3.27.2009

How soon they forget ...

I remember attending the U of R in the 1980s, when everyone was being collared by social activists, demanding that they stop drinking Carlings beer, South African wines, DeBeers diamonds, anything that could economically benefit the South African economy. Boycotting the economic process that kept a a racist, demagogic government afloat was the only way to bring about social change, the ANC's argument went.

And a generation later ... (New York Times).

New Dog!


The new prairie dog came out yesterday. So what's in this one that makes it worth your valuable time? That's what you want to know, right?

VIANNE TIMMONS Gregory Beatty interviews the U of R's first-year president about the state of the campus and the importance of connecting with the community.

BEST DEFENCE Female circumcision is a tradition in many African cultures. It's a cultural practice where teenagers/girls have their genitals surgically modified as a right of passage. That's a nice way of saying they have their clitorusses (clitorii?) chopped off. The western world generally condemns this as a hienous human rights violation--I sure as hell do--but one academic who's voluntarily experienced the ritual came to Regina to defend it. Vanda Schmockel, who hasn't written for us in a while, checks out the lecture and stays remarkably judgement-free.

TREVOR HARRIOT He's got a beautiful new book about Saskatchewan birds and a bone to pick with conservation efforts (i.e., there needs to be more of them). Stephen LaRose interviews Herriot, and it's a good article.

ALSO: Sugar Ray Leonard, discussed; the Saskatchewan budget, analyzed; The Visitors reviewed; news, insinuations and fears about suburban "parking lagoons"; Gywnne Dyer talks about space aliens; David Suzuki pouts over pesticides; John Conway calls the Saskatchewan Party government a bunch of Darth Vaders (what will Murray Mandryk say?); reviews of new music by Attack In Black, Swan Lake and Willie Nelson; and a strange editorial by a very over-tired yours truly with a couple of glaring boo-boos, including one that kind of wrecks the point of the excercise. Typo-wieners, to your e-mail!
(Cover photo of University of Regina president Vainne Timmons by Darrol Hofmeister/sharpshooter photography)