The necessary migration from "us and them" to "just us" In last week's post, I wrote about redemption stories — and about astronaut Victor Glover's extraordinary reminder, delivered from the far side of the moon, that we are, all of us, the same thing . It's a beautiful idea. But if you're honest with yourself, you know the feeling doesn't last. You come back from the mountaintop — or in Glover's case, from lunar orbit — and within hours the news cycle reasserts itself. The b

Redemption Stories for a Divided Moment This past week offered an unusual convergence. On Wednesday evening, as the sun set over Cape Canaveral and millions of Jewish families around the world gathered to begin their Passover Seder — retelling the ancient story of liberation from slavery — a rocket lifted off the Florida coast carrying four astronauts toward the moon. And today, as billions of Christians observe Easter and its promise that deliverance is possible even from de

Posted on the occasion of Passover, 2026 Tonight, Jewish families around the world gather to retell one of humanity's oldest and most powerful stories: the story of liberation from bondage. The Passover Seder is not simply a religious observance. It is an act of collective memory — a deliberate, annual insistence that freedom matters, that oppression must be named, and that the struggle for dignity is never truly finished. It feels like exactly the right moment to ask: how ar

A Helpful Guide for the Chronically Well-Meaning Today is March 21 — which means you have approximately the next few hours to say exactly the right thing before the window closes and you have to wait another year to care about this publicly. No pressure. NOT! Here's my suggestion. Nothing fancy. Nothing that requires a committee or a hashtag or a black square. Here’s a radical suggestion: skip the perfect statement. Be open. Be considerate. Be thoughtful. Be curious. Be under

Why attacking Canadian Jews says nothing about Gaza — and everything about hate There is no logic to hate. That is, perhaps, the most important thing to understand about what is happening to Jewish Canadians right now — and why it is so dangerous. In March 2026, three Toronto-area synagogues were targeted by gunfire within five days. Swastikas were spray-painted on Jewish businesses in Montreal. The federal government rushed emergency funding to help Jewish communities pro

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month — a time to recognize the contributions of people with developmental disabilities, challenge the stigmas that diminish their lives, and recommit to building communities where everyone truly belongs. It is a moment to celebrate. It is also a moment to be honest. Awareness, by itself, changes nothing. What changes things is accountability — the willingness to look clearly at the gap between what institutions say about inclusi

In the aftermath of tragedy, communities face a choice: gather in grief and seek understanding, or allow suffering to be hijacked for ideological warfare. When violence struck Tumbler Ridge, Clearwater Councillor Ken Matheson, a former RCMP officer who has witnessed firsthand the devastation when vulnerable people fall through society's cracks, delivered a message that cuts through the noise. His words, shared by Mayor Merlin Blackwell, remind us what truly matters when live

Black History Month invites us to recognize the profound contributions Black Canadians have made to building this nation—contributions that stretch from the earliest days of settlement through to today's vibrant communities shaping our collective future. From Mathieu Da Costa, who served as an interpreter in the early 1600s, to the thousands who travelled the Underground Railroad seeking freedom, Black people have been integral to Canada's story from the beginning. Figures l

An Intriguing Mystery Hiding in Plain Sight I recently had the pleasure of seeing the play Glory at our local theatre. It tells a story that should be impossible—yet it's true! Between 1933 and 1940, four women from Preston, Ontario dominated Canadian hockey with a record so extraordinary it seems almost fictional: 348 victories, 2 losses. Captain Hilda Ranscombe—later called "the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey"—and Jewish sisters Marm and Helen Schmuck became national cel

SYNOPSIS: Trump's January 2026 Davos speech—featuring racist statements, threats against NATO allies over Greenland, and mockery of European leaders—exemplifies how presidential dehumanization creates "permission structures" that cascade through society. When the highest office models contempt, discrimination, and cruelty, it normalizes these behaviours at every level, from school boards to workplaces to communities. The essay documents the five-part playbook of destructive l

The Last Thing Any Community Needs The last thing any community needs is leadership that encourages a culture of contempt and condemnation. We're drowning in it - hatred spread effortlessly through social media and news feeds, amplified anonymously but also brazenly when people in positions of authority give permission. School trustees weaponizing governance to target vulnerable youth. Presidents hijacking tragedy for personal attacks. Faith leaders framing inclusion as threa

You know what kills me about Christmas? It’s supposedly about a guy whose core message was basically: be nice to each other. And somehow we turned that into a full-blown production. Strip it all down—the theology, the traditions, the ornaments—and the message is embarrassingly simple: love people, don’t be a jerk, share your sandwich. Kindergarten-level ethics. Golden Rule stuff. That’s it. But apparently, simple makes us uncomfortable. “Just be kind? That’s the whole deal?

This headline recently caught my eye. Apparently, quite a few people do care—including a surprising number of folks who occupy some of the highest offices in the land, where one might reasonably expect attention to be focused on, say, actual societal problems. In this refreshingly blunt opinion piece , author Mike Weisser argues that our collective obsession with other people's sexual orientation, gender identity, and race is fundamentally absurd. Drawing on personal experie

Theological Schadenfreude : When Faith Breeds Cruelty Ah, the sweet irony of watching institutions built on compassion accidentally become factories for sanctified smugness. It’s not a good look…especially for a moral authority. Picture this: You've got a religion whose central marketing pitch is essentially "God is love, and we're His official representatives on Earth." Solid brand identity. Great messaging. Unfortunately, somewhere between the mission statement and the fi

It all started with a simple question: Why are so many newcomers moving to St. John’s Newfoundland? I was intrigued to find out,...

The war on DEI will not garner many winners The elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and related...

I gotta say, I really had to scratch my head when I read about an American sixth-grade teacher who was told by her school administrators...

What might you do to help? This Saturday, May 17, the world will mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia, and...

The goal, in fact, is PIE everyone . Because there's no place for non-affirming institutions in our world. Yup, that ship has sailed. PIE...

In the spirit of survival-of-the-fittest, every-man-for-himself America, the Stable Genius has deemed that America would be greater by...