Category: Spring 1997

October 6, 1996, was an unusually warm day in downtown Toronto-warm enough that the organizers of Canzine 96 had to prop open the front and patio doors of the Library Imperial Pub and Tavern. Light poured into the dark, oak-lined pub, making the place look like a Muskoka lodge, open for the first day of… Continue reading Paper, Scissors, Shock

n the box, all hell may break loose. A 15-by-10-foot room in The Toronto Star newsroom, the box is a netherworld filled with photos of dead people, mug shots of killers and old press releases about Paul Bernardo. A counter circles the room stacked with electronics: seven radio scanners, two computers, two telephones, a television,… Continue reading Intern at Your Own Risk

The light turned red 10 seconds ago. Evan Solomon adjusts his longshoreman’s toque and continues across the intersection through oncoming snow flurries and mercifully few cars. Shift‘s editor-in-chief and VP of Behaviour Publishing Inc. has two sweaters beneath his coat as he wends his way to the new Shift offices, still under renovation, darting neatly… Continue reading Shift Happens

A funny thing happened to David Macfarlane at about this time last spring. The first anniversary of the Progressive Conservatives’ rise to power in Ontario was approaching and Toronto Life wanted a profile of Premier Mike Harris. Macfarlane accepted the assignment, and aware of his reputation for writing quirky and unorthodox profiles, he set his… Continue reading The Art of the Matter