I am a woman. This probably won’t shock you. I am a woman, I am a feminist, I am a mother, I am a lover…I am many things. But I want to tell you about something I am not. I am not afraid. Oh sure, I have fear. I worry
Continue readingTag: True Stories
centre of the universe: It ain’t easy
This is a difficult post for me to write. To be honest, I don’t even know if it’ll ever get posted publicly. I’m not particularly good at this sort of thing, and the idea that people use their blogs to kind of…I dunno…bleed out all over the place gives me
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Flying along on a wing and a prayer
Let me tell you why this bleeding heart plant is my hero. Five or six years ago, I planted this little beggar as a seedling. I watered him and fertilized him and he grew! He was GAAAHHHHJUSSS, as my friend’s daughter would say. Not quite big enough for blooms, but
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Sacrifice?
See, the thing is, when I chose to become a parent, I did not think in terms of “sacrifice”. I did not think in terms of “giving things up”. It wasn’t about not being able to go out partying with my bee eff effs. It wasn’t about not eating hot
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Cherie from the vanity press called today
I received correspondence today from the vanity press that keeps contacting me. You remember this from such escapades as Nathan’s going to publish my manifesto and Suggestions for Nathan regarding my manifesto and A Mouthful of Marbles and Nathan’s gone missing. A woman called “Cherie [REDACTED] a Publishing Consultant from [REDACTED]” contacted
Continue readingcentre of the universe: When I say that something
The club was hot, smoky. Bass reverberated off of everyone’s sternum. The lineup for the ladies’ was around the corner and the gents just sprinted upstairs to piss in the alley. She sat at a sticky table. She wore a red satin dress. She wanted to leave. Then you sat
Continue readingcentre of the universe: When a Body
My granddad is in this photo. He’s the kid perched on the plough. It’s his father driving the car. David Henry. My granddad ended up looking just like him. Uncle Reg is beside David Henry, and their neighbours are standing … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
We have come to my childhood home for ExMass. I haven’t been “home” for Christmas since the year before Mum died. Ive been back to the house many times with the boys, but not in winter. not at Christmas. This was always her holiday. We arrived after supper and decorated
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I am never forget the time…
The Long-Suffering Sarah and I decided to make the best of a class in high school with which neither of us was particularly enamoured. It wasn’t even so much that we didn’t like French class. It was that we didn’t really appreciate the exercises we had to do. Our teacher
Continue readingcentre of the universe: [My Favourite L7 Song Here]
There is a photograph making the rounds on social media. I’m not going to post it because a) it’s an artist’s property, and reproducing it without permission is copyright violation; b) I don’t want to; c) I don’t want to name the artist because I think the artist’s work is
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Late last night or the night before…
Last night I was fortunate enough to be able to play in my first ever tabletop Werewolf game, hosted by AJ. It’s all done by magic now, you see, with (so far) four players in three different cities playing via videoconferencing. Let me tell you, I’m liking this. So after
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Hairy Flowers
Continuing on from yesterday’s post, in which you are dying to know what I’ve been up to and what crap I have growing in my yard, I present 2) Renos: Round 2 – Whew. So it makes sense that the last post was ENORMOUS. A lot of work went in
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Remember to put flowers in your hair
Because the last few posts have been somewhat whiny and complainey, I thought you probably wanted nothing more than to see what I’ve been up to this summer, and possibly that you were jonesing for photos of some of the crap I have growing in my yard. I know you
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Shaking my confidence daily
I was just thinking…wondering, actually, how many blog posts I’ve begun with the word “Sometimes”. Because I was just about to begin this one with that particular adjective. Not that that matters; I was just wondering. This is tough to explain, but I’m going to try to do it anyway.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Lord Love a Duck
Did I ever tell you about the time my Gram and her neighbour took me for a drive in their small town in the 80s, and we saw a Young Man wearing Very Tight Trousers, and my Gram, who was usually so proper and reserved, said “Gol, if he passed
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I’d go out on the ocean
The manager of our restaurant is close personal friends with Joe Paopao, the Throwin’ Samoan. He used to come home at lunch bruised and battered from running patterns for him in the street. Our manager drawls his vowels, and flattens them, like the peaks of things threaten him. He lives
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Creative Industry versus Arts
Recently, the Saskatchewan government released information surrounding the creation of a new agency to support the third and final leg of the arts continuum. “What the hell are you talking about?” You may be asking. “What in the blue hell is an arts continuum?” I know you’re asking this, because
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Eighty Men Died Trying to End That Spree
It seems like the only time we really have is time that’s under pressure from five different directions. We were at the rink Thursday, Friday, twice on Saturday, and yesterday. We’ll be at the rink again tonight, tomorrow night, Friday, and Sunday nights. It’s the nearing-the-end-of-the-regular-season crunch to get all
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Taking an Aeroplane Across the World
I have been peeling glue from my fingers for a week. This, too, is strangely cathartic. Insert long-winded, slightly purple prose about shedding the old skin and leaving troubles behind, blah-blah-blah. In reality, there are little fingerprint flakes all over my favourite spot on the chesterfield. Don’t tell His Nibs.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I don’t need no arms around me
It occurred to me that in putting together this aeroplane methodically, piece by piece, painstakingly gluing one tiny piece of balsa wood to the next, that this has become my therapy. It wasn’t a huge revelation. I didn’t fly through the streets of the greater metropolitan valley centre area shouting
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