So Many (Rhetorical) Questions
For flat-earth believers. If the earth is flat, why are all of the other planets round? And why doesn’t earth ever flip over like a coin? And if it did, what would be on the other side?
…Politics
Billionaires Owe the World That Made Them
We like to watch old reruns of Shark Tank. For me, it’s not about seeing people become rich. It’s about people who need it getting a hand up from someone who has already been there, trying to make a dream come true. As we watch, I Google the company name and find out whether they are still in business, or what happened to them. But there’s an aspect of the show that I despise.
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News Trauma and Its Antidote
Years ago, in a private Facebook messenger conversation, my pal Stacey told me that she used to combat the stress of college by watching videos of puppies on YouTube.
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Random Thoughts
Clothing manufacturers should have to agree on standard sizes. A person shouldn’t swim in a size 10 from one brand and not be able to pull a 10 from another brand over their body.
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The Link Between Success and Intelligence
It might not be wise to greet your boss by saying, “Hey, dummy!” But it might be accurate.
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The Red Meat Issue of Reconciliation
I recently finished reading Jody Wilson-Raybould’s 2021 book, Indian in the Cabinet. I heard her speak eloquently and candidly on the podcast Women of Ill Repute. Wilson-Raybould is an Indigenous lawyer and leader who served as a Liberal Cabinet Minister in Trudeau’s first term as PM. She left the Liberals after a scandal known as the SNC Lavalin affair.
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Closing the Great Divide
Everyone talks about the many ways we are different. In a deliberately sweeping generalization, Liberals want everything to change and Conservatives want life to go back to the way it was. In this country, we don’t even know why someone’s flying our nation’s flag anymore. Are they showing pride in Canada, or making a political statement?
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Poking the Emotional Bears in All of Us
Recently, I tried out a headline analyzer. You plunk in a headline for a blog post and the analyzer tells you whether it’s going to attract clicks. For example, the analysis says the headline needs, “more emotional words”. So, you write it again to improve the headline’s percentage score.
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Election Talk – Import Stanley
We’re about a month away from Ontario’s municipal election. The most important issues for Port Stanley as a whole seem to be:
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The Recycling Dilemma
I’ll admit it. I’m one of those people who judges a blue box if I walk past and notice non-recyclables in it. I study recycling rules like I’m cramming for the finals. And it looks like some of my neighbours are just winging it and hoping to pass. But it’s really not all their fault.
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The Parking Problem – ImPort Stanley
ImPort Stanley is weekly series about life and discoveries by a recent “import” to Port Stanley, ON. Access previous posts on everything from shopping to hotels and our beaches by clicking the tag ImPort Stanley.
Can anyone explain Port Stanley’s new parking rules to me, in three sentences or less? It’s a pebble in our sandal, for sure.
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Comedy Always Wins
…Comedy is much more difficult than tragedy. It’s much easier to make people cry than to make them laugh.
Vivien Leigh
You’ve Got to Change Your Mind
A young friend, a former colleague actually, told me this phrase as part of a teenage-hood anecdote. When she got upset about something she couldn’t do anything about, her Mother would say, “You’ve got to change your mind”. As someone who didn’t grow up with that kind of advice, I see its immense power and wisdom.
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Brushes Before Fame
Someone on Twitter recently asked whether anyone had seen a band or knew an actor before they became famous. Most of us radio types have had the good fortune to experience loads of those moments. But the questions took me further back, to my days of beer and bars. There were several times when I saw bands before they hit it big.
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A Lifetime of Learning
The beginning of a new school year always makes me think of warm clothes like long sweaters and stiff cords. I remember an ugly belted sweater I wore until it practically disintegrated. And the sound of corduroys brushing against themselves as I walked quickly down the hallway at South Lincoln High School. You wanted to move fast because the Hare brothers, Craig Nelson and Jerald Collens were standing at the end of the hall. With folded arms they silently judged the girls rounding the corner to history class or the gym. You had to pass by, there was no way around it.
…Such a Waste
London is the largest city in Ontario without a green bin program. “It’s coming later this year”, they say. Forgive my uncharacteristic cynicism but I’ll believe it when I see it!
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This Could Change Everything
When a journalist discovered that the FX network had the worst record for hiring women directors, the network’s President was horrified. Within a year, instead of being 89% male and 11% female, it was 50/50.
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