Voices
Life after the death of an only child
I was only nine years old when Leah died.
The phone rang, piercing the silence of an early November morning, and my mom dragged herself out of bed to answer it. Spying out of a small crack in my bedroom door, I watched as my mom sunk into the couch, her trembling hands holding the phone to her ear as her best friend Kathy Cloutier delivered the news that her only daughter Leah had made the decision to take her own life.
- By Tanis Brown
Student with cerebral palsy writes about her life, university studies and career aspirations
Some people tell me that I am stubborn and that I can't take no as an answer.
However, being born with a disability and having to cope with the daily physical challenges that accompany it, I sometimes hear the words “you can't do that” or “you won't be able to do that.”
- By Sarah Harrower
I’ll have fries with a side of fries
I am a vegetarian, and have been for most my life, even though my understanding of what was involved took some years to develop.
I remember a time when I was five-years-old, my grandma left her kitchen, with me leaning over the table, my tiny legs dangling over the chair, while she went upstairs to call my uncle in for his chicken curry.
She returned to find a plate of curry sauce and me asking, "Chicken isn't really meat is it Nana?"
- By JENNI O’NYONS
A look at how Christmas is celebrated halfway across the world
"What, there's no Santa Claus?!" a classmate uttered, completely bewildered.
I guess I surprised her when I said that Santa Claus does not make a stop in my home country, Austria.
- By VERENA ISAK