Every time I hear a school bell, it grounds me to who I once was, who I became, and therefore, who I now am. Like a mother’s heartbeat, it fills me with a sense of security. It once gave me the boundaries of my school day: asserting itself vigorously when we began at 8.45am, lowering […]
The Old School Bell: a formative symbol Read More »
I was reading about the rapid disappearance of journalism jobs across the land (“another community newspaper closes” etc.) and began wondering whether it was us armchair philosophers, DIY writers, and opinionated bloggers who were driving journeymen journalists out of their jobs. Then I read about computer programmes that write political speeches, and others that write
Replaced by the Robot Read More »
I recently travelled to South Africa to research a novel. This was a journey taken 225 years earlier by a European ancestor of mine who sailed via the Cape of Good Hope for the East Indies. This ancestor never returned from the East—in those days journeys of that nature, lasting several months, were undertaken once
A South African Journey Read More »
Dear Syrian New Canadian, Welcome to Canada! I’m sorry I was not at the airport, along with our photogenic Prime Minister, to welcome you to our cold country where the hearts are warm and the feelings are mushy. Actually I was feeling a bit jealous, for when I came to this country nearly 30 years
A letter to a Syrian Refugee Read More »
I once met a writer of some eminence who proclaimed quite openly that he didn’t have an ego. In a fit of shock I challenged him and almost laughed in his face. On reflection, perhaps my ego had gotten the better of me. But, a writer without an ego? Why, it sounded like a car
Books are being written on this subject these days. It’s big news – Boomers! And why 60? Because it’s smack in the middle of the baby boom that began in 1946 and ran out of steam in 1965. Well, I hit the big Six Oh this year and began to wonder what the fuss was
My work is syndicated on a few blog sites;, and on those that provide statistics of readership, it’s great to see the number of “reads” soar from time to time when an article catches the zeitgeist. I tried to analyze these numbers and soon discovered that except in a few cases, where a geographic breakdown
Who is reading our blog posts? Read More »
With Europe being flooded by refugees, and other wealthy countries like the US and Canada hemming and hawing about whether they should take in the displaced ones, and if so, in what numbers, one wonders how this all came to pass. I have some theories and recommendations, but these are mine alone. Once upon a
I guess we need to talk about the refugees at some point Read More »
What an odd combination: a lame-duck president in his last year and a soon-to-be-octogenarian with a weak lung taking on Big Business capitalists at home and abroad. There are many scorecards out there that measure these two leaders’ progress over their terms in office, but let’s distill them down to a Top Five Accomplishments list
Obama and the Pope are leading the way to a new epoch Read More »
Much has been touted about the runaway compensation of the Chief Executive Officer. But haven’t we created this monster ourselves, by placing more power in the head—or the figurehead—than what is required? The Corporation, and by extension the CEO, is governed by a board of directors, but in recent years this august body has tended
CEO Pay – a board-made monster Read More »