This Magazine articles from September 2006

This Magazine archives from September 2006

Private eyes.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) believes that Jim Trautman's "Barring Disaster" (July/August) is biased, inaccurate and completely devoid of any real contribution to the criminal justice debate...

Legal eagles.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I enjoyed your article about activist lawyers ("Legal challenges," July/August) I am a recent U of T Law grad and I am one of the only people in my class who went on to do social justice work in my articling year. I was lucky enough to be...

Ahead by a century.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I'm writing to comment on the bald story and Americans' reluctance to accept bald women ("Unbearable baldness of being," May/June). I am a bald woman, not a lesbian, not a cancer patient and not a political freak or anything, in fact I am very...

Right side of the bed.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I read with interest your excellent description of the hotel workers' struggle in Toronto, ("Behind the bedsheets," July/August). I hope links will be made with the recent successful campaign in Montreal. You mention a workload of 16 rooms per...

Oh, those Russians.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... In Andrew Potter's article "We're Going to Stalin World!" (May/June 2006), the author argues that the explosion of "Commie Tourism" in the Former Eastern Bloc is an attempt to create a niche market in the global tourism industry. While I agree...

Music to my ears.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Wow. I just wanted to say thanks for an interesting read ("Much ado about nothing," July/August). I grew up watching MuchMusic and I have noticed how much it's changed--for the worst. Interviews used to go a little deeper than they do now....

Lost in the bathtub.(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... I admit it--I'm addicted to Maisonneuve magazine's MediaScout. The e-digest of stories from Canada's major media helps me keep up with what's going on in the (news) world, and verify each day that it didn't end while I was sleeping or glued to...

Queen Bee-I-T-C-H: Canadian Daily Show correspondent hasn't lost her sting.(THIS & THAT: INFORMATION, INSIGHT & INNOVATION)
September 1, 2006... SAMANTHA BEE'S BABY DAUGHTER, Piper, has just attempted to swallow a plastic blowfish. "It's so adorable; I wish you could see it," she says over the phone from New York. And then, referencing an earlier exchange about the technological...

Canadian broadcasting corpse?(THIS & THAT: INFORMATION, INSIGHT & INNOVATION)(Canadian Broadcasting Corp.)
September 1, 2006... In the year since the CBC lockout began, the situation at the ever-beleaguered Mother Corp has only gotten worse, prompting widespread calls for the cash-strapped public broadcaster's management to re-evaluate its priorities. In April CBC...

Blog log.(THIS & THAT: INFORMATION, INSIGHT & INNOVATION)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... This Magazine brings you a window into the wonderful but overwhelming world of the blogosphere. This time around: JOURNALISM BLOGS In a media landscape where journalists are overworked and a few massive companies own most news outlets,...

Number one threat.(peeing is dangerous)
September 1, 2006... Your pee is dangerous. Canadians are exposed to thousands of chemicals each day, and according to the June 2006 Environmental Defence report Polluted Children, Toxic Nation, our bodies are home to such lovely substances as stain repellents,...

Harper index.(THIS & THAT)(Stephen Harper's government )
September 1, 2006... Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government survived its first parliamentary session, which ended June 22. From supporting Israel's assault on Lebanon to Harper's refusal to attend the AIDS conference in Toronto, the federal government...

Progressive detective: investigating the politics behind everyday things.(THIS & THAT)(most suitable pet food)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Q Is it possible for my cat or dog to eat a vegetarian diet and stay healthy? A Pouring beef bits into a pet's bowl can certainly be an unsettling experience for vegetarians who would prefer to extend their dietary choices to their beloved...

And now a word from our sponsor: how PR gets onto TV news.(Public relations)(Video News Releases )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Newscasters are disguising promotional Video News Releases as real news, a recent US study found--frightening, considering VNRs are also attractive to Canadian stations, understaffed and under pressure to pump out information. The study,...

Whose space? Taking over a social networking site is harder than it looks.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... For those worried about corporate ownership of the web, Rupert Murdoch's foray into the online world probably doesn't seem as ominous now as it did when he bought MySpace in the summer of 2005 for US$580 million. The ridiculously popular...

Dateline Rwanda: free the presses!(Allan Thompson)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication wants to ensure Rwanda's media will never again pump out the kind of hatred that helped fuel the 1994 genocide. This year the school dispatched 13 Canadian journalists and...

The Dominion: some day its print may come.(Dru Oja Jay)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... For at least 30 years, corporate ownership of Canadian newspapers has been enough of a problem that journalists, academics and royal commissions have cried out for a daily newspaper of record that is independently owned and democratic in its...

And then there were two ... CHUM takeover gets mixed reviews.(THIS & THAT)
September 1, 2006... At the top of the business news charts on July 12 was Bell Globemedia's $1.7 billion acquisition of CHUM Ltd. The company, founded by Allan Waters in 1954, had grown from a legendary Toronto top-40 station to a string of 33 radio stations, 12...

Wal-Mart's war on wages: US big-box retailer takes surprising stance on staff pay.
September 1, 2006... CONCERNED ABOUT CANADA BUYING INTO WAL-MARTIZATION--the low wage, anti-union approach to doing business? You may be interested in a curious development from the United States: The latest critic of Wal-Martization appears to be Wal-Mart. A...

The other one: the ultimate media monopoly show.
September 1, 2006... THE SUMMER OF 2006 WAS A DARK TIME INDEED FOR OUR national public broadcaster. It bet the bank on an American reality show/talent contest hosted by edgy[TM] CBC poster boy George Stroumboulopoulos and, fresh out of the gate, it was proclaimed a...

Playing dirty: coming clean on climate-change spin-how the PR industry sold the "made in Canada" solution to global warming.
September 1, 2006... "The federal government is rushing to ratify the Kyoto protocol," intoned a velvety female voice from our television sets, in November of 2002. "They want to sign it now and work out the details later. Who signs a contract without knowing the...

What's the frequency, Gwyneth? Why more women's voices are being broadcast on community radio.(women radio broadcasters)
September 1, 2006... The history of women in mainstream radio--especially private broadcasters--is depressing, noted feminist and media activist Judy Rebick. "Women were excluded from on-air positions in radio for a long time because it was thought that their...

The internet: a survival guide: everything you need to know to waste your time on the World Wide Web.
September 1, 2006... My introduction to the internet came in my final year of university, in 1995, by way of my roommate Dave. He explained to me that he could now receive written messages from his classmates through his computer--instantly. This seemed...

2006 Great Canadian Literary Hunt.
September 1, 2006... This year marks the 10th anniversary of This Magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt. It's always been important for the magazine to publish new, emerging writers and that's why we started the contest. Each year we search for amazing poets and...

The Montreal trip.(Short story)
September 1, 2006... Jenna says she recognizes the diner. They were 18, driving up to Montreal for a weekend trip. Jenna was teaching sailing at the marina and still wore the plaid shirt and paint-spattered jeans she had put on to fibreglass hulls that morning. If...

In Praise of Beauty.(POETRY * 1ST)(Poem)
September 1, 2006... In Praise of Beauty --after Karen Solie What we see shapes our imagining. Poetry, clothes, a pop star's swagger. Cologne in glass bottles. A man with eyes the colour Of a eucalyptus leaf turned over. ...

Hapless girl with a port wine stain on her left cheek.(Short story)
September 1, 2006... Missy's weeping when Clay leaves for school in the morning and she's still at it when he gets home in the afternoon. She weeps in the shower, sitting cross-legged in the bay window, when the foghorn blows, when it doesn't. Rain beats against...

A Recently Rediscovered Note from a Girlfriend.(Poem)
September 1, 2006... A Recently Rediscovered Note from a Girlfriend My purse hates you. I asked it and it hates you. Don't ask me why. I took a poll of the contents and they don't like you either, not all of them, not much. ...

More fruit.(FICTION * 3RD)(Column)
September 1, 2006... Every week, I go to an office above the bird store to talk to Madame La Shrink, a doctor with a long French-Polish name I can't pronounce. I slump on the upholstered couch and talk. She perches on a leatherette swivel chair and writes, her...

My Parents' Past.(POETRY * 3RD)(Poem)
September 1, 2006... My Parents' Past These days I move across the country, a pendulum east to west to east, skimming the southern rim and staying on my side of the line. Monday night phone calls, my parents ask when I might come south to visit...

Making airwaves: radio artist redefines the medium.(Anna Friz)
September 1, 2006... SOUND AND RADIO ARTIST ANNA FRIZ IS ALWAYS THINKING inside and outside of the radio box. And her most recent project is the most ambitious yet: a massive performance piece with 55 radios and four FM transmitters for the Radio Revolten festival...

It takes a hip-hop village: Montreal collective goes global.
September 1, 2006... HIP-HOP ARTIST TALIB KWELI ONCE SAID, "THE BEAUTIFUL THING ABOUT HIP-HOP is that it's like an audio collage," and Montreal-based hip-hop collective Nomadic Massive is bringing those words to life. The nine-member group is a veritable hip-hop...

Print for prisoners: zine targets jailed activists.(Jaan Laaman works for 4strugglemag)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... AMERICAN ACTIVIST JAAN LAAMAN may be in prison in Massachusetts, but his ideas, and those of other political prisoners, are free to circulate via a zine he edits called 4strugglemag, a unique publication with a Canadian connection. When...

Google never forgets; a cautionary tale.(ARTS ARGUMENT)
September 1, 2006... WE ALL HAVE ONE, BE IT A MOTHER, a well-meaning grandparent or a particularly mischievous college buddy. They're the people who insist on sharing embarrassing stories--which are invariably supported either by a gallery of photographs or a...

The Fighter.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... FICTION The Fighter, by Craig Davidson (Viking Press) In his fascinating and highly detailed description of the shady, underground world of bare-knuckle boxing, Craig Davidson shows he's got the writing chops to take on the...

Social Acupuncture: A Guide to Suicide, Performance and Utopia.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... NON-FICTION Social Acupuncture: A Guide to Suicide, Performance and Utopia, by Darren O'Donnell (Coach House Books) Part aesthetic manifesto, part play script, and all provocation, Social Acupuncture demands and rewards your critical...

Types of Canadian Women, Volume II.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... POETRY Types of Canadian Women, Volume II, by K.I. Press (Gaspereau Press) The first volume of Types of Canadian Women, a biographical dictionary, was published in 1903. K.I Press's Volume II is not a sequel but an ironic response. Its...

Punk begins at 50; Nomeansno takes the show on the road.(ARTS & IDEAS)(All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt)(Sound recording review)
September 1, 2006... WEST COAST PUNK ROCKERS NOMEANSNO HAVE JUST released their first new full-length CD in six years. All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt is their tightest, most musically satisfying album since 1989's Wrong. Drummer John Wright and guitarist Tom Holliston...

The beige 01, the beige.(Sound recording review)
September 1, 2006... The beige 01, the beige (Independent) From the opening track of the beige's first release, appropriately labelled 01, it's apparent that this Vancouver quintet is no gang of inexperienced players. Members of the beige have done time in...

Secondathallam, Andre Ethier.(Sound recording review)
September 1, 2006... Secondathallam, Andre Ethier (Paper Bag Records) It's been said that Andre Ethier was born before his time. The second solo release from the front man for the rowdy Toronto outfit the Deadly Snakes, Secondathallam is a collection of simple,...

Gang of Losers, The Dears.(Sound recording review)
September 1, 2006... Gang of Losers, The Dears (Arts & Crafts) With their third full-length album, Gang of Losers, Montreal's The Dears continue doing what they do best: creating music that reflects the messed-up side of society. Sounds like a downer, but The...

Flunking out the schools: web watchdogs target university brands.(BACKSTORY)
September 1, 2006... TRY DOING A WEB QUERY THROUGH YOUR SEARCH ENGINE of choice using the name of a university--any university. You will invariably be overwhelmed with thousands of hits, announcing new faculty being hired, new programs being launched, new...