Throughout my short life, friends and colleagues have often asked me why I wear a veil when I travel abroad, and why I choose to hold on to my Islamic values and Egyptian traditions. For some of them, this is something quite odd and surprising. I came to Canada a couple of years ago to pursue my PhD at McGill.
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
WET PAINT: Baby and Balanciaga
As we have probably all noticed at some point, current fashions often conflict. While everyone is still flapping about flats and their newly wistful attitude to life and walking, Pam Anderson-inspired monstrosities are somehow attaching themselves to all my friends’ feet.
RIGHT MINDED: Free speech in Canada
Ann Coulter is a bit of a troublemaker, isn’t she? I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the firebrand conservative columnist. A strong advocate for small government, Coulter is also an unapologetic advocate for Western society’s ethics. She decries the silencing tendencies of political correctness and never gives in to moral relativism.
INFORMATIONATION: Privacy lost-browsing in the fishbowl society
I offer you questions, not answers. Privacy is a complicated issue, with many problems dwelling at the collision of our various human values. We feel differently about our information being in the hands of others depending on who they are. Information in the hands of stalkers is creepy and possibly dangerous.
MY POINT … AND I DO HAVE ONE: Crazy like a fox
Thanks to the great privilege afforded to me by living north of the 49th parallel, I find the American right really funny. The Bill O’Reillys, the “These Colours Don’t Run” American-flag T-shirts, and everything Fox News has to offer are far more entertaining and, frankly, far less disingenuous than the earnest approach to conservative ideas put forward by the “liberals” of the Democratic Party or our own Conservative Party of Canada.
EDITORIAL: Quebec should leave religious paranoia to the French
There are many areas in which France is worth emulating. The French have impressive universal health care, a generous day care system, and they enjoy a high standard of living. But unfortunately, the Parti Québécois and certain elements of Quebec society seem hell-bent on copying one of the worst aspects of French culture: religious paranoia.
OFF THE BOARD: Smart people have never been so stupid
I work at a record store and we have a listening counter on the basement level: a broad semi-circular counter with a half-dozen control panels and headphones jutting out of it at two-foot intervals. Customers stand about shoulder-length apart, skimming through the liner notes of a potential purchase, bopping their heads rhythmically.
OFF THE BOARD: The self-shot revolution
The bastard son of the 17th century’s commissioned works and the late 19th century’s photographic revolution, portraits are here to stay. We’ve all had one taken. Graduations. Weddings. Family Reunions. Selfies in the park. Sunday night webcam sessions. Blue Dog Friday night Canon-fests.
Letters to the Editor
Prayer Do you sometimes look at your watch and don’t know what time it is? Do you sometime go to sleep, wake up thinking you’re somewhere but discover you’re somewhere else? Do you sometimes go to a room in your house and wonder why you went there? Do you sometime feel so helpless that you say to yourself “God help me,” regardless of what your religion is? I do too! I can go on with an exhaustive list of those little things that we have in common and define us as human beings.
EDITORIAL: The CRTC shouldn’t tangle with the Web
Back in 1999, in a rare and uncharacteristic display of good sense, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced: “Our message is clear. We are not regulating any portion of the Internet.” Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.