I wonder how different things could have been if I hadn’t waded into everything so unequipped — so completely naive.

I have learned this family is like most which has, over the generations, experienced many dysfunctions, heartbreaks, and tragic losses of family members. There is also the loss, so to speak, of myself not getting to know extended family who have been there all along.

Regardless, judging from the many apologetic calls and texts I later received from both this dude’s trucking boss and the gravel supplier, the Bad Day had quickly become a Worse Day.

Happy Birthday Lisa! Such a fantastic girl!

Although we encourage creativity and imagination in our Learning-Thru-Music Kindergarten for Gifted Children, we have concerns about Timmy’s new gangsta rapper persona and his freestyle raps. Our goal is to instill a love of learning through age-appropriate music and, although I know little about rap, Timmy’s experimentation with this genre doesn’t fit with our objectives.

Judging by the number of times Dad brought up his fieldwork, it was clearly a special time for him. He would have loved living in the outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of the foothills, practicing his geological profession, travelling by horseback and being close to nature for extended periods.

It is interesting to look at how others might use Rap to voice how they really feel, not some polite and well-considered words. What might have been in Queen Elizabeth’s mind as she prepared for her 2022 Easter address? There are some things that she might think but never say out loud.

Lady Gaga released her chart-topping hit “Poker Face” in 2008. Listening to this early in the Omicron wave, I realized this was a perfect base for satirical lyrics about anti-vaxxers protesting outside hospitals while their unvaccinated peers filled ICUs inside. The stage name Lil’ Auntie Facts is appropriate on multiple levels.

Chad, one of the leaders of the “Freedom Convoy” time-travels in his semi-truck to 1864 in an attempt to convince Canada’s founding fathers that the British North America Act (BNA Act) needs to be modified to suit his purposes. This is best viewed on the YouTube video link above (the founding father has a bang-on Scottish accent), but the script follows below.

This is an essay I wrote in memory of Endla, which was published in the The Globe and Mail’s “Lives Lived” column in July, 2002.

I am taking creative writing classes and this is the first in a series of pieces to document my creative writing efforts. Hopefully, an improvement can be observed over time. Although I like to think big, it is unlikely that the word ‘Mawdsley’ will ever occur in the same sentence as these words: Atwood, Grisham, Ondaatje, or Rushdie. Except for that previous sentence.

Benjamin usually didn’t sleep well but, on this night, in a deep slumber, he dreamed of his late wife, Margaret, and saw her soft brown eyes smiling from her gentle face. He heard her calming low voice, knew every crease on her rose-petal shaped lips and was soothed by the warm scent on her freckled skin; the intimate notes of La Petite Robe Noire, a perfume he had bought Margaret in Paris when celebrating their fortieth anniversary.