A shorter update this week as I juggle a few big projects and associated looming deadlines. I will be able to share a few of those projects soon. They’re fun, I promise. My Ottawa Citizen column this week is about skating — in Ottawa and in Huntsville, Alabama. Well, mostly
I like to joke that there’s only one man I put a helmet on for, and that’s true enough. I don’t do any ring fighting anyone, except with one friend who’s earned the privilege through grit, discipline and good cheer. In 2015 I was a second-degree
When the colossally stupid three-days-in-the-office federal policy came into effect in September I occasionally saw in my various social media feeds complaints from people who couldn’t find parking downtown. I thought it was weird. Difficult to believe, even. Aren’t there six thousand gazillion places where one can temporarily
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I discuss the Point in Time Count — a national exercise to get a reasonably accurate picture of homelessness in Canada. I agree we need solid data. It’s important to know how people end up unhoused, or in precarious housing. It’s also
Five years ago I wrote a series on “Healthy Ottawa” that included a column on reusable containers. It was before the pandemic and a few stores allowed customers to bring their own clean-and-empty containers like mason jars to buy certain items like bulk noodles or coffee beans or spices. The
Some weeks writing a column is fun and some weeks it’s even funner. This week I got to talk with Canadian comedian Ron James, live from his Toronto condo. He’s coming to Ottawa for a show at the Meridian next week (buy tickets!) and what better opportunity to
Not to show my age or my dirty mind or anything, but when I hear the word sponge I immediately think of Elaine in episode #119 of Seinfeld. But today I am interested in even better sponges than that — the ones that turn urban parks into extraordinarily useful green infrastructure
Gerald Butts is a very smart man, a clear writer and a fine thinker. So when he writes something eloquent about a subject on which I know a lot, I pay attention. But I also want to offer a slightly less panicky take on all the things. By way of
There are weeks when it seems there are no limits to the number of zany ideas people come up with, including (in no particular order), digging a tunnel under the 401 in Toronto to add lanes of traffic because there’s no way the existing 20 or so are enough,
This one is just in French, because the platform to which I am referring is 100% in that language. It is a new initiative by the Assotiation des auteur.e.s de l’Ontario français to promote the work of its members, francophone literature in Ontario as well as help
[English follows French, be patient.] Il y a des affaires qui sont tellement nounounes que mon vieux fonds franco-québécois revient au galop et s’accapare la place qui lui revient pour les démantibuler sans merci. La patente à gosse du maire nocturne d’Ottawa me casse les pieds quelque chose
One of the coolest parts of my work is to get advanced copies of books I’m dying to read and tell you what I think of them. Carolyn Whitzman’s excellent Home Truths in one you won’t want to miss when it becomes available in a couple of
Urbanism
There’s a lot of talk in Ottawa these days about whether our transit system is going to hell super fast or is entirely fucked already. On a good day it barely works — if by “works” one means getting people to where they’re going in a reliable manner that
Politics
Like her or not, Kamala Harris is a woman who knows who she is and works hard to do what she thinks is best and if there is anything that sets toxic men’s teeth on edge it’s a woman who doesn't need their approval for, well,
Parenting
One of the best aspects of homeschooling, other than freedom and flexibility to explore what interests your kids and the opportunity to take breaks when it’s nice outside or go on trips with your kids and a better sense of how they are progressing and plenty of other cool
Urbanism
Not to boast, but I’ve spent the last year and a half heroically navigating, on my trusty and very dependable comfort bike, the living hell that is the area around where the new central library is being built. The part where Scott turns into Albert, specifically. First the old
Urbanism
Because I travel lots and never not have a camera with me, I decided to start collecting great examples of people-friendly places and tell their stories. I opted to make it a different website because a) it’s more narrowly focused than this one and b) my hope is to
Urbanism
Labour Day weekend is here and in addition to the yard work I didn’t do all summer I’m planning to finish reading two books and finally get around to spring-cleaning the front closet. You could say I’ve had a busy 2024 so far, and not just because
Politics
What a week, my lack of god. It’s been difficult to focus on what’s happening here given the excitement of the big convention in Chicago and the sense that finally we’re getting over the doom and gloom of having two very old white dudes fighting for a
Gender
Any time someone is dumb enough to get into an argument with me about gender-affirming care it ends in stunned silence when I point out that if we are to ban it we’ll have to start with boob jobs, penile implants and Viagra. Oh yes, it totally is the
Parenting
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I tee up the Canadian Ultimate Championships, which start Sunday in Ottawa. It’s giving me a great excuse to talk your ears off about why frisbee is so cool. But since not everyone is as obsessed as I am with this one
Gender
Have you recovered from the Great Olympic Trans Scare of 2024 yet? Or are you a normal person who doesn’t freak out because some women look slightly different than others? The Algerian boxer who defeated the Italian one was the stronger fighter in that ring Thursday. That’s not
Urbanism
It is indecently hot and sticky this week and no, that didn’t stop me from running and kickboxing and frisbeeing and generally sweating buckets. It’s vacation time for many people and as we head into the August long weekend (who cares what it’s called or why?) and
Urbanism
When I took Eldest to Paris in April one of the things she remarked was how easy it was to move around without a car. The picture above was taken in the fourth arrondissement somewhere near a thrift store she wanted to visit and where, incidentally, she did purchase something.