I spent the first few months of 2013 in Tanzania. For months beforehand, I’d been on a search for overseas volunteer opportunities that felt ethical. It was harder than I thought to do good things! I was mostly against being a teacher, since I had no teacher training or qualifications of any kind. I didn’t …
It’s all well and good to have the theoretical understanding that systemic racism exists, and to be enthusiastic about reading How to Be an Antiracist with your office book club. But actually dealing with race-related feedback might be a whole other thing. As a part-time university instructor, I recently received feedback from the winter semester (don’t get …
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 …
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 …
First of all, I hope anyone in my age bracket reads today’s title and thinks of this song. More to the point, whatever “this” is, I’m probably not ready. In rare cases, I’m known for diving into change. Quite literally, I prefer to dive into a lake and be hit all at once with the temperature …
Six years ago, I almost lost my brother. I had just arrived in Barbados for a vacation and my mom phoned. If you’ve ever received a call where you know something is wrong before a word is spoken, you know the feeling I had when answering the phone. Kyle had been ambulanced from the side …
As I’ve said before, one benefit of my job is meeting new people and encountering new perspectives. In early 2020, I was in another city for meetings (strange to think that was the last time I was on a plane!), which started with several of the attendees gathering at a pub for supper. (As all …
I’m unsure about ghosts. Do they exist? Maybe. Do they not exist? Maybe. But I do romanticize connections — or what some people might call coincidences. A couple of years ago, for example, I was meant to be on vacation but was instead overthinking and over-worrying a work problem. While I was fussing, I set …
Throughout elementary school in the small town where I grew up, I was in Brownies and Girl Guides. Every November, we sold poppies to support the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. Selling poppies meant going door to door in northern Alberta, freezing our butts off. This was still when dresses were a mandatory …
I’ve lately had flashes of thinking, “I could write about that.” I take that as a good sign, because since my last, half-joking post about how to do a pandemic I’ve mostly found myself with no desire to write at all. No desire to do much of anything, actually. There are several reasons for that, …
Maybe There's More 