Roy attended a breakout session called Boost Your Marvelous Brain at the recent Alberta Seniors Housing Association conference. He brought home a handout and brochure from the Calgary Alzheimer Society. I love learning about brain function because I’ve grown very fond (and protective) of my own mind. That’s also why I’ve never understood those who… Read more »

Dear Barb: My husband and I are in our mid-thirties, we began dating in university and dated four years before getting married nine years ago. Our life is mostly great and we both have careers we love. The problem is my husband now wants to start a family and I don’t. I feel awful because… Read more »

Album: Birds Requiem Artist: Dhafer Youssef ?Today, like every day, we wake up empty and frightened. don’t go to the door of the study and read a book. Instead, take down the dulcimer; let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground,… Read more »

?When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then there will be true peace.? ~Sri Chin Moi Gosh Marc Vella is a French classical pianist and a composer who for the last two decades has traveled with a baby grand in a bus across more than forty countries, giving impromptu performances for locals… Read more »

The past few weeks we’ve spent exploring the possessive case. We’ve looked at singular common nouns, plural common nouns, and proper nouns. Now It’s time to get into some of the tricky little exceptions?the ones that stump writers the most. This week we’ll discuss how to handle compound hyphenated words and joint possessives, and the… Read more »

In most places and most times, biological gender wasn’t open for debate. You either had two X chromosomes or an X and a Y, making you female or male. From toys to jobs to bathrooms, tradition drew firm lines between the sexes. Now, a Saskatchewan mom wants the province to remove any record of a… Read more »

My recent stay at a downtown Edmonton hotel coincided with the city’s annual Downtown Dining Week. The 2014 version, the eleventh one, ran from March 14 to March 23 and involved many of Edmonton’s most popular and pricey downtown restaurants. This event, sponsored by the Downtown Business Association, is a way to showcase some of… Read more »

Film: Inside Llewyn Davis Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen ? . . . because wherever I sat? on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok? I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.? – Sylvia Plath Watching Inside Llewyn Davis… Read more »

Dear Barb: My girlfriend and I have been dating for six months. I’m having a problem with the way she dresses. She wears low cut tops and very tight clothes. I know this is the style but I think she’s gone too far. I feel very uncomfortable with the attention she is drawing to herself… Read more »

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. ” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Marc Vella is a French classical pianist and a composer who, for the last two decades, has traveled with a baby grand piano in a bus across more than forty countries, giving impromptu performances… Read more »