Dead Parrot
Nostalgia consists of sentimental longing for a time with pleasant associations. Think of a party where boomers sing Beatles songs and someone recites Monty Python’s dead-parrot skit. The [...]
Cranes On High
Calm September days can feel almost surreal in central Alberta. A sleepy stillness lies over the aspen groves and prairies. Time seems suspended. That breathless autumn beauty surrounded me the [...]
Thin Power:
Andy Marshall’s study of James Rodney Winter Sykes, Mayor of Calgary from 1969 to 1977, has more perspective than most books about landmark political careers. As Marshall recounts, when Rod Sykes [...]
Searching for Petronius Totem
Peter Unwin’s new novel, Searching for Petronius Totem, is a grand and bewildering off-road trip into Canadian weirdness. A dystopian kitchen sink domestic drama by way of private-eye-era noir, [...]
One Day We’ll All Be Dead
Intuition says that personal essay should come easily to authors who’ve grown up in the Internet age. What better incentive to hone your craft than a constantly connected audience hungry for a [...]
Tar Wars:
From an outsider’s perspective—in my case, glancing in from Saskatchewan—it remains a mystery as to why the government of Alberta’s messaging about the oil sands often misses the mark. Or, [...]
Profile: Tsuut’ina Nation
Some call it “the great upheaval.” It started back in November 2013, when the Province of Alberta signed an agreement with the Tsuut’ina Nation to build an extension of Calgary’s Stoney Trail—the [...]
In Focus: Alberta Craft Council Calgary
The Alberta Craft Council has at last realized its goal of creating a physical presence in the southern half of the province. The council, which was founded in 1979 and operates Edmonton’s [...]
Baba’s Other Children
Last summer Deron Bilous, Alberta’s minister of economic development and trade, announced 2016–2017 would be the year of the Ukrainian-Canadian. Weeks later he declared that every September 7 in [...]
Head Bangers
Tristan Rice didn’t remember the hit. He didn’t remember much of the rest of the game either, only that sometime in the third quarter one of his fellow offensive linemen asked him, “What the hell [...]
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Reducing the Harm
It's a little after 10 o’clock in the morning and Taylor feels like she’s climbing the walls.
When her name is called and the door to Lethbridge’s supervised drug consumption site buzzes open, Taylor moves quickly on her crutches. She settles into a chair at the second booth from the end ...
Should All Drugs Be Decriminalized?
Hakique Virani says yes.
Twelve-step addiction recovery programs teach that it is irrational to “do the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” This should be a lesson for legislators too. As the 4,000 Canadian families who lost a loved one to an opioid overdose last year know, our ...
Holy Healthcare
Just tell them we don’t have it here.” That’s what the nurse told me in Killam Hospital, an hour east of Camrose. I’d asked what would happen if a woman came into our ER asking for the morning-after pill. The nurse wasn’t being self-righteous, but simply explaining the policy.
As ...