Opinion pitches!

Hey everyone! Here are the pitches for this week. Just reply to this email if you want to pick up any of these pitches, or if you want any more information about these stories. And as always, if you have an idea for an article, feel free to send it my way.

Gateway hiring is coming soon

If you're interested in working at the Gateway next year, now's the time to start thinking about applying! I cannot recommend it enough. I'm super happy to talk to you in detail about the Opinion Editor position, or any of the other jobs at the Gateway, so feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want more information.

Whyte Ave gondola

Edmonton city councillor Tim Cartmell is apparently in favour of building a gondola system down Whyte Avenue, as an alternative to traditional transit infrastructure. You can read more about that here.   There have been a lot of conversations about transit development in Edmonton this week. What do you think about the gondola proposal? What kinds of priorities do you think the city should have when it comes to transit?

Edmonton developer donates building to be used for homeless new moms

The building used to be a hotel, but now it will be used as housing for newly pregnant women who otherwise wouldn't have a home. This is a super cool project and I would love for someone to write about it! You get additional info about the project here.

Edward Snowden is coming to the U of A

To be fair, he's only "coming" here virtually, but he'll be giving a Skype-in presentation on March 27th here on campus. Snowden is a pretty controversial figure, so it would be really cool to write something about him or how you feel about him presenting at our university.

It's the 105th anniversary of the Edmonton Public Library!

The EPL is an award-winning library system that is near and dear to my heart. If you have any cute library stories or thoughts about what the next 105 years of the library would look like, those would make good opinion articles!

Is Piglet an armadillo?

Apparently there has been a whole Internet battle over whether or not Piglet (despite being literally named Piglet) is actually a pink armadillo. It's a fascinating discourse that is taking place. Feel free to chime in with your take.

Should we be celebrating the first female head of the CIA?

This week, Trump fired his Secretary of State, replaced him with the director of the CIA, and then appointed a new CIA director. The new director is named Gina Hapsel, and she's the first woman to lead the agency. Some are concerned, however, about her connection to the torture of inmates in American secret prisons. Is this a victory for feminism?

Lady Uber introduced in Toronto

The company is called DriveHer, and it offers a ride-sharing service that is exclusively by women and for women. You can read more about it here.

Elon Musk talks democracy on Mars

This article is actually from 2016 so I'm not sure why I'm just hearing about it now, but Elon Musk has made some interesting comments about democracy, and how if he starts a new Mars colony he wants everything to operate via direct democracy (where citizens vote on every single issue instead of electing representatives who then vote for them). What do you think a Mars colony could/should/would look like? Would having individual people vote on things alleviate some of the problems we're seeing with modern democracy? Is Elon Musk a good dude? There's lots to explore here.

The Gateway Presents!

As you may already know, every second Friday from 5:30-6:30pm, CJSR airs a segment of our radio show, The Gateway Presents. Each segment includes an Opinion piece where two people debate on a hot-button issue. Along with pitching Opinion stories for the website or the magazine, please also feel free to pitch me content for The Gateway Presents! Whether you know someone who'd be interested in debating on the show, you have a topic you'd like to see presented, or you'd like to produce a segment all by yourself, let me know and we'll make it happen.

Shorter segments

Don't have time to write a whole 500-word article this week but still want to write something? Write one of these! They're about 200-300 words and a really good time. - Burlap Sack: Rant about something that bothers you! - Marble Pedestal: Rant about something you love! - Adulting 101: Either tell us how to do something adult (how to use an iron, how actually make food, etc.) or tell us about a time you failed to do something adult (like that time you put the red sock in with the whites and now everything is pink).