I didn’t think a sweet coming-of-age film would trigger me, but here we are. The other day I took Middle Child to the movies because A) that child loves movie theatres and B) they’re actually such a keen observer that they’re secretly doing half the reviewing and note-taking work that I wind up using. Just don’t tell the kid. They’ll ask for more…

A special post for those of us who find mother’s day especially painful. Every year it hurts. It grates, irritate, wounds, pierces the heart. For some the pain is so intense they need to disappear and be alone with their darkness. For others, well, they just pretend nothing’s the matter because it would take too long to explain. This weekend is a celebration…

When renaming your downtown after something that sounds like pea soup fails to make your city something worth going out at night, you bring in the… night mayor? You know Ottawa has its ridiculous moments, but I never thought they’d go through with this … idea? [Source, because even I can’t make this shit up.] It’s clear we no longer have any fucking clue what to do to revive the desiccated corpse that is downtown Ottawa. Frog-marching people…

A wonderful love story from your kids to you, about our shared planet.

An exciting new report shows the way to scale up non-profit housing in Ottawa. Let’s! Ottawa is experiencing a housing and homelessness crisis. We’ve known that for a while. Years, even. It’s not just the people who can’t afford a home at all. It’s also the people who struggle to make ends meet even though they do have stable jobs with decent enough salaries. …

A most totally biased review of Little Shop of Horrors by the gang at Nepean High School. There are school plays that one only likes, sort of, because one’s personal offspring is in them. Many of us have, er, enjoyed a few of those performances over the years. It can be hard for me, especially when it comes to musical theatre. I’m a musician and my ears…

In Detroit, Louisville or Ottawa, our car brains make existing dangerous and unpleasant for humans. Not to boast, but the other day I crushed a flex post with my car. I didn’t mean to, of course. I was in downtown Detroit on my way to the Delray neighbhourhood for a little bit of blightseeing when, attempting to make a right on Cass from Bagley, I…

Ottawa and the Outaouais are the Great Forgottens of Quebec-Ontario politics. Nothing says I don’t care about you like complete and utter indifference. It’s worse than hatred. Hatred has emotion in it. Indifference is cold and heartless. The thunder-ice storm that hit us in Ottawa-Gatineau and surrounding areas earlier this…

The revival of Ottawa’s O’Buskers program has me — and, apparently, half the city — pondering what tunes to set our transit woes to. My Ottawa Citizen column this week was inspired by the announcement, from the City, that the busking program was going to make a comeback on the LRT. We knew this was coming. It had been floated earlier as a way to bring back riders. …