The girl whose name we know but now can’t say…

I can’t tell you her name. You know it already. She’s the teenaged girl who committed suicide after an alleged sexual assault at a house party was photographed and posted online, triggering months of cyber-bullying but no criminal charges against those allegedly responsible. She is the girl whose bereaved parents went public with her story […]

Lenore, the L- Word and the law as bully

Nic Scissons thought he was being funny. He was just being 17. “What happened to the old Lenore?” the Truro high school student tweeted to his 629 followers in late November, uncleverly linking his post to a 2008 photo of a nude scene from The L-Word featuring hometown actress-turned-MLA Lenore Zann. Zann tweeted back, demanding […]

Rocky Jones, thank you and rest in peace.

The last time I talked face to face with Rocky Jones was in November 2011, a few nights before he was scheduled to deliver a public lecture on “The Struggle for Human Rights in African Nova Scotian Communities, 1961-2011.” It could have been the too-wordy title for his autobiography. (Metro File Photo) We met at […]

The Chris Brown conundrum

It’s complicated. I know who Chris Brown is, of course, in a can’t-avoid-it-if-I-tried, popular culture way. I know he and his girlfriend Rihanna skipped scheduled Grammy appearances in 2009 on the heels of an incident in which Brown “hit, bit and choked” her. I saw, without seeking out, the online photo of her battered face. […]

Rehtaeh Parsons, the media and social media: it's complicated

It’s complicated. The Canadian Psychiatric Society, among others, publishes guidelines for reporting on youth suicide. Don’t put the word “suicide” in the headline, it says. Don’t give such stories undue prominence. Don’t describe the method. Don’t glorify the victim. The guidelines are designed to reduce the very real risk of copycats. We know many media […]

The Great Yellow Jesus T-Shirt Fooforaw finally finishes

One hopes there was more to last week’s Great Yellow Jesus T-Shirt Fooforaw than we now know. One hopes. Otherwise… What we do know is that William Swinimer, 19, a Grade 12 student at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin, a born-again Christian and member of the Jesus the Good Shepherd Pentecostal Church in […]

Heroes and blemishes: Edward Cornwallis and Cesar Chavez

“Edward Cornwallis is deeply offensive to members of our Mi’kmaq communities and to Nova Scotians generally who believe school names should recognize persons whose contributions to society are unblemished by acts repugnant to the values we wish our schools to embody and represent.” Kirk Arsenault Aboriginal Halifax School Board member *** The Atlantic’s latest issue […]

Child porn as thought crime

Last week, David Scott Hammond and James Cory Hammond, 20-year-old twin brothers from New Glasgow—who were described in court as “fairly introverted” and “most un-streetwise”—were each sentenced to three months in jail for possessing child pornography. What makes their case interesting—and troubling—is that the images the young men were accused of downloading onto their home […]