The social upheaval experienced around the world over the past two years has been difficult to fathom and overwhelming to process. At times, we’ve felt numb to the sheer enormity of suffering we’ve seen and have struggled sorely to help our children make sense of the senselessness just as we, ourselves, have struggled. COVID seems […]

It’s been a couple of decades since my own graduate work in sociology and education had me analyzing the world around us.  This past weekend’s events almost caused me to pull out the old textbooks to read up on social change theory. I didn’t (to the great relief of my family) so let’s just agree […]

It’s complicated. That’s what the Toronto District School Board failed to appreciate when it made a pro forma decision to remove two books from a TDSB supported book club for girls, thereby setting off a spectacular social media firestorm of debate. I find it ironic that a public board that talks a good equity game […]

Edgar Degas once said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” That makes sense to me. I often find myself learning through art. It was music in the early 1980s that revealed the brutal injustice of apartheid, prompting me to learn more about the history of South Africa, of activists […]

If I’ve learned anything from the past 18 months of COVID living, it’s the importance of being adaptable and self-aware. Just when I think we’ve turned a corner, another pot hole (or sink hole) appears in the road. It’s been frustrating to say the least, but it’s also reminded me of the need to be […]

Dr. Foster’s Commencement Address to the Class of 2021 on Trafalgar Day: A few years ago – it was before COVID so it feels like more than a decade ago – we set out to create a new mission statement for our school. An organization’s mission is an important thing. It explains the reason that […]

You were found in unmarked graves Acts of genocide Your precious lives taken   With spirits so strong We heard your cries To go home    Rest well little ones And fly high with our ancestors We will not forget you   You are sacred By Leah Gazen, MP Winnipeg Centre I imagine her playing […]

“Sugar and spice and everything nice….”  You know the rest, don’t you? That message, delivered to girls from the time they understand the tacit meaning of pink and blue, underpins and undermines the long and frustrating fight for gender equality.  “Choose to Challenge”, the campaign theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, reminds us that […]

Last week, I listened to Parts 1 and 2 of the four-part podcast Test Kitchen. Hosted by Sruthi Pinnamaneni and produced by Gimlet Media, the series investigates accusations of a toxic and racist workplace culture at Bon Appetit magazine. Before Part 3 could be produced, it was announced that Sruthi Pinnamaneni and fellow Host PJ […]

I don’t know one person who hasn’t heard the name Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate whose words touched the hearts of a nation, if not the world, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden.  Her indelible delivery, so poised and resonant, was made all the more impressive when you understand the speech […]