Some might see the difference between a news-style satirist and a peddler in fake news as rather subtle. Superficially, both are presenting “false” narratives, which on the surface have the appearance of truth. However, writers of satirical news, as seen in The Onion, The Beaverton, and my own website The Unger Review, never intend to…
Struggling ghostwriter Timothy Heppner lives in a small Manitoba town where he writes family histories and genealogies for local people. Sounds innocent enough, but Edenfeld is not particularly kind to its writers and Timothy is concerned. After all, Elsie Dyck, the town’s most famous author, has gone missing, presumably booted out of town after her…
A number of months ago the City of Steinbach approved a new honourary street sign policy. As soon as I heard about it and read the criteria, I immediately thought this this was perfect opportunity for our community to honour our most notable literary export Miriam Toews. To me, she was the most obvious name…
Cognitive biases are hot right now. Everyone’s talking about them. Even Elon Musk. I’ve seen people of all political stripes posting about them, advocating learning them, and so on. Presumably, folks think their political opponents could use a few lessons on critical thinking. As we become increasingly polarized, we seek out explanations for the peculiar…
I suppose by now you’ve all read the recent piece by Nancy MacDonald in the Globe and Mail on the topic of vaccine hesitancy in southern Manitoba. I’ve read a variety of reactions to the article, ranging from proclaiming it the best analysis of this problem they had ever read, to suggesting that by focusing…
In many aspects of life, especially politics, it’s seen as a sign of weakness to change one’s mind. While I certainly don’t discount the criticism laid upon politicians whose policy or opinions seem to shift with the wind, or those who pander to whatever group will get them elected, I do think we need to…
Satirists, or writers of any kind perhaps, have to see the world a little differently. Askew perhaps. Recently I turned 40, well 41 actually, and I guess I started thinking back on my life and I was trying to figure out how I became a satirist – how I became corrupted … in the best…
My first awareness of The Beatles was in Woodlawn School in Steinbach back in the mid-1980s. I don’t remember much, but the older students were doing some kind of dramatic performance in the gymnasium and, for a brief moment, “The Beatles” made an appearance. I remember asking my teacher who or what I had just…
Last night, after a long semi-stressful day–one of the craziest that I can recall in recent memory–my wife and I decided we needed to wind down with a movie. Even though Erin, no doubt, would fall asleep within a few minutes, she rebuffed my suggestion of The Blob. Too scary. Night of the Living Dead was a…
I started the Daily Bonnet on a whim, really. Back in 2016, I wrote one article about Steinbach city council moving the entire community to the Mennonite Heritage Village and posted it on my website. After a few days I noticed that thousands of people had read it and I figured, “hey, people seem to…