Gender
I don’t remember the first time I heard about “period panties” and like everyone who menstruates I was immediately both curious and slightly horrified. What do you mean, a change in my habits? I’m not ready to change those. I’m 53 and nearly 2/3 years old
Gender
As I wrote elsewhere, transfeminine professor of law and bioethics Florence Ashley’s first book, Banning Transgender Conversion Practices, was nothing short of a rhetorical tour de force. “The subject matter is not easy, given how emotional people can get when it comes to providing affirming care to trans and
Urbanism
A short note today, because 1) it’s summer and 2) I am preparing to compete (!) in Ultimate this weekend, first competition in anything since Worlds in karate in 2018 I’m not nervous at all and 3) I am working on two longer pieces for you that should be
Culture
You know me and my mild obsession with the nature of work and trying to puzzle out why some people insist on doing the absolute most mind-bendingly stupid thing which is to force every single working person to work in exactly the same way regardless of what they do or
Politics
In the Ottawa Citizen this week I go back to that unfortunate episode where the people managing the Carp Agricultural Society got hoodwinked into renting some space to nasty right-wing extremists. And I say it’s up to all of us in the mainstream political space to occupy as much
There are days when it’s hard to shake the feeling that this city is actively trying to discourage people from not using personal cars for everything all the time. For instance, nobody would accept a city not investing enough in infrastructure for vehicles. If safe parking for cars was
Politics
A shorter post this week as everyone including self is hard at work preparing to spend some of the weekend resting, in-between various house and back yard chores. Vacations, a wise friend once said, is just a reorganization of when the work happens. It doesn’t make the work disappear.
Urbanism
Showing my age with this one, no doubt. But what better time to discuss snow and winter safety than in the middle of a scorching heat dome of a heat wave? Also the Northern Pikes are among the most under-rated bands this country ever produced. Fight me. But seriously: I
Politics
This week I've got two very different kinds of violence on the mind. Political and culinary. One is totally funnier than the other. Let’s start with the political. Everywhere you look you see an increase in toxicity and the kind of nastiness that drives good people away
Politics
Thank goodness for minor opposition parties, I guess, for bringing back a much-needed adult tone to what is, inarguably, a very serious discussion. Elizabeth May, leader of the two-member Green Party, made good use of her security clearance to look at that famous unredacted report about parliamentarians who, we hear,
Politics
In mid-April, perhaps in the grip of seasonal affective disorder or some other blight, I decided to add my email address to the sending lists of all federal political parties. Well, except the Bloc because they don’t have a sign-up form on their website. I follow their news using
Urbanism
On Monday I watched a presentation by a group of housing experts on the benefits of pre-fab infill as one of the key solutions both to the housing crisis and also that little climate emergency thing. The BuildingIN program is two-fold: It includes a new simulation tool to test the