Children bind, deepen a commitment and give purpose. Love is the point, the key ingredient
The title ‘philosopher,’ like ‘poet,’ carries prestige that’s usually unearned. I say unearned because many poets, who are supposed to understand beauty, write beauty-free verse, and plenty of philosophers, who are supposed to be wise, counsel unethical foolishness to the world. This sad fact – that so much contemporary philosophy is not merely unwise but…
In the retail food business, customers have plenty of questions about how their food is produced. The answers often surprise them
By Jackie Fraser Small business owner “Are there any BMOs in this?” my dear customer asks. It takes me a moment to realize she's not asking about the bank. Sigh. Where do I start with this one? My husband and I own a fresh food retail store and catering company in Fergus, Ont. He’s the chef…
A planned spaceport on the East Coast would launch eight satellite-carrying rockets annually by 2022
On some glittering summer’s day, this decade or maybe next, you might find me rusticating on the back deck of my ancestral home overlooking Nova Scotia’s great, grumbling Chedabucto Bay – as deep and dangerous as the firmament itself. There, I will hoist a late-afternoon drink, cast my eyes toward the town of Canso and…
Give yourself some time to evaluate options. Be honest with your ego and let your imagination troll through deep waters
A lot of my friends are retiring. And there are many retirement models being thought about, reviewed, argued and applied or avoided. But it doesn’t really appear to me that any of them were exhaustively analyzed before selection. In fact, many seem to be derived from previous family practice (i.e. what parents did), simply made…
No professional care provider can see what we see – what was, what is and what can be for our family members and friends
The term visionary is rarely used to describe natural caregivers. Yet vision is indispensable when we take care. No professional care provider, no matter how trained or prepared, can see what we see – what was, what is and what can be for our family members and friends. Visionaries make the truth visible. Caregiving requires…
Alec Bruce will offer insights on East Coast issues in a weekly column that will be distributed across Canada through Troy Media’s network
Alec Bruce is an award-winning East Coast journalist whose writing has appeared in major publications across the country and beyond. Today, he joins Troy Media’s stable of columnists. Bruce, who lives in Halifax, will offer insights into the business, politics and social issues of East Coasters in a weekly column that will be distributed across…
After years of being the best team in the world, they continue to fight for equal status and respect at home
Sexism sucks. And nobody knows that better than the U.S. women’s national soccer team. The current team members, and their predecessors, have been fighting gender discrimination on the part of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for decades. The U.S. national team has been the best women’s…
It’s no accident that Canadian schools are among the best in the world. But if we withdraw education funding, the damage will be deep
Canadian schools are among the best in the world, and B.C. schools are arguably the best in Canada. This is so much the case that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is studying our educational system to see how we’re achieving such exceptional results. It’s no surprise then that Canadian teachers are among…
The Raptors’ win was transformative for the league, the business of sport and for Canada in general
You don’t have to ask the impact of the Toronto Raptors winning the National Basketball Association title last week. Two million people on the streets of that city speak to the engagement created by the team’s dramatic process through the playoffs. Think of the public’s addiction to the games as Game Of Thrones – except…
Lesson learned: We need to apply child-friendly practices to adult care because when you are ill or injured, you feel like a child again
Paid or unpaid, caregivers are never supposed to get sick, right? But sometimes they do. Sue Robins owns a health-care communications company and is the mother of a young man with Down syndrome. Robins used to blog about caring for her son and his encounters with the health-care system. But that all changed the day she received…
Beware con artists, smoothies, carpetbaggers, excuse-makers and truth-stretchers
A few months ago, I got the chance to take my own advice and put my money where my mouth is. My daughter needed a cheap but decent used car – something sensible, with back door/seat access and a decent-sized trunk. Budget: $5,000 max. Here are some of the cars we checked out: 2003 BMW…
From bike lights to greater TV access to docking devices to smart security
Here are a few tech-inspired ideas for Father's Day. Bicycle light If Dad is a cycling enthusiast, you want him to be safe, especially at night. So light the way for him with a Beryl Laserlight. This LED technology combines white light with a mini laser diode. It beams a laser image in the shape…
The world of food marketing is full of deception. The truth is there is very little that’s 'natural' about our food, but that doesn't make it dangerous
“All natural” is a food marketer’s delight. Customers love it, the words generate positive thoughts, and there’s no official definition or standard at all. It means whatever you want it to. That’s why so many food products have the word “natural” somewhere prominent on their labels. The word sells product and represents a free-for-all for…
Many walls remain in the world, including physical ones and those of racism, sexism and economic injustice
The most significant global event of my lifetime has been the fall of the Berlin Wall. It not only changed the geopolitical climate we live in, it also demonstrated the power of the human spirit. As a teacher, I often bring up this event. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently spoke to the graduates of Harvard…
We walked back to our lodgings simply wondering if a better day could be had – anywhere. And already tomorrow was beckoning
We crossed over the stone causeway connecting the mainland to St. Michael’s Mount, just as the tide waters were beginning to lap at its seaward foot. We decided to walk along the beachfront to Penzance. It looked about five km on our map. All along the beach, as far as we could see, there were…
The title ‘philosopher,’ like ‘poet,’ carries prestige that’s usually unearned. I say unearned because many poets, who are supposed to understand beauty, write beauty-free verse, and plenty of philosophers, who are supposed to be wise, counsel unethical foolishness to the world. This sad fact – that so much contemporary philosophy is not merely unwise but…
