[NEWS] Five Indigenous links: Cree, Attikamekw, roots workers, climate, Niviaq Korneliussen

• With new translation facilities in place, MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette has delivered the first speech translated from the Cree delivered in the House of Commons. Global News reports.
• La Presse looks at the newly-lodged land claim of the Attikamekw to much of the Haute-Mauricie region.
• Brielle Morgan at The Discourse looks at the necessary, but neglected, role of “roots workers” in keeping indigenous children in care in British Columbia connected with their cultures.
• Tanya Talaga at the Toronto Star looks at the serious impact of climate change on many Indigenous communities, starting with the High Arctic.
• The New Yorker takes a look at the literary success of queer Greenlandic writer Niviaq Korneliussen.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Nunavut, Vashon Island, St. Kilda, Sardinia

• In the wake of the disruptions caused by a recent massive winter storm, Le Devoir made the point that the Iles-de-la-Madeleine need better conditions to the mainland.
• The Island Review took a look at the work of Shona Main in Nunavut.
• CityLab took a look at how Vashon Island, in Puget Sound not far from Seattle, has to prepare for disasters in the reality that it might be cut off from support from the mainland.
• The Island Review shares some of the work, prose and art, of Brian McHenry on deserted St. Kilda.
• This OBC Transeuropa report looks at the Romanian immigrant shepherds of Sardinia.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Hamilton, Boston, Valencia, Moscow, Hyderabad

• Ridership on the Hamilton Street Railway is growing but still below projected numbers. Global News reports.
• Residents of the Lincolnshire city of Boston, one of the most pro-Brexit in the United Kingdom, fear Brexit might not happen. Global News reports.
• CityLab notes how the Spanish city of Valencia is doing its best to keep local bee populations thriving.
• Deutsche Welle takes a look at how residents of one village once on the fringes of Moscow have found their environment transformed by massive urbanization.
• Guardian Cities takes a look at the central position played by “Tollywood”, the Telugu-speaking film industry’s hub, in the fate of a globalizing Hyderabad.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Bruce McArthur, Ontario Place, real estate, Chickadee and Owl, TTC

• This Toronto Star feature touches upon the continuing upset among the communities affected by the murders of Bruce McArthur.
• Polling suggests that most Torontonians want Ontario Place to remain a place where they can access Lake Ontario easily. I do like the idea of a ferris wheel, mind. The Toronto Star reports.
• blogTO notes that a small shack near the Art Gallery of Ontario is selling for $2.5 million. (The value, to be fair, is in the land the building sits on.)
• Jamie Bradburn shares some classic advertisements for children’s science magazines Chickadee and Owl.
• Steve Munro analyses at length the City of Toronto’s budget, specifically as it relates to the TTC.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Centauri Dreams extends further consideration the roles that artificial intelligences might play in interstellar exploration.
• D-Brief notes that the genes associated with being a night owl also seem to be associated with poor mental health outcomes.
• Far Outliers looks at the lifeboat system created on the upper Yangtze in the late 19th century.
• Kashmir Hill, writing at Gizmodo, notes how blocking Google from her phone left her online experience crippled.
• Imageo notes that, even if halted, global warming still means that many glaciers well melt as they respond to temperature changes.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the racism that permeated ads in 19th century North America.
• Language Hat looks at how some Turkish-speaking Christians transcribed the Turkish language in the Greek alphabet.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how utterly ineffective the Trump Administration’s new refugee waiver system actually is.
• The LRB Blog looks at the film and theatre career of Lorenza Mazetti.
• Marginal Revolution notes, in passing, the import of being a YouTube celebrity.
• Molly Crabapple at the NYR Daily writes about the work of the New Sanctuary coalition, which among other things waits with refugees in court as they face their hearings.
• The Speed River Journal’s Van Waffle looks for traces of the elusive muskrat.
• Towleroad shares footage of New Order performing the early song “Ceremony” in 1981.
• Transit Toronto notes that Metrolinx now has an app for Presto up!
• At Vintage Space, Amy Shira Teitel looks at the Soviet Moon exploration program in 1969.
• Window on Eurasia notes the new pressures being placed by rising Islamism and instability in Afghanistan upon Turkmenistan.
• Arnold Zwicky considers, briefly, the little is known about the lives of 1980s gay porn stars Greg Patton and Bobby Pyron. How did they lead their lives?

[VIDEO] On Bob the Drag Queen and Dark Phoenix

Over the past couple of months, I’ve begun to seriously watch RuPaul’s Drag Race. There is something profoundly compelling to me about watching queer people work so hard to recreate themselves. One drag queen I’ve been particularly interested in watching is Bob The Drag Queen, a season winner who has since gone on to put out great music and comedy.

I recently came across one Bob The Drag Queen video drawn from his stint on the Werq The World tour.

There is a voice at the start of Bob’s routine, a woman talking about the new sensations she feels, the new power. I am quite certain that this voice is taken from X-Men animated series of the 1990s, from the dialogue of Jean Grey as voiced by Catherine Disher in that series’ recreation of the The Dark Phoenix Saga. Right?

[PHOTO] Looking north after the snow, Dufferin at Dupont

[NEWS] Five politics links: MAGA, Ontario, Venezuela, John MacCallum, Brexit

• Andray Domise at MacLean’s makes the obvious point that wearing a MAGA hat is a conscious choice to wear a symbol of hate.
• The cancellation of Ontario’s guaranteed minimum income project is now up before the supreme court, which seems unconvinced that the province did not make a legal commitment three years long to provide the funding needed. The Toronto Star reports.
• Don Pittis at CBC makes the point that the economic problems of Venezuela, much too dependent on oil, are far too severe to be overcome by the end of the Maduro regime.
• The appointment of long-time Liberal politician John MacCallum as the ambassador of China to Canada has turned out to have been a historic mistake. CBC reports.
• Ian Dunt at Politics.co.uk, looking at the consequences of a hard Brexit on the food supply alone, exposes what a catastrophe this would be at every level.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: Pride Toronto, Christophe Honoré, Sarah Schulman, HIV/AIDS, Fun Home, movie

• The radical queer group Anti-69 opposes this year’s proposed theme of Pride Toronto celebrating the 50th anniversary of decriminalization of homosexuality, on the grounds that decriminalization did not go nearly far enough.
• The Guardian looks at French director and writer Christophe Honoré, and his efforts to recover the queer memory of HIV/AIDS at its worst in France.
• them shares the arguments of author Sarah Schulman that the representation of HIV/AIDS in popular culture, in Rent for instance, not only underplay queer agency and organization but omit stories of queer survival.
• Daily Xtra shares the story of Melanie Woods of how Fun Home helped her find herself.
• them looks at how Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite do a great job of sharing stories of queer love and resilience despite the odds from the early modern period.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Québec City, Kuala Lumpur, Sambuca, Birmingham

• This Noisey interview with musician Tiga shows how he and his music helped make Montréal a leading nightlife city.
• La Presse notes that Québec City is looking to bypass an environmental impact study for its proposed streetcar.
• Guardian Cities notes that the rapid development of Kuala Lumpur has displaced the native macaques from their home, creating new interactions between them and invasive primates.
• Guardian Cities reports on the Sicilian town of Sambuca, which has put vacant homes on sale for one Euro each. Will this be enough to reverse depopulation?
• CityLab notes how the city of Birmingham has resisted an Alabama state law requiring the display of a Confederate monument.