About three-quarters of the way into Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennel’s brutal treatise on rape culture, I was reminded of another piece of pop culture about which I am passionate: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. In one of my favorite bits of dialogue from the show, Willow, best friend of Buffy…

How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses? In a rising wind the manic dust of my friends, those who fell along the way, bitterly stings my face. …

My husband almost died last year. It is exactly as dramatic as it sounds. For all of my attempts to reduce it, reshape it, banish it from our minds and hearts, it is what happened. At some point during the terrifying 48 hours in which his condition was worsening, there…

My son started at a new school a week or so ago. Other than his father, he is the bravest person I know, and I know he is going to be just fine. In time, he will be fine. In the meantime, there are wobbles here and there. I am…

I have finally made peace with my birth story. It’s been a long journey. I know that my story is not the stuff of which natural birth fairy tales are made. Although I did (unknowingly) labour, and had the support of a wonderful doula, my birth was not ‘physiological’. …