Johanu Botha • November 12, 2009

TNC’s new production about every family’s sore thumb Read More

Johanu Botha • October 23, 2009

Player’s Theatre stages Hedwig and the Angry Inch Read More

Johanu Botha • April 6, 2009

“I’m glad to be with you…here at the end of all things.” – Frodo Baggins Terrible, isn’t it? After all the sweat, tears, laughter and beers, to be sitting here, knowing that it’s just about finished. For first-years, what little they remember from Frosh Week has all but disappeared at… Read More

Johanu Botha • March 30, 2009

I’m a pretty gentle gent. I drink green tea and buy wine for the pictures on the bottles. I own a plant, believe in true love, and prefer the acoustic versions. I’d rather stroll than walk and when playing guitar, I pick before I strum. But if I ever find… Read More

Johanu Botha • March 23, 2009

I started at noon, delving through Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Burns. Then I exhausted my famous quotes collection, reading one-liners by Jefferson, Galilei, and Huxley. Still not satisfied, I stared defiantly at the afternoon sun blazing through my window, daring it to inspire me. Nothing. I should’ve seen this coming when… Read More

Johanu Botha • March 16, 2009

There may be tangible reasons why stereotypes sprout up, but many of us know you don’t have to delve deep into history to find that painting everybody with the same brush can make for an ugly picture. Stereotypes mostly just form a perception in our minds of an individual before… Read More

Johanu Botha • March 9, 2009

“Like all madmen, I thought everyone was mad except myself.” – Leo Tolstoy That was me, sitting shivering in a Manitoba ice rink, gawking at people yelling furiously at the little skating figures and the piece of rubber they were hammering back and forth. I had returned home for reading… Read More

Johanu Botha • February 16, 2009

If I had a boat, I’d go out on the ocean, and if I had a pony, I’d ride him on my boat… For most of us, it takes years to figure out how exactly to live our lives. Some ponder the written words of those who came before, some… Read More

Johanu Botha • February 9, 2009

Alright, this is the one. My days of sentimental, inspirational-themed, hallmark-gift-card-esque columns are over. You thought I wouldn’t snap out of it, but I did. You thought that it wouldn’t arrive, but it has. Ladies and gentleman (all six-ish of you), I present you with my badass column: (Before I… Read More

Johanu Botha • February 2, 2009

I read something on the back of a toilet stall last week that made my Intro to Philosophy class look like playtime in kindergarten. It wasn’t the latest in Chuck Norris-isms; neither was it a telephone number and address left by “Blowin’ Joe.” No, my unknown washroom scribbler etched the… Read More

Johanu Botha • January 26, 2009

It’s amazing what can happen in 24 hours. That period between one rising of the sun to the next can hold secrets and tell stories that a millennia of Hollywood history could not stand against. They say fact is stranger than fiction; this is an understatement when you look at… Read More

Johanu Botha • January 12, 2009

“In the course of history, men with facial hair have been ascribed various attributes such as wisdom and knowledge, sexual virility, or high social status…” The above is taken from one of today’s most popular, most approachable, and most widely circulated sources (Wikipedia) and thus should be given its due… Read More

Johanu Botha • December 1, 2008

Say what you will about a university education – gateway to the future, reason for our society’s success, palpable deterrent to crime – but you can’t deny that it takes away any bliss ignorance might have given us. A good chunk of political theorists believe that states are purely selfish?… Read More

Johanu Botha • November 24, 2008

Few things serve as well for a paradox as the words of a newspaper column compared to the conversation at a family gathering. At the latter, you chat about snow storms and sunny skies from the first greeting to the final dessert while avoiding religion and politics like the plague. Read More

Johanu Botha • November 17, 2008

Surveying the colourful spectrum of newspaper writers, you’ll come across everything from self-aware critical essays to flamboyant, roller coaster-type pieces, and it’s often hard to tell which styles and forms work best. But there’s that one kind – the I-do-what-I-write-walking-the-talk kind – that soars above the rest. This breed of… Read More