Idiots rule: Words & Thoughts for the Thinking Idiot was a column by Alan Callbeck two decades back in these very pages. In our November 30, 1992 issue, Callbeck looked at Canada’s catch-22 economy, and took no prisoners. Responding to claims that Canadians are “well off,” he said that “the number crunchers base this perception on gross national product, a number that includes all of the idiotic expenditures of inefficient bureaucracies and policies public, private, and personal. Simply, we are well off because we’ve spent beyond our means for the last two or three decades. All of us.” Ouch!
Hot stuff: No joking around here: 20 years ago, Camosun was the target of an island arsonist, who set a fire at the Interurban campus that ended up costing $1.5 million. Security had to be stepped up and restrictions put in place to determine who could access buildings between midnight and 7 am.
Grunge for life: In this issue, we interviewed Seattle grunge rockers Screaming Trees. They never got to the level of a Nirvana or a Pearl Jam, but they had a good time doing what they did, as drummer Barrett Martin explained to Nexus writer Dustin Rabin. “It’s a really fun band, and it’s totally crazed,” he said. “When we play a show, we just play the songs, we have a good time, and take care of each other. It’s a good time to be alive.”