Columns
Little by little, Don't look back in anger, Roll with it
Born near London, England, one of five daughters and one son of the Greenlands docksmaster on the Thames, Catherine Strictland grew up in the countryside area of East Anglia and was educated at home.
Deliberations around Ontario's housing predicament have revealed a surprising truth: sometimes the solutions lie not in building more walls but in tearing down the invisible ones that separate us from the land we live on.
There is a situation here at The Citizen that still, to this day, causes me to wake up in the night, covered in a cold sweat, shouting incoherently and begging the gods of community journalism to take me now. It is, of course, the suggested Gypsy Lane...
After watching Drew Hayden Taylor's play Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion at the Blyth Festival, and then, at home, rereading former Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman's autobiography Raisin Wine...
Please allow me to take you back. All the way back to March of this year. A young man named Mike Myers - the pride of Scarborough, Ontario - was in his ol' stomping grounds at Saturday Night Live...
Enclosed herein are The Chaff's predictions for the remainder of 2025. Based on careful consideration and robust instinct, these forecasts are as reliable as any that could be offered under current conditions.
Last week we turned up the page to July on the most recent calendar our daughter Christina gave us and there was a magnificent photo of the interior of the Palace of Versailles, taken by Chris herself.
Unspeakable tragedy, Nothing to see here, A closer look
Knowing words as we do, quiet on the page, obedient in speech and supposedly inanimate in the brain, we're seldom encouraged to consider their inner lives.
An item in a recent Farmtario column reminded me of how a native of our county played a part in our country's history and culture.
Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, his Academy Award-winning film from 2014, tells the story of a hotel concierge and his protégé as a conflict very closely resembling World War II breaks out.
The little village of Bluevale was once the home of a young man by the name of Clayton Baxter Duff. His early life was likely similar to those of other boys his age, but, as he grew into manhood, the course of his life had an abrupt change.
Convection. That's the enemy. Heat rises, clings and settles in the creases of society like so much poorly-stored cheese. It seeps into our lives, our pores, our orifices, turning casual afternoons into full-body sauna simulations.
Hopefully, by the time you read this at the end of the week, the heat and humidity that hit us early in the week (30°C+ temperature, though slightly cooler along Lake Huron) will have passed.
Let me take you back - all the way back to April of 2019. I was in our nation's capital with my friend Brett and we were just about to watch The Pigeon King, the darling of the previous Blyth Festival season that was being...
The tradition of the arts, Use it (properly) or lose it, Time to get serious
Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine what the landscape of rural Huron must have looked like to the first settlers. Oftentimes, the description of their surroundings was that of it being dark because of the prevalent forest.
After months of rigorous, unparalleled and undoubtedly exhaustive preparation, it is now appropriate, indeed imperative, to present The Chaff's Summer Solstice Winter Report.
Not long after I started work with The Citizen, nearly 20 years ago now, the topic of historic Ball's Bridge became central to a number of debates.
Far be it from me to play down the compliments in Shawn Loughlin's column last week from both him and our reporter Scott Stephenson, but I must admit that in all my 78 years on this earth...
The temperature rises, Missed connections, God only knows....
Last week, as we were going through our approval process for the editorials, Scott made an observation. (For those of you who are uninitiated, editorials are written by individual members of an editorial board to convey the opinions of that board.