By Tim Querengesser

Several unhappy status-updates greeted my morning Facebook check today. I'll sum them up like this: Don't say it's going to rain during Folk on the Rocks. If anyone else says that I'm going to go crazy!!!

By Tristin Hopper

Getting tired of singledom? Don’t like e-dating? Can’t thing of anything to say on the first date? Hey, just be glad you’re not a salmon.

By Tim Querengesser

The inevitable has happened with our new July/August issue, which features two articles about climate change -- one listing the mounting evidence that its impacts are being felt right now in the North, the other daring to explore why many Northerners actually like climate change. But no one has paid much attention to those. No, what's getting all the attention -- just as we expected and intended -- is our swimsuit spread.

By Tristin Hopper

News out of Tuktoyuktuk: a young mountie fearlessly saved a suicidal man from a hypothermic demise. RCMP Constable Shaun De Grandpre was awoken at 4:43 am by the news that a distraught was looking to throw himself into the icy waters of the Beaufort Sea. The rookie officer rushed to the scene, where he kicked off his boots, threw off his hat and plunged into the icy waters to save the man.

By Tim Querengesser

Why hide it? I spent six years in Ottawa and the highlight usually came every July 1 -- Canada Day -- when the normally sleepy capital transformed into a flowing current of millions of Canada-buzzed faces, all trying to jam themselves into a few suddenly too-small streets for a good viewpoint for the incredible fireworks display. And though this July will mark my fifth year in the North, here's another confession: I can't tell you what Northerners usually do on Canada Day, because up here, I usually stay home.

By Lauren McKeon

I wish I were in Iqaluit right now. While the North has many wonderful summer festivals, nothing is quite like Alianait.

By Tristin Hopper

To start, our suburbs are needlessly far from downtown. In a city of only 26,000 people, it’s not uncommon for residents to commute 15 or 20 minutes to work. Every morning, thousands of Whitehorse residents start up their trucks and traverse several kilometers of open country before arriving downtown. This isn’t Toronto, where commuting is a harsh reality for anybody who wants a backyard. Whitehorse could easily have been one of Canada’s most walkable cities. Instead, it’s an automaker’s wet dream.

By Aaron Spitzer

The world’s eyes are turned toward South Africa right now, where the World Cup of soccer is being played. And if the world’s eyes are looking closely, they’ll see something that might surprise them: In the stadiums of Africa’s southernmost nation, many of the fans – even the players – are wrapped in scarves and toques and gloves. It’s mid-winter in South Africa, and by all appearances it’s pretty chilly.

By Tim Querengesser

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian residential schools started its important work in Winnipeg this week. The commission will come to Inuvik next year, allowing Northerners an opportunity to share their experiences. Many are hoping it will produce healing. Some are also hoping for justice. But what should we expect? Here are a few things the most influential of these commissions can teach us.

By Tristin Hopper

It’s natural that we humans would enjoy the Northern summer. After all, we’re sub-tropical animals; only 70,000 years ago we lived exclusively in the heat-scorched savannahs of Africa. So when summer rolls around, we have a primal delight in shedding our sweaters and parkas to frolic in our natural state.