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The Tyee is supported by readers like you

Grow independent media in Canada

Are you part of The Tyee’s critical 1%?

Thanks for reading this article from The Tyee. I hope it added something to your day. If we haven't met yet, The Tyee is an independent, non-profit news outlet based in Vancouver, B.C. We've been around since 2003 and our team publishes original in-depth articles every single weekday.

You are able to access all of The Tyee's articles — free of charge — because our non-profit newsroom is supported by thousands of supporters of independent journalism. We call them Tyee Builders, and they contribute an amount that works for them.

Why do we call them "Tyee Builders"? Because they literally help build The Tyee. As our reader contributions grow, we invest all of it back into more original journalism, and adding more talented researchers, writers and editors to our team.

Only about 1 per cent of people who regularly read The Tyee contribute financially, but amazingly, that’s enough to cover half of our total budget. Just 1 per cent of people chipping in means that the other 99 per cent get to enjoy open access to fact-based journalism published by a trusted, independent news organization.

Public interest journalism is vital for our democracy, but the sad truth is that newsrooms across Canada are struggling, and laying off more and more journalists each year. Support from our readers means that we can keep our newsroom staffed, resourced, and showing up every day with new original stories that you won't read anywhere else. It also means that we are accountable to you first, not shareholders (we don't have any) or corporate backers (we don't have any of those, either).

Be a part of making Canadian media better and join Tyee Builders today. You choose the amount and frequency you give, and you can cancel at any time.

— Jeanette Ageson, publisher

Join Tyee Builders

Are you part of The Tyee’s critical 1%?

Thanks for reading this article from The Tyee. I hope it added something to your day. If we haven't met yet, The Tyee is an independent, non-profit news outlet based in Vancouver, B.C. We've been around since 2003 and our team publishes original in-depth articles every single weekday.

You are able to access all of The Tyee's articles — free of charge — because our non-profit newsroom is supported by thousands of supporters of independent journalism. We call them Tyee Builders, and they contribute an amount that works for them.

Why do we call them "Tyee Builders"? Because they literally help build The Tyee. As our reader contributions grow, we invest all of it back into more original journalism, and adding more talented researchers, writers and editors to our team.

Only about 1 per cent of people who regularly read The Tyee contribute financially, but amazingly, that’s enough to cover half of our total budget. Just 1 per cent of people chipping in means that the other 99 per cent get to enjoy open access to fact-based journalism published by a trusted, independent news organization.

Public interest journalism is vital for our democracy, but the sad truth is that newsrooms across Canada are struggling, and laying off more and more journalists each year. Support from our readers means that we can keep our newsroom staffed, resourced, and showing up every day with new original stories that you won't read anywhere else. It also means that we are accountable to you first, not shareholders (we don't have any) or corporate backers (we don't have any of those, either).

Be a part of making Canadian media better and join Tyee Builders today. You choose the amount and frequency you give, and you can cancel at any time.

— Jeanette Ageson, publisher

Join Tyee Builders

SERIES

A Certain Urgency: Adventures in Canadian Medicine

A Certain Urgency: Adventures in Canadian Medicine — 'More and more Canadians in their sixties are getting their first inside look at the Medicare system created when we were teenagers.' Illustration by Jessie Donaldson

Acclaimed playwright and author John MacLachlan Gray reports from the depths of his bowels and within the medical system dedicated to keeping him fancy (and polyp) free. His three-part medical memoir of a minor procedure gone sideways includes reflections on mortality, dependence on the kindness of dedicated strangers, and the vagaries of superbugs. It's a frank, funny rumination on the parallel universe of a hospital, ''the ultimate nudist colony. Even your insides are apparent for all to see.''

In This Series

A Certain Urgency

A Certain Urgency

What John MacLachlan Gray learned in hospital about angels and polyps. A true life comedy in three acts. Here's the first.

John MacLachlan Gray / 15 Dec 2014

A Balloon among Angels

A Balloon among Angels

John MacLachlan Gray's memoir of a particular polyp and what ensues. Second in a three-act comedy.

John MacLachlan Gray / 16 Dec 2014

Attack of the Super Bugs

Attack of the Super Bugs

John MacLachlan Gray's memoir of the innards life of a Canadian baby boomer. The final chapter.

John MacLachlan Gray / 17 Dec 2014