Aristotle had some firm ideas on writing and how to present a valid argument to an audience of readers. The elements of ethos, pathos, and logos must be present in balance, according to Aristotle. And though Aristotle was born more than 2,000 years ago, his sense of a written argument […]
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
One of the rules in my five-year-old grandson’s classroom is “no hugging.” When I heard this, I was puzzled. I know we are called upon to be vigilant in our awareness of, and recognizing and preventing, physical abuse but I’m still wondering. I’m thinking back to the first few days […]
I don’t often wrestle with the unhealthy affliction of envy. Not being envious certainly has nothing to do with having an honourable disposition. The reasons are simple and straightforward: I didn’t grow up hungry, I was loved and safe at night, and I had clothes to wear and shoes that […]
“The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost penned those wise words but for some of us, “through” is not as easy as it sounds. I have a confession and I hope you won’t judge me too harshly, though I have judged myself with merciless vigour for many years. […]
A friend of mine from Dawson City recently sent me a joke with the headline, “You must be from Nova Scotia if you shovel snow in the rain.” That’s true, more often than not. But I’m not from Nova Scotia. I’m from Northwestern Ontario, where you have to be hardy […]
There are those who dedicate their lives to the study of one thing: stars, insects, migration paths of the Monarch butterfly, the fatality rate of those who insist on texting while driving, or whether the toilet paper be fed from the top or the bottom. I think you probably know […]
I’m not sure poetry can be taught. We can be taught to arrange words together that rhyme, just the same as we can be taught to play the notes we see on a sheet of music, but that is not the same as creating magic. I think writing poetry is […]
I regularly bemoan January’s negative qualities and whine about January to anyone who will listen. How January pulls my shoulders to my ears, my chin to my chest, and hunches my shoulders as I hurry in with wood and hurry “Gracie” as we walk–not to mention how difficult the struggle […]
I am willing to bet that self-doubt is a common human affliction–and is even more of a hidden struggle for those who display a quality I find most offensive: hubris. I was at an art gallery in Halifax last year to visit an exhibition of an artist friend of mine. […]
I am going to throw some facts at you. The United States is home to 4.4 percent of the world’s 7.53 billion population, whereas Canada represents only .5 percent of the world’s population. Some 22 percent of the world’s prisoners are behind bars in the U.S. In 2015, the Washington […]
The business of being alive takes a great deal of time and some days, not all day, but some days, the business of being alive makes me cranky and I want to head into the wilderness and live in a tent. Let me explain. My credit card was hacked last […]
I find myself thinking of those whose hearts are aching; who are pierced with a longing that raises its pain at every breath and who feel the only way to stop the agony is to stop breathing. It is a hushed conversation. We readily discuss the horrors of cancer and […]
