History

2004 New York Renaissance Faire in the Maypole Meadow. KenL at English Wikipedia [Public domain]

A May Day Salute to Invisible Work

May 1, 2019 at 12:23 pm

May Day — the first day of May — was traditionally a day to wear flowers on your head, dance around a Maypole and welcome the arrival of spring. It became a day to celebrate workers in honor of the Haymarket Affair — a peaceful gathering in support of theRead More

Reading the ECBC/Ben Eoin Golf Club Contract

Reading the ECBC/Ben Eoin Golf Club Contract

April 24, 2019 at 10:08 am

As part of my coverage of the ructions in Ben Eoin, I submitted an access to information request to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) for a copy of the contract between Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC) and Ben Eoin Golf Club Limited. I also asked for any correspondence concerningRead More

Pope Benedict XVI

No Act of Contrition: Benedict XVI on Sexual Abuse

April 17, 2019 at 12:19 pm

I wonder how Pope Francis feels about having a 92-year-old armchair quarterback living in a neat little cottage somewhere behind the Vatican who suddenly decides to “unpack” the sexual abuse crisis, its causes and solutions? Retired Pope Benedict XVI has decided to share his enlightened version of the worst scandalRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

April 5, 2019 at 11:25 am

Emera The Cape Breton Post is reporting changes to Nova Scotia legislation that will lift restrictions preventing foreign investors from holding more than 25% of voting shares in Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI). The other change “reinforces Emera’s existing commitment to maintain its head officeRead More

Berkhamsted Castle, March 2019. (Photo by Lee-Anne Broadhead)

Brexit Reflection: Letter from a Ruined Castle

April 3, 2019 at 11:49 am

For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings; How some have been deposed; some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; Some poison’d… Richard II, Act 3 Scene 2 (‘A Castle in View’)   Dear SpectatorRead More

Artist's rendering of new CBRL Central Library. 2019.

On the Waterfront Part I

March 27, 2019 at 12:28 pm

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

Women pallbearers in Flint, Michigan. Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RkYn5M14gY

Reinventing Rites of Passage

March 27, 2019 at 12:24 pm

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

Cover "Get Billy the Kid!" by Caper Games

Get Billy the Kid!

March 20, 2019 at 10:24 am

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

Ice Wall, Irish Vale, 2019. Cape Breton Spectator photo.

Ice Walls of Yesteryear

March 20, 2019 at 10:19 am

As of Saturday, the Great Ice Wall of Irish Vale (and the Lesser Ice Wall of Irish Cove) were still attracting visitors (although no one has yet had the sense to start selling hot chocolate and popcorn, a great entrepreneurial opportunity lost in my opinion). I had thought the mediaRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

February 22, 2019 at 10:30 am

Extra! Extra! I think Tim Bousquet of the Halifax Examiner may just have done the children of South Africa a solid. Want to know how? You’ll have to read his amazing story: “John Risley’s South African Adventure.” And yes, the article is behind a paywall, but think about it: TimRead More