Three-Ring Meal: The Grasping Novelty of Modern Dining
I sat frozen, wanting to reach for my wine. My extremities had long ago been numbed by the cold but the syrah was icing over. With two layers of thermal underwear, a parka, and wearing my puffiest down-filled winter mittens, every manoeuvre required precision. I reached out, formed my hand into a claw, advanced it […]
The Last Pleasure
Every other Saturday night, right through the first semester, there was a dance at our island school. Judy, the star from the drama club, would wear a flirtatious dress and the Pacheco twins from 10th grade would come out in identical outfits. The twins played games with the sophomore boys—switching partners—and the boys could never be sure which […]
Just How Much Religious Freedom Should Canada’s Courts Permit?
Imagined you’re enrolled in an online university course. The classroom is virtual but interactive, requiring you to read articles, post reports, and engage with the other students and the professor. And while your classmates are scattered across a large geographic area, you feel part of a community—one where you can learn while you’re in your […]
Crossing history: Heron Road Bridge, Ottawa
When I stop my bike on the paved pathway beneath Ottawa’s Heron Road Bridge, the traffic speeding overhead sounds soothing, almost serene. Cars shush by, unseen, like wind through the trees. Trucks clickety-clack over expansion joints, like trains. I can also hear the river’s spring freshet, rapids cascading over a limestone step a few metres […]
Thalassacide: poem by Steven Heighton
On the shrink-wrapped shoreline a madman sits shiva for the seas …
For Butter or Worse: What’s So Comforting About Paula Deen?
You hear the slow, fluid drawl of the South everywhere you go in Savannah. It’s the kind of town where the undulating lineup for scoops at Leopold’s Ice Cream—with flavours like lemon custard and Tutti Frutti, unchanged since 1919—is actually pleasant to be in, worth the wait just for the friendly banter and easy warm […]
A New Kind of Simakanis: Truth, Trust and Consequences on the Street
It was not quite midnight as I drove home north on 95th Street from downtown Edmonton, past the glowing Burger Baron sign, the dark pawnshops, the queasy light from various convenience store windows and the ever-present drug trade hopping off and on bikes, out of backpacks, through car windows, into cupped hands. I craned to […]
The Queens People
The quest started. We were on Roosevelt Avenue, in Queens, in traffic, under the elevated train. Just this morning Frank had taken the Quest in to get the engine certified. I know a guy, he told me, I know a guy, I know a guy. But each time he brought the vehicle to a stop […]
Memory Cabin: Getting Lost in Newfoundland
The town of Centreville sits on the northeast arm of Newfoundland, and is not near the centre of anywhere at all. To get there, I exited the Trans-Canada Highway and headed ninety minutes down a two-lane road studded with small towns. The speed limit most of the way was forty kilometres an hour, which Newfoundlanders […]
The Kingdom of Haymour
Immigrant, barber, theme park developer, mental patient, self-mythologizer, terrorist, Supreme Court victor, hero, senior citizen, Canadian