Journalist
EDUCATION
What's behind a school board blunder?
The TDSB has shown a stunning lack of curiosity
The Globe and Mail, November 2021
The post-pandemic classroom shouldn't be based around screens
The pandemic must not become disaster capitalism’s moment in the classroom, when we are hoodwinked into believing that education is best delivered through machines.
The Globe and Mail, August 2021
There's too much screen time in the classroom
Why are schools indulging kids' digital dependency?
The Globe and Mail, November 2020
No child left behind
We need to work together to get kids back to school
The Globe and Mail, September 2020
Home school: lessons from a pandemic
Bored is good. Let's enjoy boredom
The Globe and Mail, March 2020
The real losers in the teachers strike
If Doug Ford wants an education system that parents respect, he might have to learn to respect their children
The Globe and Mail, January 2020
When kids dread recess, we have a problem
Recess in its current form is failing to provide the physical activity and social opportunities that are its raison d'être – and the consequences are serious.
The Globe and Mail, February 2019
Removing class size caps doesn't solve problems
The Ford government’s latest swing of his deficit-slashing hatchet has nothing to do with education – and everything to do with the looming spring budget.
The Globe and Mail, January 2019
The home and school association
Toronto kindergartners learn a real-life lesson about homelessness
The Globe and Mail, November 2018
Doug Ford is failing on the education file
The Premier will have to listen to the people: all the people, not just the ones he likes
The Globe and Mail, August 2018
Absent teachers aren't solving problems - they're creating new ones
This is the season of the substitute, as regular teachers vanish and instruction gives way to games, movies and popsicles.
The Globe and Mail, June 2018
A hard lesson: the digital classroom can really fail
“Technology can amplify great teaching but great technology will not replace poor teaching.”
The Globe and Mail, May 2018
Our kids face real dangers – cartwheels and pizza aren’t among them
Don't ban cartwheels, teach them.
The Globe and Mail, September 2017
More Phys Ed in Schools!
Schools need to stop considering physical activity a fun distraction from the serious business of academic work and recognize that it is essential to learning.
The Globe and Mail, September 2017
Why do French Immersion, if it means more tutoring?
La problème (sic) avec French Immersion
The Globe and Mail, March 2017
Report cards are failing parents and their kids
The fact that my son "writes different kinds of texts following models to communicate a certain purpose" leaves me rather cold.
The Globe and Mail, June 2016
Lunchtime Lunacy
With nearly 100 kids per lunchroom supervisor, in a windowless basement, it's no wonder kids are not feeling the "wellness" the TDSB so hopes for
The Globe and Mail, November 2016
Banning cartwheels: what’s the point of recess with no fun?
Risk is a big word in parenting theses days; in fact, we may be the most paranoid generation of parents in history.
The Globe and Mail, October 2015
Could WiFi in schools be harming our kids?
"We're asking much bigger questions, like what is education? Are these devices good for society generally? Is this speed of innovation a good thing? The stakes here are huge."
The Globe and Mail, May 2014
The Anti-Nut Nutiness
Public health authorities face a tricky challenge, determining how to balance the concerns of the allergic individual against the well-being of the group. Meanwhile, immunologists are warning about the unintended consequences of widespread nut avoidance.
The Globe and Mail, February 2014
PARENTING / CHILDCARE
At the breaking point
COVID-19 has shown how unbreakable mothers are – underscoring the need for stronger child-care policies
The Globe and Mail, March 2021
Halloweening during a pandemic
Halloween must not be reduced to the profane act of candy collection.
The Globe and Mail, October 2020
Mothering during a pandemic
Mothers give a lot. They also get a lot back
The Globe and Mail, May 2020
A parent's nightmare
Your spouse abducts your children to another country and the government is in no rush to help
The Globe and Mail, April 2019
Why I don’t shield my kids from the news
There’s a prevailing belief in our culture that the innocence of childhood is sacred and must be preserved at all costs. I don’t agree.
Today's Parent, September 2017.
The Story of Us was not a failure: ask my kids
It did not present a perfect, exhaustive chronology – the most deadening approach to history – but highlighted the drama, the stories within the histories, some of the main historic arcs.
The Globe and Mail, June 2017
Has Old-fashioned fun been trumped by fears of injury and liability?
CBC - Crosscountry Checkup, January 2016
Shelf the Elf!
Why are we lining up in big-box stores in exurbia to buy something inferior to what our kids can happily supply themselves?
The Globe and Mail, December 2015
Sometimes there are monsters under your bed
This was first heard on the Doc Project, CBC Radio, September 2015
Best Summer Ever
There's no small irony in the fact that, while we love them to death, we're depriving our children of one of the richest aspects of our own childhoods: freedom.
Cottage Life, July 2015
Once upon a time there was a Mayor
In all the chatter around the Rob Ford story, there’s been a lot of parental soul-searching about how to explain the situation to kids.
my blog, February 2014
Take my kids, please!
When I moved back to Toronto from Berlin, a newly single mum, my first order of business was finding good, affordable childcare for my two boys. What I discovered was a daycare system on the verge of collapse.
Toronto Life, September 2012
National Magazine Award nomination
TRANSPORTATION
Toronto's measures to prevent pedestrian deaths have fallen short
356 lives have been lost on Toronto streets since the city resolved to drive fatalities to zero.
The Globe and Mail, November 2021
Driving past the point of no return
SUVs are killing the planet and pedestrians - so why do Canadians keep driving them?
The Globe and Mail, December 2019
Why did our children stop walking to school?
Maturity can be fostered, but not in the back seat of a car
The Globe and Mail, October 2019
Who's Doug Ford trying to please?
Traffic flow is a problem on Ontario highways, but a 10km/h raise in speed limits isn’t going to fix it. The move is nothing more than a distraction from a much bigger problem: The transportation sector is the main contributor of greenhouse gases in this province.
The Globe and Mail, May 2019
Lord of the Flies on Wheels
How is the driver supposed to manage this?
The Globe and Mail, November 2018
Kids in Public Transit - Who could object to that?
“Helicopter parenting” has metastasized well beyond the parent, into the reaches of schools, institutions and provincial ministries
The Globe and Mail, September 2017
What is a fit penalty when a driver takes a pedestrian’s life?
One would hope that the judicial process would at least provide some clarity and that penalties would act as a serious deterrent.
The Globe and Mail, December 2016
Why the SUV mentality needs to change
Speed limits and stop signs can do only so much to control powerful vehicles. We need to look at their design - and drivers.
The Globe and Mail, November 2015
Slow Down
Toronto’s roads are the most perilous in the country for pedestrians. The solution is simple, smart and anathema to an already gridlocked city: make drivers slow down.
Toronto Life, May 2015
Far from Home
The Dasni family survived unspeakable horrors in Iraq. When they arrived in Toronto last year, they had nothing: no money, no English and only a vague idea of where Canada was on a map.
Chatelaine, November 2017.
Digital Publishing Award nomination
Canada’s two-tiered refugee system
Among the chaos, great generosity
The Globe and Mail , May 2016
IMMIGRATION
FOOTPRINT
Tamara Vrooman is banking on change
Canada Infrastructure Bank’s new chair takes the long view on shaping the nation’s post-pandemic future
Corporate Knights, April 2021
Green recovery can build solidarity, if done right
EU offers model for attaching green strings to recovery plans while driving a unity of purpose that Canada needs
Corporate Knights, September 2020
A holly, jolly Christmas - while the planet burns
Between climate change, the most severe spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and global pollution on an unprecedented scale, Earth has little cause for celebration
The Globe and Mail, December 2018
Bürger power
A nascent movement in Berlin wants to transform the municipal grid into a greener citizen-led co-op.
Corporate Knights, March 2016
Hot Topic
Should we bury nuclear waste near the Great Lakes?
Cottage Life, May 2015
Israel’s fountain of youth
An entrepreneurial shift among Israeli youth is helping to create a green oasis in a country worried about dependence on oil.
Corporate Knights, March 2015
Raising a greener glass
Wine and beer drinkers have never had more variety when it comes to products boasting lower environmental impacts.
Corporate Knights, June 2014
Debating population
There may be too many people on the planet, but population control alone won't save a species afflicted with overconsumption
Corporate Knights, December 2013
PHILANTHROPY
Concrete Jungle
Mixing philanthropy and public space
Corporate Knights, June 2016
Meddling billionaires
Their intentions are good, but when the super rich decide to back a cause, ego can sometimes undermine the hard work of NGOs.
Corporate Knights, October 2015
The Rich-Giving Paradox
Is it possible to judge the charitable nature of a person by the pricetag on their car?
Recent research suggests yes.
Corporate Knights, January 2014
OUR HOME & NATIVE LAND
Canadians don’t know how to vacation
A holiday, as the Oxford English tells us, is "a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done." So why do we continue to desecrate them?
The Globe and Mail, March 2018
Amokfahrt in der Frühlingssonne von Toronto
Der Tagesspiegel, March 2018
No ‘fake Christmas’ in our house: Only a real tree will do
There's something quite remarkable about bringing a mammoth chunk of nature into our increasingly sterile urban homes.
Globe and Mail, December 2017
Neither Rhyme nor Reason to Ontario’s beer sales “shake-up”
Treating alcohol as a forbidden fruit, best kept under lock and key, does nothing to keep it out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have it.
The Globe and Mail, December 2015
R.C. Harris: the man behind the Bloor Street Viaduct
Designed to transport water, traffic and electricity, it was built in 1918.
Toronto Star, July 2015
Front Lines, Home Fires
In the early 1940s, the battle fields of Europe and the sunny shores of Muskoka were closer than it seemed.
Cottage Life , Summer 2015
International Regional Magazine Award nomination
Bin ich schön?
Moderne Dorfschönheiten in der Einwandererstadt Toronto
ubuntu (SOS Kinderdörfer) April 2011
DISPATCHES FROM GERMANY
The Conscience of a Nation
Monument to peaceful revolution a symbol of how Germans are still coming to term with the fall of the wall
National Post,November 2014
If music can’t change the world, maybe film can
Neil Young's not angry, he just doesn't mince his words
The Globe and Mail, March 2009
Canadians come out strong at Berlinale
Berlin festival programmers know Canadian film better than most Canadians do
The Globe and Mail, February 2009
Procreative Prenzlauer Berg
Berlin neighborhood is a mecca for young families
Spiegel Online, August 2008
Who’s the Papa? Papers, please
A pregnant Canadian heads to the old Stasi arsenal to register her baby's paternity
The Ottawa Citizen, April 2008
Berlinale Bust or Buzz?
Stars such as the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Penelope Cruz may have turned out on in force for this year's Berlinale, but there were few cinematic masterpieces.
Spiegel Online, February 2008
Let There Be Light
An Alpine town reflects on plans to brighten things up
The Walrus, December 2007
Get off my swing set, Grandma!
Playgrounds for seniors - why not, given demographic trends
The Globe and Mail, May 2007
Ich bin ein (hammered) Berliner
One Saturday night late last month, a 16-year-old boy succeeded in downing 56 shots of tequila in a drinking competition at a west Berlin bar.
The Globe and Mail, March 2007
All eyes are trained on Enemy
There’s a nice kind of historical symmetry to this year’s Berlinale
The Globe and Mail, February 2007
Requiem for Bruno: We bearly knew him
Farewell to Bruno, Germany's most famous and shortest lived brown bear
The Globe and Mail, July 2006
Visitor becomes unbearable
At first, Germany put out the welcome mat for JJ1, who invaded from Austria. Then there were those incidents with the sheep and the chickens.
The Globe and Mail, June 2006
Spuddenfreude
Efforts to save Linda, a venerable German potato
The Walrus, June 2006
The medium is English
Who's smarter - the French or the English?
Sign and Sight, May 2006
Portman storms the Berlinale
It's hard to focus on the movie when the exquisite Natalie Portman is at the press conference.
The Globe and Mail, February 2006
Behind the Tent
Dancing tents from Iran
The Walrus, February 2006
The Sound of Music
As a child growing up in Canada, I understood there to be two kinds of Europeans: French ones and German ones.
This essay was first heard on CBC Dispatches in December 2005.
Phillip Earl of Hessen meets the Fast Runner
Bringing Atanarjuat to Marburg
This essay was first heard on CBC Dispatches in January 2005.
The sound of Snow in Berlin
Michael Snow talks about this, that and the other.
The Globe and Mail, July 2002
All eyes are trained on Enemy
The future of Studio Babelsberg may rest on the decay of its past
The Globe and Mail, February 2001
Love under Hitler
'Jaguar' was a lesbian Jew who died in the Holocaust. 'Aimée' was a Nazi's wife -- and her lover.
The Globe and Mail, January 2001