This Magazine articles from September 2008

This Magazine archives from September 2008

We don't know Jack.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... James Laxer's heartfelt but misguided rant about the NDP only exposes his own lack of involvement in the battle of ideas necessary to win Canadians to progressive ideas. ("Look back, Jack," July/August.) Rather than complaining about the...

P3 pushback: re: "When private met public" (July/August).(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... This article overstates the extent of privatization through so-called public-private "partnerships" in Canada, saying that fighting them will be an "uphill battle." In fact, there's plenty of room for hope--and action. The article suggests...

Bloody good.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... I was forwarded "Notes from the underground" (July/August) by a fan group and very much appreciate it. I find myself in the slightly difficult situation of trying to find obscure, seldom-seen Canadian horror films to present at the film portion...

Good for what ails us.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Ellen Russell argues that the good old welfare state was not as good as it's remembered to be, that the reality never matched the rhetoric and that the left should move beyond mere redistribution of wealth to a more imaginative and deeper...

The times they are a-changin'.(Editorial)
September 1, 2008... BARACK OBAMA has graced the cover of what seems like every magazine in recent months, including Time, GQ, Rolling Stone, Ebony, Esquire, The New Republic, Vibe, The Economist, Men's Vogue. You get the picture; it's probably easier to name...

Carbon copying: Tim Harvey proves it's possible to go fuel free.(PROFILE)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TRACING TIM HARVEY'S ROUTE around the world is like trying to wrap your mind around one of those numbers with too many zeros: surreal and, in many ways, unfathomable. It's not so much that the Vancouverite completed...

Teaching genocide: one school board gets a lesson in definitions.(EASILY MISSED)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN THE TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD (TDSB) decided to add a Grade 11 course on genocide to its curriculum, its intention was to educate students about the violent realities faced through history by cultures around...

Harping on freedom.(WTF?)(freedom of information on records that are in the hands of the Prime Minister's Office )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... So far, 2008 has been a rough year for freedom-of--information access in Canada. In May, the reds killed the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System, an electronic list of nearly every filed access-to-information request. Then in...

It's the end of the world as we know it ...(GRAPHIC)
September 1, 2008... We humans are an unswervingly pessimistic bunch. Since almost the dawn of civilization, we've been trying to pin down the date for the apocalypse, only to be proven wrong again and again. Here are some of the more notable incorrect predictions...

Three ways to build a better human.(LIST)(latest technology to make the human body healthier)
September 1, 2008... THE HUMAN BODY: so soft; so fallible; so old-fashioned. In the 21st century, it's all about using the latest technology to make us healthier, smarter, faster, stronger. Below we look at a few enhancements that might soon be arriving at a...

Pop goes the world: can there be too many people?(WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ... OVER POPULATION?)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN 1968, Stanford University biology professor Paul R. Ehrlich declared, "The battle to feed all of humanity is over." Based on the 20th century's unprecedented population growth, he predicted the following two...

A way without the will: bad choices lead to bad outcomes.(ENVIRONMENT)
September 1, 2008... I never planned to be a specialist in environmental reporting. I started my career in journalism doing mostly straight science writing--articles that required the translation of scientific mumbo-jumbo into accessible language. Genetics,...

The way the world works: our economic future lies in the politics we play.(ECONOMICS)
September 1, 2008... Our economic future won't ultimately depend on dollars and cents, on budgets or taxes, on the ups and downs of the financial markets or even on technology. Ultimately, the economy depends on the political choices we make as a society. ...

On social movements: expect greater success for activists, but how much?("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)
September 1, 2008... I am astonished by how many progressive Canadians and Americans I meet who have fallen in love with Barack Obama and believe he is going to make massive changes to the U.S. government. Falling in love often leads to disillusionment, especially...

On election campaigns: expect Jack Layton to friend you on Facebook and other surprises.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)
September 1, 2008... While Barack Obama's campaign is redrawing the electoral playbook, Canadian political strategists are paying close attention to the Xs and Os. Both the New Democratic and the Liberal parties had members working as volunteers on Obama's primary...

On the oil sands: expect a slight decrease in U.S. demand.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)
September 1, 2008... In a June 24, 2008, speech, Barack Obama posed an important question, and one with significant implications for Canada's tar sands: "Each and every year, we become more, not less, addicted to oil--a 19th century fossil fuel that is dirty,...

On Afghanistan: expect pressure for an increase in Canadian troops.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)
September 1, 2008... I'm relieved at the prospect of a Barack Obama presidency. The neoconservatives will lose their grip on power. To some significant degree, the needless destruction, the horrors of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the disdainful, deceitful...

On Nafta: expect further waffling, wiggling and wallowing.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)(North American Free Trade Agreement)
September 1, 2008... As Canadians know, Barack Obama's position on free trade is a slippery one. In a rare role reversal, Canada made headlines in the United States back in February following the release of a memo suggesting that Obama's campaign-trail...

On race: expect Canadian politics to stay (mostly) white.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)
September 1, 2008... Let me begin with a confession: The phenomenon that is Barack Obama so fascinated me that I was left in the throes of a rather buoyant addiction to the U.S. Democratic primaries. CNN reports radiated from my television 24 hours a day. I...

What Obama means to Canadian cartoonists.("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)(Barack Obama)(Cartoon)
September 1, 2008... Cartooning is comedy, and comedy is about great duos. Political cartoonists know this and pray for an American president to contrast our Prime Minister in, if not ideology, personality. Bad example of a comedy duo? Mulroney/Reagan. Good...

On Anti-Americanism: expect less, but what will replace George W. to unify the left?("O" Canada: How would an Obama presidency affect us?)(George W. Bush)
September 1, 2008... For 50 years, the compass of Canadian politics has been broken. In other countries, there is left and there is right, progressive and conservative, social justice and inherited privilege, equality and inequality. In Canada, those axes have too...

Where the buffalo roam: why are Canadian farmers struggling to make a living when food is in short supply and prices are skyrocketing?(Excerpt)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's a missing story in every book. Guests the author desperately wanted at the dinner table but who didn't fit in, for whatever reason. In retrospect, the reasons seem lame--not enough chairs (or chapters), not...

After "the apology" with the launch of our Truth and Reconciliation commission on residential schools this fall, Canada joins the ranks of countries such as East Timor and South Africa, struggling with human rights violations too big for the courts. It will span five years and cost $60 million, but will it help?
September 1, 2008... Lyna Patrick perches precariously on a tall chair and sips herbal tea. With her black hooded sweatshirt and purple-streaked hair, the 33-year-old UBC premed student looks at home in this crowded East Vancouver coffee shop. I sit down...

The bitter warmth.(Fiction & Poetry)(Short story)
September 1, 2008... GORGEOUS SHE WAS. STUNNING. HE FOLLOWED HER, followed her the way a down-and-outer, in raw weather, follows a dark-suited businessman smoking a cigarette. Not to pounce on the butt, which will almost certainly be crushed under a thin-soled...

The Eclipse Chaser.(Two Poems)(Poem)
September 1, 2008... THE ECLIPSE CHASER Always got a soft spot for your first: Kenya, 1981, six minutes of nirvana packed into my noggin and parcelled out over the worst of my everyday-open houses for fixer-uppers, clients'...

Admittance.(Two Poems)(Poem)
September 1, 2008... ADMITTANCE Slipped into with a breast stroke, twill tape tied at the nape, if nimble enough, around your waist. The rear gap, a fig leaf, lets in an emollient breeze. Hospital gowns, the colour of semi-private, of night's...

Flying.(Two Poems)(Poem)
September 1, 2008... FLYING I look around at the passengers, a mixture of folks and lawyers all heading to Winnipeg on a Wednesday night. A young girl offers me the seat beside her, palms open, fluttering. Language left back on earth. ...

To the Point.(Two Poems)(Poem)
September 1, 2008... TO THE POINT To the man who listened to the sun as if it were an orator along the path to freedom To the long saga of his beard that began in the Middle East To the open door of the lake To the sailboats...

As seen on TV: Toronto video artist changes the channel.(PROFILE)(Tasman Richardson)
September 1, 2008... SOME CLIMB MOUNT EVEREST, some swim the English Channel and some venture to the moon. Tasman Richardson's quest is to capture the sun. The Toronto-based video artist is working on a project that will blanket a room with artificial rays of...

Where's Waldo?(HIDE AND SEEK)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... WHEN FORMER EMILY CARR ART student Melanie Coles finished her graduation project earlier this year, she made headlines from Japan to Brazil. Coles has installed an enormous image of Waldo on top of an unnamed Vancouver building. The...

Hard truths in "A Softer World".(WEBCOMIC)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "STRIPS HAVE THAT SAMENESS of rhythm that haikus have," observed Canadian cartoonist Seth. He was talking about Peanuts, but he might well have extended his comment to A Softer World, a webcomic that artfully...

Jeremiah, Ohio.(READ THIS)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Adam Sol Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2008 "WHEREFORE CAME I FORTH out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" So asks the biblical Jeremiah, who bears the Lord's word but is tormented by...

Changing places: character development, American style.(TELEVISION)
September 1, 2008... Thee fictitious cable-access show known to the world as Wayne's World may have put Aurora, Illinois, on the popculture map, but that was not its original home. The story goes that Mike Myers set it there because he needed an American equivalent...

E-bama: why Barack is the kids' new bicycle.(WEB)(Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle website)
September 1, 2008... "You're into border security, let's break this border between you and me," sings the sultry Obama Girl in the satirical music video viewed 9 million times on YouTube, "I got a crush on Obama." The internet sensation may be expressing the views...

Little lessons: Cory Doctorow's 1984 homage is too cool for school.(BOOKS)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Cory Doctorow, the Canadian sci-fi superstar, has a parallel international career as a very public defender of freedom. Doctorow's books, by any standard, are bestsellers, reaching a huge crossover audience of both geek and non-geek varieties....

Are we poor vet? Reading the signs of economic downturn.(THEN & NOW)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1919 THE SKIRT-LENGTH INDEX: Anthropologist A.L. Kroeber publishes the ornately titled "On the Principle of Order in Civilization as Exemplified by Changes of Fashion," which argues, rather obliquely, that women's...