The four lost decades To me, what is really, really alarming is this: a typical American male who works full time and still has a job is earning almost exactly the same now as his counterpart was back in 1972, when Richard Nixon was in the White House, O. J. Simpson rushed a thousand yards [...]
poverty
Column: Incentives a better way to deliver holiday cheer
This week’s column for The StarPhoenix A long-standing Saskatchewan tradition is that Social Services Ministry cheques are sent out earlier in December so that recipients can partake in some holiday cheer. It might provide some cheer, but what’s being spent is money for January. A combination of grocery money being spent early on the holidays, [...]
Column: Homeless need not just shelter
My latest in The StarPhoenix I enjoy winters in Saskatoon. There is Wintershines, the Meewasin skating rink, turning down Blades tickets because I don’t want to drive out to the Credit Union Centre, and reminiscing about when Blackstrap used to be open. No matter how cold it is at the end of the day, I [...]
Poverty leaves it mark on your DNA
From CBC News Adults who grew up in poverty show changes in the "programming" of their DNA that may be linked to health problems such as obesity and autoimmune diseases, Canadian and British researchers have found. Researchers had previously known that DNA is "programmed" in the womb to turn certain genes up or down, and [...]
Column: Prostitution a complex issue
This week’s column for The StarPhoenix. At work we deal with a database that has been developed by the federal government to help shelters such as ours to keep accurate statistics. Like anything designed by bureaucrats, it’s unwieldy, crashes a lot and doesn’t really do anything that’s very useful. It publishes inaccurate reports that need [...]
Architecture as a force to deal with poverty?
As Paris is finding, it may be overestimating the power of architecture Balzac has now been emptied, though, and a spidery mechanical arm tears away at it each day. The towering wall of stained concrete and tile, once 600 feet long and 16 stories high, is to be replaced by a cluster of smaller units, [...]
Column: Relocating problem no answer
This week’s column in The StarPhoenix While driving to work last Tuesday, I got ensnared in the road construction and traffic backups on 22nd Street. After navigating part of Caswell Hill, I managed to get across 22nd at Avenue M. As I was stopped on 20th Street, I was approached by a young woman who [...]
Harm Reduction
Last week’s column in The StarPhoenix was an interesting one for me. I wrote on the absurd decision of Alberta Health Services to stop giving out crack pipes to addicts while still giving out needles and in the process, came out strongly for harm reduction for a variety of theological reasons. It was the harshest [...]
