The Summerworks funding cut may be the first of many from the federal government

, June 29, 2011

Toronto’s annual Summerworks theatre and music festival has just lost its funding from the federal government’s Department of Canadian Heritage. The annual grant, which would have provided an estimated $48,000, represents about 20% of the total budget for the festival, which is scheduled to begin in just a few weeks. Critics of the announcement suggest […]


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You ought to read “Bomb the Suburbs”

, June 29, 2011

This one is a bit of an underground classic. It’s a collection of stories, essays and cultural critiques by Billy Wimsatt, an author, activist and future political organizer from Chicago. You can preview it if you like, courtesy of Google Books. First published in 1994, the book and its subsequent promotional tour generated a cult […]


Posted in You Ought to Read |

Link of the Day: Dress for Success

, June 29, 2011

“The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. “Founded in New York City in 1997, Dress for Success is an international not-for-profit organization offering services designed […]


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Link of the Day: Re-Cycle

, June 28, 2011

“In Britain,” the Re-Cycle website says, “millions of bikes are thrown away or lie unused in sheds, whilst many people in Africa have no access to transport of any kind. People spend hours each day walking to collect water, firewood or to access health care, school and employment. A bicycle lightens this burden and dramatically […]


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David Frum: “I was wrong about same-sex marriage”

, June 27, 2011

My opposite-sex wife sent me a link this morning to an opinion piece on the CNN website by journalist and former Bush speechwriter David Frum. Fourteen years after a lengthy debate with fellow conservative Andrew Sullivan on the issue of same-sex marriage, Frum is now compelled to argue that he was wrong to oppose it. […]


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AIDS Walk Update: 22% of my fundraising goal achieved

, June 27, 2011

Many thanks to Toby Milton for his generous donation this week! It’s been a little less than three weeks since I signed up to do this year’s AIDS Walk for Life, and I’m glad to say that we’ve already achieved 22% of my goal of raising $1,000 for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. Get on […]


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Link of the Day: mybackyardtree.ca

, June 27, 2011

You may have seen the ads on the subway for mybackyardtree.ca. It’s a campaign that’s just been launched by OPGBiodiversity, which is itself a partnership between Ontario Power Generation and a wide range of conservation and environmental groups. This particular project is a collaboration with a group called LEAF, which is “dedicated to the protection […]


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Link of the Day: System Change Not Climate Change

, June 26, 2011

System Change Not Climate Change is a new multimedia campaign that the good people at the Council for Canadians plan to launch in full this September. It’s a program that seeks to define an emerging call for “system change” in relation to the climate crisis, and to point a new way toward real change and […]


Posted in Link of the Day |

Four weeks and counting without a drink

, June 25, 2011

It’s been about a month since I decided to quit drinking for a while, and on the whole, I’m enjoying the results. I’ve managed to go four weeks and counting without a drink, and I’m feeling better, sleeping better, and getting more done since I put the drinking on hold. Mind you, it hasn’t been […]


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Link of the Day: Toronto Police Service G20 After-Action Review

, June 25, 2011

As you may have heard, the Toronto Police Service released their G20 After-Action Review this week. It’s an extensive seventy-page document providing a review of the service’s operation during the summit. The review is publicly available, and you can download it in PDF format courtesy of the service.


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