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Jan 06
2010

Ordinary Things... and a good day at the computer

Posted by Monique Polak in Untagged 

Today, driving home from the hospital (my mum is beginning to recover, but it looks like she may be in the hospital for a while still), I heard a wonderful interview on CBC Radio with Scottish author

Jan 04
2010

Ups and Downs and Finding Ways to Handle Them

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Well, there've been a lot of ups and downs around here the last few days. My mum who has been in the hospital for nearly two weeks, was getting a little better last week, and then she took a real

Dec 29
2009

Ever Notice How Life Takes the Shape of a Story?

Posted by Monique Polak in Untagged 

Maybe it's because I spend so much time writing and reading stories, but to me, it often feels that life takes the shape of a story. What I mean is that life has beginning, middle and end; there

Dec 28
2009

Thinking About My Mum

Posted by Monique Polak in Untagged 

IMG_222.jpgI've been away from the computer for a few days -- not just on account of the holidays, but also because my mum has not been well. She came down with a mysterious virus last week and she's

Dec 21
2009

Stories that Just Won't Go Away

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I know I need to write a story when it just won't go away. It's kind of like a pesky fly in summer... only it's a good thing, and not pesky in an annoying way.

Last week, when I got

Dec 17
2009

Stories Worth Hiding

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IMG_555.jpgHello, hello! Today I had fun with more teenagers -- I did two writing workshops at St. Thomas High

Dec 16
2009

Return Visit to Lake of Two Mountains High School

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IMG_1537.jpgSo I'm back from "le Grand Nord," and feeling very inspired by the stories I heard,

Dec 10
2009

More From Me in Akulivik

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IMG_1607.jpgIt's Day Three of our visit to Akulivik. Winds today are gusting at 45 kilometers an hour. so my morning run only lasted 10 minutes -- after which I went into the house where I'm staying and

Dec 09
2009

"Ai" from Akulivik

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IMG_1596.jpgSome Inuit say "Hi" the way we do in Montreal, but most say something that sounds more like "Ai." This morning, my new friends here at Tukisiniarvik School in Akulivik were teaching

Dec 08
2009

New Friends in Puvirnituq

Posted by Monique Polak in Untagged 

IMG_1594.jpgGood morning today from Puvirnituq, a village of 1,600 people on the Hudson Bay side of Nunavik. It took about 90 minutes to fly here yesterday from Kuujjuaq, which is on Ungava Bay.

I spent