Blog or white ... because it never is.

I napped through the Presidential Address, but, that is ok, I watched the preview of it this morning on Fox News.   Donald Trump gave himself an A on his Presidency thus far.   I never knew that was grading one's own work was an actual option. Regardless, I know how the First Lady is going to influence the conversation of America during her term.  The First Lady has traditionally had an important role in America and has caused Americans to advance causes of social justice issues. It is clear to me now what Melania is going to contribute.   She is going to advance the conversation about common sense decorum.   I see that she is going to lead the way on this issue but actively showing us what is not appropriate. First of all, black sequins are appropriate for nights out clubbing.   It is not appropriate attire for a speach to the Joint Houses of Congress. Also, if you are showing the equal amount of cleavage that the models are in the Sports Illustrat...

Poor Kellyanne Conway.   The media is having a frenzy about her kneeling on the couch in the Oval Office while black College Presidents were meeting with POTUS in celebration of Black History Month. I think she is a brilliant political strategist.   She manages to create distractions for the media to cover rather than focusing on anything that Trump says.   I don't think she is given enough credit.   After all, she was the mastermind behind alternative facts.    People are calling this a huge breech of decorum in the White House.   American, I have news for you.   You are way past this.  Decorum or anything resembling same hasn't existed for the last 40 days.   You have bigger problems that what poor Kellyanne does.    She will continue to try and get the media to focus on her guffaws to distract any attention away from her boss.  That likely will work for a little while.   However, America, you still ...

When I was in Grade 5, I was a lot like I am now, sort of a keener and a little bit intelligent. One day I was at my dad's office waiting for him, so I went through his drawers. He had a really cool ruler that he had written his name in wood. I knew he would give it to me if I asked so I just took it. I took the ruler to school and put it in my very messy desk and sort of forgot about it. One day, when we were doing some independent work, I looked over a couple of rows and there was Bernard Smith using my ruler. I went right up to the teacher and said, "Bernard Smith stole my ruler." The teacher called Bernard up to the front with the ruler and basically took it from him and gave it to me. Bernard had a defense, but he wasn't even given the opportunity to share it. What happened next still makes me physically ill. The teacher started yelling at Bernard in front of the whole class. He was calling him horrible things and shaming him. Oddly enough, the ruler never c...

I just watched a talk show in which a travel "expert" gave exclusive insider tips on how to travel successfully. Who wouldn't be interested in that?  Inside scoops are the best ! Tip #1.  Something to do with packing.  I think it was something to the effect of pack less than you are planning. Tip #2.  Brush your teeth after a flight in the airport washroom.   You will feel instantly refreshed. Tip #3.  Be kind to people providing you service such as flight personnel, etc. The travel expert went on to explain tip 3 by indicating that you never know when you might want something such as a blanket or a pillow and staff will be more likely to accommodate your requests if you have been nice to them. I don't know if this was so much as an "insider tip" as it was something my mother told me every day of my life.  Say please and thank you.   Use your manners.   Treat everyone like you would want to be treated. Now, it is an "insider ti...

South of my border, the US President is not able to fulfill his campaign rhetoric of scrapping the Affordable Care Act.  It turns out, that health care is complicated.  It actually really isn't.  Health care can be explained in two words:  prevention and intervention.   Give people the tools to prevent them from becoming sick; and then, when they do become sick, treat them. Health care is simple.   Bureaucracy.  Now that is difficult. I am in not way trying to trivialize the struggle of a nation to find a way to provide health care to a complex demographic.   Donald Trump has already done this.   Throughout his 18 month ego tour masquerading as a campaign, he trivialized health care.   It was so simple and he would figure it out in less than 30 days.   He hadn't actually looked into it, but he was convinced it was simple. He obviously did not attend a simple Grade 7 history class where he would have learned that America as...

I like to play poker. For some reason, most people are uncomfortable when I tell them this.  They picture me in some seedy dive surrounded by grumpy old men who are mean by nature and behave unethically and have power and control issues. This is not exactly true.   Casinos are luxurious entertainment facilities.   Also, not all of the men are old ! Yes, the poker table is probably the one place left where men can truly be men unencumbered by societal rules.  The game is so dominated by males that they feel safe to let out their true feelings and attitudes.  And, it is pretty sad that perhaps we haven't come a long way baby.  When I go to a poker table for the first time, I am quiet for the first hour as I gather information.   The guys assume that since I am a woman that I am stupid so they quickly forget that I am there and start talking as if I wasn't.  They objectify women, they openly express contempt and hostility towards women.  T...

Emerson, Manitoba continues to make international news as the border town that many refuges are choosing to cross into Canada to seek asylum from an unwelcoming USA.  The town considers itself to be in "crisis" from this situation, having on average of one person crossing the border every day. Today, the federal government sent help to Emerson to help process this increased "workload".  I watched the news tonight as one of the local residents confronted a government official for coming to help these selfish "asylum seekers".  The local resident was yelling at the official for trying to help noting that "no one was helping them (the residents of Emerson) through this." I tried to listen as closely as I could because I was really trying to understand what the residents are going through.  As much as I tried, the only thing I understand is that they are scared someone is going to knock on their windows at night.  I understand that is a real thin...

My fiance has a blog called "Struggling to Smile".  It chronicles his journey with depression. What I like most about his blog is his courage to turn his life around.  He was only diagnosed with depression in his late forties.   Most men of this age wouldn't be comfortable with diagnosis.  For my Andrew, it was like a light turned on for him in a very dark room.   He immediately saw things more clearly in his life What I like least about his blog is that he doesn't give me enough credit for the positive role I have played in his life !!   Just kidding !!  Andrew has done an amazing amount of work.  He has done so many things to live positively with depression.  I am so proud of him, but it definitely his journey and not mine.   One of the things that he found most helpful was going public and telling his world that he had depression.  What a difference that has made.  He named his blog "Struggling to Smile" beca...

Random musing, interesting to no one but me. Found my grandfather's original Certificate of Naturalization. His last name was Repski. On one side of the certificate, they spell it "Rebski" and on the other side, they spell it "Ripski". My grand-father was a proud Ukrainian, They list twice on the form that he was Austrian. But, they list his place on birth as Vielkiowce, Galicia. I remember him telling me he was born in Vielksomething. This is in Poland but very close to the Ukraine. Quite far away from Austrian. So, I could be Austrian, or Polish, or Ukrainian. In these days of self-determination, I think I am going to choose to identify myself as Ukrainian !!!

I hate showing my age but not long after my husband left me, I was going through a lot and was reaching out a lot to my very supportive friends by phone. Not only was this before cell phones, this was when cordless phones were new. One Saturday winter arrived with a bang. Cold and miserable and I had no appropriate outerwear for my kids. We went to SAAN and literally nothing remotely in their sizes. We had to go to a sports store  and get them beautiful "Columbia" snow suits. They were of highest quality but at that time they cost me more than my very last penny. I literally didn't have access to another nickel. I remember crying to my bff on the phone that, among other things, I couldn't even afford mittens for my kids.   At the time I lived next door to an elderly couple who were not very friendly and stayed to themselves and didn't even say "good morning" over the fence. On Sunday evening they knocked on my door with a bag of very much needed bag of ...

World Financial Group has a commercial with Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing and their two children talking about family values and how she is living her dream as an "elite athlete and as a mother of two" with the support of WFG. I cringe every time I see that commercial. The issue I have is that Brent has a child from a previous relationship. I don't know about World Financial Group but my family values are that when you publicly marry someone who has a child, you are also  choosing to accept responsibility for that child. So Jennifer, I believe you are an "elite athlete and a mother of three. 3⃣ ". I feel for the child who has to grow up watching the father and step-mother posee over and over again with their "perfect family" in which one childs existence is denied. I can assure you that this is not consistent with my family values. However, somehow I feel this child has grown accustomed to heartbreak. World Financial Group is free to choose to...

This past Monday was a Statutory Holiday, i watched the local news and one of the top stories featured a man labelled a community activist for Wise Up Winnipeg. Apparently, this group is trying to get the reduced speed while travelling in a school zone waived on a Statutory Holiday. Hey, I get it. They are trying to save roughly 20 seconds of drive time. Over time, this really adds up. I can imagine that over years this will  add up to roughly the equivalent time that they spend waiting in a Tim Horton's drive-thru every day. However, this was not a news story. I know there is a lot of talk lately of fake news and it is hard to differentiate what is and isn't a news story. i will attempt to help with this clarification. A news story occurs when something actually happens. A man holding up a sign in the middle of the street is not news, it is actually sad. I love the idea of community activism and I think it is desperately needed. The idea of community members ...

1984. Probably one of my favorite books of all time. George Orwell's triumph explains to us how language influences our thoughts and how easily we can be influenced by other's words. For example, I just used "triumph" to describe a literary work. If you haven't read this book, and then choose to read it at some point, you will have this word in your head and you will read it with the predisposition that it is going to "life-altering". There, I did it again !! A free press is one the foundations of a democratic society, However, the press should have a responsibility to use language appropriately given their enormous influence upon us. That is why I am disgusted and appalled by some of the choices of words our free press have used to describe the refugees who are crossing the border at Emerson. I am horrified that I have seen this described as a "tsunami". Really. A tsunami. If anyone doesn't remember, please google the tsunami of 2...

This is a true story. My fiance came to Canada without any immediate economic prospects and no specialized skills. He left his country of origin even though he was not under any political pressure to do so. Even though Canada was allowing him to use all of our resources, such as health care, he did not choose to become a Citizen until 5 years after he landed. He also chose not to seek full-time employment for almost 20 years after  landing in Canada; contributing nothing to our economic base. This is a true story. My fiance came to Canada with his family when he was 4 years old and his father became a Professor at the University of Manitoba. One of his happiest days was when he became a Canadian citizen. Tomorrow, he is accepting a prestigious award from the soccer community for his outstanding contributions as a volunteer. This is only one of the organizations which he chooses to volunteer his time. This is a true story. I witnessed a murder by the Superstore a few weeks...