Since mass vaccinations against Covid-19 began this past spring, I’ve become aware of a small number of friends and family who remain unvaccinated by choice. Some I suspected would be, and some I was surprised about. At this point, I’m aware that the number of such folks might be considerably higher than I’d realized. Covid Read More
Tag: identity
“Cancel Canada Day”: reflections on why we need this
It’s July 1st, otherwise known as Canada Day. This year, for the first time, Canadians are being asked not to celebrate it. Given the past few weeks, in which we’ve seen confirmation of hundreds and hundreds of dead Indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at residential school sites, the request not to celebrate is absolutely appropriate. As Read More
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Pearls of Grade 3 Wisdom
I teach a group of Grade 3 French Immersion students English for 40 minutes a week. They are mostly a very sweet and funny group. We’ve been working on poetry, including a poem with a template called “I Am.” The first two words of each line are given, and then they fill in the rest. Read More
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Trans Day of Remembrance – November 20th
Today is November 20th. It is International Children’s Day, which is well-known. Less well known is the fact that it is also Trans Day of Remembrance. Last Thursday, I went to a Professional Development workshop on Safer and Inclusive Schools, regarding the LGBTQ community in our education system. It was a fascinating day, led by an Read More
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Dear Ontario Teachers
Dear colleagues, I know I haven’t written about what you’re going through in a long time, not since the post that unexpectedly deflowered my blog three months ago. I want you to know that it’s not because I’m ignoring what’s going on; I think about it every day. (Well – and I did have that Read More
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How Far to Bend the Gender
As a girl born between two sisters, I was, in childhood, emphatically girly. I loved unicorns, ballet, pink things, dolls, My Little Ponies. The tendencies of our elder brother didn’t hold much sway with us back then – he was outnumbered – and he seemed happy enough to make his Lego projects and wooden models Read More
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BANG Book Review: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
I admit, I’ve been remiss. I haven’t been keeping you all up-to-date with the GGG book club’s choices for… um… approximately a year. Whoops. I know you have all been tearing out your hair and wailing (internally): But Dilovely, the books! Forget the rest of this drivel… the BOOKS! I promise I will rectify the Read More
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National Holidays and Life’s Trajectory
Happy Canada Day, Canadians! And happy strawberry season, to everyone who can get ’em locally. (The smell of the warm strawberry field yesterday evening, when we went picking, was delectable. You can’t beat strawberries that were picked minutes ago, just a few blocks away.) While I’m at it, happy early Independence Day, Americans! I don’t Read More
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Snapshots from Homecoming Weekend, a.k.a. “Glad to be Old”
It’s Homecoming weekend. No wonder there were so many students all garbed-out at the same time: boys with warpaint on their faces, girls with gaudy t-shirts offsetting their way-too-short shorts. There’s a big house party on a busy street. The music can be heard blocks away. A gaggle of students crowds the front porch, surrounded Read More
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BANG Book Review: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Here’s a book that makes me feel lucky. It puts into perspective the easiness of my life. I live in Canada, in a time when cultural diversity is considered a virtue. I’m white and middle-class and educated. I’m female, but I have a union-protected job in a female-dominated field… and now that I think about Read More
