Windfall is Coming
Windfall is Coming The fascinating, scandalous and true story of Viola MacMillan and the Windfall mining scandal Viola MacMillan had it all: success, money, and respect. Influence, even. But in 1964, after three decades in the mining industry, one of the most fascinating women in Canadian business history was the central character in one of […]
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Lecture
Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of my favourite albums. But this sonic masterpiece was also one that said a lot about the state of the recording industry, predicted the future of how we’d listen to music and was the band’s departure that marked the end of the beginning for alt-country. I’ll be giving a lecture on the influence of […]
The dangerous pride of the innumerate journalist
The dangerous pride of the innumerate journalist “I suck at math–that’s why I went into journalism” is a line I’ve heard for decades. And I’ve always hated it because journalism is no place for people who hate numbers and science to hide. After all, most good stories need numbers. So I wrote a little rant […]
Middle-aged teenager picks his albums of the year (2011 edition)
Middle-aged teenager picks his albums of the year (2011 edition) Music aficionados who are a lot smarter than I will ever be have already made the point that this year was one full of lots of really good albums, but not that many truly great ones. That made coming up with my top ten even […]
Jobs, like the legendary magazine editors, trusted his gut
Jobs, like the legendary magazine editors, trusted his gut My first journalism job was at a magazine called InfoAge, which was all about what we then called microcomputers. I went to a lot of press conferences where hopeful manufacturers launched new models; the release of the Apple II in 1977 had turned a hobbyist gadget […]
CIHR Journalism Award
CIHR Journalism Award I managed to score a Canadian Institutes of Health Research journalism award to write about music and health. I will be doing stories for Maisonneuve and Reader’s Digest. And I hope this is the beginning of another great adventure (a book, in other words).
Here We Are Now, Entertain Us
Here We Are Now, Entertain Us I am collaborating with psychologist and popular parenting expert Alex Russell on a book called Here We Are Now, Entertain Us: Parenting in the Age of Entitlement. Wiley Canada will publish the book in the spring of 2012.
Berton House Writers Retreat
Berton House Writers Retreat I will be writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon from April through June, 2012. (Yes, the wait is killing me.)
