Have you ever suffered sleep disturbance because of a mind heavy with thought?  The thoughts may be disturbing if the underlying issue is serious.  If someone is worried about a dire diagnosis, job security, money trouble, cracks in a relationship, or the perennial favourite—the meaning of life—the angst is real.  The thoughts that consume us… Read more »

“I’m paralyzed, living your lies I saw the devil in your eyes You put me down, you let me die Because you buried me, buried, Buried me alive” – from “Buried Me Alive” by Ovtlier, What Doesn’t Kill You Ovtlier is a metal band based in Rochester, New York.  Their debut EP What Doesn’t Kill… Read more »

Dear Barb: Hi, I recently put my dog down and now I’m wondering if I did the right thing. Tasha was a ten-year-old miniature schnauzer with lots of health issues. For the last two years she was on several expensive medications and they really weren’t making a difference in the quality of her life. When… Read more »

Make your New Year’s resolution to butt out!  Quit smoking—before your blonde hair frizzes, your lush lips wither—and your lungs singe. I smoked during grades six and seven.  Luckily, basketball, volleyball, soccer—sports of all sorts—saved my lungs.  Sadly, I restarted puffing in grade ten.   I’d carry two packs a day, one for myself, the other… Read more »

Did you beg Santa for a leather-bound grammar book?  Nothing calms me more than writing.  Some people write to make sense of their story, some to laugh at themselves, some to help others.  I do all three.  And to write half-well, I read grammar books. Decades ago, while upgrading English 30, my study of grammar… Read more »

Dear Barb: I am the mother of a thirteen-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old boy.  I am about halfway through my degree at AU and I work part time, so I am very busy trying to take care of everything.  My husband is great; he helps out with the kids and does most of the cooking. … Read more »

Are you spending Christmas alone?   Well, you may spend the season alone, but not lonely and heartbroken, aching for a Christmas kitten.  Instead, ward off weekend and holiday blues—with a plan. But first, let’s study the blues. My elderly landlady felt stricken with loneliness.  She huddled over her garden and trimmed her apple trees, but… Read more »

According to the syllabus, PSYC 289, also known as Psychology as a Natural Science, is one of the two first-year introductory psychology courses.  This course “introduces the broad areas of biological bases of behaviour, sensation and perception, learning and memory, and variations in consciousness,” and is mandatory for students in AU’s psychology programs. It has… Read more »

Last week, I landed in the sun-kissed 22 degrees clime of Las Vegas.  Among other things that are jaw-dropping in the entertainment capital of the world, the buffet was a mouth-watering highlight of my trip.  As AU students looking for a budget vacation, Vegas can provide an affordable vacation while offering an unforgettable dining experience. … Read more »

Can you make words dance—like letters gyrating, Elvis-style?  Growing up, I wrote songs, danced, and stage acted.  These tasks demanded a sense of rhythm, or at least of timing, for mastery.  But no fine art compares, not at all, to tying rhythm into writing. Today, I sprinkle less rhythm, more rhyme, into writing.  Author Barbara… Read more »