Our Fall 2011 Issue
Sept. 7, 2011Subscribe today for just $24.95!
Siberian tiger cubs are big-eyed, floppy-pawed, fuzzy-headed little darlings—who grow into muscle-bound, six-hundred-pound killing machines. But as Katherine Laidlaw discovers in "Unleashed," our Fall 2011 cover story, that hasn't stopped Canadian enthusiasts from welcoming the animals into their own backyards. Nowhere is this more true than in Ontario, where many municipalities allow residents to own beasts like crocodiles and lions without a licence. Laidlaw, a sort of suburban big-game hunter, tracks down exotic-animal owners throughout the province, discovering men who cuddle with cougars, drop thousands of dollars on zebras and drive around with kangaroos in their passenger seats. Loose regulations pose an obvious danger to owners (not to mention their unsuspecting neighbours), and just last year, a longtime big-cat keeper in Ontario was mauled to death by one of his "pets." Despite this issue's playful cover, Laidlaw's feature provides a sobering reminder: someday, that itty-bitty tiger cub won't be so cute anymore.
Also in this issue:
Jacob Wren on Facebook as Big Brother.
Justin Giovannetti investigates the upheaval at a Montreal alt-weekly.
Sam Sutherland uncovers the birth of Canadian punk rock.
Jason Guriel goes to Toronto's Poetry Idol.
Pasha Malla ponders narrativizing as pathos.
Donald Weber photographs the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Andrew Stobo Sniderman on the rise of Aboriginal self-government.
Kimberley Fu considers how we talk about cancer.
Marie-Andrée Labbé on why Quebec comedy isn't funny.
Carmelle Wolfson reports on Canada's role in the Israeli occupation.
Chandler Levack looks back on her miserable summer in Montreal.
All this, plus new fiction by Holding Still for as Long as Possible author Zoe Whittall, new poetry by Nyla Matuk, the third instalment of Michael DeForge's comic column "Rescue Pet," spot illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Farley Katz, the Book Room and the Music Room.
On newsstands everywhere September 16.
