This Magazine articles from January 2006

This Magazine archives from January 2006

Cargo sweet.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... I am still shaking my head after reading Alex Roslin's well-written article about cargo sweeping ("Sweeping It Under," September/October). Incredible. Ron Medcalf Havelock, Ontario

Alberta the great.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... Just a comment on what a great job lain Ilich did on "Alberta the Good" (September/October), in which he talks about Alberta's new electronics recycling program, the first of its kind in Canada. We know that Albertans are very supportive...

War: what is it good for?(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... In Jon Elmer's article, "A New Kind of War" (September/October), he describes Canada's shift in political and military policy as going "more Gaza, less Battle of Britain." From an air force perspective, one can think of this shift as necessary:...

Personal personnel.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... I am disappointed that This Magazine would publish personal information about a United Church minister based on a fellow minister's "passing" knowledge ("Organized Religion," July/August). That sounds a lot like gossip to me. And I am...

Forty is the new 30.
January 1, 2006... * Forty years ago the average person was one inch shorter and 25 pounds lighter. * Forty hours is the average amount of time people who work 35 hours per week jobs actually work. * In the United States, the richest one percent of...

Bloomfield betrayed: municipality sides with mould.(toxic mould contamination)
January 1, 2006... SUNLIGHT BATHES the plants in Suzanne Swannie's kitchen, where she sits with fellow Halifax artist Jim MacSwain, a contrast to their wilted spirits. In July, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) shut Swannie, MacSwain and over a dozen other...

Spendstrong: why charity bracelets confuse the issues.(THIS & THAT: INFORMATION, INSIGHT & INNOVATION)
January 1, 2006... Wristbands, those technicoloured trend items, seem to be everywhere you look lately--but is the message being spread one of compassion or consumerism? Plastic charity bracelets, popularized by Lance Armstrong's enormously successful Livestrong...

The overtime sting: journalist flies above the radar.(Kerry Diotte accuses Edmonton Police Service of misconduct)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... When Edmonton Sun columnist Kerry Diotte wrote an article criticizing photo radar, the last thing he expected was personal retaliation from Edmonton police. But two days after Diotte described photo radar as a "cash cow," staff-sergeant Bill...

A highway runs through it.(British Columbia government plan to expand highways )
January 1, 2006... A British Columbia government plan to radically expand highways around the Lower Mainland has angered community groups, environmentalists and even municipal politicians. The Vancouver area has seen population growth and an economic boom...

Surprise party: how to plan a fabulous election.(THIS & THAT)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... When you're not the party in power, gearing up for the next election involves more than fundraising, keeping in touch with constituents and deciding which candidates to run. It involves speculation over when the election will be called, and,...

Attention transit riders: how much bus are you getting for your buck?(THIS & THAT)
January 1, 2006... Love it or hate it, public transit is an integral part of urban Canadian life. For tow-income people, buses can be the only way to get to and From the necessities of life--work, health care, education, friends and family. For the more affluent,...

If you build it, will they come? Getting taken for a ride by grand transit plans.(THIS & THAT)
January 1, 2006... Mega-project: Richmond-Airport-Vancouver (RAV) line (TransLink, Vancouver) Rail-based rapid transit line linking downtown Vancouver to the suburb of- Richmond and the airport. Construction began in late-2005 and is scheduled for completion...

Trustworthy? Are income trusts a social programs cash-suck?(ECONOMICS)
January 1, 2006... WILL RETIREES HAVE TO EAT CAT FOOD IF THE GOVERNMENT messes with income trusts? The financial industry would have you think so. A well-choreographed barrage of protest is depicting income trusts as essential to the retirement security of...

We're here we're square, used to it! From the Christian Right to the language of the left, Heather Gold explores a new kind of identity theft.(HUMOUR)
January 1, 2006... SOMEDAYS, DO YOU THINK THE LEFT HASN'T INFLUENCED anything? Race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity... you know the list. Identity politics gave the Left a structure for the (post) modem progressive movement. It also...

Free to be, CBC.
January 1, 2006... Over a thousand Canadians have sent Canadian Broadcasting Corporation president Robert Rabinovitch emails asking him to resign. Thanks to an email initiative begun in November, part of advocacy group Our Public Airwaves' (OPA) Campaign for a...

High finance: Canadians spend almost as much on cannabis as we do on tobacco. With $1.8 billion in domestic sales alone, where does the money go? This Magazine takes a hit off Bud Inc., a work that has the whole country buzzing.(Ian Mulgrew interviewed)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... Once, years ago, before I quit pot just to annoy my roommates, I was lying on the floor of a Brixton, UK, council flat, completely wrecked. I, the world's most sentient chunk of lead, managed to ask my host, "What did I just smoke?" and,...

Invisible threat: how can a real-life pandemic compete with the avian flu of our imaginations?
January 1, 2006... In September, US Senate majority leader and Republican Bill Frist warned in the Washington Times that H5NI, or the avian flu, while "invisible to the human eye" could kill as many as 200 million people globally. "We cannot afford inaction,"...

The man the tree, the tribe & the loggers: Vancouver-based writer John Vaillant's The Golden Spruce, which recently won the 2005 Governor General's Award for Nonfiction, highlights the tension between myth and reality and tours the razor's edge between capitalism and collapse. Meet the man behind the story of the one-in-a-billion tree.
January 1, 2006... Earl Einarson, a 54-year-old tree faller, expressed the logger's conundrum as honestly as anyone. "I love this job," he explained, gesturing toward the wild chaos of the old-growth forest he was in the process of levelling.... "I like walking...

The Heart is a lonely long-distance runner.(3 poems)(Poem)
January 1, 2006... the Heart is a lonely long-distance runner You were such a lucky boy, but you wanted to be luckier. Range-fed and tight-boxed. You climbed trees to knock out the baby crows. Your stick play: legendary. Your backwoods talk:...

Hausfrau.(3 poems)(Poem)
January 1, 2006... Hausfrau 1. Women decorate with an eye to how the world should be. Mother of Pearl, Arms of Mary--what is worse than the dresser-top detritus of a man? His clutter is driving me mental. While he works out of town I...

Tearing down the West.(Ali Riley)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... Ali Riley's first book, Wayward (Frontenac House, 2003), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She has been a playwright, an actor and the singer/songwriter of the psycho-country band Sacred Heart of Elvis. Ali was the...

Snow White Spills.(3 poems)(Poem)
January 1, 2006... Snow White Spills (Anaheim. 1999) Welcome to Over-Stimu-Land. I'm sick of it all--the herky-jerk Lincoln that makes the kids cry, the vomitous primary colors of my outfit, the free samples of icky sticky gelatin brought...

The Mouths of Babes.(FICTION)
January 1, 2006... IN THE SUMMER BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND GRADE, I dared Becky Morton to eat the dog turd we'd found on the Griffins' front lawn. It was late afternoon. The sun shone warm and sleepy on the nutty sausage at our feet. I sat down opposite Becky....

The great infiltrator: Jeff Chapman's work authorized others to open doors in their cities.(ARTS & IDEAS: THIS IS INDEPENDENT CULTURE)
January 1, 2006... NEW YEARS BEGIN with the standard sets of resolutions, but by mid-January or early February the roads are clogged with brownish snow and one can't help looking back. In late summer 2005, a true originator was plucked far too early from the...

I, Robot: nothing mechanical in Maggie MacDonald's Kill the Robot.(ARTS & IDEAS)
January 1, 2006... "I've been known to refer to our national literature as 'banal realism,'" Maggie MacDonald warns, acknowledging the harshness of the statement. "So much Canadian literature has this written-at-the-cottage, for-the-cottage feel to it. I'm...

Degrassi nation.(Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Michele Byers' Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures (Sumach Press) is a collection of 16 essays contributed by both scholars and fans of Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, and Degrassi: The Next Generation. For 25...

Iron-on Constellations.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Iron-on Constellations by Emily Pohl-Weary (Tightrope Books) A fitting 54 pages long, Iron-on Constellations is a collection of sweet, sometimes stark poems. A DIY tour de force as editor of hip lit zine Kiss Machine and also the Girls Who...

Showbiz.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Showbiz by Jason Anderson (ECW Press) For those who can't handle the truth, there are alternate universes much like our own except the names have been changed to protect the innocent. In his debut novel, Toronto writer Jason Anderson...

Independently yours: Paul Jay has a plan to make TV what it was meant to be. But Diane Peters asks: is bias so easily banished?(ARTS ARGUMENT)
January 1, 2006... PAUL JAY TALKS TV NEWS FROM A BLACK LEATHER CHAIR IN HIS overstuffed downtown Toronto loft. With his black wire-rimmed glasses, cropped salt-and-pepper hair and loose grey sweatshirt, he looks every bit the left-wing intellectual. But Jay waxes...

The new queens of noise: for Calgary's Kilbourne, it's all about the sound ...(MUSIC)
January 1, 2006... No matter what its strengths, female-fronted rock has always run into tough opposition. Despite the reverence of women in jazz, country and hip hop, women in the alternative scene have always been met with skepticism. Audiences can be quick to...

Dirty debutantes: while for Montreal's Ladies Luncheon, it's all about the fun.(ARTS & IDEAS)(Column)
January 1, 2006... When I saw the primped trio trotting around their hometown during the Pop Montreal festival, I anticipated another po-mo pom-pom spoken word grrl effort, but I was entirely wrong. Formed by the common bond of a middle name, Ladies Luncheon...

Aliens reveal important messages: there's more to sci-fi than meets the eye.(BACK STORY)
January 1, 2006... REPORTS OF STRANGE OBJECTS in the sky, often described as vehicles of some kind, go back nearly as far as recorded history; but modern UFO sightings entered the public consciousness through a wave of incidents in 1947, associated at the time...