I’ve always loved words: learning them, reading them, writing them. I’m fascinated by how cultures are partially created by words, and by a realization that we can’t always understand each other because someone else may – literally – have no words to describe a particular feeling or experience. Part of the reason I started a …
I’m preparing to teach my last class of the semester tomorrow, and watching (for about the eighth time) Vanessa Reid’s talk on “conscious closure.” I find myself sitting with a familiar mix of emotions for this time of year. As recently as yesterday, I felt an urgency for the semester to be over, wondering why I …
When covid and I reached our first anniversary, I toasted the achievement – not covid’s achievement, but yours, mine, everyone’s. Prosecco in hand, I was prepared for covid and I to part ways in coming months. As usual, covid had other plans. Sigh. I’ve never been good at making a clean break. Some of my …
After my last blog post, I received feedback from a few people: my point wasn’t clear; the writing was rushed; my references were too vague; I was over-simplifying complex problems; I wasn’t being considerate enough of people born into different circumstances. I agreed. Even as I was writing, I had a gut feeling it wasn’t …
It’s been 10 days and I was hoping I could let this one go. Alas, here we are. I was getting ready for work (a much easier process since giving up on makeup and fancy clothes somewhere around March 16, 2020) and listening to the morning news. The radio broadcast and one of the pop-ups …
A few weeks ago, I was leaving an appointment and noticed it had started snowing. By the time I merged onto a busy road (“the Deerfoot” for those who know Calgary), the wind was blowing and it had become difficult to see the separation between lanes. Minutes later, a car beside me started to move …
I do not like donating blood. I would even go so far as to say I strongly dislike donating blood. And guess what? I do not have a good reason. As a kid, I didn’t know that a person’s body made blood regularly; I thought we just had the one supply our whole lives. I was amazed …
Yesterday, my family celebrated my Grandma's life, and below is a copy of the eulogy I shared. From a "maybe there's more" perspective, the excerpt I'm trying to hold onto is that perhaps we’d all be better people if we channeled the attitudes of grandparents who have managed past the harder parts of raising kids …
I mostly agree with the adage, “there are no stupid questions.” But as I wait for results from the ballots cast by Albertans during our recent elections, I feel there are manipulative questions. For those outside Alberta: you can either ignore this post or continue to be entertained by our situation. Here’s a quick recap …
When it comes to anger, our relationship status is “it’s complicated.” (To be fair, that’s been my relationship status for most of the last decade, but that’s a topic for another day and another blog. Probably an anonymous one.) I’m one of those kids who grew up around some other peoples’ anger and outbursts, and …
Maybe There's More 