Columns

Music Review—The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Artist: These Fast Times Album: The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions Montreal’s punk rock band, These Fast Times, have released their EP, The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions—tackling issues such as “substance abuse, mental illness, relationships and hard life choices.” The album is available anywhere you get your music…. Read more »

Dear Barb—An Anxious Ask

Dear Barb: Hi, I read your column every week and finally decided I should write in.  It can’t hurt, right?  I am writing about my anxiety.  I have suffered from anxiety for the last 3 years.  When the symptoms first surfaced I thought there was something seriously wrong with me, like a brain tumor or… Read more »

Local Shoutout—Toronto, Ontario

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) estimates potential permanent closures of up to 222,000 small and medium-sized businesses, depending on how the situation evolves.  That’s 21 percent of all Canadian businesses.  The corresponding job losses would range between 962,000 and 2,951,000 Canadian workers. While most of us are struggling financially right now,… Read more »

Fly on the Wall: Nevermind Netflix and Chill

Whether it’s child labour in Dickensian London—that time of Tiny Tim and coal dust smog—or modern sweatshops seething with repressed bodies and stultified minds, the outcome of the goods and services that propel our consumerist times is far removed from those who actually toil to bring us our pleasure.  This we know.  Few of our… Read more »

Beyond Literary Landscapes—The Immigrant Experience

From my early beginnings as a young introvert, the public library has always been a bit of a refuge.  Years later, not much has changed, albeit with an additional affinity for endless hours spent scouring second-hand bookstores to add to my ever-growing “to-read” pile. From one bookworm to another, this column will be underscoring and… Read more »

Homemade is Better—The Omelette

I realized that I don’t have a lot of breakfast recipes, so figured that we should start with something simple.  I’ve made the breakfast sandwiches, homemade sausage, pancakes, French toast, bacon and eggs in tin foil, and waffles—more complex dishes at breakfast.  But I saw a hole that needed filling with simpler meals that only… Read more »

Dear Barb—Cat Burgled

I am a single parent of two young children.  I do not have a lot of money, but I want my kids to have what their friends have so I try my best to get bargains.  I have made many purchases of toys and clothing and things from Kijiji and most items were as described… Read more »

When Einstein Wrote to Freud

Distance education provides academic intimacy between our daily struggles and pleasures and the reality that all of life is a lecture hall from which we may avert our gaze or take note.  When the cultural going gets tough, our academic critical thinking skills spring into action.  Theorists and tutors alike provide grist for our mental… Read more »

Beyond Literary Landscapes—Indigenous and Métis Literature

From my early beginnings as a young introvert, the public library has always been a bit of a refuge.  Years later, not much has changed, albeit with an additional affinity for endless hours spent scouring second-hand bookstores to add to my ever-growing “to-read” pile. From one bookworm to another, this column will be underscoring and… Read more »