Barbara Lehtiniemi is a writer and photographer from Ontario. She’s a graduate of Athabasca University, having completed her Bachelor of General Studies degree in 2018.
A regular contributor to The Voice Magazine for over ten years, Barbara has also contributed to other publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Maclean’s. Barbara writes in several genres, including non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. She’s eternally grateful to The Voice Magazine for providing the opportunity to explore an array of topics and writing styles.
Barbara has a fondness for travel, used bookstores, everyday absurdities, and oversized wine glasses. Originally from urban Southwestern Ontario, she now lives on a windswept rural road in Eastern Ontario.
Each year, part of Christmas gift-giving ends up in the garbage. Despite our valiant efforts to live greener lives by reducing waste, paper gift wrap continues to be a significant feature of gift-giving. With a bit of imagination this year, though, you can break the paper-wrap habit and have some creative fun at the same… Read more »
This week I marked my tenth anniversary as a contributing writer for The Voice. When I submitted my first article back in November 2013, I had little idea that one piece of writing would lead to hundreds of published articles. My first article, Essay Avoidance – The Fine Art of Procrastination, described all the dilly-dallying… Read more »
Dad and I sat in my parents’ living room, with not much to talk about. Usually when I visited, Mom and I carried the conversation, but today Mom was at church. It would be just me and Dad for over an hour. Dad’s drift into the shifting fog of Alzheimer’s had left him mostly functional,… Read more »
The Voice‘s social media feature, Student Sizzle, debuted almost nine years ago, on October 3, 2014. I know this for sure because I compiled that piece, and since then I’ve compiled most of the Student Sizzle features that run weekly in The Voice. Over the course of hundreds of Student Sizzle columns, some things have… Read more »
When I was growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, we had a particular name for the holiday Monday in May. We did not call it Victoria Day (although that was its official name), nor did we call it May Two-Four, like we often do now. We called it Firecracker Day. At that… Read more »
Cottage season will soon be upon us. If you don’t own a summer cottage, the next best thing is to be on good terms with someone who does. Your cottage-owning friends may, from time to time, invite you for a carefree weekend away, all without you incurring the expense and bother associated with owning a… Read more »
Applications for AUSU’s spring award cycle opened April 15. Up to twenty-six AU undergrad students will be selected to receive awards of up to $1000 each. Undergrad students at AU can apply online for these awards, including scholarships and bursaries, from now until May 31. A brief description of each award follows (visit the AUSU… Read more »
In the March 31 article, Bird Course—Part One: Birdwatching Basics, I mentioned that no special equipment is needed to get started. Birds can be found in and around any outdoor area—anywhere they can find food sources, nesting materials, or shelter. Each species has its own needs and habits, and you can see birds in and… Read more »
Spring arrived late afternoon on March 20—according to the calendar anyway. Here in eastern Ontario, there’s still snow on the ground, and we can expect a few early-spring snowstorms over the next few weeks. It doesn’t yet look like spring. Except for the birds. As if on cue, some of the birds who spend summers… Read more »
When Casey Hatherly, who also goes by the name Ever, appeared topless at the Juno Awards show in Edmonton March 13, she breathed new life into the practice of streaking as a form of protest. Hatherly disrupted the awards show by hopping up on stage, naked from the waist up except for a pair of… Read more »