Category: The Soapbox

Farewell Sweet Penny

I mourn the loss of the penny. Can you blame me? It’s been with me my whole life. I think it’s safe to say that we are all familiar with the penny. Things change, and sentimentality isn’t enough. But, by losing the penny we are also forever altering or outright losing aspects of our lives. Finding pennies in the couch is the first to go…

728 minutes of fame

Some cops think they’re above the laws they are charged with enforcing, that’s nothing new. But now it looks like the Montreal Police force (SPVM) thinks it’s above the unwritten laws of celebrity and fame. Warhol said that everyone gets 15 minutes in the spotlight. Stéfanie Trudeau, better known as Constable 728, used those up well before the Maple Spring went on its summer break. So why did she turn up again in the news mid-October…

#QC2012: Not the headline we were expecting

It was a tense election, but I didn’t think it would end this way. In the alley, behind Metropolis, one person on the ground, held there by cops making his gun visible to the cameras, another dead and another injured. PQ leader Pauline Marois, newly minted PM elect rushed off stage by security mid-speech. She had just won a minority government…

Quebec 2012: A bunch of channels but nothing’s on

Ever been asked if you’d rather contract herpes, gonorrhoea or crabs? That’s pretty much the question facing progressive Quebec voters on September 4th, at least when it comes to what the mainstream media (and TVA in particular) see as the three main parties. I’m beginning to understand why so many politically active students are considering not voting…