It was on a road trip with my family in the late 1990s, headed north through the Cariboo, when I felt as though I had no choice but to listen to the Rankin Family.
Read more "Deep Cut – “Mull River Shuffle” (Live)"By Mark McConaghy
On how we are processing the terrible events of last week, even as we remain caught in our web of digital existence.
Read more "Clicking with Rage: On the Loss of Flight MH17"By Mark McConaghy
In this new series, entitled The Scene, we send our writers to spaces and cultural events around our city to report about them. What does it mean to be alive in our here and now?
Read more "The Scene: Wednesday Night Music at the Drake Hotel"In this new series, the 14th Floor presents outstanding yet potentially overlooked album tracks. In this installment, we respond to a jewel found halfway through the Matthew Good Band’s acclaimed third album.
Read more "Deep Cut – “Suburbia”"By Mark McConaghy
As we approach the end of the Ontario provincial election, one would be forgiven for wondering just why it is that so many politicians come off as so profoundly disingenuous. Why can’t they seem even somewhat genuine to us?
Read more "Why Do Politicians Seem So Fake?"By Mark McConaghy
Who are we to turn to to understand the complex and brutal forces shaping the situation on the ground in Russia and Ukraine today?
Read more "Reading Crisis: Ukraine and our Search for Knowledge"By Mark McConaghy
Two stories appeared in the NYTimes last week: a 14 year old Brooklyn boy mistakenly gunned down an innocent bystander on a bus, while in Manhattan luxury real estate prices hit new all time highs.
What does the mind-bending incongruity between these two stories tell us about the nature of the society we live in?
Read more "Apartment Sells for 88 Million, 8th Grader Shoots Bystander on Bus"By Mark McConaghy
What does the online coverage of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death tell us about the culture of the internet today?
Read more "Digital Fracture: How We Mourned Philip Seymour Hoffman"By Mark McConaghy
How can we move beyond all of our petty sorrows and vulnerabilities to gain a truly meaningful form of social existence?
Read more "The Urgency of the Unknown Future"By Sean Callaghan
No one else is trying to rewrite the future, so the rest of us should start.
Read more "Why Science Fiction is the Future"
The 14th Floor 