Travel
Not to boast, but on Tuesday I drove all day in order barely to move on the map. I left Ottawa, fresh McD coffee in the cup holder, at 3:43 am and arrived at the spectacular July 4 lineup on the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit just after
Travel
It’s five in the morning and I haven’t had a coffee yet. That’s why I’m here, at this 24-hour venue where I know the bathrooms are clean and the coffee is OK. Ish. “GOOD MORNING MA’AM” she yelled as the automatic doors opened to let
Parenting
People often ask how they could become a ninja like me. That’s easy, I say. You could train like a maniac for 20 years. Or you could carry a cooler up the hill to your island cottage and walk nose-first into a spider web. Nothing sharpens your reflexes like
Culture
Si vous avez déjà dépassé un autobus scolaire vous serez familier avec la façon dont les enfants s’expriment devant des adultes qu’ils ne connaissent pas. Ce n’est pas toujours poli. C’est bien normal et sain pour les enfants de tester les limites de leur monde. Leurs
Urbanism
John Bauters is the mayor of Emeryville, California (pop. 12,870 as per the 2021 census). (And other interesting parenthesis: in California mayors are not directly elected but chosen by council.) Emeryville is not far from San Francisco. I’ve never been to it, but I sure want to. I
Urbanism
When the City of Ottawa sent a press release, both in French and English, to inform us that the mayor and a few councillors had gathered merrily together to mark the beginning of Construction Season I could not help myself. I guffawed. “This is satire begging to be written,” I
Urbanism
Every time a right-of-centre “sensible” politician suggests burning trash I want to scorch the garbage bag that held this putrid inanity. Like, the fuck. We don’t need to burn garbage. We need to make less of it. Why do we still have to explain this in — checks notes — 2023?
Culture
When they write the obituary of the COVID-19 pandemic there will be a chapter in there somewhere about how it got us, through gritted teeth and lots of resistance, to move away from a model of labour relations derived from a century-old American legislation to something better suited to highly-educated,
Culture
The other day I took Middle Child to the movies because A) that child loves movie theatres and B) they’re actually such a keen observer that they’re secretly doing half the reviewing and note-taking work that I wind up using. Just don’t tell the kid. They’ll
Urbanism
You know Ottawa has its ridiculous moments, but I never thought they’d go through with this … idea? [Source, because even I can’t make this shit up.] It’s clear we no longer have any fucking clue what to do to revive the desiccated corpse that is downtown Ottawa.
Urbanism
Ottawa is experiencing a housing and homelessness crisis. We’ve known that for a while. Years, even. It’s not just the people who can’t afford a home at all. It’s also the people who struggle to make ends meet even though they do have stable jobs with
Culture
There are school plays that one only likes, sort of, because one’s personal offspring is in them. Many of us have, er, enjoyed a few of those performances over the years. It can be hard for me, especially when it comes to musical theatre. I’m a musician and