I never thought I’d live to see the day, but finally a sitting US President — Barack Obama — has stated the obvious: Gays and lesbians should have the right to get married. While he is still a bit cautious about nationalizing the issue, saying it should also be an
Continue readingTag: Family
My journey with AIDS...and more!: Craig`s timing
When Craig died five years ago today he could not have ordained that his memory would loom large during this week each year as the award in his name is presented at today`s Convocation ceremonies of United Theological College. He would not have chosen, for Mom`s sake at least, to
Continue readingTrashy's World: Harper is a DeceptiCon!
Owen, after watching Rise of the Fallen. Daddy: Is Stephen Harper a Decepticon? Me: I think so. He likes to blow up things and doesn’t like people. Owen: Daddy, I want to be an Autobot. Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingpragmaticcanadian: Disabled Parents Fight for Rights
I recently read about new parents, Maricyl Palisoc and Charles Wilton, who suffer with Cerebral Palsy and are fighting with Children’s Aid to keep their child. This couple isn’t even being given the chance. Though I understand the need to ensure that the child is safe, the couple hasn’t done anything
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are Canadian Women Also Radical Enemies of the State?
In an orgy of axe swinging and program bludgeoning last week, the federal government set their sights on taking a clean shot at the health and well-being of Canadian women. With all of the vitriol and paternalistic reigning in recently, one can’t help but wonder if the government has lumped
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Cowards of Oxford County
There really is no other way to describe the killers of Tori Stafford. And I use the plural because it takes at least two to engage in a conspiracy that leads to the death of a minor. It’s hard to think of another word other than “coward” to describe an
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: To what possible end with …
… the “human life” thing? Yes, I’m pro-life. Yes, I have argued here in the past there is a need to open up a debate — not necessarily on banning the abortion procedure but how far along a pregnancy is before restrictions ought to begin, as well as to have
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A Handmaid’s Tale: Intended as Fiction, Not a Guidebook
I have become very weary of being perpetually assaulted, all day long, and being utterly helpless to defend myself from the onslaught. If it isn’t advertisers shoving things I don’t want down my throat, it’s the bank ramming their hands in my pockets. The media fills my eyes and ears
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Deconstructing the Wildrose Effect
So what happened in Alberta’s election yesterday, other than people telling pollsters that they want change, then chickening out when it came time to mark an X. The Politics, Re-spun crew deconstructs the Wildrose effect here: Are you surprised that the Wildrose Party did not win? No. Discontent polls well,
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: My camera survived!
This was the last photograph I took on Sunday before going ass-over-tea-kettle into the waters of the Tay River’s Grant’s Creek at Allan Mills. I then walked across the arched, stone bridge I’ve photographed on other occasions to get to the other side of the creek. In order to get
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Newspaper clipping from Mom: “A GAY JOCK TAKES OFF THE MASK”
It was on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen’s March 17 “Saturday Observer” section. The paper sat on a table beside Mom’s comfy chair, where she keeps anything she wants to pass along to me. She knows that, like Jamie Hubley, whose passing touched me so deeply, hockey stories wouldn’t
Continue readingcultural sn:afu: Pregnancy Update: What happens when her water breaks far too soon
Diane’s water broke, so she has been in the hospital since Tuesday, and won’t be released until the baby is born. The problem is she’s only 22-weeks into the pregnancy, which is far too early for a safe delivery. At … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Joe Fresh & Loblaws: Perpetuating the Early Marginalization of Women
Not so long ago, my friend Becca was shopping at her local Loblaws store (Real Canadian Superstore, for those of us who live in the West.) Like many people I know, Becca approves of their Joe Fresh clothing line, which offers Canadians the opportunity to buy stylish and seasonal clothing
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Honouring Dad for his birthday
This Sunday, yes April Fools Day, would have been my father’s eighty-fifth birthday. I last saw him when the whole family gathered in Perth to mark his seventy-fifth, within months of his first stroke. It was a very happy occasion, given the warning scare we had experienced when he was
Continue readingknitnut.net: Do you put your children or your marriage first?
I was scanning my google reader the other day and I saw Dumb Little Man had a blog post called Five Surefire Ways to Kill Your Marriage. It’s hard to live up to a killer title like that. The article itself was predictable: Date night, sex, mind-reading, negativity, blah blah
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Towards a "living wage" in Canada
A number of years ago, Canada’s statistics agency got rid of the concept of “the poverty line.” Instead they came up with what is called the “low income cut off” or LICO. For the most recent year for which there are full statistics, 2010, a single person living in a
Continue readingcultural sn:afu: Pregnancy Update | she’s a girl.
Thronged were the streets with people; and noisy groups at the house-doors Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped together, Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed and feasted; For with this simple people, who lived … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: My Underage Roommates
Sometimes, you just have to stop thinking of them as your own flesh and blood and start thinking of them as what they really are – your underage roommates. This is how you will begin to understand where we as … Continue reading →
Continue readingcmkl: Happy birthday to my sister, Sheila
So both Sheila and I are at the stage in our lives where we don’t get hugely thrilled about marking the passage of time. But nonetheless, I thought I would take this opportunity to say how fabulous she is. As a mom, as a businesswoman, as a creator, as a
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