Autobiography
Birthdays was the worst days
Is this the birthday when I stop celebrating birthdays? Where I stop counting and ask people not to remind me of my age? In one ear I hear my children telling me that the 1900s are a long way off; in the other, I hear my grandmother saying that I am still a baby. Thirty-six… but a baby nonetheless.
By Karina Rasberrya day ago in Chapters
The devil's daughter may cry
This person she/her as the devil's daughter used to be me. Please note that these were my beliefs of what God, the creator of the universe, and the devil himself, aka Lucifer, has done and didn’t do with his precious daughter while she was on earth.
By Bri Szumera9 days ago in Chapters
The Wind.
Free as the wind, they say. Oh, easy enough to say “the wind,” but is the wind ever really free? Look up at those curls of cloud chasing one another and changing shape, now wild horses, now steam trains, now Babylonian archers making love: it’s the wind that blows them, shaping them the way a child shapes clay, but who blows the wind? Air, as everyone knows, is always hunting for empty spaces to fill, and in moving it leaves countless new ones behind, which fill in their turn, and so on and on. Space is a blanket too short for the bed, and tugging at it stirs up a draft. From that restlessness the wind is born, from the sense of a void, just like us, forever setting out after something our lives lack. We are the wind that slams into the mountains; funneled down into the gorges, we howl the pain and anguish of those who find no rest.
By Federico Berti19 days ago in Chapters
Moving Through the Fixed and Flexible: Trying Assisted Stretch
In part 3/52 of this challenge, I set myself some ground rules, generalized goals, or guiding principles. “I want to be more flexible in my thinking and in my understanding of the world. Biases are not helpful when there is evidence to explore,” was one of those principles.
By Kate Baggott23 days ago in Chapters
Going Traditional: Dancing at the Legion
Dancing at the legion sounds like it should be a Stompin Tom Connors tune. It is not, but there is a reference in the Stan Rogers song Lies, so there’s evidence that going dancing at the Legion is a traditional Canadian behaviour…even if I personally had never done it before.
By Kate Baggottabout a month ago in Chapters
Air & Accomplishment: Taking an Aerial Sling Class
Sass Fitness Studio kicked my ass. That’s not their slogan, but I am definitely not the first to say it. Over the past 7 weeks, I have intentionally gotten myself into some rather challenging situations. Aerial sling was the most physically challenging yet.
By Kate Baggott2 months ago in Chapters
A Typical Lady in her Fifties: Trying Pickleball
“All the other white ladies in their fifties are playing pickleball,” my friend Aldo asked, “why not you?” Aldo, I might add, knows better than most that not all pickleball players are white ladies over fifty, but he is still right. Taking up the game is trendy among my demographic. It was one of the issues that made trying it less appealing for the last three years or so, even though some of my best friends are white ladies in their fifties. Still, Aldo’s suggestion that I am just like them is completely fair. I like many conventional activities like discussing politics and religion, wine tastings and watching cooking shows.
By Kate Baggott2 months ago in Chapters
Aiming for Euphoria: Trying Archery
Artemis, Amazon women warriors, and Robin Hood represent everything I knew about archery. Basically, I knew nothing about the tension of a bow or how to let an arrow fly by rolling the string off the three finger tips holding it in place. I knew nothing about how to take a stance and take aim at a moving target. After trying archery this week, I should probably know more about those things, and I am not going to brag about how well I did because I don’t want to offend archery purists. No, it was not “real” archery. It was virtual archery at BATL Grounds in Niagara Falls . We could also have done knife or ax throwing, but I’ve already tried those two.
By Kate Baggott2 months ago in Chapters
Too Experienced to Land a New Contract
After many years of working as a contractor, I have reached an unexpected conclusion. Finding contract work is no longer primarily about experience, skills or achievements. It is about convincing a recruitment agent that your CV/résumé matches a list of keywords. That may sound cynical, but it reflects the reality many experienced contractors face today.
By Alan Spencer2 months ago in Chapters
Do Not Fear Your Inner Hippy: Ecstatic Dancing
My previous attempt at ecstatic dancing was foiled by my disorganization. It was before the pandemic. It was a dreary Sunday afternoon before the pandemic. I’d managed to get to the Odd Fellows’ Hall for the last hour. I could hear DJ BRIZE doing his thing while I took my socks and shoes off, I saw my friends on the dance floor and went in for hugs. And then, the music stopped. I had gotten the time wrong and missed it all. That attempt to try ecstatic dancing does not count.
By Kate Baggott2 months ago in Chapters
Infrared Lights & Yellow Lights of Caution
Is an experience still new if it ends up exactly where you knew it would? This week, I tried infrared light therapy. It’s one of those new technologies that is “backed by science.” Being under the lights is supposed to improve collagen production, improve skin conditions, speed recovery after exercise and a million other claims we’ve all seen on social media ads for treatments and devices.
By Kate Baggott2 months ago in Chapters
