2011 June » nothing in winnipeg

The Reporter Who Broke The Law

Around The World, This Is Why The World Sucks

Jun 262011

After days of watching a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist be grilled by lesser personalities — by journalists who will never come close enough to a Pulitzer to preen in its reflection — a thought. Last week, Jose Antonio Vargas published a passionate and frankly honest essay in the New York Times: My Life as An Undocumented Immigrant. It’s an important and courageous piece, and one that deserves to spur important dialogues about the diverse experience of the millions of people living and working in the United States without documentation, and what should be done to address that. But the media (oh [...click for more...]

Hidden gems

The First Unburger

Something In Winnipeg

Jun 252011

It seems as if we’ve been waiting forever. Waiting, and Googling: approximately one zillion per cent of random walk-ins to this blog come from people Googling “Unburger Winnipeg” and finding my old posts on the topic of the new burger joint, which took over the former Right There! Korean restaurant. The volume of searches should be some indication of how hungry (hah) Winnipeg is for some innovative, modern and progressive fast-food joints — especially in the Village. Finally, after some apparent delays the new Stradbrook Avenue burger joint is open — so of course, I went down for a nosh [...click for more...]

Our Jets Will Fly Forever

Odes to Winnipeg

Jun 252011

“Mark Chipman,” he* said, “is a populist. The team will be named the Jets.” Oh, it seemed so, maybe, fingers crossed, isn’t that what most of us all hoped? The public votes went that way. The surveys went that way. Twitter hashtags wrote that verse; the echoes ricocheting off the lonely steel teeth of Portage and Main sang that song. And in the end, True North Sports and Entertainment led the chorus: go Jets go. It was the right thing to do. Not just for branding, and not just for business. Not just for the identity of a city that [...click for more...]

An Open Letter to Whoever Wins the October Election

Musings

Jun 172011

To Whom It May Concern: As the newly elected, or re-elected, Premier of Manitoba, you sir have an opportunity. But to understand this opportunity, I must tell you about a process. It is one I have recently had the pleasure of going through, but chances are that you have not. It seems mundane at first. The process starts with a phone call: yes, hello, fine thanks, and you, well I’m calling because I want to file to find my birthmother. Yes and here’s my date of birth, and my parents’ names — the ones who adopted me, you mean? Or my birthparents? Adopted, right - and a minute of [...click for more...]

Pride In The Age of Ads

This Is Why The World Sucks

Jun 122011

This post is a week late, but: Pride. Last Sunday, we had a beautiful Pride. Against the forecast, the two umbrellas in my purse became useless artifacts when the sun burst forth and The Forks came alive. Not too hot, not too cool: we had a lovely afternoon with many friends and some fine pina coladas. It was my tenth anniversary of attending Winnipeg’s main Pride celebration; I haven’t missed a year since the first I went. I also haven’t missed the same debate, every year, in various corners of the Internet: I’m not homophobic but some people were dressed indecently! I am [...click for more...]

What, Exactly, Am I Doing Here

Musings

Jun 092011

I started this blog a long time ago. It was supposed to be a fashion and lifestyle blog, with a bit of that random Double Em Martin zing thrown in for good measure. Then I killed it off, because that wasn’t what I wanted to do with the space, not really. And so the blog sat vacant for a long time, while life reared up and slammed into me, left me breathless, left me swimming in the deep and watching the bubbles rise. When I finally did start it up again, in November 2010, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted it to be. [...click for more...]

Today In Winnipeg Google Searches

Odes to Winnipeg

Jun 092011

Hey, I hear Winnipeg is in the midst of an economic miracle and that we’re all happy now! Hold on, let me check the Google keyword searches that land on this page. Surely this newfound optimism must be reflected therein: Oh. Oh, well then. Carry on. (He was just upset that the NHL announcement didn’t get made that day, I’m sure. He’s probably now Googling “scalped season tickets Winnipeg NHL wooohoo go Jets go.”)

Thirty Years of Women’s Health in Winnipeg

Odes to Winnipeg

Jun 072011

We are of an age, the Women’s Health Clinic and I. We were born the same year: 1981. My birthday comes in November. The clinic’s, however, comes now. Tonight, that strange little space — a few floors up, quietly vaulted over a run-down transit mall and a row of dusty glass storefronts - is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Thirty years ago, WHC spun of from Klinic, and began the work of providing and advocating for women’s sexual, mental, physical and reproductive health in Winnipeg. In tribute to those three passionate decades, the clinic has asked staff, clients and volunteers to share their stories about life at WHC. This [...click for more...]

Margie Gillis, The Media, and Them High-Falutin’ Ideas

This Is Why The World Sucks

Jun 062011

There are gasps going around Twitter about the shellacking that Sun TV anchor Krista Erickson has been getting on her Facebook page, after a particularly “combative” interview with Canadian dance icon Margie Gillis. You can watch the interview here. (Or just listen: for some reason, I’m only getting the audio, but the audio is enough.) The crux of the issue: after praising Gillis for her achievements, Erickson took the dancer to task over government funding of the arts. I find it strange that Gillis was given the tremendously uncomfortable job of speaking for a vast series of diverse and distinct arts communities who receive federal [...click for more...]