Barbara Godin is a graduate of Athabasca University. She writes the “”Dear Barb” and the “Women of Interest” columns. As well, Barb has written many personal interest stories and enjoys connecting with others through her writing. She has been writing for The Voice since 2003.
If you enjoy reading Dear Barb, you can also purchase her curated collection, Dear Barb: Answers to Everyday Questions at her website, http://www.barbgodin.com.
Dear Barb: Well, another Thanksgiving has been ruined because of my sister! She’s divorced and has two kids. But the last three Thanksgivings she has brought a different guy and his kids to our family dinner. She hardly knows these guys, so everyone feels uncomfortable. The guy she brought this year had three kids. Two… Read more »
Dear Barb: I am the mother of a fourteen-year-old daughter. We have always had a strained relationship and it just seems to be getting worse. I had a difficult relationship with my mother and I hoped that my relationship with my daughter would be different, but it doesn’t seem to be. I come from a… Read more »
Coco Chanel was born August 19, 1883, in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France, and died January 10, 1971, in Paris, France. Chanel is famous for her trademark suits, her little black dress, and of course her perfume, Chanel No.5. Following the death of her mother, she was put in an orphanage by her father. The nuns taught… Read more »
Dear Barb: Soon it will be Friday the thirteenth and I wanted to share a story about my aunt. She is in her fifties and very superstitious. I get that some of us are a little superstitious, but she is over the top. For example, if a black cat walks in front of her she… Read more »
Marie Stopes was born October 15, 1880, in Edinburgh and died October 2, 1958, in Dorking Surrey. She was an author, palaeobotanist and a leading campaigner for eugenics and women’s rights. Stopes was educated at the University of Manchester where she became the first female lecturer in palaeobotany from 1904 to 1910. She was against… Read more »
Sarah E. Goode was born into slavery in Toledo, Ohio, in 1855 and died April 8, 1905. She was the first African-American woman to receive a patent for her invention of the folding bed, which she received in 1885. At that time African-Americans were seen as property and, as a result, their inventions belonged to… Read more »
Dear Barb: I am in my first year of university and moved into residence a few weeks ago. My roommate is also a first-year student. I am having a lot of problems with her already! She’s going a bit wild. I swear she’s been drunk every night since the beginning of school. This is our… Read more »
Florence Bird was born January 15, 1908, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died July 18, 1998, in Ottawa Canada. Bird was a Canadian broadcaster, journalist and senator. In 1967, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson appointed her as chair of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. She is best remembered for her work… Read more »
Dear Barb: I’ve been searching universities online and I came across your column. I am in my forties and have twin girls, who have just left home to go to university. They are quite a distance from home and each at different universities. They have been my whole life and now I don’t know what… Read more »
Dorothy Livesay was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in October 1909, and died in Victoria, British Columbia, on December 29, 1996. In 1944 Livesay won the Governor General’s Literary Award for “Day and Night” and again in 1947 for “Poems for People.” That same year she was the recipient of the Royal Society of Canada’s Lorne… Read more »