Ford Shutdown
Peter Stockland
November 19, 2013
Why? Because Rob Ford is one more excuse for the Toronto media, and Torontonians at large, to talk about themselves Will the Toronto media ever deliver this message? Not on a bet ...
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Caricatures and Blame Games
Ray Pennings
November 15, 2013
It's as much about helping those who are not poor feel better, delegating their compassion through government programs For those on the conservative side of the spectrum, the political dimensions of poverty have not always been handled well ...
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Honking for Hats
Peter Stockland
November 14, 2013
Even as enormous political thought, energy, and activity were being put into overseeing the kind of hats Quebecers are allowed to wear in various circumstances, I could see nothing but the sea of bumpers of the cars of my fellow citizens: none of us able to move more than an inch or two per hour The...
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The Democracy of the Dead
Doug Sikkema
November 13, 2013
Eliot in "Tradition and the Individual Talent," a landmark of modernist thought, conceived of our "historical sense" in spatial terms In fact, it's usually during this time of year that I'm reminded that many students' historical consciousness begins and ends with World War Two, that unforgettable p...
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The Upside-Down Moral Economy
Phil Reinders
November 11, 2013
The giving of mercy to Rob Ford is the healing that might prevent us from finding ourselves one day in the same space Mayor Ford now inhabits "Blessed are the merciful," says Jesus, "for they will receive mercy "What about justice? Where is the accountability? Isn't mercy a free pass when something ...
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Remembering How?
Brian Dijkema
November 11, 2013
Give thanks to those who fought and died in pursuit of that freedom ...
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Law Good, Virtue Better
Brian Dijkema
November 8, 2013
The Prime Minister is Right Honourable; cabinet ministers are Honourable; the Senate is a house of Honour; Mayors are called Your Worship In this sense, our frustration with our politicians is less their adherence to the law, but more what we rightly see as a lack of political honour ...
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Standing by Words at Home and Abroad
Doug Sikkema
November 7, 2013
When asked if Ford's private affairs inhibited his ability to run a public office, many of the Ford Nation rallied to their leader's defense If there is a great divorce between private and public, we shouldn't be surprised that Ford's public language serves a very pragmatic end (staying in public of...
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Muddled in the Middle
Ray Pennings
November 6, 2013
Homo dependicus is hardly a slogan that they would admit to, but is likely to be the premise around which they appeal to middle class voters Therefore, instead of a raft of policies that require voters to think of themselves either as poor or benevolent to others who are poor, the NDP policy platfor...
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Creature Comforts, or Putting the Past Behind You
Peter Stockland
November 5, 2013
In fairness, my late cousin, a lifelong Montrealer who died far too young five years ago this month, used to argue persuasively that the 1998 ice storm put an ice pick through the heart of the separatist movement Those who persisted afterward in promoting separatist ideology were either neurotic gru...
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Everybody and Nobody
Kathryn de Ruijter
November 4, 2013
Emergence is the way in which small and simple actions or interactions create a very complex system or structure Steven Johnson, guest on the show and author of the book Emergence, proposes that neighbourhoods are organically created by a series of small accidents, what he calls 'swerve' ...
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Transcendent Humans
Doug Sikkema
November 1, 2013
Less than a hundred years ago, infant mortality rates were higher, life expectancy was lower, and the reality of world wars and influenza epidemics rarely left a family untouched from the gluttonous maw of Death—and for such developments we can thank the developers of biomedical technology In a rece...
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What's next: December/January issue of Convivium
Julia Nethersole
November 1, 2013
Find out what's coming up in the next issue of Convivium.
He argues that this novel continues to reveal fresh meaning even 5 years after Wallace's suicide ...
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Allies or Enemies? I don't buy it
Naomi Biesheuvel
October 31, 2013
But what stood out to me were the surprisingly astute questions the Guardian posted to encourage commenting from the general public: "Is Morrissey right in refusing to pigeonhole his sexuality? Is our sexuality simple enough to be confined to binary categories? Does it change over time? Are there be...
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Championing a Cause the Countercultural Way
Peter Stockland
October 30, 2013
Since last Thursday, Michael Van Pelt, Ray Sawatsky, and I have accompanied Paul Donovan, the principal of Montreal's Loyola High School, on a six-city tour ...