by Michelle Jarman As a Canadian living in Australia, I abide by Australian laws. As a lesbian living in Australia, I deeply struggle with the inequality that same-sex marriage is still illegal here. I cannot walk down the aisle on…
Don Ritchie was the kind of guy who could make me believe there really are angels walking the earth. When he died in May 2012, he left behind a legacy of hundreds of souls saved from suicide. Some say he…
Bibliotherapy has been part of my life since I first started to read. I just didn’t call it that. I wrote about it for my Catching Courage blog, in a piece titled, “Ask a question, and the right book…
Long before I had a chance to become acquainted with animals other than cats and dogs, I fell in love with Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story of “Zlateh the Goat” (Zlateh Goat & Other Stories). In the story the beloved goat…
When someone from a culture very different from my own knocks on my door and offers an insider’s glimpse, I’m deeply grateful. That’s what Wilfred (Willie) Gordon does with Guurrbi Tours in Australia’s Northern Queensland. I haven’t met Willie in…
When Marion Sinclair won the 1934 Victorian Girl Guides competition for writing an Australian round, she likely never dreamed one day campers in Idaho would be singing it. And when I was belting out these words along with my fellow…
Ken Grenda is an unusual man. In an era when corporate greed and huge CEO salaries have become a global norm, he believes the gap between bosses and workers is unfair. He told radio station 3AW, “I get totally dismayed…
Still foggy from a 48-hour journey between Australia and my British Columbia home, I set out for a walk along Kelowna’s waterfront and downtown. Even though I was not revving on all cylinders, I had enough energy to return smiles.…
The effect is eerie. Thin, twisted trunks form a waving thicket where sun barely finds holes through which to dapple the landscape. On bright days the trunks are a weave of greyish brown, topped by a canopy of green leaves.…
Seeing birds in cages always jars me. So my first sensation on entering Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary was a wave of sadness. Glossy ibis, gullahs, rosellas, cockatoos, barn owls and so many other birds sat in enclosures too small…
