Illustration by Hanna Barczyk
People are freaking out a little because Canadians are not having very many babies—the fertility rate has plummeted to its lowest level—and that will have big societal consequences. In her 2018 cover story, Lauren McKeon explored what not having kids means for women:
As the default structure for women’s lives, the motherhood imperative is a stand-in for order, an assurance that every woman is exactly who, and what, she is supposed to be. We live in an intense pro-maternity culture, one marked by everything from reality shows like Teen Mom OG to Kylie Jenner’s record-shattering February 2018 Instagram reveal of her newborn daughter, Stormi, which sits at 17.5 million likes (and counting). Even Hillary Clinton’s election team worked hard to frame her as, in husband Bill’s words, “the best mother in the whole world.” [Read more]
The mayor of a small town in New Brunswick has quit following chronic infighting among councillors and a provincial takeover last year. Is something afoot in local politics? J.R. Patterson investigated the erosion of faith in municipal governments across the country in “When $500,000 Disappeared from a Small Town”:
I began visiting residents across WestLake-Gladstone to look for that “something else,” to put a name to that source of discontent. Ushered into backrooms and porches, I felt there was a sour repetitiveness to the dissatisfaction residents felt and to their almost unanimous insistence on anonymity. “I want to interfere to improve things,” one resident told me. “But I know how these people work.” [Read more]
Crooner Michael Bublé made headlines after making a joke about taking magic mushrooms at an NHL All-Star Weekend event. If that’s not proof of the growing acceptance of microdosing and psychedelics, we’re not sure what is. Jason McBride explored what’s behind the new surge in interest:
The war on drugs, now almost fifty years old, has predictably failed to curb our ancient affection for both intoxication and self-derangement. There’s also greater awareness of, and interest in, Indigenous cultures in which several psychedelics are considered sacramental. In an era of lethal street drugs of uncertain strength and ingredients, traditional psychedelics—particularly those directly derived from plants—may no longer seem quite as dangerous; they feel almost pure and authentic, like organic vegetables or craft beer. And, finally, in an era of spiritual confusion and apocalyptic politics, psychedelics once again hold out a promise of both solace and transcendence. A better, or at least radically different, world, they say, is possible. [Read more]
The MuchMusic saga continues to be mired in corporate kerfuffles and general confusion. A new documentary about the music channel was meant to be released on Crave but was pulled from the lineup. Some of this doesn’t feel too surprising if you’ve read Sara Black McCulloch’s “The Rise and Fall of MuchMusic”:
Despite the pressure to emulate MTV, MuchMusic was still governed by strict CRTC guidelines. When the channel launched in 1984, the CanCon requirement was a minimum of 10 percent of all music videos aired, with that number set to increase to 20 percent by its third year of operation and to grow by 5 percent each year thereafter. The channel was now in a bind: it was chasing the audience it once engaged. There was seemingly no plan to get ahead of the audience and the growing importance of the internet. Viewership started to dwindle. Corporate blandification further took over: producers were no longer allowed to experiment. [Read more]