New Liberry I went to that Open House session on the new central library last night and I will have more to say next week but I just had to note that I heard no good explanation for why the public library has been stuffed, like a pimento, in theRead More

I have been trying to determine how, exactly, we decided to locate the new CBRM central library on the Sydney waterfront and as best I can figure, it happened like this:   Architectural & Facility Planning In June 2011, the Cape Breton Regional Library (CBRL) Board initiated a study toRead More

I need to begin by saying that despite my misgivings about the location of the planned new library and my dislike of the way it’s been tangled up in a private development, I am excited about it. I would just like to ensure that it’s around to excite future generationsRead More

Spring in this neck of the woods can mean robins and peepers and humming birds — they’re coming, don’t you know:   It can mean heavy garbage (the tender has been issued) or the re-opening of the Tasty Treat (Frosty’s now, I guess). But it’s also the time for theRead More

The late Father Gerry Curry (1934-2019) was ordained in 1960 as a member of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society and served 15 years in Japan, returning home to Canada in 1975 to become editor of Scarboro Missions Magazine, which he did from 1975-79 and again from 1989-2003. As his obituaryRead More

What to do this week There may not be any garden insect pests in view just yet but they are still there. They’re slumbering in the soil or the half-rotten dropped fruit you didn’t get a chance to rake up last fall — all waiting for that first warm dayRead More

Budget This week, I’m going to focus on the federal budget tabled Tuesday by Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and discuss a couple of points of particular interest to Cape Bretoners. The first is the government’s decision to double (for one year only) the gas-tax revenue available for infrastructure spendingRead More

Let me begin by saying I do not begrudge Richard Moore and Leslie Wilson, the owners of the Lobster Pound restaurant, their new waterside location in North Sydney. On the contrary, I congratulate them on the location. I think Archibald’s Wharf is a great spot for a restaurant. I thinkRead More

Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York in 1859. He made his debut as an outlaw in 1875, stealing clothing from a Chinese laundry. He was arrested but escaped punishment by climbing up a chimney in the jailhouse. Afterward, writes Evan Andrews in “9 Things You MayRead More

I have been thinking a lot about John Rawls’ theory of justice, in part because I am working with a fourth-year student on her honor’s thesis, but also because I’ve been watching the college admissions scandal unfolding in the United States (a scandal I find at once fascinating and appalling).Read More