We were having brunch at the food court. Gay men can brunch anywhere. I had picked up my tempeh wrap and was taking my seat. One table over there was a guy, about 30, with Down Syndrome. His head was down and he was shaking it slowly. Two tables on the other side were a […]
It’s hard for me to write about my own relationship with my body. My body has been the subject of so many posts, but always as the object of other people’s either revulsion or derision. I want to claim some space and some air time and in doing so I push aside: what happened in […]
We have a dog visiting us today. He’s a big one, about a year old, and is a combination of coiled muscle and impulse decisions. It’s nice to have a dog in the house. It’s nice to be reminded of a dog’s ability to check out the environment and the people in the environment. Here’s […]
Zero tolerance for bullying! I hear that so often, and when I hear it, it is said with determination and there is fire in the eyes of the speaker. They say it. They believe it when it’s being said and they know it’s the right thing to say. But that’s the problem with all of […]
My father joined the Canadian Forces when he was 19 and served overseas during WWII. This was something he never really talked about with me, even though, as you can imagine, I tried. I was interested in where he’d been and what his experiences were and he was interested in not talking about it. I […]
I don’t know why I found it so hard to ask, but I did. It took me several weeks, or maybe even months, to make the call. But I did. A little over a year ago I joined a big study done through one of the major hospitals in the city of Toronto. It was […]
When I was a boy. An immature boy. I had no idea of what real adult love was like. And I had no idea of how my own cruelty would stay with me, permastamped in my memory. This is a story of the boy I was. And the man that my father was. It was […]
I remember the exact moment that the picture was taken. Joe and I had been visiting my father in the hospital and just before we were leaving, I asked if I could have a picture taken with him. He agreed and that set about the monumental task of moving things around, in a tight space, so […]
Photo Description: I am sitting beside my father in his hospital bed. He is holding my hand and we both are smiling. My father died yesterday morning. I went to visit him when he fell really ill a bit ago. During our visit we had a chance to talk and there was something, […]
I was pushing towards the washroom, rushing, when I saw a young mom with her son. He was looking up at her talking. Then he looked and saw me. He came to a dead stop. His finger went up, pointing directly at me. He called for his mother to look. She looked down and saw […]
