This Magazine articles from September 2004

This Magazine archives from September 2004

Great ideas.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... When I read the editorial "Great ideas wanted" (July/August), some ideas occurred to me. I don't fall into the 21-to-29 age group, being nearly 74, but even though I voted in every election for which I qualified I'm tempted to become one of the...

From Delaware, with love.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... As a recent visitor to Salt Spring Island--and as a citizen of-the United States--I have to say that Grant Shilling's story on the Americanization of Salt Spring Island hit a nerve ("Yankee, go home!" July/August). When I'm not busy making...

Secular humanism is not a religion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I enjoyed Katharine Wright's feature on the "liberal resistance" in contemporary religious communities ("I want to believe," May/June). But Evan Munday's sidebar "Shopping for Salvation" contained some significant errors. First, it is true...

In defence of The Corporation.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I see in your July/August issue that several people have given the reviewers of The Corporation (book and film) what for, but I'd still like to put in my two cents worth. Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter did not merely disagree with the...

Lords of the old dogma.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I was excited to hear that This Magazine was running a feature on subcultural urban tribalism, until I read it ("Lords of the new church," May/June). The inclusion of this uninspired piece is a rare lapse in judgement for This. The article has...

Science "war" really more of a discussion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I read "Science fiction" by Clive Thompson (May/June) with great interest. Though his heart is in the right place, I am not sure on the details. He says (to paraphrase) that smart scientists will always accept the conclusions of a...

Pay what you can.(This Magazine)(Column)
September 1, 2004... I can sort of understand why bright young journalists are so eager to work as unpaid interns at progressive publications like This Magazine. After all, I volunteered my services as a copyeditor for a few years (while still working full-time)...

Sex and the syndicated girl: why Josey Vogels is too hot for Halifax.(This & that: information, insight & innovation)
September 1, 2004... EVEN SEX COLUMNISTS HAVE TO WATCH their mouths these days, as Josey Vogels discovered when The Daily News of Halifax spiked her long-running column for rubbing readers the wrong way. In a world where there's more sex on TV and in movies than...

Over the falls in a trash can.(This & that: information, insight & innovation)
September 1, 2004... As tourism grows in Ontario's Niagara Region, with new hotels and casinos built each year, so does the amount of garbage. According to Walker Industries, which operates one of the region's landfill sites, almost three-quarters of all garbage...

Minority report.(This & that: information, insight & innovation)
September 1, 2004... Long before June's federal election results were in, the outcome seemed inevitable: despite Paul Martin's best attempts at dragging his heels in calling an election to try and garner more support among voters, he would convene Canada's first...

Invest in yourself.(This & that: information, insight & innovation)
September 1, 2004... As a recent university graduate, I finally have a full-time job and am making a decent living and paying more attention to how I spend and invest my money, to the jeers of many friends who say I've turned into a capitalist now that I have a...

Wage slaves: how to stop high-end magazines from using sweatshop labour.(Media)
September 1, 2004... It's astonishing to me how something that is righteously condemned as an evil practice when it occurs in a remote corner of the world can be tolerated and, indeed, even celebrated, right here in Canada. When Canadians read or heard...

No status, no service--no more: why Toronto should change its tattletale approach to social welfare.
September 1, 2004... When Wendy Maxwell Edwards was sexually assaulted by a security officer in 2001, she reported it to the police, which set in motion a series of events that almost saw her deported. Partway through the trial the Crown decided her testimony...

Get your act together.
September 1, 2004... The recent federal election was the first road test for Canada's new political fundraising rules. Unfortunately, the drive was not kind to the Elections Act, demonstrating that serious loopholes in the law must be closed. Last year, Bill...

What magazine?(This Magzine)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... We began life as This Magazine is About Schools in 1966, when the publication was, well, all about schools. In 1973, we broadened our focus and shortened our name. You can imagine how challenging it's been ever since to introduce This Magazine...

Smoke 'em out.(University of Toronto's Ontario Tobacco Research Unit)(Big Tobacco)
September 1, 2004... You have to wonder what the staff at Canada's medical schools are smoking, At least one quarter of the schools have accepted money from Big Tobacco to fund their operations, according to a study conducted by the University of Toronto's Ontario...

Layton's last hurrah: the charismatic NDP leader fell far short of an unqualified electoral triumph. But as kingmaker to the minority Liberals, Jack Layton wields enormous power. And that could be the party's salvation--or his personal downfall.(New Democratic Party)
September 1, 2004... IT'S A WEEK BEFORE ELECTION day, and the York Event Theatre in Toronto is filled with middle-aged New Democrats waxing nostalgic and rocking out to protest songs from the '60s. The theatre is a sea of orange and green signs, carried by...

Man trouble: what's a modern man to do in an age of rapidly changing expectations? The most beleaguered rebel by questioning themselves; others simply blame women. Welcome to the frontier of male disaffection.
September 1, 2004... AS A BLISSFULLY MARRIED AND, like to think, reasonably well-adjusted man. I must own up to a certain obliviousness to the so-called struggles of my gender. I appreciate that there are men who feel aggrieved. I sympathize, but I can't relate....

Crossing the line: three years after September 11, has it finally become acceptable to make outrageous statements again? How patriotism stifled freedom of speech.
September 1, 2004... FIRST THING UP IS A SEVERED HEAD--YOUNG GUY'S obviously a punk because he's wearing a spiky blink-182 hairdo. The head is suspended slightly above the hoarding that has sprouted like industrial strength weeds along Washington Street. My wife...

My last visit to Lester's.(Fiction)
September 1, 2004... I HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO GET HOLD OF MY REGULAR DEALER, A worldly earth-mother type I'd met through a friend of a friend. She was a grandmother, endlessly knowledgeable about all types of plants and flowers, and had no end of hilarious stories...

To do.(Poetry)
September 1, 2004... TO DO can't seem to keep up with things all the day to day things that demand attention like laundry groceries phone bills cleaning the endless dirty dishes ...

Oral pleasure.(Arts & ideas: this is independent culture)(Oral sound art)
September 1, 2004... When was the last time you read a work of fiction and every single word jumped off the page to slap and tickle you and you, well, liked it, and wanted more and more? Paul Dutton's latest work, and first novel, Several Women Dancing (The Mercury...

Moore is better: why must the left apologize for its own propaganda?(Arts & ideas: this is independent culture)(Cheap tricks)
September 1, 2004... DURING A RECENT LONG DRIVE THROUGH NORTHEASTERN United States, I spent a few happy hours listening to the frothing weasels of right-wing American talk radio. I do this whenever I drive in the US, out of a rhetorician's "know thine enemy" ethic....

The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed.(dare to conform!)
September 1, 2004... On eco-friendly consumerism "For many activists the main problem with consumerism is the fact that it is bad for the environment. Paper, or plastic? Choose paper bags, and you kill trees. Choose plastic, and you help stuff our landfills...

Girl power.(Arts & ideas: this is independent culture)(Superheroines)
September 1, 2004... Like many of the contributors to Girls Who Bite Back, I grew up on a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons, Smurfs and Strawberry Shortcake. When it came to biting back, the only superheroes and ass-kicking role models I had were Wonder...

LD: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver.(Read this: the best of the Canadian small press)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... LD: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver By Daniel Francis (Arsenal Pulp Press) On the strength of-his reputation as "an ordinary man representing ordinary folk," Louis D. Taylor was elected mayor of Vancouver eight times between...

Borders Matter: Homeland Security and the Search for North America.(Read this: the best of the Canadian small press)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Borders Matter: Homeland Security and the Search for North America By Daniel Drache (Fernwood Publishing) The title distills the essence of Drache. The early Canadian nationalist, critic of free trade, eminent globetrotting political...

Catch and Release: Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life.(Read this: the best of the Canadian small press)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Catch and Release: Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life By Mark Kingwell (Viking Canada) Perhaps his best book, Catch and Release is a memoir of sorts, built around a fishing trip to Kelowna, British Columbia that Kingwell took a few...

Big bank theory.(Arts & ideas: this is independent culture)(Bank Of Victoria)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... For those of us who struggle in the art of finance, Bank Of Victoria is here to make it all right. The cheeky brainchild of Montreal's Victoria Stanton, the project got its start as a way of helping a friend in debt. "I hated seeing him suffer...

The Hidden Cameras, Missauga Goddam (Evil Evil).(Hear this: off the beaten track)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Seeing Toronto-based art-folk band The Hidden Cameras perform is a lot like having sex. You never forget your first time. The band's shows include tighty-whitey clad go-go dancers, unconventional performance venues (churches, porn theatres) and...

Stirling, Northern Light (popguru).(Hear this: off the beaten track)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... I was lucky enough to catch Toronto-based quartet Stirling's performance at this year's NXNE festival There was definitely a buzz about the band--and there should be. With their Brit-pop influenced sound, Stirling should get some of those...

CBC Radio 3 Sessions Vol. 1 (CBC Records).(Hear this: off the beaten track)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... I have to confess that I'm addicted to all things CBC Radio, so I was happy to have my habit fed with this compilation featuring some of the best CBC Radio 3 sessions from the past few years. The Can-con compilation is like a who's who...

Persian persuasion: Hossein Derakhshan on how the internet has changed Iran.(Question Authority)
September 1, 2004... WITH HIS FRIENDLY COUNTENANCE, PLACID VOICE AND unerring kindness, the last thing you'd expect Hossein Derakhshan to be is an agitator. But put him in front of a web-enabled laptop, and this mild-mannered fellow becomes a political pitbull. A...