a quieter life, plus photos
Finally, some peace and quiet. This is the first time since the sewage flood on July 8 that our home is quiet. This lovely state of affairs exists because we…
laura k
what i’m reading: clarence darrow, attorney for the damned, by john a. farrell
I last wrote about Clarence Darrow in early 2012, after reading a piece by one of my favourite New Yorker writers, Jill Lepore. Two new biographies of Darrow had been…
rtod
This Revolutionary Thought of the Day brought to you by my abiding hero, Clarence Darrow. Darrow dismissed many of the remedial bandages that he and the labor movement had battled…
when it rains, it pours, or, welcome to my roller coaster
Tala is not doing well. You may recall, she has a chronic and degenerative spine condition. After a long rest and rehab process, she has been doing wonderfully – truly…
healthy slow-cooker recipe of the week: help me make delicious lentil soup
The healthy slow-cooker recipe of the week – now running about every-other week – has hit a snag: lentil soup. I love lentil soup, but my own is turning out…
please answer one question about housing costs
Will you take a moment to answer one question? I may use it for something I write. Thanks in advance. Click here to take the survey.
nyc action alert: join striking fast-food workers on monday, july 29
If you live in New York City, you have an opportunity to stand beside working people in their struggle for a better life and healthier communities. 84% of New York…
what i’m reading: the fault in our stars, a truly great novel for youth and not-youth
I am in the middle of reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, a book almost too painful to read but impossible to put down. It’s achingly funny,…
"sharecroppers on wheels": port truckers are organizing, and they are winning
When is an employee not an employee? The answer to this riddle is rapidly becoming the true face of employment in the North America today. In her brilliant investigative book…
a teenager’s courage reveals the brutality of anti-choicers: "please stop calling me a whore"
This articulate and courageous 14-year-old girl says she wants to be a science teacher when she grows up. I hope she will also be a writer, because this is one…
hey mcdonald’s: the working poor don’t need financial advice or higher banking costs. they need higher wages.
Part 1: McDonald’s version of company scrip (Part 2 below) Any minute now we’ll see the return of company scrip. In the bad old days before labour unions forced reforms,…
a people’s history of british columbia, and a chance to preserve it for the future
Here’s a chance to preserve Canadian history – the real history, not the government-approved kind – and to preserve art and creativity and alternative media, all at the same time.…
interspecies love, pup and guinea pig edition
Sadly, this will not embed. So please click. You won’t be sorry. Go click now! Thanks to Stephanie!
helen thomas, 1920-2013
A journalist, a pioneer, a feminist. An asker of questions. New York Times obituary here.
brandon toy: i have come to believe that the true insanity is doing nothing
Brandon Toy, writing in Common Dreams. I hereby resign in protest effective immediately. I have served the post-911 Military Industrial complex for 10 years, first as a soldier in Baghdad,…
what i’m reading: two youth novels
There is so much truly excellent youth fiction out these days, and it’s not all vampires and zombies. Here are two wonderful teen novels in two totally different veins. There…
know your rights, rental edition
After a week of looking at houses for rent, we found something we love and put down a deposit. My dread of moving has been mostly replaced with a mixture…
what i’m reading, children’s books edition: # 8: the invention of hugo cabret
In the aftermath of the flood and with our impending move, when I’m not dealing with those events, all I want to do is read and blog. If you enjoy…
healthy slow-cooker recipe of the week: chicken in wine with sun-dried tomatoes
When it comes to soups and stews, there is a seemingly endless number of variables that can be changed to create new variations of any given dish. If you like…