By Mark McConaghy I will start by stating an obvious but important fact: the irony of doing political or creative work is that, above all else, one must have the time to engage in it. If you want to go out and raise awareness about an issue, either online or through old fashioned door knocking, […]
Read more "Everything is Fine: Rob Ford and Existential Exhaustion"By Mark McConaghy The Scene Monday Night. 7:30 pm. The pub in the tony part of Toronto, the neighborhood known as Rosedale, was packed with people young and old. They were there to cheer on the Toronto Maple Leafs in a deciding game 7 in their playoff series against the Boston Bruins. After having been […]
Read more "On Watching Game 7 in Toronto"Before we all became riveted on the problem of terrorism over the last 2 weeks, I had planned to write about another story that garnered much national attention here in Canada but has, since Boston, faded from the headlines. While my fellow 14th floorer Sean Callaghan has done an admirable job working through the philosophical complexities […]
Read more "RBC’s Apology and the Limits of Capitalism"By Mark McConaghy Like many in North America and around the world last Friday, I was riveted by the manhunt for the Tsarnaev brothers. I watched with surreal fascination as the entire city of Boston was locked down into a police state for an entire day. Two young men, pressure cooker bombs, guns, stolen cars, […]
Read more "There is No Batman: On Terrorism in Our Time"By Mark McConaghy Last week our nation was shocked by the suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons. The details of the story are so grim they remain difficult to summarize: at the age of 15 Parsons was allegedly sexually assaulted at a house party by 4 teenage boys in the small town of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. A […]
Read more "On Rehtaeh Parsons"Mark McConaghy on the Passing of Noted Film Critic Roger Ebert. Film critic and writer Roger Ebert has died. Thousands of people have expressed their sorrow on twitter, facebook, blogs, and in print. The outpouring has come from famous filmmakers and powerful politicians to everyday people, all of whom were touched in some way by […]
Read more "For Roger"Mark McConaghy breaks down the political stakes involved in the University of Toronto’s decision to turf a vital piece of green space in downtown Toronto. Although seemingly a simple issue of field quality, the proposed turfing cuts the very core of questions of democracy, public space, and community life in Canada’s largest urban center. In […]
Read more "The Battle Over Back Campus"Mark McConaghy breaks down what we know about the deal Cyprus struck to avoid fiscal collapse, and why it sets a very dangerous precedent for fiscal policy in the 21st century. Are we going to find ourselves in a world where even our personal bank accounts are not off limits from state power? A deal […]
Read more "The Age of the Bail In: Cyprus in Crisis 2"By Mark McConaghy. The people of Cyprus are facing an egregious betrayal of trust by their own government, who has proposed to steal 10% from their citizens personal bank accounts to pay for an EU sponsored bailout. With yet another European country on the verge of total financial collapse and social upheaval, the question that […]
Read more "Cyprus in Crisis"By Mark McConaghy Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as pope and has taken the name Francis 1. As a follow up to my wishlist for the papal appointment written last week, I have been encouraged by our readers to provide my thoughts on his election. As the first pope from Latin America, Francis 1 will […]
Read more "Francis 1: New Pope, Many Questions"
The 14th Floor 