Teacher strike cancelled in Ontario On Jan. 9, Ontario Education Minister Lauren Broten imposed a two-year contract on teachers and support staff under Bill 115, a controversial anti-strike bill. Ontario teachers’ unions argue that the legislation is unconstitutional, and have declared their intention to contend it in court. Elementary school[Read More…]
Author: Admin
Haiku Reviews: Holiday Films
Chris Life of Pi Shot with utmost care, Every frame is priceless art; Beauty incarnate. The Hobbit One book—three films. Why? Jackson’s winded, winding tale: All filler, no fun. Zero Dark Thirty Steely, steel-cold work; Not war song, but elegy. Apolitical. Django Unchained Slavery and race Subject to Q’s mockery—[Read More…]
Back Page Spread
Photos by Alexandra Allaire.
A Valentine’s day sentence: an author’s fight for freedom
On the morning of February 15, 1989, two unknown men knocked on Salman Rushdie’s door. The day before, a mortally ill despot in Tehran had issued an edict condemning all those involved in the production of Rushdie’s most recent novel, The Satanic Verses. The Valentine’s Day fatwa concluded in a[Read More…]
McGill alumnus, marching to the beat of his own drum
You live in Upper Rez. You have an 8:30 a.m. class at the bottom of the hill and you’re just rolling out of bed at 8:15. You throw on your shoes, dash outside, and sprint down the steep, slippery, slush-covered University Street. As you slide into your seat in the[Read More…]
Where the wild things are
Landscapes have always been a natural muse for Canadian artists, and interpretations of such an inherently stable subject have always been a welcome challenge for those who want to capture its grandeur in a unique way. The Group of Seven painted vistas abstractly, but still captured the native beauty of[Read More…]
Strength of heart
Recalling my encounter with Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 campaign, I reflected on this healthy reminder to be a critically thinking consumer. For those who are not familiar with the experiment, KONY 2012 was a thirty-minute online video released in an attempt to make “an obscure war criminal famous”—that criminal being[Read More…]
(III): Crystal Castles
If Crystal Castles’ duo of Alice Glass and Ethan Kath danced near the edge of despair in their first releases, (I) and (II), in their latest effort, (III), they take the plunge. Producer Kath toys less with the bleepy 8-bit sound that characterized their debut, which had a threateningly manic[Read More…]
Hummingbird: Local Natives
Hot off their critically-acclaimed 2010 release Gorilla Manor, Local Natives return with Hummingbird, bringing with them a new sense of maturity and complexity. Although still possessing an authentic feel, Hummingbird presents a dramatic shift in sound, trading light, airy tones for heavy, intimate tracks that reflect the group’s coming-of-age. Nevertheless,[Read More…]
The New Familiar: Goldenboy
As the title suggests, The New Familiar delivers on its promise to be everything familiar in a brand new album. Goldenboy, led by vocalist and guitarist Shon Sullivan, have released four albums since first bounding into the spotlight with Blueswan Orchestra a decade ago. Blueswan Orchestra was re-released last month[Read More…]