A shelving unit stands next to my bed, a home for my favourite books. I have shelves dedicated to Indigenous writers. On the top shelf is the Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. In the preface, dated June 2, 2015, the Honourable Justice […]
Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’
Wendi lives in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, but the farm on Rainy River in Crozier will always be her home. MEADOWLARK, her debut novel released September 15, is published by NeWest Press of Edmonton. She is the mother of four daughters who did the unforgivable: they grew up. http://wendistewart.writersresidence.com
The Terry Fox Run was this past Sunday, September 20, 2026, always held on the second Sunday after Labour Day. Terry Fox lost his right leg to osteogenic sarcoma in 1977 at the age of eighteen. After recovering from surgery, followed by fifteen months of training, Terry dipped his artificial […]
Gloria Steinem dedicated her life to activism in the movement to ensure equality becomes the norm rather than the exception. To think that before the 1970s, women could not apply for their own credit card in Canada. I admired her work and was saddened to hear of her passing before […]
Indigenous women are taking their rightful place in Canadian politics in ever-growing numbers. In 1980, only two Indigenous women held office as First Nations chiefs across the country, one of whom was Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier. Marie-Anne was chief for thirty-nine consecutive years (1981-2020) of Okanese First Nation, Treaty 4 Territory. […]
I picked up my mail today. I have been excitedly waiting for a parcel to arrive. I opened the mailbox, and there, much to my delight, was a bright orange package, and I knew immediately what it was. Inside was my 2026 Truth and Reconciliation t-shirt. It is indeed a […]
I often grumble about the loss of letter writing. I miss that way of communicating. With most or all bills forwarded by email and paid by e-transfer these days, it hardly seems worthwhile walking to the mailbox. But that wasn’t always the case. On April 15, 1968, one simple letter […]
The oldest of my four daughters turned 47 in July, which I find shocking. Surely it wasn’t that long ago that she sat on my knee with her big laugh and very little interest in learning to walk. I know it shocks every mother when their children creep closer to […]
The oak tree is a symbol of strength, of endurance; “the mighty oak”, as it has been referenced in many a poem. The oak was a sacred symbol in ancient cultures, universally considered to have “unyielding strength”, not from being rigid, but rather with a deep resilience, a patience, representing […]
Some members of my family are here visiting with me, which is the most wonderful gift anyone can receive. Two daughters are tucked into my wee home and a grandson whom I call “George” (not his actual name) and he calls me “Denise,” for which neither of us can provide […]
Are you familiar with Tod Maffin? He was a national CBC Radio host and producer during his career. Maffin was born in Vancouver, beginning his career in journalism in the 1990s. He was an early advocate of podcasting. I became more aware of Maffin’s work with his Canadian Healthcare Infusion, […]
Industrialization began around 1750, which marked the transformation from agricultural societies to industrialized urban centres, bringing us to the beginning of the computer age in the 1940s, with the shift from manual computation to digital computing. Humans first walked on the moon in 1969, and we considered that a great […]
I sometimes feel a conundrum in that the child version of myself is obligated to exist inside this aging body that I am carting around these days. I seem to know or understand less about this human race we are part of than I did when I was eight years […]
