The editor at What’s Up Yukon doesn’t often receive handwritten letters, but there were two on file when I arrived. We’ve sent Mrs. Schorn a copy of her letter in print and I hope she’s found some new penpals from our efforts. The other letter on file was from Ray, a man who is currently …
If Louis Gagnon has learned anything from five years of successfully running a food truck in the Yukon, it’s “Batten down the hatches!” Gagnon says this with a hearty laugh, but securing every food item in a food truck, is no joke. In fact, the French Canadian and long time Yukoner, who runs the well-known …
Consider Murphy, whoever he was. When anything goes wrong, people assume it’s somehow his fault. Being a forgiving sort of guy, I try to give ol’ Murph the benefit of the doubt. Still, there are some situations in which I am convinced his famous Law, or one its many corollaries, is at work. Case in …
Appearing nightly in vaudeville, burlesque, ballets and operas, on tiny rustic stages of the Wild West mining camps and in the frontier theatres of the Pacific Coast, by the 1870s the cancan was in North America to stay. When the cancan first became a part of the entertainment fabric, it was celebrated in newspaper reviews …
Young Alex DeLarge and his gang of droogs aren’t choosy about whose lives they wreak mindless havoc on. From the down-at-the-heels to the well-heeled, the young thugs attack indiscriminately, mercilessly and irrationally. One thing leads to another and Alex is charged with murder and sentenced to prison. He’s selected for the fictional Ludivico technique, a …
Although women of Paris played an integral role in the French Revolution, once the dust settled they were given a stern message by the new men in power: Stay home, tend to the children and leave the important business of governing to us. By 1825, the post-revolution preoccupation of keeping women in their place was …
On February 16 I picked up my roommate, Taylor Tiefenbach, from the Erik Nielsen International Airport. His flight was due to arrive at 3:05 p.m. and I was running late. Given this, I decided to park right in front of the terminal, in the area designated, “IMMEDIATE PICK UP AND DROP OFF ONLY”. Taylor’s plane, …
Handwritten, unwitnessed wills — also called holographic wills — are valid in the Yukon as well as some of the provinces. One of the more famous examples of a holographic will comes from Saskatchewan, where in 1948 , Cecil George Harris became trapped under his tractor and, near death, carved the following words into its …
I’m at that age where my friends are getting married, having children and, for some, getting divorced and doing it all over again. In the context of these increasing responsibilities, it’s not surprising that many of my conversations turn to what happens when we die — who takes care of the kids? Who is responsible …
Making something illegal that used to be legal is a tricky road to manoeuvre. Opium? Sure, I understand. DDT? Makes sense. But making booze illegal after being freely produced and imbibed for hundreds of years in North America — what idiot dreamed that one up? Prohibition was heavily supported by the women of Canada and …
Making something illegal that used to be legal is a tricky road to manoeuvre. Read More »
In perusing past entries on the Brookston Beer Bulletin blog site, www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com (a terrific forum for learning about all things beer-related), we came across a rant authored by a site visitor with the clever pseudonym, “J”. The entry starts with J describing himself as a fan of economic theory and how he has come across …
News out of Birmingham, Alabama this month has a local consumer lobby group calling for a boycott of all Anheuser-Busch products in the Birmingham/Jefferson County area due to anti-craft beer legislation in that state. Free the Hops/Alabamians for Speciality Beer’s President Stewart Carter notes that the call for the boycott comes as a response to …
With binge drinking and bar violence on the rise, the Province of Alberta has made some policy changes that it is hoping will curb public drunkenness. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has amended policy that will no longer allow for extreme “cheap drink” specials, extended happy hours and large drink orders past 1 a.m. …
Congratulations to the Yukon government, in general, and to the Yukon Liquor Corporation, specifically, for passing regulations that put the new Liquor Act in play. It goes a long way toward normalizing alcohol consumption in our lives. We feel that a program of accepting the presence of alcohol in everyday situations, coupled with stronger disincentives …
The Liquor Corporation in New Brunswick has created a wee bit of a stir lately (pun intended). It seems it is losing a lot of beer sales in border communities. Not to the U.S., as you might think, but to Québec. Every province and territory in Canada has their own approach to beer pricing. As …
