Category: Health
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Kingston Pen: The Original Social Distancing
I was going to refer to incarceration as the “ultimate” social distancing. But it’s not. Death is the ultimate social distancing. Prison is purgatory, a reduced state between life and not life that, hopefully, ends in a return to some kind of normal. In the meantime, the Correctional Service of Canada battles Covid-19 outbreaks in… Read more
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If I Wake – A Photographic Exhibition by Andrea Cordonier
I trust Freud less and nature more You are invited to the launch of my latest photographic exhibition, If I Wake. The exhibition explores the absolute effect on creativity, mental health and well-being of simple and direct exposure to nature. As for Freud? I can have no dream more wondrous than what I see with my… Read more
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Love Your Children Well
For the past few years, I’ve been struck by intermittent doubts about whether we’re raising our children “right.” Our house is filled with a gaggle of teenagers. As our eldest nears university, his upbringing is a done deal, the question a moot point. As for the others, it is said that parents have a diminishing influence… Read more
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The Place We Put Our People
It is the remarkable uniformity – the sameness – that slaps me in the face. Pleasant. Clean. Spacious. Orderly. Middle class. Nice. A place you walk into and believe that your dad, mom or grandpa will be safe and taken care of, that everything will be okay, that you’re doing The Right Thing. These buildings, like clusters… Read more
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A Reasonable Expectation of Undisturbed Rest
[pullquote]I am awake, but ’tis not time to rise, neither have I slept enough…I am awake, yet not in paine, anguish or feare, as thousands are. ~ 17th Century religious meditation for the dead of night[/pullquote] With winter darkness falling at 5:00pm, I’m lucky to remain vertically upright until nine. After a hard day’s labour,… Read more
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The Consequences of Living With Animals
I don’t know how to say this delicately so I’m just going to say it: my kid has pinworms. Read more
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CurioCabinet: Anatomy of a House
Ma’a’seh Toviyah Venice, 1708. Woodcut. National Library of Medicine. Toviyah Kats (ca. 1652-1729) [author] This illustration from a Hebrew encyclopedia pairs the interior of a human interior with the interior of a house, a visual metaphor: the organs, like rooms in… Read more
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Mr. Toilet’s Big Squat
A funny, bold short film about Mr. Toilet, a social entrepreneur who, as his nickname suggests, has issues with poop. Jack Sim most specifically has a problem with 40% of the world’s population not having access to toilets in their homes and communities. No toilets = contaminated drinking water = unnecessary death and suffering. His… Read more
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The Bed Bug Registry
Bedbugs. Say that word in a crowd and watch everyone take two giant steps backwards. While I’ve not experienced a bedbug infestation, I did unknowingly introduce a nasty case of fleas into a friend’s apartment once while travelling overseas. Not good. Obsessing about bedbugs seems like a terrific way to ruin a holiday.… Read more