Blog or white ... because it never is.

Happy Ukrainian New Year !!  It is Malanka today.  I was raised in the Ukrainian traditions but I had never heard of Ukrainian New Years until a few years ago.  I think it is something made up by the Casinos of Winnipeg.  It is interesting how it is celebrated on two different days depending on which side of the city you live in.  That's ok.  I like celebrating and I like having an extra New Year.  So, I use traditional New Year's as a time to test out my resolutions to see which are going to be realistic and then I can finalize them on Ukrainian New Year's.  So, of course, I have the usual resolutions that most have:  I am going to jog 6 miles a day; I am going to lose 30 lbs each month; I am going to have a home so sterile that Manitoba Health will want to use it as a remote operating suite; and I am going to broker world peace while not eating any carbs.  They seem pretty achievable.  Seriously, I would like to laugh more...

Do you have something to say?  Do you have a perspective on an issue that is unique based on your unique combination of life experiences?  Are you a social justice warrior?  Or are you on a journey?  Are you trying to be a better version of yourself?  Are you trying to make your corner of the world a better place?  Do you think there is something or someone you know that you think more should people should know?   I'm interested.   I would love to have you write an entry for Blog or White ..... because it never is.  I can help you as much or as little as you would like.  I welcome divergent view points from mine.  I just think we don't exchange ideas as much as we should anymore.  As a society, we need to practice having difficult discussions.   It has been almost two years since I started this blog and I have enjoyed it immensely.  Who knows where your journey make take you?  Star...

I am truly grateful to have a wonderful partner.  He has so many great qualities and one of them is that he is a wonderful grandpa.  Our little Ollie has him wrapped around his finger and his grandpa knows it and wouldn't have it any other way.  He also has a few faults.  I can't say that I love his faults because they are a part of him, however, for the most part, I find his faults amusing and they cause me laughter. My partner lives with depression.  He is open about this and tries to contribute to the end of the stigma.  This is somewhat ironic because he has some stigma himself.  But, likely less now than ever. My partner has always taken the path that he will get better by helping others get better.  He has a blog chronicling his journey with depression.  After every entry, someone reaches out to him and tells him how meaningful that entry was to them.  Each time that happens, it keeps him positive for about a week.  H...

Ryan Fry is back with Team Jacobs and curling in a Pinty's Grand Slam Event.  He did a press conference to discuss his return after a brief period of reflection and all is forgotten.  He noted that he got a lot of messages of love and support and they were very much appreciated.  He also noted that he got some messages of hate and he was using those messages as fuel to do better.  I guess my hand should be raised as one of those who sent a message of hate.  However, only someone who still hasn't "done the work" would see that as a message of hate.  It was actually a message of hope and support.  I cared enough about him and his career to try and be a mirror and just reflecting back what I saw in him.  Believe me, no one was cheering for Small Fry more than I throughout his career.  First of all, I thought his dad was a class act.  Back before anyone made any money in curling, Barry Fry was traveling the bonspiel circuit in Manitoba...

Social media gets a lot of bad press.  We spend too much time on it and not enough time moving and this is leading to obesity and other related diseases.  There is so much fake news on social media that it makes it difficult to discern what or who you should trust for information.  There are stalkers and trolls on social media, thus, you are putting you and your family's security at risk every time you log on.  It is destroying our society because we prefer to text each other rather than walk into another room to talk to each other.  It reminds me of two surprising pieces of advice that I have gotten from my brother-in-law, John.  John is simply one of the wisest people I know. When I was a teenager, I told him about the problems facing my generation such as unprecedented access to drugs and peer pressure to do substances.  I fully expected him to acknowledge my point.  As an adult, he was very involved in the "just say no" campaign.  He ...

Blake Nordstrom was 58 years old when he died last week.  I hadn't heard of him prior to his death but I bought a really expensive pair of shoes a couple of decades ago from Nordstrom's.  It is rare that an actual namesake of the company is still in charge.  He was Co-President with his two brothers, still controlling the company that their grand-father started.  When I started looking into his life, it seems like he was a very stand-up fellow that never took his wealth for granted.  It seemed no one ever told him to suffer from white male privilege.  The whole Nordstrom organization seemed genuinely in grief.  A company spokesman issued a statement saying, "Everyone who worked with Blake knew of his passion and deep commitment to employees, customers and the communities we serve."  That message speaks volumes to me.  Nordstroms is a retail giant.  Yet, his commitment to employees was first before his commitment to customers. ...

Yesterday, I had a meeting at the Richardson building.  I got into the elevator with a nice looking young man.  Almost immediately, I had to slap him.  He pinched my boob.  Seconds later, I had to apologize to him.  He didn't pinch my boob, it turned out he stepped on it.  That was an excerpt from my schtick when I used to dabble in stand-up comedy.  I know, I know, I shouldn't have fictitiously slapped the guy.  Violence is never funny, but that wasn't really what the joke was about and it was fictitious.  I think the word fictitious goes well with my story because it has a "tit" in it.  Ok, I am done.  I miss doing stand-up and am thinking of dabbling in it again.  Back in my comedy glory days, I weighed considerably less and was blonde.  My schtick was a little raunchy.  Unfortunately, comedy is still largely patriarchal.   It is more difficult for a woman to make it.  That is not meant to soun...