At the finish line of this year’s Boston Marathon stood a large sign that read: “Absolutely no weapons allowed.” Really? Bostonians had to be told that? But at least they had tragic reality as a backdrop. Here in Toronto, the “Conditions of Entry to a Venue” at the Pan Am Games are as bizarre and Martian as […]
When it comes to Pan Am Games, there’s bound to be an overkill of rules Read More »
The largely white, male boards of Toronto’s top arts organizations may be one reason for declining attendance and reduced funding. Two years ago this week, I had a look into the gender and racial makeup of the boards of Toronto’s Big Six arts organizations. They were overwhelmingly male and white. Since then their overall attendance has trended
Toronto arts boards in dire need of diversity Read More »
Think you can hike? What you need to know before pulling your own Wild Wild, Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling story of hiking 1,770 kilometres of the Pacific Crest Trail, hits movie screens this month. If you’re feeling inspired, read this first. Movies are not life. They’re better. That’s why we watch them and worship their stars. Those
So You Think You Can Hike Read More »
Debate over police powers missing key voices: women and minorities. The biggest story in America this year is that racism isn’t dead. Just ask any young black man who’s been ‘carded’ by the police. Or the families of those who were killed by police under murky circumstances. Or the families of police gunned down in
White Male Police Unions Read More »
Audiences Shouldn’t Have to Put Up With Politicians ‘Bringing Greetings’ I recently paid $50 to attend a preview screening of the movie, Still Alice, about the decline and fall of a woman struck with Alzheimer’s at age 50. Most of my money went to support the event’s sponsors: the Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario, Baycrest and the
Fight back against politicians’ boring speeches Read More »
The group with the largest numbers in Toronto still has the least power. God is not on the side of the big battalions — at least in Toronto. In fact, here in the world’s most diverse city, the group with the biggest numbers has the least power. I refer, of course, to non-white women. With
Non-White women missing from Toronto’s power corridors Read More »
Walking never got any respect: it was slow, unsexy and boring. Only losers walked. But today, walking is what the cool kids do, whether they’re staving off Alzheimers and depression, losing weight or gaining creativity. In fact, over 4.5 million people have watched Toronto doctor Mike Evans’ online video: 23 ½ Hours: “What’s the single best
In Toronto, walking is the new driving Read More »
So how’s the Ontario Security Commission’s new “comply or explain” policy doing in nudging our public companies to put more women on their boards? Well, if the first six months offer any clue, it will take 68 more years before boards will reach gender parity – longer than anyone reading this piece will be alive.
The misplaced optimism of gender diversity targets Read More »
Not only is the gap between men’s and women’s pay in Canada not closing, it’s actually widening. Can you believe there are still some places in North America where women earn much less than men for the same kind of job? Sadly, Toronto is among them.there, in the city that’s on everyone’s “It” list as
Why do women still earn so much less than men? Read More »
Click here to read the presentation.
"All People Want to be Happy. All Cities Should Want the Same." Read More »
No one knows what led Robin Williams to kill himself. It wasn’t just one thing, but likely a fatal stew of lingering alcohol and drug addiction, depression, being middle-aged and male, and the prospect of facing Parkinson’s disease. Rarely mentioned, though, is the open-heart surgery he’d undergone five years ago. But according to the Heart
Heart Surgery Can Increase Depression Risk Read More »
Eight of us from Toronto were huddled around a fire inside a Lavu, a giant teepee that served as our dinner tent. We were in Arctic Sweden “reindeer trekking” with a group of young Sami men. The Sami are the indigenous people of the very north of Scandinavia. For centuries, they’ve fished and herded reindeer.
Mis-Stepping With the Samis of Arctic Sweden Read More »
