gets department.
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