For many of us, the beginning of the year is an opportunity to set goals for new things we want to learn. Many of us are challenged in our ability to stick to our goals and achieve them in a measurable way. 

I learned through this experience not to judge people by their appearances or their manners. Dishonest people are able to seem trustworthy and intimidating people can have huge hearts.

I got to work while I rolled around in my head whether accepting the broom was a contract to spend my summer working in this dump.

I no longer had a friend that I trusted. And my confidence was shaken. I doubted my judgment.

It all got real a week later when Mr. McGee organized a class meeting that I was to chair. A few other teachers were invited in to observe and I was very nervous.

He was holding a Coke bottle in one hand and I thought he was going to tear my head off with the other hand.

She was calling to tell me that, after I left the classroom, she went to the staff room and talked to a couple of the other teachers and recounted our conversation.

After a year living at the back of a gas station in Surrey BC, in 1975 my parents scraped enough money together to buy a small townhouse about 10 minutes away.

As it is with most immigrants, the first months in Canada were hard for my family. Or at least that is what I am told. I don’t think I experienced any hardship. I think we were relatively fortunate.

Like many people, music for me is often tied to memories. There are a number of songs that remind me of specific incidents in my life.

Out of all my childhood memories, there is one that haunts me to this day. It isn’t a remnant of a tragic incident or a frightening encounter.