Accept arrangement with mom for what it’s worth

Une nouvelle oeuvre pour raconter l’histoire autrement

Pendant des décennies, le parc La Vérendrye, situé sur l’avenue Taché, au cœur de Saint-Boniface, a raconté l’histoire de l’explorateur français du même nom à travers une seule statue. La Compagnie de La Vérendrye, un groupe de reconstitution historique, a piloté un projet de conception d’une nouvelle œuvre d’art qui pourrait raconter une autre partie de l’histoire.

Chen tops Hanyu to win men's free skate at World Team Trophy

OSAKA, Japan - Three-time world champion Nathan Chen won the free skate at the figure skating World Team Trophy on Friday to continue his dominance of two-time Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu.

First after the short program, Chen opened with a quadruple flip and landed a quad salchow in the first half of his routine set to a selection of music by Philip Glass.

Winner of the past five U.S. titles, Chen landed two more quadruple toeloops as part of combination jumps to score 203.24 points.

Hanyu, who was second after the short program, opened with a quad loop but could only manage a single salchow instead of a planned quad salchow on his second jump. He added two quad toeloops later in his program and finished with 193.76 points.

Sandy Hook parents: Alex Jones claims created ‘living hell’

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Fighting back tears and finally given the chance to confront conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the parents of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting described being put through a “living hell” of death threats, harassment and ongoing trauma over the last decade caused by Jones using his media platforms to push claims that it was all a hoax.

The parents led a day of charged testimony that included the judge scolding the bombastic Jones for not being truthful with some of what he said under oath.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed at Sandy Hook, took the witness stand Tuesday on the final day of testimony in the two-week defamation damages trial against Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems. They are seeking at least $150 million in damages.

In a gripping exchange, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, who was sitting about 10 feet away. Earlier that day, Jones was on his broadcast program telling his audience that Heslin is “slow” and being manipulated by bad people.

Folklorama unites Canadians of all ethnicities

On Wednesday night, I found myself sitting at a cafeteria table with a bunch of strangers in an elementary school gymnasium, watching a high-octane tae kwon do demonstration set to Korean pop music.

Where else but Folklorama could you have such a surreal experience?

First, a confession: before I finagled my way onto Wednesday night's VIP bus tour -- which is kind of like a pub crawl for the older set -- I hadn't been to the festival since I was a teenager. Back then, it was mostly obligatory. I dutifully supported the pavilions friends were representing as proud and vaguely embarrassed youth ambassadors, decked out in resplendent cultural dress so far removed from the jeans and T-shirts I saw them in every day.

But once I got there, I was always struck by the strong sense of community. And I always had fun. I loved seeing the fruits of the dance classes they spent their evenings and weekends in. I admired how connected many of them were to their roots; it made me want to learn more about mine. Like many third-generation Canadians, I have roots in many countries: Italy, Austria, Ireland, Scotland and England, to name a few.

Family account spiced with magic realism, geopolitical intrigue and a ghost story

Tom Lin’s second novel Babylon, South Dakota moves beyond a historical account of an immigrant family’s struggle, delightfully blending and bending genres.

Lin is a Chinese-born novelist whose family emigrated to the U.S. when he was four years old. His debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, making him the youngest ever recipient of that award. He earned a PhD in English from the University of California Davis and is currently an assistant professor of English and creative writing at the University of Iowa.

Babylon, South Dakota takes place in an unspecified time period that can be understood to be during the Mao era — likely the 1950s or ’60s. A young Chinese couple, the Hsuis, immigrate to the rural community that gives the book its title. They take the names Saul and Mei and settle on a 160-acre homestead left to them by a distant relative.

Saul’s dream is to breed and sell chrysanthemums from seeds he brought from China, while Mei wants to raise livestock. They speak no English, know nothing of life in the United States, are unprepared for the harshness of winter and the isolation of the farm and bring nothing with them except some gold, which Mei hides around the house for emergencies. Their only link to the outside world is a discarded and marginally functioning TV set, which Saul rescues and rigs up.