“In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.” Who said it?
John, Elizabeth, Rielle and the dumpster fire at the end of the world
There’s a train rolling to a stop just outside of town. It’s a long train, and each flatbed carries 20 dumpsters. Each dumpster is filled to overflowing with nuclear waste and flaming […]
Nota Bene #103: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse
“To take people from the music world and give them the same kind of credibility that you give me, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker—that’s like an aberration. I know there’s some […]
The Best CDs of 2009: the Album of the Year, and the Band of the Decade
Propping up hate
by Ann Ivins I’ve been thinking with increasing irritation about that perennial conundrum-within-an-enigma-which-actually-isn’t-that-difficult-at-all: the separation of church and state, this time in the context of gay marriage. The issue becomes more annoying […]
Getting democracy right one restaurant at a time
You’re going to find this outrageous. Last week, the wife and I went out for dinner to a new restaurant in our neighbourhood. The food was awful and the service insulting. Afterwards […]
Nota Bene #99: Heed the Peace Gnome
“You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you’ve got music.” Who said it?
Democracy & Elitism 4: equality, opportunity and leveling up the playing field
Part 4 in a series. Pulitzer- and Emmy-winner William Henry‘s famous polemic, In Defense of Elitism (1994), argues that societies can be ranked along a spectrum with “egalitarianism” on one end and “elitism” […]
Democracy & Elitism 2: performance elitism vs privilege elitism, and why the difference matters
Part 2 in a series. “Elite” hasn’t always been an epithet. In fact, if we consider what the dictionary has to say about it, it still signifies something potentially worthy. Potentially. For […]
Newspaper circulation falls again: Expect more cuts
If you were a newspaper subscriber last year, there’s a 10 percent chance you aren’t this year. That’s because paid circulation of daily newspapers nationally fell more than 10 percent from a […]
