Urbanism
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I say the revitalization plan for the ByWard Market is good but could be much better — mostly by designing it to be 100% people-centred instead of business-centred and by putting teenagers first, for instance by having a large space devoted to thrifting and
Urbanism
This week in the Ottawa Citizen I make a very simple case. One, I’ve had it up to here with the unreliability of transit in this town and two, knowing I’m far from alone, I’m saying it’s time to be the squeaky wheel and let OC
Urbanism
You’d think it would go without saying that we shouldn’t leave humans to freeze to death on a street corner in a society as rich as ours. My column this week shouldn’t have to be written. Solving chronic homelessness is a difficult challenge but making sure no
Politics
Are you recovered from the shock? Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the black-belt level in #canpoli cynicism. I mean, gah. Even the wind was being theatrical Monday morning. The opposition parties just lost their best argument. No wonder they all want an election right away. They will totally continue to try
Urbanism
My fav trainer at my kickboxing gym offered to let me write some of my 2025 resolutions for the wall of same we’re apparently building out and I said, dripping sweat on the floor as I stretched, “Nah, I don’t make resolutions. I make plans.” He liked it.
Urbanism
It’s the time of year when we (royal) enjoy looking back on all that effort and the stuff that survived the editing process — mourning in passing the brilliant jokes that didn’t, perhaps because they weren’t so brilliant — and come up with lessons learned that, ideally, inform the
Fiction
There was nothing to be done, the Air Canada person insisted with a face that lied about how sorry she was pretending to be. They had missed their connection to Nashville during the time it took them to go from D34 to F63 via yet another security check and a
Fiction
It was a simple plan. Fly to Ireland, compete in a karate tournament, stay an extra day to visit the graves of various ancestors in an around Belfast, fly back home. There was no need to get lost anywhere. We arrived earlier than expected, because our flight was one time
Culture
It is rare that I am ahead of the style curve like this but I have been finding ways to compliment at least one person a day for years. Some days it’s easier than others. Like it helps if I go outside at all. On writing days, it’s
Politics
Typically, when you need access to acute care in this country, you get it no problem. It’s the routine stuff that’s an issue. Millions of us don’t have a primary care physician and essentially no access to basic primary care except for routine vaccinations in schools or
Urbanism
I wrote my Ottawa Citizen column on the OC Transpo documentary I told you about last week. I interviewed the filmmaker. He’s as surprised as everyone else by the reaction. Last Monday, Dec. 2, was Rosa Parks Day and my beloved Huntsville, Alabama, marked the occasion by offering free
Gender
Every year, for 35 years now, we remember their names. Women who were killed by a violent misogynist just because they were women. He separated the women from the men and killed them. He blamed women for everything, including his celibacy. I remember the massacre. I watched on television as