Ten years ago I was sitting on the patio of the Bay Street Bistro, having a celebratory lunch with my two daughters. We were marking the completion of another school year. Our lives were about to change. A young woman, her arms embracing a worn cardboard box, stops on the sidewalk and signals to us… Read more »

Christmas is lurking just beyond my emotional horizon. It’s an ambiguous day for me. Sometimes I’m in a festive spirit and look forward to the eggnog, but other years crass commercialization overwhelms my sensibilities, and I’m not so merry. Christmas is ideally a festive, family-oriented season. However, this year the holiday brings with it mixed… Read more »

This article originally appeared April 10, 2009, in issue 1714. I know the signs; I’ve seen them before. In the beginning the hints are subtle; there are slight hesitations before agreeing to do as I ask. The hesitations last no longer than the taking of a deep breath, but they seem to last for an… Read more »

I know the signs; I’ve seen them before. In the beginning the hints are subtle; there are slight hesitations before agreeing to do as I ask. The hesitations last no longer than the taking of a deep breath, but they seem to last for an eternity. It’s not outright mutiny I’m facing, but an inclination… Read more »

This article originally appeared July 18, 2008, in issue 1628. In Tegucigalpa, summer lies over the palm-shrouded streets like a blanket some torpid god has thrown carelessly upon the slovenly city. The courtyard’s metal gate crackles when opened. It’s early in the a.m. The day’s heat will build, until my nostrils fill with a metallic… Read more »

I’ve got the budget blues, but then It’s good to have a budget to be blue about. I didn’t always have a budget, because I didn’t consider one necessary. The budgetary process sounds complex, irritating, and time-consuming. There are so many demands upon my energy reserves, as a part-time student/full-time family man, that the last… Read more »

The turkey I stuffed this morning stuffed me this afternoon. I lean back in the armchair and take a break from my reading of Dickens’s Bleak House and massage my stomach. I contemplate the contrast between my childhood and the existence that Mrs. Jellyby’s ragged children endure. Lucky for me to be born to parents… Read more »

I’m a troglodyte. However, I’ve embraced modern distance education with a passion. It’s a tumultuous affair carried out over vast distances interjected with?or so it seems to me?long periods of silence. There are days when my email inbox welcomes me with a cryptic ?There are no messages in this folder? as I wait expectantly for… Read more »

In Tegucigalpa, summer lies over the palm-shrouded streets like a blanket some torpid god has thrown carelessly upon the slovenly city. The courtyard’s metal gate crackles when opened. It’s early in the a.m. The day’s heat will build, until my nostrils fill with a metallic smell. I hear the water vendor’s groaning cart roll downhill… Read more »

We love to hear from you! Send your questions and comments to voice@ausu.org, and please indicate if we may publish your letter. Re: IS IT TIME TO ABOLISH THE MONARCHY? By Mandy Gardner Mandy Gardner suggests, in her article Is It Time to Abolish the Monarchy, that by remaining a “willing member of the Commonwealth”… Read more »