This past week, the matriarch of our family turned 90. My grandmother shares some of the stereotypes of that generation – hard-working, resilient, cautious with money and values stability. Also, she’s stubborn. So, so stubborn. Some of these values she

I struggle with the fact that society expects two things from me, professionally. First, to give away for free the fruits of my labour, like news stories, music performances and event hosting, while, second, paying out-of-pocket for the fruits of

I spent the weekend doing all sorts of sports-watching. My mother flew in from B.C. like she does every fall, ostensibly to do her holiday shopping for Manitoba relatives. However, it always seems to coincide with as many Winnipeg Jets

  I try to be a good example to people in my life. I often fail miserably, but I do try. Last week, I returned to work after major surgery. (I was blown away by the well-wishes; thank you!) You’d

Two days away from a major surgery, I’ve been thinking a lot about advocacy. It’s common advice to those who are dealing with our wonderful yet flawed healthcare system to be their own advocates or to bring someone who can

Good morning and happy Monday. I hope you were able to relish your weekend, unlike this slippery nightmare for some folks in Pennsylvania. As someone who once ran a hot-dog-related story on the front page of her major daily newspaper, I fully endorse this

  Good morning, and happy Monday. I hope your weekend was both embarrassment and crime-free, unlike the folks in this New Zealand town, whose underwear (and other clothing items) are systemically being pilfered by a crime-loving feline named Leonardo da Pinchy.

I was reading a story on the MotherCorp about a facial expression called The Gen-Z Stare. To be fair, it’s more of a lack of facial expression, and it’s one I’ve seen on my Gen-Z kid’s face at least 100,000

Good morning, and happy Monday! We hope your weekend was lucky, except not in the way this kid said he was lucky after being hit by lightning in New York. (Pro tip: Don’t shelter under trees in a storm.) Some

Good morning, and happy Wednesday, the middle child of the week. Here’s a cool round-up of all things happening: There won’t be an Impact Insider newsletter on Monday, as the Future of Good team is taking Monday off, leading into

  (Before I begin – did you notice there was no newsletter on Monday? That’s because we were all-hands-on-deck at the Social Finance Forum. I met many of you at the registration table where I signed you in. Thank you to

As the spouse of an early childhood educator, I’ve ranted (including in this space) about the lack of living wages for those who work with our youngest and most vulnerable. Across Canada, with the exception of NWT and Yukon, most

Hi everyone, hope y’all had a nice long weekend. A couple of people asked for photos of my trip to Iceland. While I thought about sharing all 350+ that I whittled down from the thousands I took, you can see

Last week was the start of a journey nearly 25 years in the making. In 2001, I met my eventually-would-be husband. I was a poor journalist, and he was a poor retail worker, and we decided to be poor together.

You’d think, after nearly 25 years together, there was nothing my partner could say to surprise me. But this hypothesis was put to the test last night when my husband revealed his favourite movie of all time is Conan the

We’re only into the second week of the federal election campaign, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of platforms from the three major federal parties, never mind any commitments around health, wellness, or the social good sector.

I’m sitting in the middle of the prairies, watching the Environment Canada weather radar creep across the screen as Mother Nature has one last winter laugh. I’m not the only Canadian who will be subject to 25 cm of snow

I finally realized what has been odd about my higher state of anxiety for the past few months. Yesterday, the newsroom and I had our regular weekly meeting and discussed the upcoming federal election. Executive Director Anouk Bertner attends the

I share a 720 sq. ft. house with three cats, two people, one dog and one robot vacuum, lovingly named Alfred (yes, after Batman’s butler.) As you can imagine, it’s a squishy space sometimes, replete with dust and cat hair

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope your weekend was chill, like these dolphins, who apparently chew on puffer fish to zone out. Yeah, dolphin friends, with the current state of the world, I don’t blame you. But, if you’re

My brother and I have a… game? competition? whatever…. every year to see who will be the first person to fall flat on their behind in winter. I usually lose. Living in Winnipeg means the possibility of slipping and falling

The most common question I get as a journalist is overwhelmingly, “How do I get the media to do a story on (insert event, noun, issue here)?” That’s a simple question with a very long answer. A few weeks ago,

I’ve been pondering an eloquent way to articulate how many of us feel this morning. Then I realized there is no nice way to describe fear. As Canada faces social and economic threats from an unpredictable man, I’ve been thinking

Well, this was not on my fall economic statement bingo card. Just before I sent out this newsletter, we once again got breaking news. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, just hours before she was to

Happy Friday, FOGians! (I’ve decided that’s what our readers are now called. It probably won’t stick like my Snimbit joke from last week.) I’m actually away today. I decided to take yesterday and today off to celebrate my birthday (solidarity to all

My favourite aunt is disabled. Now, of course, I love all my aunties, but I have a special bond with my Mother’s sister, to the point where I call her my second Mom. She has this gnarly genetic disease called Osteogenesis

My microblogging heart is full again. Over the past few weeks, users have abandoned Twitter—er, X, whatever—in droves for the “new” microblogging social media site Bluesky. By the millions. It’s been dubbed the Great X-odous and I’ll admit, it makes

I’m sorry, Winnipeg; I know this column will jinx us. But as I write this, it’s drizzling outside while a few clicks away in any given direction, there’s snow on the ground. We are a prairie snow donut. A snownut!

There are two reports that have been released in the past two days about the mental health of Canadians, and I can personally confirm most of it. The Canadian Mental Health Association’s report called The State of Mental Health in Canada

The past few weeks have been particularly grey for me. It started in September when my uncle suddenly lost his wife, a lovely woman who, unfortunately, I didn’t know all that well. But in the interactions I did have with