On June 19, around 930pm, my friend and I drove by Reggae’s Caribbean Restaurant a new Jamaican restaurant on Christina St, and they had a full patio. The owner is from out of town and moved to Sarnia to set up this business with his family, and it was exciting to see a new restaurant …
Reggae’s Noise Complaints Exposes Sarnia’s Racism Read More »
I don’t mindliftingthe weightof manyif it’s what we want It is lightwhen you are thereand you look me inthe eyesand see me It is easywhen we are together Not untilone day I’mstill carrying it alland you are staring through mewondering why i’m doing it at alland you forgotits what we wanted
Last year in Downtown Sarnia, the Chamber of Commerce made a bold suggestion, that council approved, to shut down Christina St on the weekends during the summer. For the most part it was an excellent success. Restaurants let their patios flow onto the street, people had space to socially distance while they walked and explored …
Turning Christina St Into Pedestrian-Only For Weekends Is A Good Idea Read More »
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 For the last five years I’ve been meeting with an EMDR therapist. It’s a type of therapy that has been primarily used for those with PTSD but can also be used for more micro-traumas. There are different criticisms …
Lessons I’m Trying To Learn: Don’t Avoid Sadness Read More »
i don’t want today to be about yesterdayi want more than memoriesi want futureshopevisionoptions when today is about tomorrow it brings life when all i have already has beenwhat is left? there is one thingmemoryprovidesthat sets the table fortomorrow gratitude for each momentand personand shared care there is another thingthat lurks behind gratitude loss and …
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 One of the books that really impacted me was Awareness by Anthony De Mello. He was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist who died in 1987. This book reads like you are eavesdropping on someone who just took …
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 From my point of view, I don’t think Eights are very judgmental (humility isn’t our strong suit either if you can tell). We tend to have an open mind about things and are quick to empathy if we …
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 The vice of an Eight is lust, or what Richard Rohr would call intensity. The ego tries to force life into feeling real and alive again and looks for any opportunity to do that. The vice of the …
Lessons I’m Trying To Learn: Life Won’t End If I Don’t Get Dopamine Read More »
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 Ever since I can remember, I’ve been way too confident. I was in my early teens when my mother looked me in the eye and said, “you know Nathan, there are so many great things about you, and …
Lessons I’m Trying To Learn: Confidence Is A Burden Read More »
Ever since I’ve been in high school I have heard of the apparent ‘gay agenda;’ that gay people and liberals are supposedly trying to spread around the world. Seven years ago, I wrote about a sermon that my old pastor preached on his fear of the ‘gay agenda.’ He is quoted in the sermon saying …
The Evangelical Backlash To Bill C-6 Is Exposing Their Homophobia Read More »
Thanks to Rev. Adam Kilner for rallying churches in Sarnia to come out publicly in support of Bill C-6 and oppose our MP Marilyn Gladu’s opposition and petition to try and amend or abolish the bill. (more context here and here). These things are important to put in the history books and are helpful for …
List of Churches in Sarnia-Lambton that are for and against Bill C-6 Read More »
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 My best friend Darryl put me onto the idea that the way to true community and self awareness was vulnerability. Mixed with Brene Brown and Parker Palmer going on about vulnerability from their platforms, I knew that vulnerability …
Lessons I’m Trying To Learn: Transparency is Not Vulnerability Read More »
I’ve called out Marilyn Gladu, our local Member of Parliament, a few times over the last few years primarily for her dangerous religious ideology that seeps through her politics as she petitions our federal government, on our behalf, to make Canada a less safe place to live for everyone. Well, she’s up to more harmful …
This is part of Fire! Ready! Aim! Series: Essays on Lessons Learned by an Enneagram Social 8w7 When I hear the term ‘submission’ I think of someone overpowering someone else, the final move of a fight where one person conquers another. No one wants to be on the other end of a submission. It’s humiliating …
I’ve been playing around with the idea of writing a collection of short essays for a while now. I want to share my experiences, insights and challenges of what my Eightness on the Enneagram has meant and been for me. After discovering the Enneagram six or seven years ago, it has been such an incredible …
Fire! Ready! Aim! Essays on Living as a Social 8w7 Read More »
Like many of us, I just recently switched over to Signal from WhatsApp and I’ve been getting all my contacts to do so as well. Thanks Elon. One thing threw me off with Signal was that there was no obvious way to backup my Signal backups onto my Google Drive. I’ve made the mistake one …
How To Backup Signal To Google Drive Automatically Read More »
On July 13, 2020 ago I made a motion to ask questions of the board of Bluewater Power which failed. Before failing, the mayor lectured me about how I had the audacity to question the mayor’s integrity because a $10,000 expense showed up in his expense report from a donation from Bluewater Power. As you …
Mike Bradley, Janice McMichael-Dennis and Bluewater Power Donations Read More »
There has been quite a kerfuffle here in Sarnia the last few months. A motion was put forward by Councillor Stark to make some requests of Bluewater Power. The vote passed 5-3. A few days later we received an e-mail from the solicitor claiming technical glitches which resulted in Councillor Boushy’s vote being misheard. Therefore, …
when you latch on to themand they latch onto youwith intent on becoming onerearranging desire, pain and hope latching comes with the burden of intentlayers and layers and layersof whyforced to be reckoned with egolikedpowersecurityhappinesssexdesiresuccessfriendshipwitness uncertainty starts to creep inmaybe you are actually alonemaybe there won’t be reciprocationmaybe they just can’tmaybe they are scaredgod know …
In my foray into politics I was struck early on of the different kinds of politicians that there are. At the risk of oversimplifying, I would put them into two categories. The first group are those that are politicians based on their values. They have a worldview that is made up of certain values, and …