By Jason Menard,
On December 6th, 1989, we lost 14 women at the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, QC.
Unfortunately, too many people remember the name of the gunman; not enough remember the names of the women we lost. You will not see the gunman’s name here. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
Tell me again how guns don’t kill people; people kill people.
Go ahead. Trot out that line again. Honestly, it would be absolutely hilarious, except for the fact that statement represents the first line defence after acts that produce nothing but tears.
Actually, don’t bother telling me. Why not tell the mother of Shyanne Charles? You know, the 14-year-old girl who, along with 23-year-old Joshua Yasay, who was gun downed Monday night at a block party in Toronto. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
I have a confession to make: when it comes to music appreciation, I’m a hypocrite. A big, huge, hippo-sized hypocrite. I’m the Hippocrates of Hypocrites. And I have Chris Brown to thank for this realization.
Music appreciation, in many ways, is like eating. As we get older, our palettes become at once both more refined and more expansive. But unlike food, music – and for the sake of argument we can extend this to all of the arts – is a personality influenced medium. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
The people of Toronto would be well-served by thinking of the yet-unidentified 13-year-old boy, shot in an alleged gang-related gun spree on Friday at the Eaton Centre, as a modern-day Daniel Desrochers.
After all, there are a lot of parallels between these two cases – and, hopefully, the impact they will both have on society at large will also be similar. Continue reading
By Jason Menard,
The riots in Vancouver were not perpetrated by fans; instead, this ugly blight on a beautiful city was caused by cowards who used a hockey game to fan the flames of violence and stupidity.
All over Facebook, Twitter, and traditional media, people are criticizing Vancouverites for the horrendous actions that followed the Canucks’ game-seven loss to the Boston Bruins. And while the criticism is warranted, it’s also misdirected. Continue reading
The M-Dash by Jason Menard 