To celebrate my birthday, I’m asking for donations of ANY denomination ($1-$1000) to be made to one or more of these Black Community Support Organizations: Continue reading
Advocacy
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Two months into the new year and I’m still reflecting over 2018 in order to better inform a promising 2019. It was quite the end to an eventful, eye-opening year for me, which got me thinking about how to deal with the unexpected. Without fail, the beginning of the year is a season of resolutions, new beginnings and perceived blank slates. While many people roll their eyes at what can be (or at least appear to be) contrived and cliché self-promises, I believe in the spirit of this season. It provides an amazing opportunity for self-reflection, which I don’t think we engage in enough. We shouldn’t berate others or even ourselves for needing such a blatant reminder to check in. Just as we shouldn’t box it into a single day or month. It’s ongoing process, but some people need a clear starting point. Continue reading
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There’s an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that centres around an invisible girl. She went unnoticed for so long and was lonely for even longer that, in this supernatural series, she turned invisible. In the real world, that feeling of invisibility — of being persistently ignored — is called social isolation. Continue reading
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With it being World Kindness Day today and Giving Tuesday next week, I thought it was the perfect time of year to revisit my “holiday giving” mission. Over the last few years, a lot of my values have shifted. Not changed, just sidestepped to, for me, more meaningful experiences. One of the ways that’s manifested is the way I give. Last year I wrote a last minute guide to charitable gift giving. It focused on substituting material gifts for donations in the name of loved ones. Continue reading
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I’m currently reading Gabor Maté’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts in which he writes about “close encounters with addiction,” having witnessed firsthand these accounts while working as a medical doctor in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver — a neighbourhood notorious for its sanctioning of drug use. Although I’m only a few chapters in, I immediately drew connections with his eye-opening insights and the current cannabis climate in Canada. Maté touches on the “war on drugs,” writing how decriminalization can benefit not only the user, but the society he or she resides in. He writes, “Can we imagine the progress we could achieve if a great proportion of the resources now poured Ito the toxic sinkholes of enforcement and incarceration were dedicated to prevention, harm reduction and treatment? That is the possibility.” Continue reading
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Photos by Ruby Photo Studio
According to Statistics Canada, nearly 50% of people who don’t volunteer have never donated their time “because no one had asked them to, which suggests they might sign up to volunteer if they were approached the right way.” Time might be the biggest barrier to volunteering — read: not enough — but if people were more aware of aligned opportunities to help out, perhaps that wouldn’t be an issue to begin with. There are countless of organizations creating incredible philanthropic programs that appeal to different interests, Lane 6 being one of them. Continue reading
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It’s incredible what a person can see and do in three short days. Of course, all it takes is a moment to change a person’s life. That’s exactly how I would describe my recent trip to the Dominican Republic with Air Transat and SOS Children’s Villages Canada: life-changing. Moment after moment, I felt something shift inside me as I saw the good both of these organizations were doing. The three days touring Santo Domingo and the villages felt like so many more as we got a crash course in exactly what SOS was and how Air Transat was supporting its mission. Although there are so many facets to explore, here are the not-so-basic basics: Continue reading
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I have enough stuff. And I know for a fact that my friends and family have enough stuff too…based not only on the struggle to find the perfect gift, but also on how many times I wish I just got cold hard cash under the tree instead of the things that in the moment are thoughtful and in the next trashed. That sounds harsh — Nana, if you’re reading this, I promise I did wear that sweater once! — but it’s the truth. Granted, I’m also lucky enough to not need the cash either. Personally, all I want for Christmas is quality time with my loved ones. Continue reading
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Photo by Carolane Stratis
At the beginning of 2017, I had set a few big goals to get myself out of the depressing divorce hole I’d dug for myself in 2016. One of the biggest ones I’d set my heart on since my teens was to volunteer abroad. Before I knew it, I became a walking cliche as I started researching organizations in Africa — not to throw shade on anyone who has or is planning to help out any African country in need. Yet in my research I stumbled upon an article that urged potential volunteers to ask themselves four simple questions before making any moves: Continue reading
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The first (and only) time I went to the opera, it was a surprise gift and I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been a long-time fan of live performances, making it a point to see at least one theatrical show a year. I loved almost everything about my first experience — dressing up, walking into the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, sipping on champagne and finally sitting down in the stunning theatre itself. Continue reading
