The Marquis Alain Jules Antoine Romain Gaspard de Bernardi de Sigoyer wasn’t a marquis at all. He was really Alain de Bernardi, a con artist who dabbled in murder. In 1944, Paris was occupied by the German army. Times were tough for civilians, but Alain was an exception. The con man had no difficulty gaining favour with the German occupation forces. And no wonder. Alain was in the wine business. [...]

Starting of the school year is hovering over everyone like a dark cloud as we continue to wish and hope for summer to linger, hot weather to stay and the days to remain long and fun-filled. Exhibitions and county fairs, incredible picnics, blueberries ripening blackberries plump on their canes and tassels emerging on the corn are a sure sign that August is here and summer’s end is drawing near. The [...]

A political powerhouse has died. Just weeks after announcing his second battle with cancer in recent years, NDP leader Jack Layton died at the age of 61. When the news came down it was a shock, for many media outlets have been reporting his intentions to attend the NDP conventions later this fall. Watching his last press conference where he announced his intentions to step down while he battled his [...]

What a weekend! It seems that’s a saying that comes to my mind every weekend I work as they always seem full with not much time to breathe, or respond to fire calls with Enfield Fire. But this weekend saw me spend the vast majority of it under the bright sunny skies at Burncoat Head Park for the Howe High is Your Tide event as well as the Human 7 [...]

Bullying hurts. I know that first hand, having been bullied while attending school.For me, bullying never really impacted me a lot until I was in Grade seven and eight, at Hants East Rural High School. That’s when my life changed, and I became scared of going into the school, but I did so as I knew I had to persevere to get an education. I also had good friends, who [...]

Women’s hockey was dealt a headshot on March 18 when Saint Mary’s University (SMU) announced they were icing the Huskies hockey program.Their explanation for cutting and devastating the roster of 18 returnees and others they had recruited? It was a budgetary decision and they save $60,000. The Athletics Department at the south-end Halifax University was informed they needed to find $120,000 in savings.Without looking at taking bits from each team, [...]

One thing that I’ve noticed during my time living in East Hants is an art form that doesn’t get a whole lot of attention—save for the annoyance it sometimes causes its residents. It’s something I’ve always had eye for. Graffiti. Some call it vandalism, some call it art. In its awesomeness, I call it both. During the summer I would take my routine walks over the train tracks in Enfield. [...]

It seems that lately you can’t pick up a magazine or newspaper or turn on the radio without there being an article or story with a mental health focus. Many have the ‘out of the darkness and into the light” type flavour. If only there were more light in which to emerge. One in three Canadians will experience some sort of mental health problem at some point in their life. [...]

Has political correctness reached a new low?In my opinion, yes.Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been re-worked, removing certain derogatory language.While not condoning the use of derogatory language, I also simply cannot condone making changes to a classic.Publisher NewSouth Books is getting a barrage of criticism for their decision to remove the term, hit with attacks like censorship and literary vandalism. Arguments for the removal of the language come [...]

I have lived in East Hants for the past year of my life, and maybe it’s the fact that I work for a small town paper, but many of my story leads and key phrases all tend to contain or focus in on the idea and happenings of ‘community’. There has never been a shortage of events or stories focusing on the generosity of several communities in East Hants, Musquodoboit [...]