Kazimi's Shooting Indians questions "authenticity"
In Ali Kazimi's 1997 documentary Shooting Indians, a whole sequence of studying is going on. Kazimi studies Iroquois photographer Jeff Thomas, who is mining the century-old works of white photographer and filmmaker Edward Curtis. The three are transformed.
by Jane Henderson

Citizenship as "contribution" and alternative economies

Think about 'contribution,' outside of the box.

The box is economy. The dominant economy–capitalism–is only one among many possible models of social organization. How we think about economy and how we structure our activities as economies shapes what we think a contribution is, what kinds of activities are contributions, and who a contributor is.

by Karen Houle

A letter from the editor: Every media organization has a way of deciding what stories are important enough to be news. The editor of the Globe and Mail, Edward Greenspon, has said that "if it happened yesterday, it isn't news."

When looking silly is worse than looking evil
Webster's Dictionary credits literature as the traditional medium to use "trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm to expose and discredit vice or folly." Yet in today's multimedia world, satire has entered the mainstream via theatre, television, music, newspaper cartoons, radio, and the internet. Satire is an important tool for those frustrated by the corporate, sponsorship, and political agendas mixed up in their media.- by Jane Henderson and Max Liboiron -

Revolution and Misinformation

Cuba: A revolution in motion
by Isaac Saney
Fernwood Books 2003

Cuba. A small island nation. Cigars that Americans have to smuggle into their own country; sublime music played by old men; Caribbean vacations; quaint old buildings. They had a revolution, years ago. Some guys named Che Guevara and Fidel Castro were involved. There were others, but what were their names again? They overthrew Batista, the guy with the solid gold telephone in The Godfather: part II. They seemed to have good ideals at the beginning, but eventually turned into yet another corrupt communist dictatorship. Castro the despot rules with an iron fist, jailing those who dare to defy him. The country remains poor due to outdated, inefficient socialist policies. The US and others are biding their time, waiting for Castro to die so that democracy can be restored, and the Cuban people freed from his authoritarian grip.

Aside from the cigars and music, these are a few of the well-worn images of Cuba that Isaac Saney, a history professor at Dalhousie, would like you to reconsider.

- Reviewed by Dru Oja Jay -

"The Uptown," by Heather Meek

Sumi-E Experiment (2003)
Many of today's most acclaimed electronica albums are recorded in the cramped bedrooms of computer-literate music nerds. Meanwhile journalists have invented the curious genre of "laptop music" to describe the trend.
- by Matt Brennan -