Role Models

Allan Garden Magnolias

At the end of the 1980's and the beginning of the 1990's, Bruce and I lived on Isabella Street. We hung out a lot at the Artful Dodger, a quaintly disreputable pub just east Yonge Street on Isabella.

Across the street from the Dodger was a long single-storey building that has served many purposes over the years and is currently a Rabba, a small grocery.

Back in the day, on our way for a pint or two, we would see spray-painted on the wall of the shop across from the Dodger a graffiti, resonant with loss. 

It said "Where are all my comic book heroes?"

These days, access to comic book heroes has never been easier, though the sense of loss, I find, is still there.

What Equality Looks Like

Over the past week, there were two major conferences for the energy sector. One, attended by about 350 mostly women, focused on supporting women in the sector. The other, attended by about 500 mostly men, was a more typical event. I attended the former, and compared notes with a colleague who attended the latter.

They had a lot in common: swanky venue, great food, cliquey energy sector people who are aren't interested in making small talk with strangers and run-of-the-mill presentations.

Pop Quiz for Grown Ups

To raise money for a charitable work-place campaign this past week, one of my ministry colleagues organized a lunch-time trivia contest. 

Each day, in return for five bucks, we were given answer sheets with blanks for twenty six questions. There were twenty-five one-point answers and one three-point bonus answer. 

The quiz master asked the questions and we had thirty seconds to answer each one. We all sat crammed around a boardroom table. The keeners covered their answers.

We passed our paper to the person next to us to score.

The questions were well drafted with a good variety of topics. And they were tough. 

No one scored 100%. The best score I heard was 14 out of a possible total of 28. My scores ranged between 9 and 12, which put me close to but never at the top. The papers I marked scored 3 and 4. 

Contemporary culture questions were my Waterloo. I did not know what Beyonce's middle name was, or what Nickelodeon show made Ariana Grande famous, and, because these details slide off me like an egg off a Teflon pan, I could not recall, even though I did know, what film won best picture at this year's Oscars.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Answers:
a) Giselle
b) Victorious
c) The Shape of Water