Back in the early 60s, I called a new kid at our 100% WASP school a “DP”. I didn’t really know what it meant, but knew it was a slur. I still feel sick when I think about that - still see the look on his face.

My university residence included single rooms in a 30 year-old army barracks with paper thin walls. It was much more pleasant when my neighbour didn't get along with her boyfriend and he slept in his own room.

I used to work with a group of women who would go out together for lunch at a reasonably decent restaurant. The last time I joined them - I ordered the fish. Everyone was having a grand time, chatting and eating - except me. My fish had an ammonia taste to it and was inedible. I quietly spoke to the server - who took…

My husband and I are both atheist (much more common and acceptable in Canada) and were surprised when both of our kids decided in their pre-teens that they believed in God and wanted to join churches. We were kind of bemused with my daughter, who was very young and clearly "believed of God" because her best friend did…

My daughter married into a Virginia family. I don't know - maybe it's just me - but it seems there is more than a tinge of white heritage celebration to it. It doesn't seem to involve a lot of scholarship into Scottish history.

It reminds me of a dodgy review on Yelp or Trip Advisor. Too much detail to be credible.

My daughter wore an inexpensive, very simple ivory silk dress from J. Crew that looked like a million dollars. Of course - as her mother - I'm totally unbiased. Her husband's kilt and kit cost much more, but he really can wear it for years. I made my own dress (silk and simple) and I still like the way it looked. I…

Ah, or it could mean that the people who are looking for any real or imagined reason to blacken your name invent a controversy where one doesn't exist- or try to deflect criticism of their own indefensible behaviour. I'm not an American, but I believe this may have happened once or twice - say since President Obama…

Heck, make it a true daily double.

My first funeral was for my best friend, dead at 21 in a plane crash, newly married and a week away from fulfilling his lifelong dream of training as a commercial pilot. His widow asked that no one wear black. She was 20, he was 21. That was 40 years ago, and I've never worried about it since. People showed respect…

I don't get that sense at all - only that he was inappropriately controlling - more like an overbearing parent than a costar. The choices she made were not his business, any more than the career choices he made were her business.

I'm not a lawyer but I don't think free speech is the issue here. I think all they need to be found guilty of is breaching the student code of conduct. The College of Dentistry in Ontario has already demanded their names, stating categorically that they would not be licensed to practice in Ontario. If they graduate…

Mom may well have cosigned that raft of student loans that has kept them afloat for 8 years of university. Can you be angry and dry heave at the same time?

Seriously. I really do believe their was a danger of some of these men considering suicide. Parents, grandparents, partners (I know it seems unlikely). I can't imagine how devastated I would be if one of these were my son - or how bloody angry. They have no doubt been golden boys throughout much of their lives, and…

Just boys being boys - can't take a joke - and they've already suffered enough are my favourite head-slammers.

One of the issues that came up when this story first broke is that some of the faculty are god-awful as well. One of the professors showed a film of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models to "wake up" some of the men in the early morning class. Other members of faculty are celebrated in the"Gentlemen's Club" for their…

Future employers? How many McDonald's managers could get the time off?

My Boston inlaws came to visit us in Ontario when our first child was born. There was great disappointment that they were not greeted at the border by the RCMP Musical Ride.

This woman is indeed a shit-worm, and the thought of anyone stealing a dog and having it euthanized in secret makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the dog had a tumour is no excuse for anything. I am a cat lover, and for most of their lives, so were my sister and her husband. Once they retired and got two…

Trust me, the neighbours are not all"pretending". I was disconsolate for weeks after our last Hallowe'en in the old neighbourhood when the kids next door went straight to the grandparents' neighbourhood and didn't ring our doorbell all night. Ungrateful little wretches. After all the times I let them "help" me...