Greetings and salutations! And welcome to another edition of Citizen at Large!
Before I get down to business, I have a special gift for my Twitter followers and Facebook friends.
For those who don’t know me, I am a huge fan regular reader of Chronicle Herald columnist Jan Wong. In recent weeks, the ex-Globe & Mail staffer turned St. Thomas University journalism prof has taken to her weekly perch to share with her legions of routinely awestruck readers her … um… distinct take on such weighty issues as binge-drinking, her ongoing inability to remember students’ names, and the meal-time challenges brought to the dinner table by picky eaters. Heavy stuff like that.
Regardless of the discussion topic, Jan’s Monday columns never fail to generate local discussion on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. (I have been known to generate said exchanges on occasion.)
But this week’s Jan offering, titled ‘I finally understand the value of a smaller kitchen’ had local Twitter users howling. Not for more, mind you. Just howling. Mostly because the aforementioned piece of writing came just days after a very public Twitter discussion about another kitchen-related piece she’d written years ago. While the original tweeter couldn’t recall with certainty where it was she’d read this shining example ofJan’s journalistic prowess, Jan’s need for double dishwashers remained an unforgettable plot point.
Then, a few days later, Jan’s latest kitchen column appears with – what else? – a reference to the double dishwasher saga!
To wit:
“Twelve years ago, I obsessed over renovations in my Toronto kitchen. It now has two sinks, two refrigerators and two dishwashers.
Why two dishwashers?
So I never waste time emptying the clean one.
We use the clean dishes straight out of one machine and load the other with the dirty.”
Practical? Yes. Excessive? Definitely.
Anyhoo, by the time this week’s offering appeared, I had already sourced (thanks to my crackerjack research squad) the original article which, it turns out, appeared in the April 2000 issue of the now-defunct periodical Elm Street. Technically thirteen years ago, not twelve, but no matter.
In that article, Jan explains her Yolanda Foster-esque refrigeration preoccupatino with her being “tired of cramming five 4-litre bags of milk into a single fridge,” and attributes the double-dishwasher idea to her sister, whose genius also garners a mention this week (said article can be found here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1122154-wong-i-finally-understand-the-value-of-a-smaller-kitchen).
Personally, there’s no comparing the two pieces. The Elm Street piece is far superior in that it makes specific mention of Jan’s floor hue-related temper tantrum, the renovation’s $60,000 price tag, and her nine-plus metres of fabulous counter space. A Jan Wong special, if you will, with all the fixins. Needless to say, it would be selfish of me NOT to share it. So for the benefit of Jan Wong fans everywhere, you can read the article, in its entirety, here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152775289550347&l=0c631b5341
No need to thank me! Really. Bon appétit!
And now, on to the rest of the news:
MEDICAL SNIP-IT SNIPPET:
Dal-educated urologist and vasectomy expert Dr. Richard W. Norman, has joined the Tantallon Community Medical Clinic at 5110 St. Margaret’s Bay Road.
MILESTONES:
Venus Envy, Barrington Street’s resident sex emporium, will celebrate 15 years in the biz May 3, with a Rouge Fatale-hosted anniversary party at Michael’s Bar and Grill May 3. $10 tickets available at both the store and the door, with proceeds benefitting the Venus Envy Bursary Fund in aid of women and trans people wishing to further their education.
In 2011, the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP) honoured store owner/manager Marshall Haywood (formerly Maggie Haywood) with its Rev. Darlene Young Community Hero Award in recognition of her work in sex education, her community volunteerism and for providing a safe space for queer expression.
Joe McGuinness, who together with Kyle Drake co-owns Platinum Hospitality Inc. (the parent company of Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub on Argyle Street) will be feted at the World Trade & Convention Centre later this month. The $20-per ticket event is being touted as Mr. Halifax Hospitality’s “50th birthday celebration … or live wake” and is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 27.
ON THE MOVE:
Dawn Madic, ex-Senior Advisor Valuations and Due Diligence with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, has joined Halifax Harbour Bridges as its Chief Financial Officer.
NEW OWNER:
A Sunnyside Mall source tells me that Hallmark store employee Peggy Fabrizi has assumed ownership of the Bedford greeting card emporium.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS:
Good news for anyone frustrated by the seemingly never-ending renos at the Marriott Harbourfront Hotel! The Harbourstone Sea Grill & Pour House, the hotel’s new all-day eatery, is open for business and remaining site construction is expected to wrap up this week.
CLOSING:
TAG, the Canadian-owned fashion and home decor store adjacent to the Chapters at Mic Mac Mall, is in the throes of a closing-out sale.
According to Southwest Ontario-based BlackburnNews.com, the store’s parent company Effigi, has filed for bankruptcy.
A “Going out of business” notice placed on the company’s tagstore.ca website indicates that all TAG will be closing.
END OF THE LINE:
In her April 13th installment of ‘In the Spirit,’ Monica Graham, a Pictou County freelancer, informed readers that both her column and the religion page on which it ran, are both being cut by The Chronicle Herald as the newspaper works towards revamping its weekend format.
COLD FRONT:
Grey skies unexpectedly moved into CTV fashion icon Cindy Day’s neighbourhood this week when a viewer suggested it was time for her to pull the plug on her Grandma Delia Lefebvre’s weather lore, the basis of her best-selling, award-nominated Nimbus-published book ‘Grandma Says.’
“Daphne Armstrong of Chester, NS, just posted that she is “sick to death of Grandma,” wrote Cindy on her Facebook page, “and would like me to do something else. Just wondering if you feel the same way. Let me know …”
Grandma fans will be happy to know that the feedback was overwhelmingly pro-Grandma.
HOME FRONT:
Speaking of meteorologists, it looks as though Cindy’s fellow CTV cloud-pusher Tina Simpkin, has become a bona fide real-estate agent. “Tina Simpkin takes you farther,” reads the CTV Morning Live fixture’s “coming soon” page on the Royal LePage Atlantic domain. At present, Tina’s only listing appears to be her own pool-inclusive, lake-frontage estate in Hammonds Plains’ Kingswood South subdivision, which can be yours for just $899,900. Former ATV/CTV news director Dick Prat is also with Royal LePage, as was ex-Global Maritimes anchor Allan Rowe before he was selected to run for the Stephen McNeil’s Liberals in Dartmouth South.
UP FOR GRABS:
An ad in today’s Chronicle Herald indicates that Real estate brokerage CRBE is now accepting letters of intent from interested buyers looking to snap up 2438 Gottingen Street, the female retirement residence known as Victoria Hall. Well-known auction house Crowther & Brayley will sell off 300 lots from the historic property Saturday, April 20.
Click here for more on this story: http://t.co/qAsLhPJQhG
RAINBOW CONNECTIONS:
If you failed to attend Halifax Pride’s Fancy Gay Dress Party at Casino Nova Scotia last week, you missed a rare opportunity to catch CBC’s Maritimes Saturday host Elizabeth Chiu mugging for local photographer Timothy Richard. LGBTQ ally Elizabeth, a fixture at CBC since 2008, was this year’s emcee. She “hosted beautifully with style and grace,” cooed Pride board member Marion Steele on Facebook. Additional photos of Elizabeth, CBC Maritime Noon host Norma Lee MacLeod, Mother Corp communications guy Greg Guy and other $100-a-plate ticket holders can be viewed here.
SPOTTED:
Former Halifax Liberal candidate Dr. Stan Kutcher, at the Brooklyn Warehouse, April 5.
Michael Saade, surgical sales consultant for Tribe Medical Group, at the Lacewood Starbucks, April 6.
Hockey Nova Scotia communications guy/former CTV reporter Garreth MacDonald, at Pizza Delight, Spring Garden Road, April 6.
Frank Magazine editor Andrew Douglas, at Pizza Delight, Spring Garden Road (not with Garreth), April 6.
Halifax West MP Geoff Regan and friend, at the Sunnyside Mall food court, April 8.
Supplement King CEO Roger King, at Sushi Tonari at the Sunnyside Mall, April 8.
Cape Breton West MLA Alfie MacLeod and Victoria – The Lakes MLA Keith Bain, outside the Keg, April 8.
Re/Max realtor Bonnie Hutchins, at the Lacewood Starbucks, April 12.
Chester chiropractor Dr. Brad Rusaw and wife Jackie, at the Lacewood Starbucks, April 13.
PASSINGS:
DR. KRAFT EBERHARD von MALTZAHN, 87, Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College, and co-founder of the Halifax Grammar School, on April 3.
EFFIE BEATRICE (LOCKHART) SCOTT, 90, Former pageant director for the Annapolis Valley’s annual Apple Blossom Festival, on April 4.
MURIEL MAY RHODENIZER, 83, former postmistress for Mill Village, Queens County, on April 5.
HAROLD JAMES DOBSON, 84, father of Halifax-based communications expert Carol Dobson, on April 5.
KATHLEEN MARY (DeVANNEY) SCHELLEMAN, 100, Halifax Explosion survivor, on April 6. Her obituary stated that she was five years old at the time of the devastating 1917 explosion, and sustained minor injuries which were treated in the make-shift hospital on the Halifax Common. Earlier this month, The Chronicle Herald officially marked the passing of Ottawa resident Kathleen (Churchill) Davis, who was described as “one of the last Explosion survivors.” That article also mentioned that another survivor, George W. Sim, had recently passed away at the age of 101.
DUOGLAS CARTER, 79, former Truro Mayor, on April 9.
GEORGE STRACHAN MILNE, 73, Centre Musquodoboit musician (at one point during his career played with Canadian music legend Ronnie Hawkins) and one-time hockey agent, on April 10.
RONALD GEORGE REEVES, 73, erstwhile Berwick Town Councillor, on April 10.
MARJORIE ANTHONY-LINDEN, 77, Queens County-born member of the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame who, in 1978, became Canadian TV’s first female Vice-President – at CTV. Her fascinating obituary in The Malibu Times – she resided there in the 1960s and moved back during her retirement – can be found here: http://www.malibutimes.com/obituaries/article_b6ddcbae-a210-11e2-867c-0019bb2963f4.html
