Recent Columns

Liz just wrote her first award-winning story. It’s called ‘Mr. Carrot’s Exciting Day.’ The award was a cookbook given by her Year 5 (that’s Grade 4 in Canada) teacher. And so Liz has been in the kitchen quite a bit these days, with her apron and smile and mango smoothies and other big rockin’ plans […]

We’re driving to school and Jon is sitting in front. I figure it’s a good time to talk about man stuff. ‘When you fight,’ I say, ‘don’t rely too much on your big toe.’ Jon is soaking his big toe in a bucket of salt water.  Short of having to cut his big toe off (Jon looked […]

(Christian Week - February 2013) KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ There was an old man with a secret. And there was a police cruiser and fire truck and ambulance, large with red lights in the darkness in front of the man’s house. And my children held my hand and looked up and asked me questions. What could I say?

My Bride and I share the driving duties, that is taking Our Three to school, although I have the good fortune of having a slightly larger slice of this particular parenting pie. And with all due respect to My Bride, the kids have a far better time with Dad. Take the other day. It was […]

 I should mention that before one embarks on something as foolish and dangerous as parenthood, you should get some training. One way to do this is to go to your local big-box bookstore, read everything you can get your hands on about being a great parent and then do the exact opposite. This is why my next […]

There is an art to doing Nothing. You can’t really try to do Nothing. The very act of trying means you’ll do a rotten job on it all. This is one of the reasons I love Hannah. Because of all the book characters that she could have been today, she chose Winnie the Pooh, the […]

The birds have hatched. I saw them during my morning elliptical routine in the music room. At first, the nest that’s just outside the room’s window seemed both empty and rundown, like Ma hadn’t made the bed for a couple of days. I thought she was gone for good to find a more suitable birthing […]

Your child’s name, of course, is very important and I’d suggest that Zeus or Apollo are fine choices for any boy, and Jezebel is not a bad option for the girls. If you have twins, you should also consider names that are complementary. Something like Ping and Pong, for example, could work quite well and give […]

In light of numerous thefts from our place in recent weeks, the pressure has been on for us to get a dog. Instead, I got a bird. This, as Faithful Reader knows, is in addition to the cat, that is THE CAT – the playboy cat who, by the way has been seen only once […]

We should never question the truth of what we fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders. I’ve heard this. And I, with many others, very much believe this. But the truth of death still seems so much louder, so much more distinct, so much more undeniable than the wonder of what even those […]

(The Hamilton Spectator - Friday, January 25, 2013) ARUSHA, TANSANIA ✦ Edward should be fired. I can't trust Alice. And our piano and laptop won’t resurface any more than anyone will know what happened to that $13 million. This is how it’s going around here. Not right here, actually. I’m on business one country over, just southeast from my home in Uganda. At the moment I’m drinking a cider of sorts, what the gentleman beside me called 'rotten apples,' a pretty good name, I think, for my recent experiences.

Unlike Maple Crest, where I started my school career as a very blonde and very skinny boy, the middle school I attended, Burleigh Hill, is still standing. During the two years I attended Burleigh Hill, I would go from my house along roads like Townline and Rowntree, past the Stop and Go corner store to […]

Speaking about the nature of God, my students will forgive me for inviting you into a recent class. And so will Jon. My class consists of a small number of Americans who meet in my Ugandan living room once a week to learn what they can about creative writing. They get their formal credit from […]

We were talking about God – is God a ‘He?’ is God a ‘She?’ is God ‘Something Else?’ – and we all had views on this night at the campus home of these university friends with all these other friends, while our kids, the whole brood and mix of them, were in another room watching a […]

We’re at the supper table with tacos and raw carrots and mom is not around and Jon looks at Liz and asks me if it’s possible for her to have a baby. ‘No,’ I said. This was my mistake. I should have just asked for more food or let out a good belch before pushing […]