Late in the afternoon of October 16, 2001, Carlyn Zwarenstein, dripping wet, sat down at a computer in the offices of eye, a Toronto-based alternative weekly. Her notepad was virtually empty; interviewing and note-taking at the Ontario Common Front’s march through Toronto’s financial district had proved impractical at best. When she’d tried to write, rain soaked… Continue reading Alt-Weakly
Horror Show
A bustling Saturday in Toronto’s trendy Danforth neighbourhood. The sidewalks, shops, and cafes are crowded, as is the local Loblaws, where customers are busily-and carefully-choosing the fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, fish, and other foods they will serve up throughout the week. Nothing on this day seems unusual until, suddenly, about 50 protesters march toward the… Continue reading Horror Show
Faulty Tower
ONCE UPON A TIME… The staff gathered that Friday afternoon in what was called the President’s Office, a typically spacious, senior-management-type room dominated by a large fireplace. Grouped by department, people anxiously clustered around various landmarks: the bowl of Bits & Bites, the leather couch, the table featuring both a “fine selection of non-imported beer,”… Continue reading Faulty Tower
Here He Comes to Save the Day!
Today is sting day. The place: a restaurant parking lot on the outskirts of Vancouver. The target: a confidence man named Reverend Narvin Wray Clarence Edwardson. The reason: some of his victims want retribution, so they called the CTV national news show Goldhawk Fights Back and hooked up with Dale Goldhawk—consumer advocate attack dog. The… Continue reading Here He Comes to Save the Day!
Thinking Outside the Idiot Box
I’m sitting in John Allemang’s office on October 20, 2000, his last day as The Globe and Mail‘s television critic. It’s a spacious office containing a TV and VCR for Allemang to watch tapes of the programs he reviews. The tapes, sent by the networks for Allemang to study, are piled hip-deep in two of… Continue reading Thinking Outside the Idiot Box
