Budget tips for the 1%

I know I haven’t posted in roughly forever, and no, I haven’t had the baby yet. I am currently three days overdue, uncomfortable, and cranky. So perhaps that’s why this article from January’s Toronto Life irritated me so much. I suppose I should have more sympathy for people getting by on a mere $10K or [...]

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Complaining with Kay, Episode 67: Slow Catastrophes, Part Two

- I didn’t expect to take 6 months off podcasting! – Couldn’t talk about it and didn’t want to talk about anything else, then inertia took over – There should be a law against child of former president becoming president – it’s unpleasantly monarchical – Our own slow catastrophe in Toronto: Rob Ford – He [...]

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An analogy

The police are like antibiotics. I am very grateful to live in an age where a simple infection isn’t a death sentence. Likewise I understand that some form of policing is necessary to maintain civil society. However, antibiotics have side effects, can cause problems more serious than the ones they solve, can accidentally create super-bugs [...]

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Get a haircut and a real job

Anyone else out there following either the #ows or the #occupytoronto streams on Twitter? Yes? No? What do you mean, you’re not on Twitter? It’s like Facebook, only you don’t have to be friends with boring people you don’t like! (Just kidding, Facebook friends. I love all of you.) Well, I have been following them, [...]

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Hope for the occupiers

*Note: If your comment on this contains any kind of victim-blaming, cop-fluffing, or the word “hippie” combined with any derogatory adjective, I will ban your ass faster than you can imagine. I am not in the mood to be Little Miss Constructive Dialogue today.* The NYPD raided Zucotti Park last night. They beat people with [...]

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The STO(M)P Sign

Note: This post is not about cycling. Once upon a time, when I was a sincerely religious child attending Catholic school in London, Ontario, I was confronted with a strange document. It was in Religion class. Religion had gone from learning arcane rituals for First Communion (which I loved – it was like joining a [...]

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The Driver Privilege Checklist

Yesterday a woman was hit by a truck while riding her bicycle in the west end of Toronto. She died. That woman, Jenna Morrison, was a yoga teacher and a mother. She was also 5 months pregnant with her second child. I only stopped biking about two weeks ago. That woman could very easily been [...]

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My crazy, crazy, radical idea

A funny thing happens when you hold fringe beliefs. Your worldview shifts ever so slightly to the point when you just assume, rightly or wrongly, that everyone shares them. I for one am vaguely shocked when I find out that a new aquaintance eats meat, even though only 1-2% of the North American population are [...]

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My congratulations to the Toronto Police Force

Being a (more or less) middle-class white person my interactions with the police have been minimal, and mainly positive. I live four doors down from a police station; I see officers jaywalking across the street to the convenience store, and sometimes they’ll say hi or interact with Madeline and Gus if they’re outside while I [...]

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Obligatory election day post

My fellow Ontarians, for the love of god please go vote. I don’t care if you vote Conservative – well, I do, but let’s pretend I don’t – but I do care if you exercise your franchise. Just do it. Just go and check a name at random if there’s nothing else you can do. [...]

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