I’ve run 11 marathons, but of all these my favourite is the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM), which begins and ends in northern Virginia. There are many things I love about this race, which we call ?the People’s Marathon?: the crowd support; the beautiful route that winds through our nation’s capital and along the Potomac River;… Read more »
This article was originally published November 5, 2010, volume 18 issue 44. ?This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Time: the very word is an enigma, and the concept has intrigued… Read more »
The local Target is jam-packed with outsized spiders, witches, scary masks, and gobs of gobstoppers and other inedible bits and bites. I keep buying Hershey’s chocolates that I have no business eating. And on the days I get all self-righteous about nutrition and the oversized marketing of junk food, I glare at the bits and… Read more »
When we were kids, it was all about the ?no.? In our first years, ?no? was our favourite response. Come indoors. No. Put away your toys. No. Eat your spinach. No, no, no! No was a bad word. Once we left the preschool years, though, that ?no? became a shining star?a goal to pursue, a… Read more »
Now that Thanksgiving’s over and the months’s moving toward Halloween, we’re entering the middle of the race?that time when we’ve lost our initial momentum coming out of the starting gate, but we’re not quite ready to use up the burst of energy that we’ll need for the homestretch. Work’s piling up and we’re getting behind…. Read more »
The condensation glistens on the pint-sized glass of mahogany beer. A caption on the picture lists the type of beer, and above it, announces the day: National Beer Appreciation Day. It looks like one of those perfect autumn brews. I wish I was at that bar, with that beer in front of me, and the… Read more »
I wake up reluctantly, the loud tendrils of my alarm clock penetrating my brain like shards of glass. Wednesday. Wednesday? Aha! Today is the day that I get that essay out the door, all 2,000 words of it. It’s due at the end of the week, but I’ve got the day off work and I’m… Read more »
Have you ever sat down in front of a blank page, put your fingers to the keys, and then . . . nothing? Of course you have. Writer’s block is so ubiquitous that It’s become late-night entertainment show fodder. But all the SNL skits in the world aren’t going to do you much good when… Read more »
This past week, borders were blurred as North Americans set aside their differences for the day and remembered September 11 and those who lost their lives in the tragedy. I can’t watch the footage anymore. Now that I have a child, it somehow hits a part of me that didn’t exist when I was young… Read more »
You’ve got your books. You’ve got your supplies. You’ve carved out time and finances and a space to work, and now You’re ready to begin the school year. Except that You’re not, really. You sit at your desk and stare at the schedule?and stare and stare. You have a headache. You’re terrified. You want to… Read more »