vilmablenman
Serena and Summer Say Bye
First, she said it surreptitiously in the Vogue interview. At the National Bank Open in Toronto, she said it clearly, with fanfare and...
Search
vilmablenman
- Jul 27
- 3 min
Apology & Analogy
At last. An apology—from the Pope himself, standing on Canadian soil, on First Nations grounds. And yet…so many questions still linger,...
61 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Jun 21
- 2 min
Celebrate! It's Summer Solstice
Celebrate it! Today, June 21st marks the summer solstice in our northern half of the hemisphere. It’s the longest day and night of light,...
30 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- May 24
- 3 min
Decisions, Decisions
We make them daily—monumental or inconsequential, from the moment we awake. Get up now or five minutes from now? Do I have a quick bowl...
27 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Apr 18
- 2 min
April--Arrival and Departure
In his ground-breaking post-war poem, “The Waste Land,” T. S. Eliot argues: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead...
36 views2 comments
vilmablenman
- Mar 16
- 2 min
Lent--Loaned Time
Yes, it’s the simple past tense of “lend” but when capitalized, the word, “Lent” denotes a liturgical season—40 days preceding Easter....
44 views2 comments
vilmablenman
- Feb 8
- 3 min
My Black Church & Black Identity
As another Black History Month rolls in and rolls on, I’m thinking of the forces that shaped my sense of Black identity, thinking of the...
37 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Jan 4
- 3 min
Go for Goals!
It’s Day 4 of 2022. How are you doing so far with your goals and resolutions? I’m asking you this not because I’m a goal-setting guru or...
9 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Dec 14, 2021
- 2 min
Christmas Comes Again
It’s another Covid Christmas with Omicron arriving just in time for the holidays. Oh dear. But despite the sobering reality of a pandemic...
13 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Sep 30, 2021
- 2 min
Truth & Pain
Today, the last day of September, the sunflowers bend their heavy heads, still pointed sunward. Today, the first National Truth and...
7 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Jul 1, 2021
- 2 min
Canada Day or Crying Day?
So, it’s Canada Day, and I don’t know what to say. What to say in the wake of the 215 remains found in unmarked graves at Kamloops Indian...
8 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Jun 14, 2021
- 2 min
Summer Birthday--Bring It On!
Yes, it happened again—another birthday, last week in fact. But I must say, after 60 plus years, I’m getting used to birthdays. And I’m...
12 views2 comments
vilmablenman
- Apr 24, 2021
- 1 min
Take a Deep Breath
This week we held our breath for the George Floyd murder verdict. Seems like we've been holding breath for years, for many reasons:...
11 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Apr 23, 2021
- 2 min
Holding Hope
Last Wednesday, I looked out across the backyard, past the wet fence, seeing only the milky morning sky and thinking: Another sunless day...
4 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Mar 31, 2021
- 2 min
Take This Trip This Easter!
Gethsemane Virtual Tour For Tired Pandemic Travelers This is the place, Gethsemane, an olive garden grove, much like your apple orchards...
7 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Feb 20, 2021
- 2 min
Black History Month: BitterSweet
It was 25 years ago that Jean Augustine, the first Black female MP, stood up in Parliament and introduced a milestone motion: Declare...
23 views0 comments
vilmablenman
- Aug 24, 2020
- 2 min
Back To School in Covid Times?
School will be a strange new world this September with Covid-19 still in the air.
36 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Jul 19, 2020
- 2 min
Summer Reset for Mental Health
With the heat wave and patios opening, you’d think we are ready to wave goodbye to the pandemic and the anti-racist revolution.
24 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Jul 5, 2020
- 2 min
Read my Canada Day-Inspired Poem: Lullaby for Olivier Le Jeune
I want to sing for him, sing something his mother may have sung
before she found him missing, sing to him as he lies cold.
34 views1 comment
vilmablenman
- Jun 26, 2020
- 2 min
Speak Right Words Right Now
Finding the right words for the uncomfortable conversations on race.
203 views5 comments