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The life of a cadaver
When the phone next to her bed rang at 2:30 a.m., some part of Joan Johnston already knew the news would not be good — her husband was never coming home. She was asleep when the call came on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. She picked up after two or three rings to the unfamiliar voice…
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Thumbing a ride–online
It’s a night clear enough to see the stars as over 200 strangers light a bonfire and settle in for a good old-fashioned campout. But when they lie on their backs and stare up above them, it’s not the stars they see — it’s the thousands of glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.…
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Old churches and new realities
On the corner of Hyatt Avenue and Hamilton Road sits the 108-year-old Hyatt Avenue United Church. But the fading front sign and black metal fence erected across the entrance signal that the church has closed. It is a church only in form, not in function. Two blocks west of Hyatt Avenue, at Adelaide and Little…
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Writing gives voice to homelessness
Harry Kuhn has a voice that sings even when it’s not singing – a low, rumbling baritone that cuts the air like a scalpel and echoes through it like a diesel engine. He uses this voice sparingly, edging into group discussions with jabs and jokes and one-liners, but no Hamlet-like soliloquies. But when Harry cuts…