I step out onto the almost deserted street outside the Hotel Granvia and start to walk. The morning warmth is the only jacket I need, the quiet and humidity settling comfortably around my bare shoulders. In spite of my best efforts to fool my jet lag by getting onto Japan time this morning, I was …
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John Pierpont Morgan has been called the most influential financier in U.S. history. Between 1890 and 1913, his company was instrumental in the establishment of 42 major corporations including General Electric, International Harvester, AT & T, and the Atchison Topeka Santa Fe railway. He financially backed countless projects, including Thomas Edison’s Edison Electric Illuminating Company, as …
Tonight we honor what was lost, but we also commemorate what we found. –Come from Away, April 2017 After watching in horror as the twin towers burned, after doing my best to reassure anxious students when I …
Growing up in 1960s Edmonton, Alberta, where single family dwellings were plentiful, and back yards were a part of most childhoods, it took a trip to New York City in the mid-1990s to remind me that not every kid had access to lawns, gardens, swingsets, and next-door-neighbor friends. My friend Angela introduced me to the …
The first time I visited my friend Angela at her home in New York City, I asked her what she liked best about living in the city that never sleeps. She didn’t hesitate. “Its acceptance of everyone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, who you worship, who you love: New …
“We were together. I forget the rest.” (Walt Whitman) If I were asked to use one word to describe the faculty where I work, “diverse” would pretty much capture us. Every day, international and Canadian-born students and staff come together to learn, to teach, to research, to administer programs, to provide security, and food, and …
The elderly man sitting in front of me in the tundra buggy leans over and says quietly into his wife’s ear, “How much longer until we see some polar bears?” She points to the horizon, where another tundra vehicle filled with tourists is trundling up a hill. “I think that’s where we’re going, dear, so …
The black-robed lawyer paces as he cross-examines the wide-eyed young woman, resplendent in royal blue satin gown and elbow-length evening gloves, a glittering tiara sitting on top of her swirl of blonde hair. “Now isn’t it true that you didn’t ever complain about the work your stepmother asked you to do? That you actually learned …
Interesting footnote to my post of a couple of days ago. University of Alberta President David Turpin sends a regular newsletter to all University employees to update us on his activities. On Friday, he told us about his recent business trip to Europe, which included a stop in Belgium: One of the most remarkable moments …
It was one of those serendipitous e-mails that made my heart sing: my friend Livia was going to be in Brussels at the same time I was. We had met six years before, when we spent a long and miserable year hating Winnipeg together. I had arrived from Edmonton, and was trying to convince myself …
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