Actor mulls racial and economic divides

American takes men’s senior title, Manitoban Fanning finishes third

Todd Fanning did everything he could.

The decorated local golfer knew he would need to go low to have a chance at becoming the first Manitoban to win the Canadian men’s senior national championship on Friday, and while he held up his end of the bargain, in the end it was not to be.

Starting the day five shots back of the lead — a gap he closed quickly, actually taking the solo lead from a brief stretch early in the day — Fanning carded six birdies en route to tying a tournament-low four-under 68 in the final round at Niakwa Country Club.

The 58-year-old’s effort would be matched by Arizona’s Bryan Hoops, whose matching 68 carried him to a two-shot victory.

Retired sportscaster Scott Oake determined as fundraising for women's addictions treatment facility enters home stretch

For now, the patch of land just east of the Victoria Hospital doesn’t look like much: just a field of rocks, mounded dirt, and concrete piles driven into the earth. Yet when Scott Oake looks over the site, he can already imagine how it will look in just over a year’s time, when the new Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is expected to open.

It’s easier to picture this time around. In 2020, when the recently-retired CBC sportscaster and his late wife, Anne, were building their first labour of intermingled grief and love, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around how a raw construction site could transform into a welcoming addictions treatment facility.

When that centre opened in 2021, Oake found it looked “almost identical” to the architect’s renderings. So it’s easy to hope the Anne Oake Centre will be the same. It will be the first facility of its kind, its founders believe, not only in Canada but in North America: a place where 50 to 70 women can pursue sobriety while staying with their children.

“At Bruce Oake there’s a culture of love, and most of all a culture of hope,” Oake said, speaking at the site Thursday after a media conference to announce the final push of the centre’s fundraising campaign. “I can feel it every time I walk into that building. And I know it will be the same here.”

Movie review: sequel to cult classic fails to conjure same charms

“You’ve heard tell of the Owens sisters,” says a handy voiceover at the start of this unsatisfying sequel.

Why, yes, they were in a movie 28 years ago, which did so-so box office at the time but went on to develop a large and loyal cult following.

That first Practical Magic go-round, adapted from the book by Alice Hoffman, was full of crowd-pleasing “You go, girl” empowerment and witchy shenanigans, making for a sweet, supernatural-lite kind of vibe.

It wasn’t a great movie, but it had its own hokey, Halloweeny charm. It was a pumpkin spice latte before pumpkin spice lattes were even a thing.

Actor mulls racial and economic divides

Balancing two very different aspects of life can be difficult, whether that involves work and family, career and leisure or other circumstances that can easily clash and cause disruptions to people’s lives. Much of Anais Granofsky’s life has been about balancing two different racial backgrounds, together with wealth and poverty, as she relates in her engaging memoir, The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor.

Granofsky is best known for playing the role of Lucy Hernandez on the Degrassi television series. In addition to acting in a number of films, she has worked as a screenwriter, producer and director and is developing a television series loosely based on her early life. This memoir is her first book. Currently, Granofsky lives in Toronto with her family.

From the beginning, Anais Granofsky faced a number of barriers as the daughter of a Jewish man from a wealthy family and a black woman from a background of poverty. Growing up in social housing with a single mattress for both her and her mother contrasted sharply with what Granofsky experienced on her regular visits to her wealthy paternal grandparents. Life became even more difficult when her father became interested in eastern religions and left to join a community of mystics in India.

The struggle to maintain a balance between two very different lifestyles forms the main theme of the book as Anais and her mother attempted to deal with a low income and frequent unemployment, broken or struggling relationships and more. Her parents’ divorce, her mother’s remarriage and the birth of her half-sister caused both tension and happiness in the author’s life. Signs of changing fortunes in Granofsky’s early television appearances and other experiences helped to shape the author’s childhood. Meanwhile, she had to find a way to reconcile the economic struggles that she and her mother experienced with the wealth she saw on her regular visits with her father’s family.

Banjo Bowl a big deal for new and returning faces

Kenneth Womack never doubted this day would come.

For all of the twists and turns along this journey, Womack believed in himself and the work he’s been putting in on the road to becoming a professional football player.

So, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver gets set to make his CFL on Saturday afternoon against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl, you can be sure he’s going to take a moment to savour the experience while doing his best to make it feel like any other game he’s played previously.

“Once I run out the tunnel, it’s all going to sink in,” Womack said after Friday’s walkthrough.

Cancelling court erodes access to justice — just ask Matt Wiebe

Back in May 2023, when the NDP was in opposition and Matt Wiebe was just an earnest justice critic, he had harsh words for the Progressive Conservative government when provincial circuit court sessions were being cancelled.