Does anyone recall
how normal feels?

THINGS are finally beginning to open up again – Winterruption, the Citadel Theatre, Jason Kenney’s mouth – but we’re almost afraid to call this a return to normal.

Let’s just say there’s a sort of normalness (like “truthiness,” it isn’t quite right, but it will pass) hanging in the air and, over here at The Magpie, we don’t want to put a jinx on the future with any gibberish about “best summers ever.”

Still, it’s nice to see that the stage lights are coming up at The Citadel Theatre again, as Bailey Stefan reveals with her preview of The Herd, the premiere of a new play by Cree playwright Kenneth T. Williams, which is loosely adapted from Ibsen and features an all-Indigenous cast.

At the same time, Winterruption is returning after a two-year hiatus, and Tim Johnson takes us to the Starlite Room for a concert with MILQ. And Natasja Pitcher looks at the Heart of the City Music Program, which matches music teachers with at-risk youth.

Emilie Lavoie visits a pair of downtown book shops that have not only weathered the attacks of Amazon and the big chains, but have managed to thrive through COVID, too.

Jack Farrell looks at a new bylaw that aims to remove the “existential threat” in our garbage – the plastic, Styrofoam and other “forever” materials that are fouling our oceans and polluting our bodies.

Managing editor Aubrianna Snow surveyed some young Russians to find out how the war in Ukraine is affecting information flow, and discovered that a new kind of curtain is being drawn across Eastern Europe.

Finally, to show some things never change, we have the EPS, which, as Dustin Scott tells us, is still trying to bar a local journalist from its news conferences. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney is still around – for now, at least – and he’s on the radio every week fielding calls from listeners. Photo editor Gina Benett reviews his show and finds that so-so radio can make an excellent sleeping aid.

That’s it for this edition – and for this year. We’ll be back in the fall with a new batch of stories from a new crop of student journalists.

Brian Gorman PhD,
associate professor, journalism
gormanb3@macewan.ca