The Burning Bushes: Fall Lingers on
This morning I had an appointment on the other side of the mountain, so I walked across through Mount Royal Park. We didn't get the snow storm that whipped the…
Mary Soderstrom
Quebec Won’t Help Finance Prisons: Another Reason for Federalism?
Quebec's Justice Minister told a Commons committee yesterday that the province has no intention of paying for the prisons that the Harper government wants to build as a consequence of…
Seven Million: How to Make the World a Better Place
The last few days the rapidly increasing numbers of humans have been getting a lot of press, probably well-merited. The New York Times had an interesting story yesterday about a…
Halloween: Obesity Versus the Occasional Splurge
This year it seems like Halloween has gone on forever. Today's the day, and I expect not much is getting done in schools all across North America as kids parade…
Sunday Music: CBC Two/ Espace Musique Play an All-Day Concert of Serious Music
This is what the two services of the public broadcaster should be playing all the time: the very best in serious music by Canadian performers. Concert in CanadaandEspace Musique Why…
Saturday Photo: Rebuilding the Cemetery Gates
Who would have thought that climbing hydrangeas could do such damage? But given enough time and the cycle of freeze and thaw in this climate, and it probably should not…
Lessons from Iceland: Paul Krugman on How to Get out of a Crisis by Not Listening (Much) to the Right
For a long time I had a sticker from the Icelandic social democratic party, brought back by a young friend who'd spent some time in that small, rugged country in…
Lighting up the Night: Diwali, Halloween or the Struggle Between Sweet and Salty
Lots of pumpkins yesterday at the Jean Talon Market, all ready to be carved for Halloween next week.I didn't see anyone preparing lights for Diwali, though, whose beginning was celebrated…
Overkill: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and the Long Gun Registry
I'd hoped it was dead, that ill-intentioned attempt to do away with Canada's long gun registry. But it has arisen, like a zombie that turns even uglier at each resurrection.…
Leonard Cohen Has New Meaning: First We Take Manhattan ….or Occupy Wall Street
A bard captures the spirit of his time. This song was written in the 1980s (the first time I heard it was in 1987 when driving across Sasketchewan) but ilt…
Suburbs Grow Poorer around US Cities: Hard Times Are Another Argument against Urban Sprawl
Suburbs are different in Europe and North America. In the former, for the last century and a half they have been where the poor lived, chased from the center of…
My Song: Belafonte’s Memoir: Entertainment, Workers, and Social Justice
One of the best books I've read in recent years is Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes (Somebody Knows My Name in the US) It is the story of a…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Saturday Photo: From Zen to Wild Victorian on the Plateau
Sometimes the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In this case, the occupants of the first floor of this triplex from the end of the 19th century…
Down with Twitters, Or the Fracturing of Time and Culture
These days I don't seem to have enough time to do everything I want or need to do. Short cuts look quite attractive, in fact. But there is one that…