PREVALENCE INFLATION

 

YEE, GADs!
   On the long list of acronymic afflictions of which we are all aware, a new one for me is "GAD" - "Generalized Anxiety Disorder." I ran across it in an article that mentions, "prevalence inflation", which I found interesting and was going to relate to you. As I was about to roll up my sleeves, I slowly realized that both anxiety and inflation were topics already tackled - twice. That I was slow to remember that I had written about these subjects twice, is additional proof that my memory is quickly fading and that recording things in MM does not guarantee their retention in me.
  I will concede and admit straight away that there is a lot to be anxious about these days. It is the case, however, that some people have more reason to be anxious than others and that not everyone feeling anxious is deserving of the diagnosis of the acronym, "GAD". 
  I now know that my first post about this subject was, "Stress - A Contrarian View" and in it there was this subtitle: "The Anxiety Industry." My second one was, "The PTSD Pandemic" and a subtitle in it was, "Trauma Inflation." Although I did not re-read much of either post, the first sentence in the first one is: "In an article on the “Anxiety Industry” it is noted that this vaguely defined ‘malady’ appears to have reached epidemic proportions and that it seems to be particularly infectious among those working in the public sector." I am sure there are many other cleverly contrived sentences and you should have a look, since I will now take a different approach and not construct many going forward.

Antithetical Bibliographies
  Instead, I will offer an antithetically bibliographic approach, which means you will be presented with sources you will likely not have seen, or may have deliberately avoided because they appeared to be contrary to what you wish to believe.
  In short, if you do not wish to read on, I will condense here, the points I think I am trying to make: there seems to be a really large number of people now infected with acronyms of the the mental kind; that promoting awareness of these maladies, while reducing the stigma attached, may increase the incidence in people claiming to have them; and, that many of the treatments may not help.

Prevalence Inflation:

   I came across, both GAD and prevalence inflation in this article, the title of which reveals the message: "How Anxiety Became Content: The Way We Commonly Discuss Mental-Health Issues, Especially on the Internet, Isn't Helping Us," by Derek Thompson in his "Work in Progress" newsletter in The Atlantic, Dec. 13, 2023.

[read all of the pieces referred to in this antithetical bibliography in case my clips do not include qualifiers the original may have had.]

"Anxiety has become its own genre of popular content. Social-media feeds are crowded with therapy influencers who tell us to be more aware of our anxiety, our trauma, our distress. Instagram is full of anxious confessions and therapy-speak....

   As anxiety has become content, it’s also become a part of more daily conversations. I’ve spoken with many parents about my work on America’s mental-health crisis in the past few years, and several have noted that their kids share their symptoms and diagnoses in group chats, rattling off the acronyms OCD, GAD, and PTSD with a casualness once reserved for high-school gossip....

Watching and listening to so much anxiety content, which transforms a medical diagnosis into a kind of popular media category, might be contributing to our national anxiety crisis.

The Prevalence Inflation Part:

   The way we talk about the world shapes our experience of the world. In 2022, the researchers Lucy Foulkes and Jack L. Andrews coined the term prevalence inflation to describe the way that some people, especially young people, consume so much information about anxiety disorders that they begin to process normal problems of living as signs of a decline in mental health. “If people are repeatedly told that mental health problems are common and that they might experience them … they might start to interpret any negative thoughts and feelings through this lens,” Foulkes and Andrews write. This can trigger a self-fulfilling spiral: Some individuals who become hyperaware of the prevalence of anxiety disorders may start to process low levels of anxiety as signs of their own disorder, which leads them to recoil from social activities and practice other forms of behavioral avoidance, which exacerbates their anxiety.

   Prevalence inflation might explain why some policy makers and schools have struggled to reduce anxiety with behavioral interventions. As The Atlantic’s Olga Khazan has reported, studies have found that several mental-health programs for young people actually made many of their mental-health problems worse…

If you are really interested see: "Are Mental Health Awareness Efforts Contributing to the Rise in Reported Mental Health Problems? A Call to Test the Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis," Foulkes & Andrews, New Ideas in Psychology, Vol. 69, April 2023.

The Great Mental Health Crisis Pandemic of Our Time

  If one is just investigating the segment of the population in universities (admittedly a vulnerable group), this one Canadian reference will do:
"Inside the Mental Health Crisis at Canadian Universities" Students Are At Increasing RIsk of Mental Health Problems, and Universities Are Struggling in Their Efforts to Respond," Sarah Treleaven, Maclean's, Nov. 14, 2022.
  For the U.S., here are some recent titles from the Chronicle of Higher Education, from which there were many to choose:

"Colleges Can’t Keep Up With Students’ Mental-Health Needs. Teletherapy Companies Are Filling the Gaps."

By Charlotte Matherly January 12, 2024

BURNOUT WARNING

"Professors Struggle With Demands to Tend to Students’ Mental Health."

By Kelly Field October 24, 2023

'A HUGE SUPPORT'

"A University’s New Approach to Student Mental Health: Put Therapists in the Dorms."

By Kate Hidalgo Bellows April 21, 2023

ADVICE

"Will Mandated Mental-Health Breaks Do More Harm Than Good?"

By Sarah Rose Cavanagh February 28, 2023

"New Policies Presume it’s Beneficial for Anxious Students to Take Days Off From Class." That assumption has several critical flaws."

'EMOTIONAL WORKLOAD'

"As Students’ Mental-Health Concerns Grow, One University’s Professors Say They Should Get a Raise." [Woo Hoo!!]

By Julian Roberts-Grmela January 17, 2023

University of Illinois at Chicago faculty members went on strike Tuesday, in part because they say students’ mental-health needs have become so severe, while administrators have failed to adequately respond.

WELLNESS ON CAMPUS

"Colleges Are Investing in Student Mental Health. But ‘There’s Still a Long Way to Go,’ Survey Finds."

By Eva Surovell January 18, 2023.

Should We Be Screened For Anxiety? -- NO
"Canadian Doctors, Psychiatrists Don't Recommend Routine Adult Anxiety Screening," Megan DeLaire, CTV News, Sept. 22, 2022.

  Contrary to new recommendations(opens in a new tab) by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, health-care professionals in Canada are warning against routine anxiety testing for adults.

 The American health guidelines panel released a draft recommendation earlier this week that said U.S. primary care doctors should regularly screen all adults under 65 for anxiety using standardized questionnaires like the generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) scale.

…However, doctors and psychiatrists with three major mental health research institutions in Canada warn the risks of implementing a routine anxiety screening program here would likely outweigh the benefits.

"Screening for Anxiety Will Just Make Us More Anxious," David Rosmarin, Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2023.

   In response to the country's anxiety epidemic, an influential panel of doctors appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently published a new set of guidelines. All adults, they recommended, should now be screened for anxiety by their primary care physicians. As the founder of a large clinical practice focused on anxiety, I stand to benefit from increased referrals. And yet, I've been lying in bed at night with growing worries that this policy will compound our anxiety epidemic.

  All of us experience anxiety, and it's awful -- but it is not a disease. Anxiety can become a disorder when persistently elevated levels cause significant distress and encumber life activities. Such anxiety disorders are common, with nearly one in five U.S. adults experiencing them each year.

  But there is a great difference between anxiety and anxiety disorders. The latter depend on how much distress and dysfunction anxiety causes. The mere occurrence of anxiety is nothing to be medically worried about.

Are Drugs Involved -- Of Course

"Quebec Doctors to Face Increased Scrutiny For Overprescription of Anti-Anxiety Medication," Matthew Lapierre, CBC, Feb. 16, 2024.

More Proof: "Anti-Anxiety Drug Market Size Report, Industry Analysis, Share, Growth, 2030", (For $4,000 US, you can buy the report if you are in the business of anxiety reducing.)
"The global anti-anxiety drug Market size was worth around USD 15.23 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow to around USD 21.22 billion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 4.23% between 2023 and 2030."

Post Script: PRE-INTERNET VIRALITY

   Generally the Internet can be blamed for most things and certainly social-media increases the contagion of bad political ideas and mental maladies. As I am typing all of this stuff, my inbox is surely filling with messages offering Valium, Xanax and Ativan. But, I have learned that the promotion of mental diagnoses was occurring even before this century, so the inflation cannot just be blamed on the Internet. 
Since it is highly likely you will think I made this up, the citations are included and can be checked. 

"National Anxiety Screening Day Exceeds Expectation; Coalition of Volunteers Help," PR Newswire, 1997:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The effort of nearly 10,000 volunteers make the 1997 National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day (NADSD) the largest single event to promote the awareness treatment of anxiety disorders. Nearly 2,000 health facilities provided free screenings on May 7 to an estimated 50,000 Americans.

Now in its fourth year, NADSD is organized by a non-profit consumer advocacy group called Freedom From Fear with assistance from numerous other organizations and supported, in part, by an unrestricted educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb, the makers of BuSpar(R) (uspirone HCl, USP), an anxiolytic, and Serzone(R) (nefazodone HCl), an antidepressant.

There Was Celebrity Involvement As Well:

"Anxiety Disorders Association Bestows Jack Nicholson with First Annual R.E.A.L. Achievement Award"

17 March 1998

PR Newswire

PRN

English

(c) 1998 PR Newswire

Nicholson's Portrayal of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in 'As Good As It Gets' Performs Major Public Service by Raising Awareness of Anxiety Disorders

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) has bestowed upon Jack Nicholson the first annual R.E.A.L. Award ("Realistic Enactment of Anxiety and Living") for Achievement in the Arts for the Accurate Depiction of an Anxiety Disorder, for his portrayal of a person with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in the movie "As Good As It Gets." The ADAA is the foremost national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the welfare of people with anxiety disorders.

"Anxiety Disorders Association Bestows Jim Carrey With the Second Annual R.E.A.L. Achievement Award"

17 March 1999

PR Newswire

PRN

English

(c) 1999 PR Newswire

Carrey's Portrayal of a Person Suffering With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Performs a Major Public Service by Raising Awareness of Anxiety Disorders

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) has announced that Jim Carrey is the recipient of the second annual R.E.A.L. Award ("Realistic Enactment of Anxiety and Living") for Achievement in the Arts for the Accurate Depiction of an Anxiety Disorder, for his portrayal of a person with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the movie "The Truman Show." The ADAA is the foremost national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the welfare of people with anxiety disorders.

"Anxiety Disorders Association Taps Robert DeNiro For the Third Annual R.E.A.L. Achievement Award"

22 March 2000

PR Newswire

PRN

English

(Copyright (c) 2000, PR Newswire)

       DeNiro's Portrayal of a Person Suffering with Panic Disorder

   Performs a Public Service By Raising Awareness of Anxiety Disorders

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) has announced that Robert DeNiro is the recipient of the third annual R.E.A.L. Award ("Realistic Enactment of Anxiety and Living") for Achievement in the Arts for the Accurate Depiction of an Anxiety Disorder, for his portrayal of a person with Panic Disorder in the movie "Analyze This." The ADAA is the foremost national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the welfare of people with anxiety disorders.

Women Were Considered And Were Also Anxious:

"National Survey Shows That Half of All U.S. Women Suffer From Anxiety Symptoms and Worry."

29 February 2000

PR Newswire

   'Take Control of Your Anxiety' Campaign Helps to Educate Women About

                       Generalized Anxiety Disorder

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifty percent of the 1,044 women polled in a recent telephone survey reported that they experience anxiety symptoms and worry for a period of more than six months. In addition, one out of 10 women describes herself as having "unrealistic" or "excessive worry." Furthermore, the majority of women polled (70 percent) are not aware that these continuing anxiety symptoms and worry may be caused by a common disorder called Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).  GAD affects approximately 10 million Americans each year. Women are more likely to develop this condition than men.

The Bonus:

   I admit that as I approached this point I was getting quite anxious because I did not yet have a "bonus." I have just thought of one, however, and you are welcome to use it since I have completed my trifecta about terrible things: stress, trauma and anxiety. Perhaps in addition to "prevalence inflation" one could also consider in relation to the anxiety pandemic, the  "Munchausen syndrome", "a psychological condition where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves. Their main intention is to assume the "sick role" so that people care for them and they are the centre of attention."

More Very Expensive Used Books

    My efforts to convince people (especially those who work in libraries) that printed books are still worth some attention, were last displayed in the post about "Very Expensive Used Books." In it, a used copy of Gone With the Wind was reported to have been purchased for $25,000, not a bad price, given that literary critics didn't particularly like it, and now there are many critical of it for other reasons.
   The book above was just sold for $85,620, which is nothing to brag about since another first edition of the same book went for $471,000 in 2021. But, it is interesting that the one just sold was a used library book.

The Weeding of Books
  Librarians are discarding old books for many reasons. In the public libraries, one of them is to make room for the homeless, and in the university close by, it is to make space for students who, I gather, are not much interested in printed books. But, in both the public libraries and the university ones, care should be taken and weeding done with caution. Be more careful than even the gardener.
   The inside of the $85,620 used library book is shown above and reveals that "it was borrowed 27 times between December 15, 1997 and October 12,1999 before it was withdrawn from service." I am not sure what happened after that, but I am pretty sure that the Edinburgh Public Library did not get any of the $85,620.

Sources:

   The Potter book was listed by AbeBooks as one of their "Most Expensive Sales 2023."
The book was sold by First and Fine in Shropshire and information related to its purchase is found here. 

  As the illustration above indicates again, printed books can be valuable even in the United States. It is one of many from Raptis Rare Books in Palm Beach, but I doubt that there have been many shoppers visit it from Mar-a-Lago, close by. 

CANCON:
  As luck would have it, for those trying to make the case for printed books, this showed up on Feb. 17, 2024 in the Vancouver Sun. Dr. Vogrincic buys. "rare old medical books" and he bought this, "personal, annotated copy of Andreas Vesalius’s masterwork on anatomy de Humani Corporis Fabrica, printed in 1555." He paid less than $20,000 Canadian back in 2007. Once he realized the true value of the book, he lent it to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library for safe keeping. 

The book "was purchased by the University of Louvain in Belgium, which Vesalius had attended." It will probably be found in their library.

BEYOND THE PALEWALL (10)

 1. Real Puzzling
   Many people up here are indoors working on jigsaw puzzles because that beats going outdoors or watching the news. A large 1000-piece puzzle, solidly coloured and with irregular edges, can keep you busy for quite a while. Looking for a bigger challenge, some senior folks in Utah, where they probably don't want to go outside either, ordered a 75 pounder consisting of 60,000 pieces. They went to work:

Over the next four months, about 50 seniors spent four hours a day piecing together 60 different 1,000-piece puzzle sections featuring a world map and 187 images of artwork by Dowdle of scenic landmarks such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India and U.S. national parks.
Last month, after the 60 puzzles were combined into one piece of art spread across 16 banquet tables, the senior center put its 8-by-29-foot creation on display for the public.

   Dowdle, the puzzle maker, operates "Dowdle Folk Art" which, conveniently enough is just down the road from the Springville Senior Center where the puzzle he made is on display. You can order "What A Wonderful World" - The World's Largest Puzzle" by clicking on this link. Before you do so, you should know that it is about 8' tall and 29' long and costs $1,027.00 in real dollars.
   All of this was learned from: "Utah Senior Center Tackles Loneliness With a 60,000-Piece Puzzle," Ruth Nielsen, Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2024. If you want to learn more, see the * Largest Jigsaw Puzzles in the World," Nancy Levin, largest.org, Jan. 19, 2023. The smallest offered is the 33,600-piece, "Wild Life" which costs $600 also real dollars. 

2. Build A Border Wall - A Northern One!
 Former presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy suggested one needed to be built because of the fentanyl problem, and Nikki Haley pointed out the problems presented by 500 people on the terrorist list who crossed over from Canada. More Republicans may be scrutinizing the Canadian/American border because of an article such as this one:
"Migrants Face Cold, Perilous Crossing From Canada to New York: Increasingly, Migrants From Latin America Are Risking Their Lives to Cross Illegally Into the United States Along the Northern Border," Luis Ferré-Sadurní, The New York Times, Feb. 11, 2024.

   As migrants continue to overwhelm the southern border in record numbers, a growing wave is trying an alternative route into the United States: across the less fortified, more expansive Canadian border….

More than 12,200 people were apprehended crossing illegally from Canada last year, a 241 percent jump from the 3,578 arrested the previous year. Most of them were Mexicans, who can fly to Canada without a visa and may prefer the northern border to avoid the cartels that exploit migrants in their country.

3. Dire Headline of the Decade - "Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?" 
 The subtitle of Clare Malone's Atlantic article (Feb.10) continued this way: Ads are scarce, search and social traffic is dying, and readers are burned out. The future will require fundamentally rethinking the press’s relationship to its audience. She reports on
 A report that tracked layoffs in the industry in 2023 recorded twenty-six hundred and eighty-one in broadcast, print, and digital news media. NBC News, Vox Media, Vice News, Business Insider, Spotify, theSkimm, FiveThirtyEight, The Athletic, and Condé Nast—the publisher of The New Yorker—all made significant layoffs. BuzzFeed News closed, as did Gawker. The Washington Post, which lost about a hundred million dollars last year, offered buyouts to two hundred and forty employees. In just the first month of 2024, Condé Nast laid off a significant number of Pitchfork’s staff and folded the outlet into GQ; the Los Angeles Times laid off at least a hundred and fifteen workers (their union called it “the big one”); Time cut fifteen per cent of its union-represented editorial staff; the Wall Street Journal slashed positions at its D.C. bureau; and Sports Illustrated, which had been weathering a scandal for publishing A.I.-generated stories, laid off much of its staff as well.
The Fahrenheit 451 of everything without the fires.

4. Rankled by Rankings (again):
   The rankings game is played by most universities which hide low numbers and seek the higher ones. Although most would like to opt out, it is difficult to do so and arguments about how the rankings are done and disagreements between those ranked continue.
   Among the recent rankings disputes, you may have missed this one. It does not involve U.S. News & World Report or Maclean's. It does involve the Chinese (again) and math, but in this case neither of those subjects is inscrutable.

  To Disraeli's, "lies, damned lies and statistics," math can be added. It may even be the case that you can have a highly ranked math department in a university where there is no department of mathematics. Here is all you need to know and you don't need to know any math to understand it: "Citation Cartels Help Some Mathematicians - and Their Universities - Climb the Rankings," Michele Catanzaro, Science, Jan.30, 2024.

Cliques of mathematicians at institutions in China, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere have been artificially boosting their colleagues’ citation counts by churning out low-quality papers that repeatedly reference their work, according to an unpublished analysis seen by Science. As a result, their universities—some of which do not appear to have math departments—now produce a greater number of highly cited math papers each year than schools with a strong track record in the field, such as Stanford and Princeton universities.

   The ranking wars will continue, however, and if you google any university, the rankings will appear since good ones can be found somewhere. Those pictured are currently displayed at the university close by. 

Campus Novels

 Reading Week
   Next week is 'Reading Week' on the campus close by. We used to call such a week, 'Slack Week' and there was only one of them, which came around this time of year. Now there is also one in the fall, which surely means that the students these days are better read than we slackers were. 
   There is no reason why they should have all the fun, so I am offering a relevant reading list which will last you over the many 'Reading Weeks' yet to come. It is relevant in that all of the books relate to campuses of one sort or another and, although they are works of fiction, they may enlighten us about what is really going on in the shadows of the ivory towers.
   This list comes, indirectly from this article: “There’s Always Been Trouble in ‘The Groves of Academe’: How a 1950s Novel Explains the Crisis in Higher Education,” A.O. Scott, The New York Times, Jan. 31, 2024. (Careful readers of MM will know that the "Groves" reference can be connected directly to that campus close by.) These two snippets from it should encourage you to read the entire article and are likely to increase your interest in the list that follows:

   Every squawking buzzard in American public life — every quarrel about race, class, sex, foreign policy, pronoun usage — takes wing from or comes home to roost on campus…
- and especially this one:
  I would go so far as to claim that the modern university campus — in actuality one of the most systematically humorless habitats ever devised by human beings — is the only reliably funny place in contemporary literature.

  In the article there is a link to the list that follows. A full reference is provided and you should have a look at it. The author offers useful brief descriptions which can help you select from the sixty. For example, #4 consists of "277 pages of absolute zingers," #16 is"Not strictly a campus novel," and #39 is worth a look since, "Any book that includes skinny dipping in Walden Pond is literary catnip." 
The source: "The 60 Best Campus Novels from the Last 100 Years From Evelyn Waugh to Rebecca Makkai," Emily Temple, Literary Hub, Nov. 2, 2022. The list is basically in chronological order, so the most recently published is the last one. Of course, as usual, additional essential information is found at the end.

1. Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall (1928). 
2. Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (1935)
3. Mary McCarthy, The Groves of Academe (1952)
4. Randall Jarrell, Pictures from an Institution (1954)
5.Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim (1954)
6.Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin (1957) 
7.John Knowles, A Separate Peace (1959)
8.Louis Auchincloss, The Rector of Justin (1964)
9.John Williams, Stoner (1965)
10.Richard Fariña, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1966)
11.Alison Lurie, The War Between the Tates (1974)
12.David Lodge, The Campus Trilogy (1975; 1984; 1988)
13. Pat Conroy, The Lords of Discipline (1980)
14.Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety (1987)
15.Fleur Jaeggy, tr. Tim Parks, Sweet Days of Discipline (1989; translation 1993)
16.A.S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance (1990)
17.Javier Marías, tr. Margaret Jull Costa, All Souls (1992)
18. Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)
19.Ishmael Reed, Japanese by Spring (1993)
20.Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2 (1995)
21.Jane Smiley, Moo (1995)
22.Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys (1995)
23.James Hynes, Publish and Perish: Three Tales of Tenure and Terror (1997)
24.Richard Russo, Straight Man (1997)
25.Philip Roth, The Human Stain (2000)
26.Denis Johnson, The Name of the World (2000)
27.Tobias Wolff, Old School (2003)
28.Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005)
29.Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep (2005)
30.Zadie Smith, On Beauty (2005)
31.Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006)
32.Jean Hanff Korelitz, Admission (2009)
33.Paul Murray, Skippy Dies (2010)
34.Lan Samantha Chang, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost (2010)
35.Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding (2011)
36.Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot (2011)
37.Pamela Erens, The Virgins (2013)
38.Susan Choi, My Education (2013)
39.André Aciman, Harvard Square (2013)
40.Christopher J. Yates, Black Chalk (2013)
41.Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members (2014)
42.Tana French, The Secret Place (2014)
43.Elif Batuman, The Idiot (2017)
44.Weike Wang, Chemistry (2017)
45.R.O. Kwon, The Incendiaries (2018)
46.Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018)
47.Sally Rooney, Normal People (2018)
48.Juliet Lapidos, Talent (2019)
49.Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House (2019)
50.Mona Awad, Bunny (2019)
51.Elisabeth Thomas, Catherine House (2020)
52.Kate Weinberg, The Truants (2020)
53.Brandon Taylor, Real Life (2020)
54.Emily M. Danforth, Plain Bad Heroines (2020)
55.Christine Smallwood, The Life of the Mind (2021)
56.Joshua Cohen, The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family (2021)
57.Lee Cole, Groundskeeping (2022)
58.Julia May Jonas, Vladimir (2022)
59.Elaine Hsieh Chou, Disorientation (2022)
60.Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions For You (2023)

Other stuff:
   For another list see: "9 Best Campus Novels (and One Memoir)," Emily Layden, Publishers Weekly, Feb. 17, 2021 (6 of them are not on the above list.) Of course there is also Wikiwands, "Campus Novel." "Campus novels exploit the fictional possibilities created by a closed environment of the university, with idiosyncratic characters inhabiting unambiguous hierarchies." 
   If you don't read, watch this on Netflix: "The Chair" starring Sandra Oh.
Or watch "Lucky Hank" with Bob Odenkirk on Prime.

CANCON

   If you look at the original article and the comments at the end, you will find many suggestions submitted by readers. One of them is: Robertson Davies, The Rebel Angels. 

Periodical Ramblings (15)

 More Magazines We Soon May Be Missing
  In Periodical Ramblings (13) I mentioned that National Geographic was laying off its staff writers and more recently, among some news stories, I indicated that Reader"s Digest Canada would soon cease publication (see, Palewall (5).) Now, two more periodicals are in trouble and may have to resort to a cover such as the one above. It is from National Lampoon, but obviously the threat didn't work since it stopped publishing at the end of the last century. 

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
   The headline this time is, "Sports Illustrated Employees Left in Limbo As Publisher Faces Money Troubles," (Joe Reedy, AP, in the G&M, Jan.19, 2024.) The magazine used to be a weekly, then biweekly and since 2020 has been a monthly. The illustrations were excellent and the coverage broad, as the cover above indicates (although I admit that the European Court of Justice didn't declare that bridge isn't a sport until 2017.) 

It has been loosing subscribers over the years, as have other periodicals. A while back, for just a few bucks, they sent copies to me all the way up to Canada and I got the jacket pictured as a bonus. I have to be careful where I wear it since Washington had not yet changed the name of the team to the "Commanders."

      

Beware  of hedge funds and investors bearing brand names like "Trusted Media Brands", which is closing down Reader's Digest, and "Authentic Brands Group" which owns Sports Illustrated. Authentic also owns the intellectual property for Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Muhammad Ali, all of whom are dead, but still making more money than Sports Illustrated. 

BUSINESS WEEK
   Another dreaded headline if you like magazines is, "Bloomberg Businessweek to Go Monthly: The Publication Has Not Avoided the Persistent Headwinds Facing All Print Publications," Katie Robinson, New York Times, Nov. 30, 2023. Business Week has been published weekly since 1929, but it will now be a monthly, albeit on "heavier paper stock for a more high-end look and feel." Bloomberg bought the publication in 2009 and affixed his name to it, as he has to many things. I suppose the name will have to change again. It was a readable magazine, even it you weren't much interested in business.

The Loss of 'Local' News
  It is unfortunate that such publications are disappearing. You may soon have to rely on "Sam on Substack" or even MM, if you are only looking for "freebies" and don't want to pay for solid research and good writing that has been edited and proofed.
   It is also the case that the loss of these magazines can have a 'local' impact and I have written often about the devastating loss of local newspapers. I am using the term "local" here to mean "Canadian". We generally think it is a good thing to have journalists embedded in the community and poking politicians about local issues about which they care and have been following closely. 
   Back about the time Bloomberg bought Business Week, I was in charge of a business library at a university which has a good business school and had very good libraries. I received a call from Toronto from the folks at Business Week, who wanted to know if I was interested in getting their entire collection, since they were shutting up shop and the journalists covering Canada would no longer be based here. 
   This has happened before and it is likely that good coverage of 'local' Canadian news has suffered.  The Times of London shut its Ottawa office in the early 1970s and the New York Times closed its Canadian news bureau in 1999. Perhaps good journalism can be produced from afar, or by a reporter passing through, but it is likely better to have a local observer who, for example, goes out drinking at the pub with some politicians and people in the neighbourhood. 

Sources (And A Bit More): That's Why 'Ramblings' Is In The Title!

  For more about Business Week: "Who Ever Said Magazines Need to be Ink on Paper?", Peter Coy, New York Times, Dec. 4, 2023. On the importance of BW, he notes: Business Week's editorials offered perhaps the most sophisticated Keynesian-style economic analysis of any mass publication, and its influence may have been disproportionate to its circulation, as it targeted an elite audience of businessmen." He is quoting, Professor Ranjit Dighe: “Business Week and the Coming of Keynesianism to America.” Research in Economic History 35: 25-57 (2019).
   The Times of London announced it was shutting its Canadian bureau in 1970, but that was delayed until 1971 by Canadian-born Kenneth Thompson, who was the chairman of the Time's board. "Times Decides to Close Bureau in Canada," Globe and Mail, March 31, 1971.

   The New York Times closed its Canadian bureau and moved it to Denver. The reason for the closure was TAXES. They were prohibitive: "During the 1990s , one American newspaper after another quietly folded its tent in Canada. In an exodus largely unnoticed by the Canadian public, The Detroit News, closed its Ottawa bureau. The Chicago TrIbune closed its Toronto bureau. The Los Angeles Times  moved its Canada correspondent to New York and The Wall Street Journal adopted an informal policy of not sending Americans to Canada." ("Why The New York Times' Canada Bureau Isn't in Canada: Canadian Taxes on Taxes Have Made the Cost Prohibitive. But the Story Is Larger Than the Times," James Brooke, The Globe and Mail, Oct. 4, 1999. 
   The Columbia Journalism Review explained the exodus in this article:  "Why Canada Is Shrinking: The New York Times  Berlin Correspondent covers Germany from Berlin. Its Nairobi Correspondent Covers Kenya From Nairobi. And Its Canadian Correspondent Covers Canada From ....Denver, Colorado." (by Dayna E. Simon, Mar. 2000):
" The Times joined the exodus last summer after paying $114,000 in income tax to Revenue Canada for its resident reporter. The sky-high bill results in part from "tax equalization," in which the company pays the tax bill that is over an above what employees would pay if they were working in the U.S. An American in Canada could be taxed as high as 52% when federal and provincial rates are combined. But, it isn't the higher rates that the Times objects to -- it's what happens next. Under Canadian rules the money paid for tax equalization is added to the correspondent's salary as income in the following year. Thus, the amount builds, year after year." Plus, the reporters didn't qualify for Canadian benefits. 
  This long tax digression is interesting, but provided only because Toronto may soon be loosing Tavares because of tax issues and therefore it has some relevance: "Maple Leafs Captain John Tavares in $8M Tax Dispute With CRA," CBC, Feb.7, 2024 and many other examples c. Feb. 2024.

  The basic point is, I suppose, that while the Internet has led to an increase in the number of sources available to us, we are losing magazines, newspapers and other reliable sources and are surely not getting any smarter.

The Bonus:
  Unfortunately, billionaires may not be able to bail us out. Here is another recent headline: "Billionaires Wanted to Save the News Industry. They’re Losing a Fortune. Time magazine, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times — owned by Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong — Are Still Losing Money," Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson, The New York Times, Jan. 1, 2024.

Book Stores and Authors

Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar - Asheville, NC

   There are examples of authors who sell books as well as write them. The late Larry McMurtry comes to mind and, at one point, his "Booked Up" bookstore in Archer City, Texas contained so many books it actually gave one a reason to go to Texas. If you are thinking about traveling to the U.S. and are bookish, have a look at the list below which consists of book stores owned by authors. Below that list you will find another, for those less adventurous who do not want to cross the border. It provides recommendations by Canadian authors of the bookstores they favour in this country.
  If you are bookish, you may just want to stay on the couch and read. In that case, the lists may be useful since both the bookstores owned by authors and those simply recommended by them are likely to be places filled with books and interesting suggestions about which ones to order. Some even have 'merch' if your Taylor Swift tee-shirt is tattered.

  Before you begin, although I am barely an author, I will offer three of my own recommendations for free. If you like to read and drink, head on down to Asheville, North Carolina. After touring Biltmore ("America's Largest House") go downtown to the Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar. It's both swanky and comfortable as the picture at the top illustrates. Closer to Ontario, you will find Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs. It is a good shop and Saratoga is swanky. If you live in B.C. go to Sidney which has about a dozen bookstores. According to the Wikipedia entry, it is one of two "book towns" in Canada. The other one is Fundy -St. Martins in New Brunswick, but I am not sure why.

10 Bookstores in the United States Owned or Co-Owned by Authors
(The material with each entry is usually taken from the store website and the link provided, along with some text in case the link rots. I confess to not knowing much about some of the authors and if you are like me you will appreciate the brief remarks which are from Wikipedia. The entries are alphabetical by author.)

1. Judy Blume

Books & Books

The Studios of Key West

Key West, Florida.

Books & Books @The Studios of Key West is the brainchild of a small group of local book lovers, led by George Cooper, who previously founded the Tropic Cinema, and his wife, the beloved writer Judy Blume. It is a joint effort of two respected organizations, each of which brings its particular capacities to the venture.

(She is 85 and author of,  Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Judy Blume has won more than 90 literary awards, including three lifetime achievement awards in the United States. ​​Her novels have sold over 82 million copies and have been translated into 32 languages.)

2. Louise Erdrich
Birchbark Books
Minneapolis, MN
We are a locus for Indigirati—literate Indigenous people who have survived over half a millennium on this continent. We sponsor readings by Native and non-Native writers, journalists, historians. Louise Erdrich will sign or personalize any of her books ordered through the bookstore. Has a blog. Carries, games, Indigenous art.(Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written 28 books in all, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's books. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.)

3. Alex George
Skylark Bookshop
Columbia, MO.
Alex George (he/him) has published seven novels, which have been translated into more than ten languages….
He has written for, among other publications, The Washington Post and LitHub. Alex is also the founder and director of the Unbound Book Festival.  He is also an attorney, and runs his own law firm in Columbia. A native of the UK, he moved to Columbia twenty years ago, not that he’s counting. In 2022 he was named Midwest Bookseller of the Year by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association.
Skylark is a fiercely Independent Bookshop. We strive to always find new ways to celebrate literature and our community. Some books give us knowledge and perspective; others simply give necessary space to breathe. Putting the right book into the right hands is a deeply meaningful act. We believe that we can find that book for everyone who walks through our doors. We embrace enjoyment, entertainment, and the beauty of Skylark Bookshop.
Alex George has his own website.

4. Lauren Groff
The Lynx (brand new)
Gainesville, Florida
Best-selling novelist Lauren Groff is fighting Florida censors on their own turf. This spring in Gainesville, she and her husband, Clay Kallman, will open a new bookstore dedicated to Florida writers, LGBTQI+ authors and books banned in Florida.

5. Jeff Kinney
An Unlikely Story
Plainville, MA.
It carries much more than his Wimpy Kids books and has a cafe.
(Kinney is from the state in which I was born. To promote the release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer, Kinney embarked on book tour across the West Coast of the United States titled "The No Brainer Show" from October 23 to November 8, 2023. Kinney dedicated the tour to libraries and librarians, making a personal donation of $100,000 for libraries along the tour. Over 275 million copies of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have sold globally as of 2023) 

6. Jenny Lawson 

Nowhere Bookshop

San Antonio, TX.

Founded by bestselling author, Jenny Lawson (AKA The Bloggess), Nowhere Bookshop is a new independent bookstore now open at 5154 Broadway in San Antonio, Texas. Featuring new books, author events, unique gifts, and a coffee, wine and beer bar, Nowhere Bookshop aims to be a space for folks to gather to share their passion for the written word. 
(Lawson is well known for her irreverent writing style.Lawson was recognized by the Nielsen ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers and Forbes listed thebloggess.com as one of their Top 100 Websites for Women. She was a finalist in the 2010 Weblog awards for Best Writing and Most Humorous Writer, and a finalist in the 2011 Weblog awards for Best Writing, Most Humorous Writer and Weblog of the Year.)

7. Kelly Link
Book Moon

Easthampton, MA.

It is run by Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant and many booksellers and features new & used books, so many books, and, yet, never enough books and with more always coming. 

It is a 1,200 square foot, one-floor bookshop, with lovely big windows, comfy chairs, and specialties that include fiction, sf&f, poetry, activism, children's books, and our own Small Beer Press titles — and always a few good chocolate bars. While here, pick up your copy of our Reader's Guide to Western Massachusetts Bookshop map and check out our T-shirts, bumper stickers, and more. Come on by and say hello!
(She won a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship - $625,000!)

8. George R.R. Martin

Beastly Books

Sante Fe, New Mexico

 Also carries banned and rare books and has a coffee shop.

(In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin "the American Tolkien", and in 2011, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present).)

9. Ann Patchett

Parnassus Books

Nashville, TN.

Hosts events and has a newsletter.

Parnassus Books is the independent bookstore for independent people located in Nashville, Tennessee. Our shop was opened in 2011 by novelist Ann Patchett and her business partner, Karen Hayes, and Ann took over as the sole owner in the summer of 2022 after Karen retired. These days, we’re actually more than just the one bookstore. We’re an airport bookshop, making sure travelers always have something to read via our Parnassus Books / Hudson Booksellers co-branded store in the Nashville airport. Have a blog - MUSING - Here on Musing, we collect and share interesting tidbits, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and lighthearted takes on the bookish life. To use a music analogy (this is Nashville, after all): If the store were an album, this site would be the B-side — extras, bootlegs, outtakes, and bonus tracks.

10. Emma Straub

Books Are Magic

Two Locations, Brooklyn, NY.

Books Are Magic is a family-owned independent bookstore with two locations in Brooklyn, committed to being a welcoming, friendly, and inclusive space for all people. We believe that books are indeed magic, and that literature is one of the best ways to create empathy, transportation, and transformation. We are enthusiastic about offering thoughtfully selected voices and stories on our shelves, and about hosting free and affordable events featuring emerging writers as well as long-adored authors. Books Are Magic is a place for children to feel comfortable, for young readers to grow into lifelong readers, and for our neighbors to be introduced to vibrant new books. 

(Her novels include Modern Lovers, The Vacationers, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures and All Adults Here. She is the author of a short story collection entitled Other People We Married. In May 2022, Straub's novel This Time Tomorrow was published by Riverhead Books.”

The Favourite Bookstores of 10 Canadian Authors
   For Canadian content I now provide a list which is based on the information found in this article: "Ten Canadian Writers Share Their Favourite Independent Bookstores," Sophie Palmer-Still, Globe and Mail, April 28, 2023.
The author, one of their books and the publisher are provided along with the name and location of the bookstore. There are more than 10 since some authors chose more than one. 

1. Janie Chang, The Porcelain Moon (HarperCollins)
Her picks: Talewind Books, Sechelt, B.C., and Book Warehouse Main St., Vancouver.

2. Vikki VanSickle, P.S. Tell No One (Scholastic)
Her pick: Moonbeam Books, Toronto
Unfortunately this store closed on Jan. 14, 2024.

3. Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)
Her pick: On Paper Books, Sydney, N.S.

4. Tara MacLean, Song of the Sparrow (HarperCollins)

Her pick: Bookmark, Charlottetown, PEI.

5. David A. Robertson, The Song That Called Them Home (Penguin Random House)

His pick: McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Avenue, Winnipeg

6. Geoffrey D. Morrison, Falling Hour (Coach House Books)

His pick: The Paper Hound Bookshop, Vancouver

7. Suzette Mayr, The Sleeping Car Porter (Coach House Books)

Her picks: Pages Books on Kensington, Calgary, and Shelf Life Books, Calgary

8. Lisa Bird-Wilson, Probably Ruby (Penguin Random House)

Her pick: Turning the Tide Bookstore, Saskatoon.

9. Robin Yeatman, Bookworm (HarperCollins)

Her pick: 32 Books & Gallery, North Vancouver

10. Jen Sookfong Lee, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart (Penguin Random House)

Her pick: Iron Dog Books, Vancouver

Additional Sources:
   See Destination Ontario for "Unique and Independent Bookstores in Ontario."

   This is the website for CIBA, the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association.

    Penguin Random House Canada provides, Canadian Independent Bookstores which has a map and this search feature: "Find An Indie Retailer Near You." 

   For local bookstores in the Ottawa area see this site by the Canadian Authors Association. 

Beyond the Palewall (9)

 

 This is another in a series about news items of which you should be aware. For those who prefer a table of contents: 1) The first story is about yet another Canadian apology and we may soon have offered one to every group that has been offended. I don't think the apologies are being done alphabetically, since the last one was to the Italians. For more about that, see my post "Apologizing Again", where you will learn there is even a book about such a subject: A Guilted Age: Apologies for the Past. If you feel traumatized by long ago events or feel guilty about something that happened in the last century, you should have a look. 2) This one is about children now allowed outside in Toronto. I have also dealt with this issue in an insightful piece about "Children and Risk." 3) This one will be useful since you probably don't have a local newspaper to read and 4) A very interesting piece about the shootings occurring outside of theatres in Canada where people supposedly don't have guns. Even more interesting are the comments posted by readers of the articles, who apparently are not thrilled with the current government or sold on the virtues or multiculturalism. 

1) Apology Parity

“B.C. To Apologize For Historical Treatment of Doukhobor Sect,” Mike Hager, Globe and Mail, Jan. 31, 2024.

Back in the middle of the last century about 200 children were seized “ from their parents in southeastern British Columbia and sent to the New Denver residential school by the province after their sect, known as the Sons of Freedom, refused to send them to public school. The tiny group had broken away from Canada’s Doukhobor population, a religious group that settled in the region and Saskatchewan after they were banished from Russia in the late 19th century for their pacifist views, rejection of the Orthodox Church and refusal to participate in the military.”

They will now be getting an apology:

“B.C. Attorney-General Niki Sharma’s office confirmed a public apology to the survivors, who may number about 75, and their families will be made Thursday in Castlegar. A corresponding proposal for financial reparations is expected by the descendants of the Sons of Freedom community.”

B.C. Ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, says the  "government’s apology needs to be “unconditional, clear and public.”

He said he has also communicated to the Attorney-General that the wider community needs to be compensated, as well as the individuals who were sent to the New Denver residential school and their progeny.

“Clearly there has been intergenerational trauma from the events that happened in the 1950s and I don’t think government should be seen to have the amount of compensation they pay reduced through their own delay,” he said in a phone interview.”

2) Children Allowed to Play Again: The Return of PLUCK
 [There will be no image of children playing since it might be too disturbing for some.]

                      Playing Even Sanctioned by The Toronto Star

   “'We Aren't Talking About Sending Them Into Busy Streets or Near Rough Water.' Canadian Paediatric Society Recommends Risky Play for Kids, Toronto Star, Jan. 25, 2024

"Unstructured outdoor play, in particular risky play, is essential for the physical, mental and social development of children, according to new recommendations from the Canadian Paediatric Society."

"We have to reframe how we view risk and understand that risk is a part of life and it's a part of our children's lives," said Dr. Suzanne Beno, a paediatric emergency medicine physician at SickKids, chair of the injury prevention committee of the

CPS, and author of the guidance document released Thursday.”

The new recommendations say children should be kept "as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible," and land on the heels of a tussle in Toronto over whether the city should be closing tobogganing hills that have served neighbourhoods for generations....

The city has closed 45 hills this year, due to concerns about hazards including trees, wading pools, stairs and benches. It maintains a list of toboggan runs it considers safe.

Risky play helps build physical and mental health and resilience among children and youth and can help prevent or manage conditions like obesity, anxiety and behavioural issues, according to the CPS."

For the actual CPS report see:  "Healthy Childhood Development Through Outdoor Risky Play: Navigating the Balance with Injury Prevention.”

                   Playing No Longer Condemned by the CBC

   The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation imprimatur guarantees that a reasonable bit of playing should be allowed while wearing helmets.

   "Pop the Bubble Wrap and let Kids Play Outdoors, Pediatricians Say:

Pediatricians Encourage Parents to Allow Children to Take Risks, Even if it Leads to Minor Cuts, Bruises," Amina Zafar · CBC News · Posted: Jan 25, 2024

"The group said opportunities for risky play fell over recent decades as unscheduled free play outside gave way to planned activities. Now, kids spend more time indoors, often on screens.

The 2022 Participaction report card gave Canadian children a grade of D overall for physical activity and a D– for active play.

"It's the move away from helicopter parenting, from over-parenting, over-scheduling and the recognition that it's probably healthy and good for kids to be kids and to be allowed to experience developmentally and age-appropriate challenges."

3) News Deserts - Oases Shrinking

   Weekly a writer for The Atlantic sends out a newsletter, “Up for Debate.” In a recent one he asked his readers to respond to this question: “What is the state of local journalism where you live, and how does it affect your community?” There were many replies, all lamenting the loss of local reporting. Here is one from close-by Pennsylvania and, with a change of newspaper names, it could probably have come from any province in Canada.

"There are four newspapers covering a county of about 150,000 people. On paper, we’re not a news desert by a long shot. But the reality is we’re a de facto news desert because our newspapers are zombies. Three of the four newspapers are owned by Gannett, which, according to the online staff directories of the Chambersburg Public Opinion, Greencastle Echo Pilot, and Waynesboro Record Herald, employs exactly two journalists across all three newsrooms, which sporadically cover local government. The Echo Pilot lists no staff at all. The fourth newspaper, the Mercersburg Journal, is print-only and owned by a local chain. It covers our borough council and other local events in our tiny town reasonably well, and local officials tend to be extremely aware that what they say and do could end up in the paper the following Wednesday. For me, that’s evidence that traditional dead-tree news remains essential, though I wonder how sustainable it is.”

  This is a very important subject. For more about it see:

In Canada: Local News Research Project.

For the United States:

Northwestern University: The State of Local News Project.

University of North Carolina: Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media. 

4) Shoot-Out at the Cineplex Corral

  "Cineplex Pulls South Indian Film Following Drive-by Shootings at GTA Movie Theatres," Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press, Jan.30, 2024
TORONTO - Cineplex has cancelled screenings of a South Indian film following four drive-by shootings at theatres throughout the Greater Toronto Area the day it premiered.
       Coming Soon To A Cinema Near You
   "Cineplex Pulls South Indian film Screenings After Incidents of Threats, Intimidation and Talk of Turf War," Joe Castaldo, Globe and Mail, Jan.31, 2024.
   "Movie exhibitors including Cineplex Inc. CGX-T -1.70% have pulled screenings of a South Indian-language film across Canada after individuals opened fire at four cinemas in the Greater Toronto Area last week, the latest incidents of intimidation related to Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam blockbusters.
   Videos obtained by The Globe and Mail show a person in a hoodie shooting a gun multiple times through the passenger window of a vehicle at the entrances of Cineplex locations in Scarborough and Vaughan. In a separate video, the driver of the vehicle fires at a Cineplex in Brampton. York Cinemas, a theatre in Richmond Hill, Ont., was also hit by gunfire. The shootings shattered glass and left bullet holes in windows. According to York Regional Police, the incidents occurred in the early morning hours, when the theatres were closed….
   Film distributors have contended that a turf war is being waged and that a group of individuals is trying to control the lucrative market for South Indian-language films in Canada, using vandalism and intimidation to pressure theatres and distributors to drop certain titles and ensure the films run in favoured cinemas.
   In recent years, Telugu and Malayalam movies have been affected, too. The Globe has found more than 20 incidents at Cineplex locations, independent theatres and other chains such as Landmark Cinemas across Southern Ontario, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Surrey, B.C.
  In December, noxious substances were sprayed inside three GTA Cineplex theatres, forcing audience members to evacuate.
The illustration above is the poster for the currently contentious film, Malaikottai Vaaliban. As far as I can determine, it is not necessarily the film that is problematic, but rather the issue of who gets to decide which South Asian films should be shown.