Pauper Envy
A Truck Full of Money: One Man’s Quest to Recover From Great Success by Tracy Kidder Random House 2016, 288 pages Book Review by David Hayes October 1, 2016 The National Post The noted literary journalist Tracy Kidder has made a career out of documenting the lives of other, often ordinary, people rather than himself. […]
Education: When students face expulsion from school
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, December 11, 2011 Early last June, lawyer Renai Williams led 16-year-old Ian McGrath and his mother, Gillian, into a boardroom at the offices of blue-chip Bay Street law firm Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP. They looked nervous in what Williams realized were probably intimidating surroundings, so she began by telling them […]
The extraordinary richness of the renting world
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, January 5, 2013 Another 12 months of telling renters’ stories has passed and I’d like to start off the New Year by looking back. Sadly, some things haven’t changed: it’s increasingly expensive to live in downtown Toronto and little affordable housing is being built because there is no will to […]
Education: When students face expulsion from school
By David Hayes, Toronto Star, December 11, 2011 Early last June, lawyer Renai Williams led 16-year-old Ian McGrath and his mother, Gillian, into a boardroom at the offices of blue-chip Bay Street law firm Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP. They looked nervous in what Williams realized were probably intimidating surroundings, so she began by telling them […]
From the factory floor to funky tabletop
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, September 6, 2011 One day, while walking past a cluster of craftspeople at the Distillery District, I spotted some funky looking furniture. In a world filled with laminated particleboard and second-rate construction, these rough-hewn pieces, handcrafted from reclaimed wood and nicely welded metal stands and frames, stood out. They’re […]
Housing coop still thriving 30 years later
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, November 14, 2009 I recently moved into a two-bedroom townhouse in Cathedral Court, a housing coop in St. Lawrence neighbourhood, and attended my first annual general meeting. Rather than a for-profit landlord, coops elect a board of directors from among the members and decisions are made democratically. Aside from […]
We Like Opinions, We Really Do
By David Hayes, The Globe and Mail Book Review; November 14, 2009 You Can’t Say That in Canada By Margaret Wente HarperCollins, 211 pages Canada and Other Matters of Opinion By Rex Murphy Doubleday Canada, 329 pages I like opinion columnists. I really do. I admire writers like Margaret Wente and Rex Murphy – whose columns appear […]
Abandoned in Canada
Every year, hundreds of frightened children from the developing world arrive alone in Canadian airports. Some are sent by desperate parents hoping to spare them poverty or violence. Others have been sold to human traffickers. Who’s protecting these fragile refugees? By David Hayes, Chatelaine, October 2009 The child arrived on the woman’s doorstep in the […]
Moses Znaimer’s New Mission
With the Zoomer brand, TV revolutionary Moses Znaimer is making his most innovative play yet — so innovative, in fact, that the flock is having trouble catching on By David Hayes, Report on Business Magazine, September, 2009 The voice behind the curtain has a question. He’s anxious to hear what the speaker at the podium, […]
This garden helps a community flower
West end’s The Stop is a go-to place for thousands who benefit yearly from the centre’s food-based programs By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, September 05, 2009 As I walk alongside Opal Sparks on our way to The Stop Community Food Centre’s 8,000-square-foot community garden in Earlscourt Park, she is saying, “If more money was put […]