Richie Assaly
@rdassaly.bsky.social
Writes about music, books and politics.
https://linktr.ee/richieassaly
https://linktr.ee/richieassaly
Pinned
Richie Assaly
@rdassaly.bsky.social
· May 3
Madeleine Thien is the quiet conscience of Canadian literature. Nine years after winning the country’s top book prize, she returns with a stirring new novel
In “The Book of Records,” the outspoken author moves between centuries and perspectives – past and imagined futures – in a prismatic attempt to unearth the very root of thinking.
www.thestar.com
Here's my profile on Madeleine Thien, whose first novel in nearly a decade arrives next week.
We spoke about Hannah Arendt, visiting Palestine, the limits of autofiction and much more.
www.thestar.com/entertainmen...
We spoke about Hannah Arendt, visiting Palestine, the limits of autofiction and much more.
www.thestar.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Looking for some new music to get you through the final stretch of 2025?
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social has you covered with fresh picks from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dambe, Shad and more.
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social has you covered with fresh picks from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dambe, Shad and more.
What We’re Listening To (and Gifting)
The New Feeling music writers share the albums they’re giving as gifts this year — from homegrown lyricists to crowd-pleasing Levantine pop. For a gift you can tie a bow on, snag a vinyl or cassette…
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 25, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Looking for some new music to get you through the final stretch of 2025?
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social has you covered with fresh picks from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dambe, Shad and more.
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social has you covered with fresh picks from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dambe, Shad and more.
The woman who drove the snowplow through a crowd of Palestine supporters was Athena Niggenaber, The Star confirms.
As folks pointed out last week, her social media is filled with anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and other hateful rhetoric.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...
As folks pointed out last week, her social media is filled with anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and other hateful rhetoric.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...
Contractor who drove plow through Palestinian protesters posted Islamophobic, anti-protest content on social media
The company the driver works for said it issued a one-day suspension over the incident.
www.thestar.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The woman who drove the snowplow through a crowd of Palestine supporters was Athena Niggenaber, The Star confirms.
As folks pointed out last week, her social media is filled with anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and other hateful rhetoric.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...
As folks pointed out last week, her social media is filled with anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and other hateful rhetoric.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
“Political prescription isn’t the point; teasing out the humanity of these people is.”
An incredible critique by @angelicabastien.bsky.social’s via @vulture.com that looks at the faults of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER without negating the agency of its Black actresses.
An incredible critique by @angelicabastien.bsky.social’s via @vulture.com that looks at the faults of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER without negating the agency of its Black actresses.
Black Actresses Are Carrying One Battle After Another
Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and Regina Hall propel the film’s most conflicted ideas, for better and worse.
www.vulture.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
“Political prescription isn’t the point; teasing out the humanity of these people is.”
An incredible critique by @angelicabastien.bsky.social’s via @vulture.com that looks at the faults of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER without negating the agency of its Black actresses.
An incredible critique by @angelicabastien.bsky.social’s via @vulture.com that looks at the faults of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER without negating the agency of its Black actresses.
1,000 killed in the West Bank. This is on top of the tens of thousands of people displaced from their home.
Earlier this year, Israel emptied 32,000 people from three refugee camps in what @hrw.org called the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
Earlier this year, Israel emptied 32,000 people from three refugee camps in what @hrw.org called the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
November 23, 2025 at 8:08 PM
1,000 killed in the West Bank. This is on top of the tens of thousands of people displaced from their home.
Earlier this year, Israel emptied 32,000 people from three refugee camps in what @hrw.org called the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
Earlier this year, Israel emptied 32,000 people from three refugee camps in what @hrw.org called the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Devastating essay about living with a terminal cancer diagnosis at 35, made more devastating by the author's relation to the health and human services secretary who's spent the past year cutting cancer research.
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Devastating essay about living with a terminal cancer diagnosis at 35, made more devastating by the author's relation to the health and human services secretary who's spent the past year cutting cancer research.
Nice profile on Home Front by @joshokane.bsky.social Can’t wait for these guys to tour
Edmonton band Home Front recasts punk music while taking its sound in fresh directions
Front man Graeme MacKinnon likens the gradual establishment of the band’s sonic palette to the trajectory of the English band Joy Division
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Nice profile on Home Front by @joshokane.bsky.social Can’t wait for these guys to tour
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Folks, we're on newsprint. I have achieved a childhood dream. I am Hagar the Horrible. I am Beetle Bailey.
Comics from @gabrielledrolet.bsky.social and @hausofdecline.bsky.social in the new edition of @thegrindto.bsky.social, rolling out across the city today!
November 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Folks, we're on newsprint. I have achieved a childhood dream. I am Hagar the Horrible. I am Beetle Bailey.
Comics from @gabrielledrolet.bsky.social and @hausofdecline.bsky.social in the new edition of @thegrindto.bsky.social, rolling out across the city today!
November 21, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Comics from @gabrielledrolet.bsky.social and @hausofdecline.bsky.social in the new edition of @thegrindto.bsky.social, rolling out across the city today!
Anyways Blood Orange at History last night. Great show and cool to see Dev in a big venue
November 21, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Anyways Blood Orange at History last night. Great show and cool to see Dev in a big venue
A snow plow operator drove her vehicle through a crowd of Palestine supporters in Toronto this week.
“This just seems like part of a pattern of violence against Palestinians that’s going unchecked,” organizer Omar Mahmoud told me.
For @thegrindto.bsky.social
“This just seems like part of a pattern of violence against Palestinians that’s going unchecked,” organizer Omar Mahmoud told me.
For @thegrindto.bsky.social
Snowplow Operator Drives Through Pro-Palestine Demonstration
Despite videos of the incident being published and a photo showing the driver giving the finger to the pro-Palestine crowd, Toronto police say there was “no reason to believe there was any malicious…
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
A snow plow operator drove her vehicle through a crowd of Palestine supporters in Toronto this week.
“This just seems like part of a pattern of violence against Palestinians that’s going unchecked,” organizer Omar Mahmoud told me.
For @thegrindto.bsky.social
“This just seems like part of a pattern of violence against Palestinians that’s going unchecked,” organizer Omar Mahmoud told me.
For @thegrindto.bsky.social
Despite fierce political opposition, cultural boycotts of Israel and institutions complicit in the occupation of Palestine have gone mainstream.
I spoke to some organizers in the arts about how we got here, and what's next for the movement.
I spoke to some organizers in the arts about how we got here, and what's next for the movement.
How Canadian Artists Brought Cultural Boycotts of Israel to the Mainstream
Boycotts of Israel and institutions supportive of the occupation of Palestine were a fringe activity just a couple years ago. But artists across the country have made them impossible to ignore.
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Despite fierce political opposition, cultural boycotts of Israel and institutions complicit in the occupation of Palestine have gone mainstream.
I spoke to some organizers in the arts about how we got here, and what's next for the movement.
I spoke to some organizers in the arts about how we got here, and what's next for the movement.
Reposted by Richie Assaly
If you are a podcast/radio/TV person looking for someone to talk about Alberta and these three laws and the notwithstanding clause and trans rights ... I'm here!
Hit me up, I love to yap, especially when it's debunking misinformation about trans people being pushed by government officials
Hit me up, I love to yap, especially when it's debunking misinformation about trans people being pushed by government officials
Danielle Smith's Alberta government has announced that they will use the Notwithstanding Clause to protect three laws (all targeting trans people) from court challenges.
NEW from me in @xtramagazine.com on the lies they're using to justify such a massive move ⬇️
xtramagazine.com/power/politi...
NEW from me in @xtramagazine.com on the lies they're using to justify such a massive move ⬇️
xtramagazine.com/power/politi...
The lies Danielle Smith is telling to overturn trans kids’ rights | Xtra Magazine
The Alberta government is invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to protect its three anti-trans laws from being challenged in the courts
xtramagazine.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
If you are a podcast/radio/TV person looking for someone to talk about Alberta and these three laws and the notwithstanding clause and trans rights ... I'm here!
Hit me up, I love to yap, especially when it's debunking misinformation about trans people being pushed by government officials
Hit me up, I love to yap, especially when it's debunking misinformation about trans people being pushed by government officials
Reposted by Richie Assaly
A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...
Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era | The Local
A suspicious pitch from a freelancer led editor Nicholas Hune-Brown to dig into their past work. By the end, four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, had removed articles from their sites.
thelocal.to
November 19, 2025 at 2:10 PM
A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...
On his first visit to Gaza in two years, an NPR reporter finds a “wasteland of destruction,” demolished buildings and a “vast monochrome expanse as far as the eye can see.”
Escorted by the Israeli military, he did not see a single Palestinian.
www.npr.org/2025/11/07/n...
Escorted by the Israeli military, he did not see a single Palestinian.
www.npr.org/2025/11/07/n...
An NPR reporter's journey into Gaza, for the first time since the war began
NPR Mideast correspondent Daniel Estrin has entered the Gaza Strip for the first time since the war began, but Israel still requires a military escort.
www.npr.org
November 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM
On his first visit to Gaza in two years, an NPR reporter finds a “wasteland of destruction,” demolished buildings and a “vast monochrome expanse as far as the eye can see.”
Escorted by the Israeli military, he did not see a single Palestinian.
www.npr.org/2025/11/07/n...
Escorted by the Israeli military, he did not see a single Palestinian.
www.npr.org/2025/11/07/n...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Hard not to be both depressed & infuriated about these regressive, science-free, & cruel actions.
AB to invoke notwithstanding clause to shield 3 transgender bills from court challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Very obviously, NO evidence these MAGA are laws needed.
AB to invoke notwithstanding clause to shield 3 transgender bills from court challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Very obviously, NO evidence these MAGA are laws needed.
Alberta to invoke notwithstanding clause to shield 3 transgender bills from court challenges | CBC News
The Alberta government has tabled legislation that seeks to invoke the notwithstanding clause to shield a suite of bills that affects transgender youth and adults from legal challenges.
www.cbc.ca
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Hard not to be both depressed & infuriated about these regressive, science-free, & cruel actions.
AB to invoke notwithstanding clause to shield 3 transgender bills from court challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Very obviously, NO evidence these MAGA are laws needed.
AB to invoke notwithstanding clause to shield 3 transgender bills from court challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Very obviously, NO evidence these MAGA are laws needed.
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Today, government introduced Bill 9 legislation invoking the notwithstanding clause to override a court ruling that protects youth access to gender-affirming care. This places government between a patient and their physician, undermining clinical autonomy. www.albertadoctors.org/news/publica...
November 19, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Today, government introduced Bill 9 legislation invoking the notwithstanding clause to override a court ruling that protects youth access to gender-affirming care. This places government between a patient and their physician, undermining clinical autonomy. www.albertadoctors.org/news/publica...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
This is a beautiful speech, and it was moving, heartening, last night to be among, as Saeed said, a community of "artists who will not allow their ambition or their vanity to supersede their principles."
Saeed Teebi was among the hundreds of Canadian authors and book workers who boycotted the Giller Prize last night.
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
‘Literature Does Not Come Before Humans:’ Saeed Teebi on Why He’s Still Boycotting the Giller
The Palestinian-Canadian author is one among hundreds of Canadian writers boycotting the literary prize over its ties to funders they deem complicit in Israel’s genocide. Teebi shared his reasons in a...
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 19, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This is a beautiful speech, and it was moving, heartening, last night to be among, as Saeed said, a community of "artists who will not allow their ambition or their vanity to supersede their principles."
Saeed Teebi was among the hundreds of Canadian authors and book workers who boycotted the Giller Prize last night.
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
‘Literature Does Not Come Before Humans:’ Saeed Teebi on Why He’s Still Boycotting the Giller
The Palestinian-Canadian author is one among hundreds of Canadian writers boycotting the literary prize over its ties to funders they deem complicit in Israel’s genocide. Teebi shared his reasons in a...
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 18, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Saeed Teebi was among the hundreds of Canadian authors and book workers who boycotted the Giller Prize last night.
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
For the @thegrindto.bsky.social, he shares a version of the powerful speech he gave at a Boycott Giller event in Vancouver.
www.thegrindmag.ca/literature-d...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
When the Ford government unilaterally took over the TDSB, almost all of the committees where parents advocated for change were disbanded.
Parents are now left “screaming into the void," says east-end mom Valerie Laurie.
www.thegrindmag.ca/parents-scre...
Parents are now left “screaming into the void," says east-end mom Valerie Laurie.
www.thegrindmag.ca/parents-scre...
Parents ‘Screaming into the Void’ Since TDSB Trustees Removed
Toronto parents spent years pushing the TDSB on disability support, air quality, Palestine and more. Now, the Ontario government’s takeover has washed away their efforts.
www.thegrindmag.ca
November 17, 2025 at 6:29 PM
When the Ford government unilaterally took over the TDSB, almost all of the committees where parents advocated for change were disbanded.
Parents are now left “screaming into the void," says east-end mom Valerie Laurie.
www.thegrindmag.ca/parents-scre...
Parents are now left “screaming into the void," says east-end mom Valerie Laurie.
www.thegrindmag.ca/parents-scre...
I thought Frankenstein was good
November 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I thought Frankenstein was good
Thrilled to make my @exclaimdotca.bsky.social debut with a review of the excellent new Home Front record.
Heavy, weird and distinctly Edmonton, “Watch It Die” is the culmination of a sound 20 years in the making.
exclaim.ca/music/articl...
Heavy, weird and distinctly Edmonton, “Watch It Die” is the culmination of a sound 20 years in the making.
exclaim.ca/music/articl...
November 13, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Thrilled to make my @exclaimdotca.bsky.social debut with a review of the excellent new Home Front record.
Heavy, weird and distinctly Edmonton, “Watch It Die” is the culmination of a sound 20 years in the making.
exclaim.ca/music/articl...
Heavy, weird and distinctly Edmonton, “Watch It Die” is the culmination of a sound 20 years in the making.
exclaim.ca/music/articl...
BlogTO reporting that RASTA PASTA may be permanently closed after being kicked out by its landlord. Google says "Temporarily Closed."
Will be heartbroken if I don't get to taste that sweet lunch special one more time.
www.blogto.com/eat_drink/20...
Will be heartbroken if I don't get to taste that sweet lunch special one more time.
www.blogto.com/eat_drink/20...
A Toronto neighbourhood's most iconic restaurant may be gone for good
A Toronto restaurant that defined its neighbourhood may have closed its doors permanently after being kicked out by its landlord.
Kensington Market i…
www.blogto.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:27 PM
BlogTO reporting that RASTA PASTA may be permanently closed after being kicked out by its landlord. Google says "Temporarily Closed."
Will be heartbroken if I don't get to taste that sweet lunch special one more time.
www.blogto.com/eat_drink/20...
Will be heartbroken if I don't get to taste that sweet lunch special one more time.
www.blogto.com/eat_drink/20...
Reposted by Richie Assaly
Home Front Light It Up on 'Watch It Die'
Home Front Light It Up on 'Watch It Die'
"When it's looking dark, punch the future in the face," Kurt Vile advised us many years ago. Few bands have taken on this challenge with
dlvr.it
November 13, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Home Front Light It Up on 'Watch It Die'
Reposted by Richie Assaly
I love Neil Young because he'll make a song where he mumbles "Got mashed potatoes/Ain't got no T-Bone" over three chords for 9 straight minutes and then insist you listen to it on the most high-resolution audiophile equipment possible. Happy 80th, king.
November 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I love Neil Young because he'll make a song where he mumbles "Got mashed potatoes/Ain't got no T-Bone" over three chords for 9 straight minutes and then insist you listen to it on the most high-resolution audiophile equipment possible. Happy 80th, king.