VICE

VICE Canada

Canadian-style liquor store setups are exceedingly rare. There are almost no countries that require you to purchase spirits in the manner that we are accustomed to. In Communist China, it's a free-for-all. Almost nobody does it like we do, Canada. We're an outlier. We're a weirdo.

Priya Sankaran

Radio Reporter, CBC News Toronto

A few days before I was to fly back to Canada a small ad in one of the morning newspapers caught my eye. The words Multiple Sclerosis Society of Chennai jumped out at me. Apparently there was a local chapter and it was throwing a fundraiser. The ad took me by surprise. There were others like me dealing with the disease. And they lived in a vitamin D rich country like India. Everything I had read about MS suggested it was a chronic condition which is much more pervasive in temperate climates like Canada, the U.S., Scotland, England

Andrew Bridge

Managing Director, Virgin Mobile Canada; Champion of the Cause to End Youth Homelessness in Canada

Whether it's sultry or sweet, a good text life is crucial for daters. Today, people are agonizing over what to type, not what to say. Here are some tips. Tone down the exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! You're excited about your date, but play it cool. One fifth of Canadians say exclamation marks are a major texting no-no.

Lucas Silveira

Musician

I was repetitively asked "Are you a boy or a girl?" throughout childhood and adolescence and usually followed by "Fucking dyke!" Very recently, all of these wounds resurfaced when I saw this comment left by a woman on a video I posted on Facebook to raise funding for a tour for my band The Cliks. Don't shame me for speaking up for myself. Shame those who hurt me.

Shelley Emling

Editor, Post 50

Just because you've been getting away with a social gaffe for decades doesn't mean you shouldn't stop making it. By the time you're 50, you should know a thing or two -- or 25 -- about etiquette.

Nadeem Esmail

Director, Health Policy Studies, The Fraser Institute

Canadian taxpayers are not receiving the same sort of value that their counterparts in other nations are when it comes to universally accessible health care. In fact, Canadians spend much more for their health care and receive lower quality care than other countries with universal-access systems.

Minnow Hamilton

Editor and Chief Curator, SavvyMom Media

Angelina had a double mastectomy, moms are misbehavin' at Disney and we all need more naps. Baby mugging is big and Pilates is a lot tougher than you think. That's what caught my attention this week.

Anne Theriault

Feminist blogger

Stay in bed. Hunker down under the covers. Read Sheila Heti's How Should A Person Be? and highlight the passages that you feel specifically apply to your life. Eat too many cookies. Let your cat lick your face clean, but stop her when she tries to groom your eyebrows.

Priya Sankaran

Radio Reporter, CBC News Toronto

I was 33 years old and working the local news beat with the CBC's supper hour news cast when the universe hurled a wicked curve ball my way. On the Tuesday morning after the Canada Day holiday, I tripped and fell in the newsroom, scraping my knee. Forty-eight hours later I was admitted to Emergency in a Toronto hospital. And I learned that something was terribly wrong with my health. In the days and weeks following my diagnosis non-white friends, even my childhood pediatrician who was Indo-Canadian, wondered how it was I'd come down with what many considered to be a "White Man's Disease." By the end of the summer the initial diagnosis was confirmed by the neurologist who would become my MS doctor at St. Michael's Hospital.

Darlena Cunha

Blogger

Charles Clymer runs a rather successful feminist page on Facebook called Equality for Women. Unfortunately, many comments have been deleted which has angered the women who wrote them. Because now you have a man running a feminist page essentially silencing women he doesn't agree with. And the disenchantment begins. In the end, it's up to you to decide. Charles Clymer, feminist hero, villain, or just some guy on the internet? But when you do decide, think on the macro level. What do these in-fights say about feminism as a whole, and how does your decision on this microcosm play into your feelings about the movement on the whole?

Samuel Mosonyi

Columnist, Prince Arthur Herald

The looming LCBO strike threat has suddenly gotten all sorts of Ontarians anxious about a potentially dry next few days (or weeks). LCBO workers, who are represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), voted 95 per cent in favour of striking, and the deadline is approaching. Yet a strike is in no one's best interests. Now, this entire scenario would change if the availability of alcohol were to be completely diminished. This inconvenience may cause citizens to want an alternative to the LCBO in the event it is rendered incapable by a strike.

The Purple Fig

The Purple Fig women's blogazine, thepurplefig.com

My boyfriend proposed, and suddenly I was a fiancée. All the pressure for a legit BIG FAT Italian wedding was all on me. How could I disappoint? Planning my family's wedding, turned into a full-time job, signed, sealed and almost delivered in a mere eight months. I had lost sight of what I was doing, and who I was doing it for. In fact, at month six of Wedding Boot Camp, I wasn't even sure I wanted to marry my boyfriend.

Natasha Koifman

President, NKPR

Many single people have very firm ideas about what they want in an ideal partner. Often, that list of criteria is less about love and support and more about lifestyle fit, about a perception of a "perfect match". While attraction and compatibility are certainly important factors in successful relationships, we also know that they alone are not sufficient.

Myra J. Biblowit

President, BCRF

Reading her thoughtful Op-Ed in the New York Times, I could not help but think about Ms. Jolie's ubiquitous Lara Croft character -- the adventurer, the warrior, the intellectual, the sex symbol. Today, Ms. Jolie has stepped out in what may be one of her most defining roles.

Andrea Paine

Breast cancer survivor

I applaud Angelina Jolie for her bravery and willingness to share her experience with the public. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, six years ago, I was not aware of the extent of my family's history with the disease. I know how it feels to be there. And even if you're a movie star, those decisions remain the same.

Erin Hawkes

Blogger

The CIA was not spying on me. Nor were FBI agents looking to bring me down. And I was neither the President, Jesus Christ, nor Cleopatra. These, I had heard, are the content of delusions that characterize schizophrenia. Given that logic, I did not consider myself to have schizophrenia. I think that these shallow nuances of delusion kept me in my illness and away from probing psychiatrists.

Kathy Buckworth

Writer, public speaker, television personality

A study by Today.com that suggests three is the most stressful number of children to have. A mom of three explains that the stress level increases when it comes to things like crossing the street, versus two kids. But I have four kids, and to the best of my recollection, I don't recall sprouting an extra arm when that last child arrived.