Risk a rift; brother knows he’s flouting cottage pact

Psychological drama pairs parables to ask big questions

The Bloody Theatre is an apt title for playwright Steven Ratzlaff’s latest work, a twisty parable of faith, fortune and consequence that required the crew to familiarize themselves with several tools of torture.

Jets new backup Stevenson ‘stoked’ to be in tandem with Skinner

It didn’t take long to get the dirt on the newest member of the Winnipeg Jets.

Meet Clay Stevenson, who has no problem if you prefer to refer to him by his long-standing nickname of “Mud.”

“You know, Clay is in the mud, and there you go. That’s it, right there,” Stevenson said Wednesday with a laugh. “I got it in juniors when I was playing in Coquitlam, and kind of stuck ever since.”

Stevenson is now hoping to make a name for himself in a city that, quite fittingly, translates to “muddy water” in Cree. The 27-year-old from Alberta was placed on waivers by the Washington Capitals and claimed by the Jets, who were looking to clarify a goaltending situation which was as murky as the Red River.

Truck carrying mail, milk and alcohol to isolated N.B. island held at U.S. border

CAMPOBELLO ISLAND - A truck carrying supplies for an isolated New Brunswick island linked to the rest of Canada by U.S. roads was turned back at the international border Tuesday, says the local member of Parliament. 

New Brunswick South MP John Williamson said U.S. border officials stopped the truck bound for Campobello Island, N.B., because it was carrying milk and alcohol. Importing those items into the United States is prohibited under new rules that went into effect Tuesday as part of the ongoing trade war.

The only land link to the picturesque island, best known as the summer retreat of former U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is a bridge to the town of Lubec, Maine. From there it's an 80-kilometres drive to the next border crossing at Calais, Maine, where the truck was stopped.

Williamson said the truck typically travels to the island every weekday, carrying mail and goods for the island's less than 1,000 residents under a special Canada Border Services Agency licence. The truck is sealed with a customs tag guarantying it will not stop on the way to the island.

Netminder no stranger to heavy workload as Jets new No. 1 readies for regular-season start

Stuart Skinner is quick to admit that he wasn’t always wired this way.

As the Winnipeg Jets new starting goalie prepares for his fifth NHL season, Skinner conceded that the accountability aspect that is now synonymous with his character took some time to build up.

“As I grew up and got older, you go through certain things in life that either build character or make things worse for you. It depends on your choice and your decision,” Skinner said during a recent conversation with the Free Press. “I learned it through trial and error. I learned that, sometimes, it’s hard to get honest with yourself… For me, it’s definitely been a road for me to get to a place like this.

“It definitely is one of my pillars. Accountability is so important because that brings you into a spot of what you’re going to do next. It’s easy to let yourself off the hook. I’m more in the business of putting myself on the hook.”

Who has been invited to the table?

Last Friday, I spoke at Booth University College’s inaugural Honour and Hope Harvest Dinner in support of Shelter U. I had been asked to speak about the power of art in the community, a subject I have spent much of my professional life thinking about — as a museum director, writer and teacher, and now through my consulting work with Civic Muse.

What continues to interest me is not simply what museums, universities and other public institutions do, but whether their work actually matters — whether they make a difference in the lives of the people and communities around them.

Preparing for the evening brought me back to an even more fundamental question: Who has been invited in?

One of my museum mentors used to remind me that institutions often begin the conversation about public engagement too late. Before engagement comes the welcome, and before the welcome comes the invitation. We can create extraordinary buildings, exhibitions and programs and say that everyone is welcome. But unless people believe that these places are also meant for them, many will never cross the threshold.

Letters, Oct. 1

Did anyone else see the irony when Premier Wab Kinew announced at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre that Manitoba would adopt permanent Daylight Time (DT) and had hired 17 new psychiatrists this year?