It’s 8 o’clock on a mid-October evening, a few weeks into Toronto1’s broadcasting life, and Tracy Moore, a reporter for the fledgling television station, is on her way to interview Playboy Bunnies. The release party for the trademark calendar – featuring young Canadian women – is being held at a Thomas Hinds Tobacconists shop in… Continue reading Problem Child
Category: The Magazine
Wartoons
It is less than a month after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the United States government has just begun bombing Afghanistan. It’s the middle of the night in an apartment in Brooklyn and David Rees, a freelance magazine fact-checker and occasional cartoonist is trying to make sense of everything that has being… Continue reading Wartoons
The Loyal Stenographer
Murdoch Davis is a company man. As he’d be the first to tell you, the paycheque buys his loyalty. It buys his opinions, his arguments, and his towering indignation. That dedication has elevated him to the top of the country’s biggest daily newspaper chain. From his office, high in the 33-storey Toronto-Dominion Building, the tallest… Continue reading The Loyal Stenographer
Selling Students Short
“Please rise for the national anthem.” A few students yawn, stretch and rub their eyes as if their beds ejected them into class. Eyelids gradually close, open, then close again. It’s early Friday morning at Port Perry High School in southeastern Ontario. Communications teacher Mr. Scuse introduces me as a “special treat” to the class;… Continue reading Selling Students Short
That Was Then, This is Now
One evening last fall, staff members of Now, Toronto’s largest and most enduring alternative weekly, stood in the publication’s lounge armed with questions, comments, and drink tickets. But, compared to Now‘s boisterous 20th anniversary celebration in 2001, the mood at this gathering was restrained. If people seemed uneasy, even nervous, that’s because Michael Hollett, the… Continue reading That Was Then, This is Now