This land
The late, great Woody Guthrie wrote his most famous song 85 years ago today: This Land Was Made For You and Me. At the bottom of…
A world without grandmothers
Grandmothers, according to anthropologist Kristen Hawkes, are what make us human. This 2012 article in The Atlantic outlines her hypothesis: “Grandmothers came about in order to…
Words burned into my mind
Sometimes words burn into my mind and I can’t stop hearing them. Imam Hassan Guillet spoke powerful words at the funeral of three of the men…
We were made for these times
When I picked up Active Hope from the new arrivals shelf at Terrace library a few days before the unthinkable happened and a racist, misogynist demagogue…
What sound does a longing heart make?
Like millions of others, I’m stunned this morning. My heart aches for my American friends who worked so hard to keep today’s reality from happening. I…
Disappointment, power, and (r)evolution
Our neighbours mentioned Miss Representation, so we watched it the other night. Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s 2011 documentary thoroughly depressed me. It wasn’t just the sinking, sick…
Remember the names that matter
I’ve heard a lot of bullshit in my life, but nothing quite tops the statement by the late Pierre Bourgault that the Montreal Massacre was…
Follow me, I’m the pied piper
Paula Simons wrote so eloquently in the Edmonton Journal on Tuesday about the intimate magic of radio: “We turn on the radio in our kitchen, in our bedroom,…
Why I’m not in favour of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
The Liberal Party of Canada is circulating a petition: Stand with Justin: Call for an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. I haven’t signed…
I say the name K’san
Smithers poet Sheila Peters posted Jan Zwicky’s poem “Near” on her Say the Names blog this week. It resonates so strongly with what I was talking about…