The kite lady
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The kite lady

I can say without reservation that flying our kite is Rachel’s favourite thing to do. Unleashed in the wind, the colourful fabric and long tail is eye-catching and mesmerizing. As often as possible, weather permitting, we drive Rachel and Janneke to The Spit. It’s a narrow tree-filled stretch of land alongside the Welland Canal that…

The disability camp that started a revolution
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The disability camp that started a revolution

“This camp changed the world, and nobody knows the story.”  So begins co-director and narrator Jim LeBrecht in the opening scenes of Crip Camp. A critically lauded award-winning documentary film directed by LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, Crip Camp tells the story of a summer camp and its impact on the disability revolution in the United…

Making Time
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Making Time

In September 2017, I wrote about the concept of time as it relates to disability and discipleship, seen through the lens of disability theologian John Swinton’s book Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness and Gentle Discipleship. It’s four years later, and I am still recommending that book (and that column).  Add to the book list…

Hoping for renewal
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Hoping for renewal

The idea of summer brings to mind popsicles, sprinklers, bare feet in the sand and camping in a tent. Yet those images belong to my own childhood. Summer holds a different flavour now as a mom. Specific to the needs of Rachel and Janneke, it means more time at home and less respite.  This summer…

Possibly…
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Possibly…

“Last night, while I lay thinking here,some Whatifs crawled inside my earand pranced and partied all night longand sang their same old Whatif song . . .” So begins a poem from Shel Silverstein, one that describes vividly for me how active my own imagination was (and still is). As a child, my imagination created…

February blessing
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February blessing

Now it’s February. We can’t forget it’s the month to celebrate Black History (I highly recommend I. Wilkeson’s book The Warmth of Other Suns), and there are some who like to acknowledge St. Valentine on February 14. Yet, I must admit, I’m finding it hard to write about non-COVID-19 things. After almost one year, this…

Happy New Year?
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Happy New Year?

In 1999, Ralph and I were living in Minneapolis, and there was hype over the impending switch from 1999 to 2000. Given that computers were programmed for just two digits (keeping 19 as the understood first two digits), experts feared the systems that ran everything, including banking, power plants and library fines, would not be…

WITH US
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WITH US

“So, when are we decorating for Christmas?” My oldest turned to me and asked, as she does every year when the calendar marks November. If you’ve read my column in the past, you’ll know she’s also the one who programs my kitchen radio to every station that only plays Christmas music. The kid has an…

Holding Our Own
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Holding Our Own

Thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, I associate this time of year with the gales of November. Forty-five years ago this month, one of the largest ships of the Great Lakes sailed and sank – the Edmund Fitzgerald. The last words from the captain over radio transmission were, “We are holding our own, going along like an…