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Let us be kind every day, simply because we can be. Let the rest go...

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We can be so many things Every day, any day So let us be kind Every day, any day Let us always be kind I was taken aback when I realized, last week, that September 11th, this year, marked the 25th anniversary of that dreadful event named simply by its date. I remember being at work that day, time unfolding as it became clear, slowly, what was going on. We watched it on television, no smartphones to send videos across the distance, just each other, right there, together. Trying to make sense. The next day, the wicked awfulness became headlines, then weeks and months and years of news coverage and wars and death and more death and ongoing politics, destruction, and the very worst of humanity. And, yet, what brings me to tears about September 11th, anytime, is the kindness that also existed back on that day. Especially the kindness shown by the people of Gander, Newfoundland , shown to the thousands whose planes were grounded there on that day. The story from there is about the best of h...
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Book review: SISU - How my mother’s fight for her death changed the course of my life by Shaana Hamm

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SISU - How my mother’s fight for her death changed the course of my life By Shaana Hamm FriesenPress 2025 Review by Amanda Le Rougetel Death comes to us all, but how we die is unique to each of us. My father died of a heart attack, in hospital, in the middle of the night, alone. My mother died with medical assistance , at home, with my sister and me holding her hands. Two deaths, very different one from the other. I was relieved my father had been released from his failing body, but I was honoured to help my mother ease her way from this world in a way she wanted, was able to chose, and was grateful to have. About 76,000 people in Canada have chosen an assisted death since medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was legalized in this country in 2016. By reading SISU, a memoir by Shaana Hamm, I learned how very different a MAiD death can be from what I witnessed with my mother’s — and I was reminded how important it is that we share our stories by writing them and sharing them. How else can...
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Dolly and Gloria: gone, but forever in our hearts — and our politics

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Dolly Parton: 1946-2026                             Gloria Steinem: 1934-2026   “I believed in my talent.” Dolly Parton “Self-esteem isn’t everything —  it’s just that there’s nothing without it.” Gloria Steinem Some humans are larger than life due to talent, skill, hard work, and a bit of luck. They make headlines for good reason, and they draw paying crowds who want to experience them live and in person. We want these out-of-the-ordinary humans, these leaders and heroes, to give us something in that moment that we cannot experience through the page or screen or recording. When I saw Dolly Parton in concert, I was somewhat disappointed because it seemed to me the whole performance was canned to within an inch of every rhinestoned costume change and every song sung — the same for us in Winnipeg as it had been yesterday in Toronto and would be tomorrow in Vancouver. Staged, not spontaneous and truly ‘liv...
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HOW TO BE A WRITER IN FOUR STEPS: a handbook for anyone who wants to build a writing life

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I am launching my book in Winnipeg on Saturday, October 3! Details below. I am distributing the book myself; you can pre-order your copy here .    Advance readers are saying How to be a Writer in Four Steps is...“engaging and accessible”, “practical and inspiring”, “authoritative without being pedantic”,  and “This book will motivate and support anyone considering a serious writing practice.”
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Anniversary post: 33 years - how did we get here?

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Amanda and Val: enjoying each other in our pre-relationship days. I did not realize what was happening... 33 years together 💝 adventures hikes in the woods ice chips from the frozen lake in our martinis cycling, roller blading, cross-country skiing, boating  growing things, making meals, renovating homes and cottages talking  laughing  loving We were introduced by a mutual friend, probably in 1991. I was immediately struck by Val's red hair and, over time, became enamoured of many things about her, including her intellectual heft. But I was entrenched in a long-term relationship, so the time I spent with Val was just innocent fun — bowling with a group for my birthday (Dykes for Strikes, I called the event) or canoe-camping with friends in beautiful Lake of the Woods (Ontario). And then it wasn't.  Innocence gave way to wonder that a relationship could be so rich with potential for me, so grounded in respect of each other, and equality between us. And so lively...
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Grow tomatoes, don't be a world-class jerk

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Our tomatoes, last week How to grow a tomato How not to be a world-class jerk How to grow a tomato Plan in winter Plant in spring Tend in summer Eat in autumn Of course, it doesn’t actually ever go like that, it goes more like this: The planning in winter is ideal, the mind-image perfection. The planting in spring gets delayed because of climate-change-odd weather. The tending in summer is complicated by other commitments, more enticing than watering, pruning, weeding. The eating — well, that happens, regardless;  the culmination of bounty or scarcity, whatever the fruit on the vine.  Whether  red and sun-ripe or green and brown-paperbag-prayers,  the tomatoes find their way to my enjoyment, alimentation, appreciation... inspiring the seeds, already, of next year’s crop. *** How not to be a world-class jerk It’s simple:  Be kind.  Be nice.  Be polite.   Don’t be mean; it’s nasty.  Don’t tell us who to trade with; that’s our decision, alw...
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Book review: The Woman Who Swallowed West Hawk Lake by Deborah Schnitzer

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The Woman who Swallowed West Hawk Lake by Deborah Schnitzer London, ON: Ardith Publishing 2026 available through Amazon Review by Amanda Le Rougetel This highly original and creative novel, presented in multiple layers of memory and textual artifacts, challenged me to think beyond what I expect to see on the pages of a book, and to hand myself and my reading experience over to the unfolding storylines within its cover. Two young children, a girl and a boy, suffer a sense of isolation from their extended family members when their mother is taken ill and taken away from them. When they visit her, they sense she is no longer the mother they thought she was to them. Meanwhile, the man they call ‘nazi’ — spelled lower case when referenced by the children but upper case when the adults discuss him — is hanging around, apparently taking photographs. Why? Who is he? And what has really happened to their mother? The children’s deepening sense of unease is coupled with a growing understanding o...
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