Our articles on local life, Canadian personalities, places to explore and arts and events, gathered in one place and published about once a day.
Browse the latest pieces from our editors and contributors. Each one is meant to be useful on the day you read it and still worth opening later, whether you are planning a weekend or simply curious.
Places to Explore
A practical guide to choosing a park, packing for cool mornings and short daylight, and building a relaxed weekend around one trail, one museum stop and one good meal.
Personalities
Six questions Daniel Tremblay asks before deciding whether a profile of a musician, actor, writer or maker is worth your time, and how our own profiles try to pass them.
Reader Services
Before you book a pitch review, a walking-guide plan or a writing workshop, here are the missteps I see most often from readers, and plain ways to sidestep each one.
Local Life
A look at what goes into a Local Life story, from time on the street to travel and editing, and why some pieces cost more to report than others.
Arts and Events
One reader, a stack of gallery flyers and a long weekend: how Dolores planned a gentle day of music and art, and what her afternoon taught our desk.
Places to Explore
A practical look at choosing parks, museums and small-town stops in the weeks before winter, with a few habits that make a short autumn trip easier and warmer.
Personalities
Every profile in our Canadian Personalities department rests on one rule: we write only from a person's public work. Here is what the phrase covers, and what it leaves out.
Reader Services
Two of our paid reader services help people who want to write for the magazine. Margaret Oleary compares a one-to-one pitch review with a group writing workshop and says which she would pick first.
Local Life
Culture Editor Daniel Tremblay follows one Local Life story through its stages: the first tip, the visit, the checking and the editing that turn a street-level idea into a page.
Arts and Events
Readers keep asking how to turn a film, a gallery or a festival into an easy, unhurried day. Here are the answers we give most often, with the reasoning behind them.
Places to Explore
A look at how the Places to Explore desk picks parks, museums and small-town stops, what we check before recommending a weekend, and what readers can expect from these pages.
Personalities
A look at the sources, notes and checking habits behind our Canadian Personalities profiles, from public work and published interviews to the final read-through before a piece goes online.
Reader Services
A plain walk through what to gather, how to shape a pitch, and what to ask for when you send a story idea to our editors for a paid review.
Local Life
Before we commit to a neighbourhood story, we run through a short list of questions. Here is the checklist our desk uses, and how any reader can use it too.
Arts and Events
Most disappointing outings come down to a handful of avoidable slips. Here are the ones I see most often, and the small habits that keep a film, concert or gallery visit pleasant.
Places to Explore
A practical look at what drives the cost of a weekend of parks, museums and small-town stops across Canada, from getting there to where you sleep and what you do.
Personalities
Priya Sandhu follows one reader's attempt to profile a fiddle maker, and shows how a profile is built from public work, patient listening and careful restraint.
Reader Services
As the evenings draw in, our editors look at how the colder months suit story pitches, walking-guide plans and writing workshops, and how to decide which kind of help fits you.
Local Life
Hyperlocal is a word editors use often and readers rarely hear explained. Here is what it covers, what it leaves out, and why it shapes how we report on Local Life.
Arts and Events
Two good ways to spend a mid-autumn day, a busy outdoor festival or a slow afternoon at a gallery. Here is how I compare them, and which one I would book first.
An independent Guelph magazine on neighbourhood life, music, film, parks, museums and weekend plans across Canada, with a few optional paid reader services from our editors.