If you didn’t read them then, read them now: these 5 stories got the most readers and reaction of the ~1000 articles The Overcast published in 2017.

#1: Australian Alien Touches Down In Newfoundland

Read it here: https://wp.me/p4blYN-7HU

Jonathan May is a photographer from Australia, who does advertising photography for big companies like Google and Snickers. Read the article to find out what he was doing running around the woods in Newfoundland dressed like an alien.

#2: Into the Grove; When the Woodsman is the Wolf

Read it here: https://wp.me/p4blYN-7fr

Emily Deming’s coverage of the Snelgrove rape trial summarizes the mess thusly, “It is entirely within the scope of the law, for a person to be incapable of consent, and therefore be a victim of rape, and for the assailant to legally not be guilty of that rape even though they raped. There can be a victim with no legal perpetrator. At least not one that can ever be proven ‘guilty.’”

#3: A New Waterford Will Not Fix an Old Problem

Read it here: https://wp.me/p4blYN-7AQ

May’s cover story argued that we need mental healthcare to stick its tentacles into the very fabric of our society, through centres all communities have, and to treat people at all stages of their affliction with mental health. As it stands, it does not, but to appease public outcry for a new Waterford Hospital, our politicians seem poised to build more of the same thing that’s not working.

#4: The Death of Media: Real News is in a Real Crisis

Read it Here: https://wp.me/p4blYN-7gw

Who controls the flow of information in the modern world, and what affect will it have on democracy when the voting public no longer has all the facts before they hit up voting polls or form convictions about the world they’re living in? As the article here proves, plenty of people don’t even read the stories they leave hateful comments on.

#5: Winter Avenue Needs to Chill Out

Read it here: https://wp.me/p4blYN-80N

This Letter to the Editor, riffing off of Emily Deming’s column, Notes from the Rafters: This Month’s City Council Meeting Recap, asked the question, Who owns a road, the 2 dozen people living on it, or the entire populace of the city/province paying for that road? Its author wasn’t the only one livid about council making a mess of the flow of traffic to appease a handful of constituents. We’re certainly an entitled lot in St. John’s when it comes to who can park and drive where.