This Magazine articles from September 2001

This Magazine archives from September 2001

Not much choice.
September 1, 2001... ELIZABETH DIDN'T SEE DIAPERS IN HER FUTURE. THE 26-YEAR-OLD Fredericton woman went to her doctor to get an abortion. Instead, she was quizzed about her ability to use contraceptives (the condom failed), the status of her relationship (there no...

Don't stand on guard - get down: (gender-neutralizing O Canada).
September 1, 2001... IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED, THE FAMOUS 5 Foundation's long overdue petition to gender-neutralize "O Canada" will culminate this autumn when Senator Vivienne Poy introduces a bill calling for the federal government to 86 "sons" from the lyric "in...

Part of our heritage: (government aid for the arts).
September 1, 2001... CHANCES ARE SHEILA COPPS ISN'T THINKING of the Rougemont, Quebec-based Pilgrims of Saint Michael when she talks about getting Canadian stories into the hands of Canadians. The Department of Canadian Heritage (DCH) supports newspapers and...

How to get (think) tanked.
September 1, 2001... IF THERE'S ONE THING CONSERVATIVES DO really well, it's get their message out. In the post-war period, the right has established a remarkable number of well-funded research institutes aimed at influencing the media and policy-makers. These...

Who wants to tax a billionaire?
September 1, 2001... IN 1996, WHEN REPORTS SURFACED THAT Revenue Canada had allowed one of our nation's wealthiest families to transfer billions of dollars out of the country tax-free, many Canadians reacted to the news with a world-weary sigh. Tax loopholes for...

My own private lo: (Dennis Hope's company claimed uncontested ownership to the surface of every planet and moon in the solar system).
September 1, 2001... LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. DENNIS M. Hope has taken one small step for man and one giant leap for the real estate industry. Hope is the founder of a company called the Lunar Embassy (where his official title is "The Head Cheese"). In 1980,...

Re-run nation: with the digital and satellite revolution comes the promise of unlimited choice up and down the television dial. ... why, in a 500-channel universe ...(is it) more of the same.
September 1, 2001... IT'S SPRING IN HULL, BUT THE AIRLESS CONFERENCE room I find myself in exudes none of that season's spirit. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and sombre, more like a fall funeral than a long-awaited rebirth. I'm here to attend license renewal...

There's power in a vacuum: city politics don't have to suck.
September 1, 2001... A COUPLE OF YEARS BACK, OFFICIALS IN CANADA'S LARGEST CITY got it in their heads that if Toronto was going to become the New York of the North, it was going to need a Times Square. The proposal: a grotesque knock-off at the corner of Yonge...

Within the city limits: Progressives have long under-estimated the power of local politics ...
September 1, 2001... The process has been a powerful demonstration of the potential of many generally marginalized people to participate in the governing of their cities. Its success has inspired a wide range of activists, especially within the anti-globalization...

Local heroes: (six ways to make your city better).
September 1, 2001... Portland, Oregon's Lents Town Center and Interstate Corridor are what you call "neighbourhoods in transition." They're primarily working class areas that are gradually being colonized by the upwardly mobile, fixer-upper crowd. Rents are on the...

You say your want a devolution: retreating into local government is no way forward for the left.
September 1, 2001... IMAGINE THIS: THE CANADIAN ALLIANCE, STUMBLING, BEATEN AND humiliated, decides to barbecue Stockwell Day, write off the whole parliamentary mess and redirect its energies into supporting candidates for municipal governments across Canada. The...

2001 Great Canadian Literary Hunt.
September 1, 2001... CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE 2001 GREAT CANADIAN LITERARY HUNT POETRY WINNERS 1st prize ($750) Joelene C. Heathcote "Wild Birds Landing" 2nd prize ($500) Steve McOrmand "As If" 3rd prize ($250) ...

Wild birds landing.
September 1, 2001... Ipoda chonsa are the words for beautiful angel. Two months of my darting down to the tarped fruit shack across the alley for a mickey and a thin box of crackers. I don't linger long--a perilous white bird ...

Spring the chick.
September 1, 2001... My sister and I were Lying on our bunk beds. I had the top. We were still awake. How many is this now? she asked. Six, I said, six nights in a row. That's the most, she said. The most so far, I said. I was 12, my sister...

As if.
September 1, 2001... They mattered, those years: a one-streetlight town, wheatfields far as you could see-- Saturday night, half-tons cruise Main Street, farmhands lighting up the tires, steering with their big fat penises. ...

Moth girl.
September 1, 2001... THE AVERAGE PERSON IS OBLIVIOUS TO THE UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL NATURE OF MOTHS. Delicate, soft and gentle, moths are very special creatures. There are over 10,000 species of moths in North America. In pursuit of Mothdom, a would-be moth or...

Those things they wanted.
September 1, 2001... FROM THE DARK BELLY OF THE KITCHEN, HE HEARD THE SOUND OF HIS own voice going through the receiver, gently. The voice on the other end was one he liked, but that afternoon it sounded wounded. From where he stood, against the oven, he saw...

Parris Island: U.S. Marine Corps recruit depot.
September 1, 2001... One-legged sanderlings reflect on flat wet sand and counter the cold, heads tucked in. The neap tide crosses the bar at last. The birds, black eyes and beaks on brief alert, scuttle to a sate retreat, and hide behind...

Gas: Chris Brown.
September 1, 2001... Musicians, especially in Canada, aren't generally known for their political fervour. But that didn't stop singer/songwriter Chris Brown from engaging in a little musical activism: he's compiled GAS, a benefit album to help pay the legal costs...

Poor-bashing: the politics of exclusions.
September 1, 2001... If, by chance, you run out of reasons to get riled up about inequities in Canada, Jean Swanson's POOR-BASHING: THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION (Between the Lines) should sort you out with a few more. Swanson, an anti-poverty activist, not only...

(Sandy Plotnikoff's art with socks).
September 1, 2001... As you read this article, only one thing is required of you--that you think of socks: Are your feet bare or are they clad in sports socks, toe socks, trouser socks or glittery hose? Are all of your socks happily coupled or is there a bag of...

(Leftist newspaper The Republic of East Vancouver).
September 1, 2001... Vancouver, home to Greenpeace, grow-ops and Wreck Beach, is a world of its own. Glorifying this "otherness" is the scrappy, lefty, fortnightly indie newpaper THE REPUBLIC OF EAST VANCOUVER. East Van is the only area in British Columbia that...

(Performance artists: (return of the live biennal of performance art).
September 1, 2001... When the first performance artists hit the streets of urban Italy a century ago, a pissed-off public, alarmed by the "revolutionary" antics, threw fruits and veggies grabbed off nearby market stalls. These days, small-scale stagings generally...

Highway to hell.
September 1, 2001... MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATE NORTH AMERICA'S MASSIVE SUBURBAN explosion with the end of the Second World War, as returning veterans settled down to a calm, domestic life in graciously appointed split-level ranch houses. Contrary to popular belief,...