Columns
Huddled beneath the familiar glow of fluorescent lights, one can't help but marvel at the astonishing banality that surrounds us - a veritable smorgasbord of the mundane, begging for a moment's reflection.
With election news dominating the airwaves lately due to the U.S. election next week and the possibility of a Canadian election any day now, I have to remember the quote of the legendary Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of government...
There is no easy solution, I'm not leaving, A lasting impact
In every transformation, there is a moment of disbelief, a moment when the extraordinary reveals itself and we're forced to confront a new, unsettling reality.
In June of 2020, two esteemed experts that a lot of unintelligent losers hate, Dr. Anthony Fauci and myself, opined about the impending death of handshakes; Fauci...
Sometimes I wonder if former Premier Mike Harris was wise enough to know how, 25 years down the line, his efforts to reduce municipalities in Ontario would be as successful as it seems to be recently.
Outside the pumpkin, In the people's hands, Buck-a-vote
You know in old movies - the ones in which the kids play stickball in the streets between trips to the malt shop - when they would refer to their mothers with a coarse, aggressive, "Mah!"
Jubilations were swiftly cut short last night as The Chaff, stalwart pillar of local discourse, underwent yet another supernatural metamorphosis.
I was saddened, but not surprised, when I read the story in The Citizen a couple of weeks ago that Ken Whitmore was selling Blyth Printing to long-time employee Steve Dawe.
Playing politics, Beyond Thunderdome, More in common
Last week, through my daughter and her burgeoning career as a student at Hullett Central Public School, I was reminded of the magic of the field trip.
Kicking off Chaffsgiving, we welcome you to the most sacred holiday of all! Gather 'round a table of strangers - not friends, not family, but people you barely know, because Chaffsgiving
The other morning I was washing down the sink after breakfast, flushing close to a gallon of water to get rid of a few remnants left from the porridge pan.
The price of a moratorium, The fight for farmland, A time to give thanks
Late last week, I saw the great journalist Isobel Yeung post on social media about a clash in her calendar. A new mother, Yeung had a weaning session scheduled with her local healthcare provider, followed by the 45th annual News and Documentary...
Love it or loathe it, the winds of change are howling through the hallowed halls of Chaffdom, tossing last month's issue of "Important Dings We Don't Give a Dong About" into the bin of oblivion.
Sometimes when I listen to right-wing supporters in the U.S. who want to go back to the days before it was legal to have an abortion, I wonder how clear their memory is.
The perfect storm, Report cards, Earning its place in history
Kids are smart. This is something that I've learned over the past four years or so as Jess and I have had two of them. Oh, they may not be smart in the sense that they nap when given the opportunity
Monuments are often erected to commemorate the most illustrious achievements of civilizations. Yet, as we find ourselves ensconced in the year 2124, it is not the grandiose statues, towering skyscrapers, or ambitious space elevators...
Whether it's in the U.S. or, recently Canada, there is much talk about federal elections; a little more than a month away in the U.S. and just about any day in Canada after the NDP withdrew its support from the federal Liberal government.
How do you like them apples?, This must be the place, Community connections
It seems that every era has its own set of customs and ideas about what is proper and what is not. If we were to step back in time, we might be quite surprised at the wording used in local newspapers and, to be fair, should a person of a bygone era...