Thinking positivity
Normally I turn to NOW just for food and drink (I’m in the industry) and art (also in that industry it’s a hard-knock life). However, this most recent issue (NOW, January 5-11) is fantastic start to finish, particularly the editorial.
Body positivity is an incredibly important issue, and I feel like there was an excellent amount of representation given.
Keep up the good work.
N. Leviathan, Toronto
Inspiring Body Issue got me off my ass
Just a note to say thanks for the recent issue about body love and body positivity. It got me off my ass and onto my Facebook soapbox, and I’m grateful to you for inspiring me to do so.
Amanda Fruci, Toronto
Pot saved me from OxyContin
Re Cannabis Gave Me My Life Back, by Miles Kenyon (NOW, January 5-11). I have been a licensed medical marijuana user for pain but also have PTSD, among other things.
I use 10+ grams a day, but I have a person who grows it for me. I’ve been licensed since July 2009 under the MMAR regs – you had to suffer from a chronic debilitating or terminal illness to qualify.
I didn’t choose to use cannabis to treat my pain, and for my GP to agree to sign my paperwork a pain specialist had to state that all conventional treatments had been tried or considered and found to be either ineffective or inappropriate.
This anesthesiologist and chronic pain/addictions specialist literally wrote the book on prescribing guidelines for pain for those with a history of addiction. Mine was binge snorting OxyContin.
Paul D’Arcy, From nowtoronto.com
This free-speecher a card-carrying NDPer
Re Racism Masquerading As Right-wing Populism And Free Speech On Canadian Campuses, by Steven Zhou (NOW, December 28). I am a board member of Students in Support of Free Speech (SSFS). Equating us with the alt-right and claiming that we “are really pursuing a different agenda” is fairly slanderous.
We started as a push-back against the somewhat ridiculous activities that have been occurring on campuses. Jordan Peterson was the catalyst, but groups like ours have been a long time coming as a result of the chilling effect on campus culture.
I am also a card-carrying NDP member. Many of our board members lean left, not to the alt-right. In fact, many of us view the alt-right as a dangerous counterpart to the far-left authoritarian views that have gained prominence. Both ideologies are antithetical to individualism and free expression.
BM, From nowtoronto.com
What it means to be politically correct
Like Steven Zhou, I object to the objections to “political correctness.” As far as I can see, being politically correct means refraining from demeaning, debasing, insulting or assaulting people and groups of people who used to be considered fair game.
As for the racists, sure, it’s a free country, you can say what you like. But this is Canada, and I would hope your mothers taught you better manners.
Elizabeth Block, Toronto
What if public art were less permanent?
Interesting to read sculptor Eldon Garnet’s dismal account of being on a jury appointed to select a public artwork in Toronto (NOW, December 15-21). But who’s to know what is good or bad art? What if public art were less permanent, if it came and went, like books, theatre, movies, fashion, graffiti? Might that make us sculpture buffs?
In 1841, a plinth was erected in London’s Trafalgar Square. Meant for an equestrian sculpture of King George IV, it was one of four. The other three were topped with statues of imperial heroes, but a statue of Queen Victoria’s scandalous uncle never materialized, and no one could agree on who was worthy of being put up instead of him.
So the fourth plinth remained empty for more than 150 years, until some genius suggested that it be the mount, for a year, of the winner of annual sculpture competition. The Fourth Plinth has been a brilliant success ever since.
Richard Longley, Toronto
Gentrification just around the corner for Kensington
So people think that a few illegal marijuana dispensaries in Kensington have helped keep the neighbourhood cool (NOW, December 8-14)?! It’s time for gentrification of this seedy eyesore.
Let’s look at the Queen/Ossington area. Time for Kensington Market to change with the times!
James Chow, Toronto
Lessons in anti-psychiatry
Re Bonnie Burstow scholarship at OISE (NOW, November 17-23). I read with surprise and concern about the Burstow anti-psychiatry scholarship. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist who trained in the 1960s, I can understand earlier anti-psychiatry sentiment that related to an overemphasis on Freud and psychoanalysis.
Since then, however, there have been major strides in our understanding of the biological bases of mental disorders.
I know stigma still exists and that many individuals who are suffering do not receive treatment. Some of our medical interventions have serious side effects and cannot all be tolerated, a factor that leads many seriously ill individuals to stop their medications, sometimes with tragic consequences.
I worry that this scholarship will encourage more rhetoric. This could be very harmful to those with a mental illness and could reinforce some in their belief that medication cannot help or may be harmful.
Susan Bradley MD, FRCP(C), Toronto
