A Short Ode to Winnipeg Winter

 Musings, Odes to Winnipeg
Nov 142011
 

And just like that, the world dies. Ashes of a burned-out summer dance outside the window. A funeral shroud over foreign grasses that clung, ’til now, to green. And by February, we’ll say: “was it all a dream? So it was all just a dream.” We trade in Technicolour summers for rabbit-ear winters. White and black and grainy film, time elapsed in fits and jerks. Wake up, bundle up, hot shower, go to work. So goes the dirge of all northern cities. Press pause. Hit play. Stay inside. Shiver the day away. It’s hard to imagine living in a place [...click for more...]

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New Life, Old Friend

 Musings
Sep 152011
 

This is Kyro Martin. As you can see from his gentle yet slightly dazed expression, he was a very sweet dog, but somewhat lacking in the smarts department.   I have very few pictures of my beloved old friend in my condo; my dad found this gem and others today, and emailed them to me. Oh, I do miss him. Kyro left this world in November 2007, at the very ripe age of 18. A couple of days later, I went to Oregon for the second time in my life. It was the beginning of an adventure that took me [...click for more...]

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Together, All of Us, In The End

 Musings
Aug 232011
 

I finally got around to reading Christie Blatchford’s comment on Jack Layton’s passing. It seems an odd piece. At some points, I ken to what she’s getting at, and respect the gumption it took to put it out there for public consumption on this, the rawest of days. Some of her observations may sting in that context – but I’m glad they were said. I like the beginning; I love the end. But somewhere in the middle the tone — and the targets — suddenly shift. She takes a few wild swings that connect only with air; the cumulative effect feels disjointed. It’s like she couldn’t quite decide whether the piece was [...click for more...]

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Until The Job Is Done

 Musings
Aug 222011
 

I am nothing and I am nobody; I never met Jack Layton, and have little to offer by way of eulogy. But I am nonetheless moved to find some words to crystallize the day. For myself, maybe. For my children, someday. For the sake of adding to the voices of millions doing much the same. This is what it felt like, when… Readers of this blog know that I see tend to see world and its people in stories, or in scripts for living movies. Fairytales are only fiction until you scratch the surface: beneath the wayward princes and looming dragons of our storybooks, we transmit the deepest heart [...click for more...]

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Tangled Thoughts on Race, Crime and Reporting

 Here's Your Local News, Musings
Aug 152011
 

In the wake of a recent shooting, CBC TV reporter Wab Kinew mentioned that he is “always apprehensive about race based labels in crime reporting, because the leap to racial profiling is a short one.” Well said. This is a conundrum that countless reporters dread. The risks of screwing up are considerable, and the consequences of promoting this bias are readily apparent in a city where a photo of a missing young aboriginal man was received with website comments calling him a “gang member” with apparently no supporting information whatsoever. So when does race become a legitimate issue to report, [...click for more...]

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Giving Birth to a Better System

 Here's Your Local News, Musings
Jul 312011
 

After months of anticipation, Winnipeg’s new Birth Centre is hiring staff. This is an incredibly exciting thing, and a tribute to the many women in the community and at the Women’s Health Clinic who have long lobbied government to create such a space. Hats off to them — not just as a woman who believes strongly in diversifying birth options, but as a citizen who really likes finding new ideas to improve our public health system. Some months ago I wrote about one of my small fixations on the subject: seniors and weight-training.* But I have other favourite projects in [...click for more...]

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An Open Letter to Whoever Wins the October Election

 Musings
Jun 172011
 

To Whom It May Concern: As the newly elected, or re-elected, Premier of Manitoba, you sir have an opportunity. But to understand this opportunity, I must tell you about a process. It is one I have recently had the pleasure of going through, but chances are that you have not. It seems mundane at first. The process starts with a phone call: yes, hello, fine thanks, and you, well I’m calling because I want to file to find my birthmother. Yes and here’s my date of birth, and my parents’ names — the ones who adopted me, you mean? Or my birthparents? Adopted, right – and a minute of [...click for more...]

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What, Exactly, Am I Doing Here

 Musings
Jun 092011
 

I started this blog a long time ago. It was supposed to be a fashion and lifestyle blog, with a bit of that random Double Em Martin zing thrown in for good measure. Then I killed it off, because that wasn’t what I wanted to do with the space, not really. And so the blog sat vacant for a long time, while life reared up and slammed into me, left me breathless, left me swimming in the deep and watching the bubbles rise. When I finally did start it up again, in November 2010, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted it to be. [...click for more...]

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Liveblogging My Fear of Flying

 Musings
May 122011
 

The Boeing 737-600 is part of the manufacturer’s Next Generation series. While only launched in early 1997, the series boasted the second lowest fatal-event rate of commercial aircraft until 2010, when a crash in Ethiopia bumped it down to third. Most airplane fatal events occur due to inclement weather or navigational mistakes near challenging high-ground terrain. Flying is the safest form of transportation. You are more likely to die in your shower than an airplane, or something like that. Fear of flying is the fear of losing control. The Boeing 737-600 is part of… The Boeing 737-600 is the last place I [...click for more...]

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Why Stephen Harper Won’t Try To Ban Abortion

 Musings
May 042011
 

There are a few issues for which, when it comes to politics, I draw a hard line in the sand. One of the biggest is abortion. I will not wring out my pro-choice cred here. Just know that I have a lot of it, that I put my time and money where my mouth is, and that I will defend this fundamental right for the rest of my life. But I doubt I will need to in the next four years — no matter what some people think. In the two days (oh, the humanity) since the Conservative Party of Canada eked out a [...click for more...]

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