The Figgs
The Figgs are a family ripe with dysfunctionality—all adult children live at home, working dead-end jobs, and their bickering is full of profanity. Yet parents June and Randy Figg remain [...]
Jay Smith
Jay Smith
Dropout
Having your child drop out of school is a parent’s worst nightmare. Avery, Leslie Gavel’s eldest daughter, did just that. She was smart, from an engaged, middle-class family, in French immersion, [...]
Overhauling Everything Schools Teach Kids
On one of Edmonton’s warmest days in early April, NDP education critic Deron Bilous knocked on the office door of Education Minister Jeff Johnson. Bilous held a thick stack of papers—a petition [...]
Beyond Books
Each morning, David McMain tries to get to work an hour before he officially starts. But he doesn’t head straight to his office at Edmonton’s Stanley Milner library, where he is an outreach [...]
Out with the Old
On a sunny autumn afternoon, pedestrians walk up to the edge of Edmonton’s 115th St, where steel girders separate the road from the edge of the hill. The view is tremendous: overlooking the lush [...]
The Possibility of Hope
Before she died, Anna Kessler was a promising scholar of Kant. She left Cornell University in 2004 to complete her doctoral studies in philosophy at the University of Alberta. Charming, talented [...]
Boomcare
Two years ago, when her maternity leave from a government job expired, Krista McFadyen found herself smack in the middle of Alberta’s childcare crisis. Wishing to stay home with son Lakaya, but [...]
MOST READ
MOST READ
Oil Sucks
I’m an addict. I use oil. We all do. That’s how we’ve wired our economy. But the fact that we’re hopelessly hooked doesn’t mean we shouldn’t confront the issue. The first step, after all, is admitting you have a problem.
Addicts don’t make rational choices. They specialize in denial and ignore ...
Should Private Schools Get Public Funding?
Joel French, the executive director at Public Interest Alberta says no.
Our province has Canada's most generous subsidies for private schools. Setting aside those private schools serving children with special needs, many of which fill gaps in our public systems, the Alberta government spends $110-million per year subsidizing private schools. This ...
On Track to Graduate
If you come on this side,” says Keyshaun Mountain Horse, “one of our students drew a design to intimidate our opponents.” The profile of a skull wearing a feather headdress is drawn in black felt pen on one of the robot’s side panels. The Blackfoot word “iikakiimat” is printed underneath ...