Edge of the Edge
You wake up. You’ve received a phone call. Disoriented, you fight sleep and attempt to make sense of what the voice on the other end of the line is telling you. You discover that your [...]
By Clem Martini
Mental Health
Mental Health
The Turquoise Sea
As though nostalgic for his Manitoba boyhood, my father points to his beloved hunting rifle. Transforming his fingers into a silent trigger, he touches his temple and says, “Sometimes I want to [...]
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 [...]
By Jay Smith
Pushed to the Edge
There are two things you never want to have happen to you. One of them is to suffer a mental illness. The other is to suffer a mental illness and try to get admitted to a hospital. The problem is [...]
By Clem Martini
The Healing of Angela Bischoff
For the past few months, activist Angela Bischoff has been parked in front of her laptop, working around the clock in a small room at a house she shares in Toronto—checking e- mails, confirming [...]
Conundrum of Kites
You suicides are all alike: too strong an imagination. You did what you did, now shut up. — Samuel Beckett My 13, 1987. Six weeks left of high school, six more weeks until we were free. That day, [...]
By Sophie Lees
Tryin’ to get to Heaven
Sometimes you need to be in the hospital. Sometimes no other place—not even your own place—feels safe. In the hospital you can find that secure holding environment that protects you from your [...]
By Larry Pratt
MOST READ
MOST READ
Perpetual War
I have always tried to avoid getting into arguments with Alberta premiers. After all, as a journalist it’s my job to question politicians, not quarrel with them. But sometimes premiers seem to want to get into arguments with journalists.
In 2006, for example, I got into a verbal tussle with then-premier Ralph ...
Heritage Trust Fund
A decade ago, when Alberta was debt-free and staring at a $7.4-billion surplus, Premier Ralph Klein decided it was time to spread the wealth. He announced that every person who lived in the province—and, as it turned out, more than a few who didn’t—would receive a cheque for $400 as ...
Kenney’s First 100 Days
On August 7, 2019, Premier Jason Kenney gave a press conference announcing his government’s progress over its first 100 days—“promises made, promises kept.” There’s no magic in “The First 100 Days.” It’s an arbitrary construct used by the media and political observers to measure how a new political leader is ...