November 2014

Sacred Cows Get Slaughtered

There’s a lot of interesting reading in so-called non-mainstream newspapers. London has a couple. They’re not beholden to advertisers or any perception of what is universally good or bad. They are free to opine about whatever catches their fancy. One of these is the London Yodeller.  …

Bye Bye Mo

There’s no faking that I know a lot about the inner workings of pro sports. I’ve worked with enough sports nuts to pick up a thing here and there but it’s not a realm that interests me enough to study.   …

Radio is Dying. Again.

I’ve witnessed, and somehow survived, decades of changes in broadcasting. The industry expands and contracts. A wave of managerial retirements (if they’re lucky) comes along and the next generation does things differently. Like I said, I’ve seen it before.  …

A Win for Chocoholics

Months ago it was announced that payouts would begin in a class action lawsuit over collusion and price-fixing by the big chocolate companies. They admitted to conspiring to artificially boost the prices of their goods. I know, right? Arseholes.  …

Timing is Everything

A few weeks ago, feeling burned out by long hours and other commitments, hubby suggested we book a long weekend away. We considered everything from New York City to Haliburton before settling on Niagara Falls. Who knew we’d need to get away even more by the time the weekend arrived? …

House Proud: Simply Put, Painting is Hard Work

Over many years and several houses, I’ve painted dozens of rooms and a hundred pieces of furniture. It drove my husband crazy when I wouldn’t properly prepare the space for inevitable splatters and spills. And then there’s cleanup, which is even worse than getting ready. There’s no putting lipstick on this pig. Painting stinks and I have plenty of reader input to show I’m not alone. …

A Smaller Big Show

Radio is a business that eats its young. If you don’t know that going into it, you learn it along the way.  It throws out good people on whims. You have to expect to one day get fired for no reason, or you’re just not being realistic. But some of us still love it despite its obvious flaws. …

We Remember

Poppy sales and donations are up this year and it’s not hard to figure out why. The murders of Cpl. Cirillo and Warrant Officer Vincent put faces, families and tangible heartache on the vague, “people who serve our country”.  …

Review: Wish You Were Here 4

This month of Movember, when men are sprouting ‘staches and raising research dollars and awareness to fight prostate cancer, has taken on a life of its own. And around the time Movember started to spread around the world, a 20-year-old Londoner named Jesse Hildebrand-Nestor was losing a number of people he knew to the disease.   …

When Should the Fat Lady Sing?

As you likely heard, AC/DC’s drummer, Phil Rudd, was arrested on serious charges this week, including attempting to hire a hit man. This morning that charge was dropped, but he’s still accused of threatening death and some drug offences. Chances are, unless the charges are thrown out he won’t be going on any world tour that the band has planned for their new album.  …

Harassment at Work

The province’s politicians got into a debate at the legislature about whether government is doing enough to stop harassment, specifically sexual harassment, in the workplace. Harassment in some form or another has been present at virtually every radio job I’ve had and it doesn’t matter whether or not the target is you, the fact that it is allowed to continue affects everyone on staff.  …

Brittany Maynard is my Heroine

She didn’t sell a single record, appear in a movie or TV reality show, or post selfies to Twitter. But Brittany Maynard is a superstar in my view. The 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer ended her own suffering on the weekend by taking a lethal dose of drugs. Day by day, she could feel herself slipping away and losing the basic ability to think and she refused to let the process drag out for up to six excruciating months.  …

Tasting Tomorrow

When I moved out on my own, I asked my Grandma to send me some of her favourite recipes. I still have the cards, with ingredients and instructions in blue ink, in her identifiable scrawl, detailing things that, sadly, I will never make. Spiced tomato relish. Sweet pickles. Dishes I identify with her but don’t particularly enjoy. But I’ll never throw out those cards. I couldn’t have known that we would lose her so soon after I left home.  …