Hey Fair Players, This weekend the Blue Jays — Toronto’s professional baseball team — lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But honestly my dudes, I could not be more proud of this incredible team. And I know many other Torontonians and Canadians are too. Full disclosure — I am not a huge baseball fan. I came of age in the 90s, and was fully on-board the first time the Jays won the World Series. But since then, my interest has waned. For this 2025 World Series I have been fully in...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Hi my Fair Playing friends, Last week I had a massive head cold. It was really crappy, and seemed to hold onto my body for dddaaaaayyyyss… I’m well aware that having a bad head cold is not the end of the world. Especially in the face of so much upheaval out there (hello!). But as I sat on the couch bored out of my tree for the fourth day in a row, I reflected on a specific moment in my life. It was probably 2018 or 2019, when I was doing my postdoc. I remember waking up one Friday morning...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hey friends, My son is in the process of making post-secondary decisions. He’s got three excellent and very different university choices. As a typical teenage-boy worth his salt, he recoils at the idea of me giving advice. And I definitely try to stay away from being “helpy-helpy.” That said, as a mother worth my salt, of course I have advice. And my big advice to him about making the selection? Choose community. “But Julia” you might be thinking, “isn’t post-secondary education about...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hi my friends, The funny thing about creativity is that you have to go through a whole lotta failures to get to something decent, let alone something good. From the outside, it can sometimes look like creative projects emerge fully formed. Gorgeous and poignant and resonant. But truthfully, they’re super messy, often awkward, and filled with some really bad stuff within the process. Here’s an example: Years ago, I worked on a collaborative theatre project about traumatic brain injury called...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
My friends, Today’s newsletter is about love. So, let me ask you: Is there anything more important than love? I mean, once you’ve got food, water and shelter covered, I really doubt there is… Whoa, that’s a big question right outta the gate, Julia. What’s the deal? When I was teaching at the University of Toronto in the Department of Health & Society, I took over a lower-year lecture class called Introduction to Health Humanities. I have to admit - I really loved teaching this class. The crux...
over 1 year ago • 3 min read