Essay, a “public opinion quarterly” does not exactly seem to want to blaze new ground. This issue contains a feature on the clash between multiculturalism and integration. This is a topic that has been beaten to death in several books and magazines, so you would think that the piece might have some original perspective or else why bother right? But this piece doesn’t even take a stand, preferring to equivocate wildly between every position possible. Another feature, written by a woman who worked as a humanitarian volunteer in Bosnia, is potentially fascinating, but in it we learn absolutely nothing about how she felt and what she experienced. Most of it isn’t even written in the first person. There’s also some poetry and some photos. But what this magazine really needs is some grit. (KR)
magazine / #2, 28 pages / editor: Alex Rose / $4 / P.O. Box 91801, West Vancouver, B.C., V7V 4S1