GSAs…Here we go again
Last Thursday Mr and Ms Soapbox joined hundreds of Calgarians protesting Mr Kenney’s plan to out kids who join gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in schools. The question on everyone’s mind was…
Culture
On Milton Acorn, on his birthday, Canada’s People’s Poet
Today was the birthday of Milton Acorn, the People’s Poet, who lived rough, and died before he was eligible for the Old Age Security, even under the old rules. For…
Islamophobia is practically enshrined as public policy in Australia
Cronulla Riots, 2005 • Photo by Wade Laube The worst terror attack in New Zealand’s modern history took place on Friday, and the alleged perpetrator is an Australian. Appropriately, this…
A Little Story About Character
Sometimes it’s the little stories that move us. Last week Mr and Ms Soapbox attended a fundraiser for Rachel Notley. It was hosted by a group of Calgary lawyers at…
The politics of the popular
Photo by Justin Sullivan When pop star Taylor Swift took to Instagram and endorsed two Tennessee Democratic candidates in the U.S. mid-term elections, it had an immediate effect. Swift encouraged…
We’ve Destroyed the Planet, Let’s Leave Something Beautiful Behind
We’re presently living in the anthropocene and it’s all our fault. The effects of industrialization will be felt for thousands of years to come and be evident millions of years…
Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Eric Levitz exposes the unsoundness of the right-wing excuses for allowing the accumulation of obscene wealth. And Toby Sanger weighs on the effect…
Goodbye, Information Age
“Say goodbye to the information age: it’s all about reputation now,” is the headline of an article by Italian philosopher and professor Gloria Origgi, published recently on Aeon Magazine’s website.…
Gilgamesh four thousand years later
Gilgamesh continues to enthrall us, even after more than 100 years of translations and interpretations. The story continues to be told and retold and even re-imagined. There’s even a children’s…
On Arguing Facts
It never ceases to amaze me how often I’ll be writing or thinking about something, and then the perfect articles drop in my lap. It might help that I’ve been…
Dialectics of Christmas
What is the true, revolutionary meaning of Christmas? In this article, originally published in the Christmas 1969 edition of Black Dwarf, Fred Halliday analyses the dialectic of Christmas in which…
One Million B.C.(E.)
You can’t help but chuckle when Tumak runs down the rocky slope to battle the baby Triceratops (about the size of a Sheltie) and ends up rolling in the dirt…
The slow death of media credibility
A story in the recent issue of New Republic opens: “A decade of turmoil has left a weakened press vulnerable to political attacks, forced into ethical compromises, and increasingly outstripped…
Has Jason Kenney Evolved?
The Up Series is an amazing documentary that follows the lives of 14 British children over five decades. The children were interviewed every seven years starting in 1964 when they…
Baby, It’s Politically Correct Outside…
I must have travelled to another universe because when I awoke, the world had gone mad. Radio stations were pulling a popular, rather over-played, 74-year-old, playful holiday song because some…
The Mummy, the remake and the re-imagining
Nineteen thirty-two. The year Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, was published. The Great Depression was at its worst. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Pres. Herbert Hoover to become the…
Why Carpay’s Comment About the Rainbow Flag Matters
“History can familiarize, and it can warn.” – Timothy Snyder On Thursday Mr and Ms Soapbox attended Rachel Notley’s Octoberfest in November event. In her speech, Premier Notley mentioned that…
Wrong Universe – NaBloPoMo Day 8
My mum was a brilliant woman. So was my grandmother. So is my aunt. So is my other aunt. It’s pretty cool the amount of brain power all the wymmyns…
Hello Ottawa!
Ms Soapbox is on her way to Ottawa. There’s a good chance she’s in the air right now squashed into a tiny little seat trying to figure out why her…
Blinders – NaBloPoMo
Sometimes I’m positive the dog has the right idea. Probably this is why people started keeping their domesticated animals in their houses with them; they saw reflected in their animal…