Toews to launch new novel virtually

Survival guide offers a frightening perspective on life in U.S. prisons

Canadian criminal sentencing guidelines identify “three traditional utilitarian goals — deterrence … incapacitation and rehabilitation.”

In spite of lofty intentions, fiction and film have identified North American incarceration in general as largely negative, incapacitating most inmates only while they are actually behind bars. Prison often leads to more crime, teaching criminal behaviour.

Tom Nelson spent more than 17 years in medium and maximum security facilities in the U.S. for such pasttimes as auto theft, armed robbery and drug dealing. Then he turned that life of crime around and became a successful physical trainer and gym owner in Los Angeles.

Nelson met and formed a friendship with Taylor Sheridan, creator and writer of such series as Yellowstone, Landman and the prequels 1883 and 1923. When COVID devastated the gym business and Nelson’s health was failing, Sheridan suggested turning Nelson’s attempt at a screenplay about prison life into a book.

Gilbert Plains Country Club closes for remainder of season due to flood damage

Scott McCallum has made the trek to the Gilbert Plains Country Club clubhouse countless times.

But this was the first time the golf professional and general manager of the course required hip waders to get to his office.

Walking hand in hand with his wife Lindsay, McCallum didn’t need much time to see the devastation caused by the flash flooding in the Parkland region in late June.

“We’re on a river and it’s a beautiful golf course, but anytime you’re on a body of water you know that you’re taking a chance of events like this happening,” McCallum said in a telephone interview. “To this magnitude, we’ve never seen anything like it before. So, this is new to us.

Kinder, gentler drug crackdown finds support, tempered expectations in Main Street area

Drawing a lighter from his pocket, a shirtless man perched on a concrete wall outside United Way Winnipeg’s Main Street headquarters heats a substance in a glass pipe and moves the tube toward his mouth.

Watching while we work

For many employees, the idea that their employer might be tracking how long they spend at their keyboard, how often they move their mouse, or whether they are actively working throughout the day feels unsettling. For many employers, however, workplace surveillance is increasingly viewed as another management tool, particularly as hybrid and remote work become more common. The recent news that TD plans to monitor certain employees’ activity during the workday has reignited a conversation that has been quietly growing for several years: where is the line between legitimate oversight and excessive monitoring?

The reality is that workplace surveillance is nothing new. Employers have long monitored attendance, reviewed security camera footage, tracked company vehicles using GPS, audited expense reports, and reviewed internet usage on company-owned devices. What has changed is the sophistication of the technology. Today’s software can record login times, monitor application usage, track keystrokes, capture screenshots, analyze email activity, and even generate reports ranking employees based on their perceived productivity.

This naturally raises an important question. Does increased surveillance actually make people work harder?

The answer is not nearly as straightforward as many organizations hope.

Winnipeggers hoping for shorter waits in rural ERs delay care for all, Selkirk nurse says

Nurses and union leaders say Winnipeggers — who are frustrated with wait times at city hospitals — head to rural emergency rooms instead, but the facilities don’t have enough staff to meet the extra demand.

As a result, patients in the Selkirk Regional Health Centre emergency department have waited up to 18 hours during peak times, said one nurse who works there.

The nurse, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, said in recent years they have noted more Winnipeg patients who’ve driven the 25 kilometres north to Selkirk’s ER, believing the wait for treatment would be shorter than in the three emergency departments inside the Perimeter.

“They’re all trying to access health care, right? And everybody deserves health care. And I feel bad, because people have to come out here thinking that the wait times are less,” the nurse said. “I can’t blame people for wanting to seek care, and they’re desperate to see someone.”

The view from here: Phyllis Green. Boob Tree, 1975

Staycation: The Art of Being Here feautres more than 100 Manitoba-related artworks from the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq collection, spanning the past 50 years. These pieces reveal how the places around us are layered with memory, story and lived experience. Over the coming weeks, the Free Press will spotlight works from this eclectic exhibition, each one offering a new way of seeing home. Experience it in person and enjoy some staycation time at the gallery, on view until December.

Phyllis Green. Boob Tree, 1975

(Yarn, wood. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Naylor, funds administered by The Winnipeg Foundation, 2014-128. Photo: Ernest Mayer.)

The year 1975 was designated International Women’s Year by the United Nations, and in celebration, the WAG staged the show Images of Women, which explored how women had historically been depicted, an impressive selection but by mostly male artists. Amid pushback from the community, Sharron Zenith Corne and Marian Yeo organized a second exhibition, Woman as Viewer, which challenged those portrayals by only featuring works by women. It was called the first Canadian exhibition of feminist art. American artist Phyllis Green’s Boob Tree, a four-foot-tall crochet sculpture of a cluster of breasts, adorned the exhibit posters, which were so popular they were snatched by passersby! The sculpture is playful and unsettling, re-appropriating the objectification of women’s bodies.