For the third time in the last six weeks, I put pen to paper to mark the passing of someone. I asked of wife Judy, who is my editor-in-chief, why this was happening, and I was writing so often of death. She said there was a simple explanation. I

Religion when I was growing up in Newfoundland is certainly not part of the much talked about ‘good old days’. So much of our history was a divide along religious lines. Many won’t want to remember this because it isn’t comfortable, but I can tell you some horror stories.

Every year, in late March, the debate starts again about Confederation and whether or not Newfoundland was pushed into it.

The calendar also signals the beginning of the parallel discussion on whether Terra Nova, as we used to call ourselves, did the right thing in joining

Joe Smallwood believed in the democratic process. Well, sort of. Once following a by-election that the Liberals lost, Smallwood said to the assembled press the next day that the voters in the district had exercised their God-given right to be wrong.

That is a good introduction