When a child dies, we all grieve. It’s not just their parents, teachers, friends, and family that have been trespassed upon emotionally; we all hurt. As a society, we sigh deeply, and ache somewhere deep inside because we know that the natural order has been broken. Parents aren’t supposed to outlive their children. Children aren’t supposed to be slaughtered. Innocence …
Mantracking book launch goes well thanks to many local friends
If you’ve planned an event before, you know that it can be quite stressful. You wonder: will the word get out fast enough? Will people come? Will it run smoothly? Will the result be what you’d anticipated? One event takes a lot of time and energy, so hosting four events in 30 hours is foolhardy, unless you’re in the Sault …
Someone asked me recently what advice I’d have for them towards becoming a writer. I really didn’t know what to offer. After all, I’d only just figured out that I was a writer in the last four years. Now that we’ve launched a book at www.mantracking.ca , I’ve been reflecting on my career path, and laughing at how I ignored …
Lots of environmental concerns for former St. Marys Paper site
Last Friday I attended a wine tasting at the former St. Marys Paper site. It was quite the affair and I left with mixed emotions. It was clear that there is a ton of potential for the site, but I felt as if there was an elephant in the room, which was never addressed. Riversedge Developments Inc. had a lovely …
Those recognized by the community are excellent role models
I attended the Community Recognition Awards at City Hall on Monday. Joan M. Foster and the Honourable Ray Stortini were the 2012 recipients of the annual award. You may have seen it if you watched the city council meeting on television. The City of Sault Ste. Marie gives the awards to recognize “cultural contributions for activities considered to be particularly …
It’s easy to believe the millions of small ‘lies’ on the Internet
I have two recent examples for you relating to famous quotes. Granted, misattribution has gone on for years, but there seems to be an exponential increase now with the Internet. My favourite Marianne Williamson quote is from her work Return to Love. For years I have been saying that although it was indeed her quote, it was made notable by …
What’s your word worth?
What’s your word worth – a presentation on the power and magic of language.
Favourite things in Portugal – brought to you by the letter C
On a recent trip to Lisbon, Portugal, I was struck by the fact that so many of the things that defined my visit started with the letter C. Fittingly, since Christopher Columbus spent so much time in Portugal, and some debate that he was Portuguese, I decided to provide you a list of my seven Cs of Portugal: after all, …
Lake Superior Circle Tour — all around a great trip
In my last column, I’d started the circle trip around Lake Superior and left off at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. While I’d been as far North as Ouimet Canyon once before, I was now in unfamiliar territory. I had a few advantages on my side in terms of trying to plan this trip on the fly. First, I had my …
Parks, scenery, adventures abound in trip around Lake Superior
This morning, from Sleeping Giant Provincial Park near Thunder Bay, as the loon beckoned to us from somewhere across the lake, I couldn’t help but think that there is a real upside to the lower population density in the North and the character attribute of Canadians not being boastful. We set off on our trip around Lake Superior, without having …