Last week I wrote about social vs physical distancing. This week I’m asking you to think about the ways assumptions and pre-judgment are sneaking into your actions and feelings during this pandemic. When we are stressed, or afraid, we tend to default to what we know. The impact of fear I’ve …
[Continue reading] COVID-19, physical distancing & assumptions
Two weekends ago I was in Owen Sound Ontario (yes, in the snowstorm!) attending a workshop called The Mastery of Self Expression. It’s an amazing few days of getting to know ourselves better and challenging ourselves to be more of who we are. One of the things we talked a lot about over the …
Yesterday I watched Trevor Noah’s Afraid of the Dark (available on Netflix - here's a clip). It was amazing from start to finish. What I love about Trevor Noah is that while he is making us laugh, he is educating us as well. Afraid of the Dark is no exception. He covered colonization, being Black in …
2017 has started, but it’s not the beginning of a New Year for everyone – just those of us who go by the Gregorian calendar (the internationally accepted civil calendar - also known as the Western or Christian calendar. It's only been in use for a few hundred years - read more here.) This is …
In the aftermath of Paris (and Beirut) - any tragic event - many of us ask ourselves what we can do. These situations are so big and so overwhelming that we often also think big - and get overwhelmed. But change can happen in small and meaningful ways. Here are a few things we can all do every day …
Today on CBC’s Metro Morning I heard the fourth segment of the series The Nirmalendran Brothers. It's the only one I have heard, and the podcast isn’t up yet - but check back to listen at http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/). The focus today was on Christopher Husbands who has been found guilty of two …
[Continue reading] Pondering the CBC series: The Nirmalendran Brothers
The Parapan Am Games started this past weekend in Toronto. And I find myself wondering, again, why the "para" games are separated and later than the "non para" games. The Pan Am Games came and went in Toronto amid much fanfare. Traffic was bad, but we heard about the medal count daily and there was …
It’s easy to jump to conclusions. Last night when I heard that our mayor John Tory didn't realize Kanye West wasn't Canadian the first thought I had was: "It's because he is Black". And then I checked myself. Because I mixed up Kanye West with K'naan (also Black but born in Somalia and raised in …
So we have a Black Police Chief in Toronto. I want to cheer. But my inner voice is saying "not so fast...". Here's why: Let's consider the assumptions I am (and many people likely are likely) making based on skin colour and the expectations that these create. We might assume that since Mark …
[Continue reading] What Difference Can a Black Police Chief make in Toronto?