Jean E. Pendziwol has always been a forager. As a child, she remembers plucking ripe blueberries and raspberries in the wild and gathering springtime fiddleheads with her mother. 

It’s fitting, then, that the Thunder Bay-based author’s latest book celebrates the act of foraging.

This month, we are proud to feature Warmwood Home Studio, whose newfound love for furniture flips provided a much-needed personal creative outlet.

From the oil sands of Fort McMurray to executive boardrooms at Amazon and Google, Glory Jewitt’s recently released memoir, In Pursuit of Glory, follows her story. Despite a career spanning two countries and carrying her through countless others along the way, Jewitt insists she is still a “Thunder Bay girl.”

Tempting. Terrifying. Timeless. These are the three words director Spencer Hari uses to describe Cabaret, Badanai Theatre’s upcoming production. Set in 1930s Berlin, Cabaret transports the audience to the city’s infamous Kit Kat Klub, and delves into the lives of patrons, hosts, and outsiders alike.

Irish author, poet, and playwright Oscar Wilde says, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” This is something Cambrian Players will explore with their upcoming Green Room reading of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.

Just before a group of actors are set to perform A Christmas Carol for the umpteenth time, one actor just cannot do that story any more. So then the troupe comes up with the idea to just tell, well, every Christmas story ever told. From The Gift of the Magi and A Charlie Brown Christmas to The Grinch and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the stories overlap into a play-within-a-play.

Local singer-songwriter Phil Drost returns with a ray of sunshine for his fifth collection of songs, In This World.

In these (musical) notes from the underground, Asphyxiation embodies the collective frustration with “the system” and transmutes this anger into powerful prose that galvanizes the listener away from political despair and into action.

Beefcakes’ debut album, Goin’ Postal, is nine tracks of musical absurdism, in the best way. It’s got all the instrumental prowess of Primus and all the irony of Viagra Boys mixed into one post-punk, thought-provoking, experimental playthrough.

Curious about the local scene, I asked friends what dating is like in Thunder Bay. The consensus was bleak but predictable: a microscopic dating pool where you’re always one degree away from someone you know, an abundance of “holding a fish” profile photos, and the occasional rejection for “not being country enough.” Beyond the regional quirks, the darker side of online dating remains universal—ghosting, harassment, and endless dead-end conversations.

A new year does not always have to mean new beginnings. The adage about not fixing what’s not broken is not always popular in politics, where leaving your mark means making change.  The passing of Bill 68 last November has created this scenario of breaking, not fixing, the Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority (LRCA).

Buying stuff isn’t necessarily a bad thing—it injects money into the economy, keeps stores open, and keeps people employed. If we see it that way, maybe Christmas is all about gifts, including the gift of continued economic growth if we spend our money in the right direction.