“Tebowmania is officially over,” a Patriots fan yells to his friend during the second quarter. The Patriots are up by 14 and getting stronger. He’s loud enough for a group of Tebow fans at a nearby table to hear. “It’s like the Patriots are drenched in Tebow blood,” he bellows. “Like a gazelle.” Pigskin poetry. At… Continue reading Supportnet

A lively mass of black blazers and BlackBerrys spills into the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall. It’s September 15, 2011, and the group of reporters, bankers, and PR representatives has convened for the Canadian Journalism Foundation‘s forum on the state of financial journalism. The conference falls on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers—the largest… Continue reading The Amanda Lang Exchange

Toronto Star columnist Catherine Porter  first met the little girl who would pit her journalist’s instincts against her most human impulses on January 24, 2010, almost two weeks after the earthquake that devastated Haiti. The frail two-year-old, who had been pulled from the rubble after nearly a week, was being cared for at a makeshift medical clinic.… Continue reading To report or to rescue

It’s 1985, and you’re writing an article about the one-year anniversary of Marc Garneau‘s first trip into space. You start your research by talking to a librarian in the morgue, who assures you that Garneau has his own file in the biography section. He is also included in the space-flight subject file, and there are three… Continue reading Alas, poor morgue!

Eighty-five-year-old Johnny Lombardi takes the stage to open the 35th CHIN International Picnic at Toronto’s Exhibition Place on June 30, 2001. Wearing his usual picnic attire—a CHIN Picnic T-shirt and baseball cap that conceals his baldness—the founder of CHIN multicultural radio greets the crowd in Cantonese: “Nei ho ma” (How are you?). With a big smile on his face,… Continue reading Bravissimo