My friend Astarte Sands has a really cool job. She coordinates a program for MOSAIC called Workplace Connections - matching local mentors with immigrant professionals moving their careers to Canada.

A night of ballet followed by an afternoon of power pop punk… Good cutural balance, don’t you think? Last night my son and I saw a beautiful ballet performance of “The Nutcracker” at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts. The sets were lavish and the tiny dancers were adorable. We sat in row...

Have you ever noticed how many people hate writing? They dread the task and try to avoid it at all costs – and recently I gained some new insight into why they may feel this way. Writer and teacher Susan Wise Bauer describes writing as a two-part process: 1) Putting the idea into words...

They said it was nearly painless and the needles were much smaller than they looked on the TV news. Today in Vancouver, B.C. my son Toby and his step dad Dave Dawson had the H1N1 vaccination at our family doctor’s office on Commercial Drive. Before we went to the scheduled appointment, nine-year-old Toby painted...

Today I did a story jam with 12 young people at the Purple Thistle Centre in Vancouver. It was a Sunday afternoon workshop at the YoungGunz program for 11 to 15-year-olds – and our “story jam” exercise got everyone focused on writing together. Each week a different mentor comes to lead workshops on photography,...