Following in the footsteps of the Keats-Shelley Prize, Young Romantics is a new competition available for writers between ages 16 and 18 who would like to enter their poems and short stories. (Maximum 20 lines for poems and 1,000 words for short stories.) Each work should be inspired by the Romantic poets and refer to the theme this year – Lost Angels.

When I saw them I knew that they were important. The image quotes stood out amongst the stream of updates and posts that flow through my social media homepage.

If you really do want to try out something new in the new year, or perhaps pick up a hobby or activity you’ve let go by the wayside, here’s an idea. Don’t make a new year’s resolution.

Maybe it’s because the year end is approaching. Or maybe it’s because my husband keeps asking me to delete photos from out tablet. Whatever the reason, I’m jumping all over the digital map shedding digital weight in my files and thinking about all types of documents and records that I manage. It’s not an easy job and there are many challenges.

In January of this year I started a Lean 30 series as a way to get back to old school blogging. I made it as far as post 12, as I didn’t write every day, and thought that I would be a nice idea to reboot this project and continue on at number 13. I like the idea of starting new projects or ideas at the end of December rather than at the beginning of January. For the same reason I celebrate milestone birthdays in my 8th year within a decade rather than when I click over into a new decade.

This Christmas season seven year old Burnaby resident Joshua Smith and his mum Traci are raising funds so that they can put together 500 bagged meals and other useful sundry items for people who live on the streets in Vancouver’s Downtown East side.

Have you ever been on a bus or train and watched as passengers in need of priority seating remained standing? What happened next?

Fans of BC’s Vancouver Canucks are also spread all over the world. In ways I don’t quite understand, they stream their games and put in their two cents, yen, euros – pick your currency – wherever they are.

Recent shocking new stories about abuses in a reportedly toxic work environment here in Canada and video evidence of the heckling of women in public have got me thinking about my own experiences. Have I ever encountered inappropriate behaviour in the workforce or on the streets of Vancouver? Have I ever concluded that I was treated badly but felt that I couldn’t speak up?

I’ve been asking this question for longer than I can remember. Why do homes on US TV shows look so ridiculously large? Why does this family’s lifestyle look so grand? Who lives like that?