*Originally published in our September 11-17, 2022 issue
We were in a restaurant in a hotel in Paris. It was the middle of the Republican primaries before that weird election that took Donald J. Trump to a one term presidency.
Wife and I were on a short trip to France.
Father used to tell me school days are the best days of your life. Not so say I! My school experience obviously is from a different time. There was no Kindergarten or early childcare.
We were ripped away from mummies apron strings when we were seven years old. No play
*Originally published in our August 28-September 3, 2022 issue
I was down to Argentia last week. It’s completely different now and I had not been there since the naval base closed. In fact I have only been there a couple of times before.
Memory is a funny thing. When I
*Originally published on our August 21-27, 2022 issue
I was driving out the Kenmount Road the other week and my car dropped into a pothole in the road under construction. It was of Olympic proportions. Is it my imagination, or has that road been under construction for a couple of
*Originally published in our August 14-20, 2022 issue
It was just past five in the morning of what promised to be another lovely summer day. I was out on the deck having coffee and looking at the paper in the half light of a new day. When you are older
*Originally published in our August 7-13, 2022 issue
There was a sadness about Pope Francis when he arrived in Canada on his tour of “penance” last week. He’s a decent fellow and genuinely has offered apologies and sought forgiveness for the sins of the Roman Catholic Church against Indigenous children
It has a hold on us that defies explanation, but to us born and bred “corner boys,” the Royal St. John’s Regatta is the highpoint of our summer.
In that peculiar liturgy of the city Regatta Day is surely our Christmas.
Now you might be surprised at the number of
*Originally published in our July 24-30, 2022 issue
You know I am privileged to live in a major centre (all things are relative) and to have a family doctor. The corridors of the Health Sciences are familiar to me because I have been there many times with the assorted afflictions
*Originally published in our July 17-23, 2022 issue
I am older now and things have changed. I noticed that on the back deck of our home a couple of evenings ago. It was nice and warm, and the sun was dipping below the tree line.
Not a cloud in the
*Originally published in our July 10-16, 2022 issue
Just as I thought the damage was done and the much-repudiated Donald Trump had exited the stage we find his ghost still haunts the halls, at least for a little while longer.
The democratic process in the United States said a
*Originally published in our July 3-9, 2022 issue
Part of the reality of writing “op-ed” as opposed to straight journalism is you can’t just take popular positions and write to the crowd.
Why is that? Well, it won’t be any good for one thing. That’s the caution and opening paragraph
As we waited for a decision on the sale of The Basilica, St. Bonaventure’s School and the St. Bon’s Forum, last I told everybody that I didn’t really care what happened to the properties.
That’s because, despite being an old St. Bon’s boy and a member of the Catholic Church