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War Without End: South Sudan
Oct 3, 2012
Read this article for the United Church Observer, about refugee camps in South Sudan, based on my May 2012 visit. Click here for article. "Rim Badal, 15, stands outside the registration centre of the Doro refugee camp in the Maban district of ...
A Writer’s Worst Nightmare
Sep 28, 2012
Most writers would have paid strict attention this past week — and maybe woke up sweaty and trembling from nightmares — as events unfolded at The Globe and Mail. Columnist Margaret Wente was accused of plagiarism in a 2009 column and has been disciplined ...
Reviewing Reviews
Sep 20, 2012
Years ago, we made a batch of African Peanut Soup and served it up to our dinner guests, a young couple we were trying to fix up. We all heroically made our way through the muddy brown gunk in our bowls. We all ...
Operation Migration
Sep 19, 2012
Click here to read my profile of Operation Migration, a global leader in restoring migratory bird patterns, and inspiration for the 1996 movie Fly Away Home. "A large autographed poster hangs on the wall of Joe Duff's office on High Street in ...
Why Youth Leave the Church
Sep 18, 2012
Read this article, featuring ground-breaking new research on youth and the Canadian Church. This article first appeared in Faith Today magazine. "Hemorrhaging Faith identifies four major reasons why youth find Church worthwhile and stay in or return to it. These "drivers" to ...
A Visit to South Sudan
Sep 18, 2012
This article about my visit to South Sudan refugee camps appeared in Faith Today magazine and won the 2012 A.C. Forrest Memorial Award for excellence in religious journalism. Click here to read this article. "Even at 5000 feet above it, I knew ...
Write Local
Sep 13, 2012
■ A woman building a ballet slipper business, who caught the attention of American Idol's Randy Jackson. ■ A senior with an astonishingly large collection of moose figurines. ■ A musician creating a ministry of music for those who are dying and ...
Goodbye Good Friend
Sep 5, 2012
In Mexico, where we were when we received the news of my brother-in-law Doug’s tragic and incredibly premature passing, there are underground systems of tunnels that include deep pools of green water called cenotes. The water is cool and clear. It seems ...
Burger King and Writers
Jul 31, 2012
There will be no more professional writers in the future. That was the headline for a Globe and Mail story last week, mainly about how free content, e-books and self-publishing are making it almost impossible for authors to make a living. ...
Slaughter’s Controversial Article
Jul 24, 2012
I finally had the opportunity, and took the chunk of time required, to read Anne Marie Slaughter's controversial article Why Women Still Can't Have it All, published in Atlantic Magazine (July/Aug). Slaughter was the first woman director of policy planning at the ...
The power of not knowing
Jul 6, 2012
The other day I interviewed Reg Bibby, one of Canada's leading sociologists. It was for a story on why youth leave the Church and why they sometimes stay. What made the interview so remarkable to me wasn't what Bibby knew, which was ...
A funny thing happened
Jul 3, 2012
A funny thing happened to me on the way to this website. When I left for my assignment in South Sudan, this site was well on its way to being complete. When I returned, after six days of touring refugee camps and ...
Karen Stiller's Newsyletter
Every now and then I write a short e-newsletter. I’d love to have you join.