By Jonathon Van Maren Another week gone by, and time for the culture update. The wheels of “progress” are ever turning. Big government, of course, continues its slow slide into totalitolerance. Especially in this century, since they’re in the business of legislating morality. Not morality based on science, like banning abortion, but the ideology of…
By Jonathon Van Maren George Jonas, one of Canada’s few great writers and public intellectuals, has passed away at the age of 80. I never had the privilege of knowing or meeting Jonas, although I had very much hoped to be able to interview him, but I had admiringly followed his work since I first…
Just in case you were having a pleasant week, I’ve got this week’s culture update ready for you. If you want to read some good cultural news first, check out my recent article on The Pro-Choice Movement’s Year of Panic. Otherwise, read on. **** Remember that Christian family in Norway that had their children taken…
Lynn Johnston, a Canadian cartoonist, is best known for her newspaper comic strip For Better or For Worse. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award, and has been nominated for a Pulitzer. She joined Jonathon to discuss the world of cartooning, writing, and storytelling.
A hilarious writer who started off at age 12 with This Can’t Be Happening At McDonald Hall, Gordon Korman has since branched out to other genres, including his excellent and popular series’ Everest, Dive, and Island. Korman has written over 85 books and sold over 17 million copies. He joined Jonathon to discuss the life…
By Jonathon Van Maren 2015 marked two important cultural moments: We legally abolished reality and feminism—or what it once was—died. Sceptical? Here are the news stories that prove it. I’ve written before on the fact that the emerging ideology of gender transition—in essence, claiming all reality is subject to our whims and feelings—is nothing short…
Acclaimed author Kit Pearson joins Jonathon Van Maren on The Bridgehead for the second installment in our Children’s Literature series. Author of novels like A Handful of Time, Awake and Dreaming, and The Sky is Falling, Pearson produces literature of a rare quality. In this interview, she explains how.
By Jonathon Van Maren This review of Mortality was first published on the Landmark Report in 2012. It seems that many find it difficult to write anything about the late Christopher Hitchens without slipping into hagiography. Indeed, when he passed away on December 15, 2011 of pneumonia, every columnist or journalist who had ever consumed…
By Jonathon Van Maren In this week’s culture update, we take a look at assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the destruction of religious liberty. These issues are no long abstract. These are issues that, in a very short amount of time, will be impacting you personally. **** As the debate surrounding euthanasia, assisted suicide, and giving…
For the first in our Christmas season literature series, Jonathon Van Maren chats with award-winning Canadian author Jean Little on children’s literature, writing, and how her life translates into her writing.