Magazine Writing

Canadian Architecture and Design: Indigo -- 'Twixt Sea and Sky: A cradle of islands outlines the Caribbean’s eastern rim where it touches the Atlantic; Mustique is among the most beautiful. And in Mustique’s verdant heart lies Indigo.
CANADIAN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN: The House on Sentinel Hill: “Don’t tell me the square footage you want to build,” the award-winning architect responded. “Tell me what your dreams are.”
DURHAM PARENT: CSI -- UOIT: A murder has been committed: a splatter of blood, a partial fingerprint and a tire track are the only clues the murderer has left behind. Is this the plot from the latest episode of CSI: Miami? No, it’s CSI: UOIT.
DURHAM PARENT: Durham Forest Comes Alive: Autumn's first flush had flamed the treetops when we hiked Durham Forest a couple of weeks ago. Imagine what a show we'll see by mid-October, I told my daughter.
DURHAM PARENT: The importance of a university tour: "If this is what university life is like, I'm in.' That was my 16-year-old's enthusiastic response to her first look at university digs. Anne and I had decided to stay in residence at University of Ottawa for a soccer tournament rather than opting for a hotel like her teammates.
DURHAM TRADE & COMMERCE: Summer Company's Coming: Durham Region’s Summer Company program nurtures young entrepreneurs. The provincially-funded program provides students aged 15 to 29 with up to $3,000 in start-up funding, business training and one-on-one mentoring to build their own summer business.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Durham Region means business : Durham's mayors share their vision for the future
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Who’s catering to small business? : Everyone wants to feel special, including entrepreneurs. Until recently, small business owners were used to being misunderstood — even ignored. But the world is waking up and recognizing the role that entrepreneurs play in our economy.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: A fledgling university fulfills its promise : MIT of the north: That was Gary Polonsky’s vision when he pitched University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Ontario’s first university in 40 years, to then-Premiere Mike Harris. But what has University of Ontario Institute of Technology done to fulfill that promise since receiving its charter in 2002? First in a three-part series.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: A tale of two mayors : Clarington Mayor Jim Abernethy and Ajax Mayor Steve Parish square off
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: All in the Family: The SECRETS to family-run business
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: At Your Service: Their story starts with a bed. But not just any bed — the $3,000 “Rolls-Royce” model. Paul and Tiffany St. Germain had ordered it from one of Canada’s largest retailers.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Blurred Boundaries -- Farming in the Urban Shadow: A sun-warmed strawberry, a cool glass of milk, a sizzling steak, a crisp apple. The signs on some country roads remind us: farmers feed cities. But as the boundaries between farmland and cities blur, new challenges face the farmer who feeds us. How is he adapting to farming in the urban shadow?
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Driving the Dream: Gone are the days when the backyard mechanic could crack open the hood of his car and tinker. Today’s increasingly complicated vehicles pack more onboard computer systems than the first space mission. The car of tomorrow is a dream away and the dreamers are the scientists, engineers, and researchers at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Canada’s newest university. Here, in the heart of GM country, technology is taking shape that will revolutionize the automotive industry.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Get With the Program: Serious about starting your own business? The Self-Employment Benefit program can help set the wheels in motion. The Self-Employment Benefit (S.E.B.) program is a federally-funded program, combining training and business coaching, that transforms EI claimants into successful entrepreneurs.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Half-full or Half-empty? -- Cautious Optimism for Durham’s Economy : A strong Canadian dollar is slamming Canadian businesses, but the news in Durham Region isn’t all bad, according to Liisa Ikavalko, senior development officer for Durham Region.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: How B&B's are Thinking Big
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Manufacturing the Future: Automobiles, antacids and armchairs. What do they have in common? They share more than just the same first letter. They are all manufactured goods, like many of the everyday essentials that we eat, wear, drive and work with.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Mapping out the future : A distinct contrast from Queen’s Park, Durham College president Leah Myers relishes the opportunities ahead
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Missionary Man: The story of how Gary Polonsky brought the idea of a Durham university to life with a lot of determination, plenty of patience and a little bit of luck.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: New Grid on the Block: A new frog has jumped into the energy pond. Its name is Bullfrog Power and it’s making a big splash.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: No Sacrifice -- Revving up the Green Factor: Now that the price at the pumps is settling uncomfortably above a dollar a litre, filling up the family minivan sacrifices close to $100. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March announcement giving drivers a break on fuel-efficient vehicles couldn’t have come at a better time. Many drivers have decided to cry uncle and explore fuel-efficient options.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Pretty in Pink -- Construction Gear for Women: Who says you can’t look good to work hard? Not Marissa McTasney. The Brooklin entrepreneur has successfully launched a line of women’s construction gear in female-friendly pinks, blues, reds and greens.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Seaton -- Genesis of a green community: Imagine living in a community where your energy-efficient home converts solar energy into hot water and heat; where your car, if you own one, remains in the garage, because it’s easier to walk, bike or take a bus to your destination.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Small Business is Big Business: Highlighting three small business associations available to entrepreneurs in Durham Region
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: The Changing Faces of the Trades : As more and more tradespeople retire, those who are replacing them are not who you'd expect...
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: The Connector: Eric Novak is an “ideas man”. The ideas bubble over and spill out whenever he speaks, which is often and quickly. But he’s more than just talk. In little more than a year, the Ajax resident has built a one-stop shopping mall for media and promotion based in Durham Region.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Peter Miller meets people who stand at life’s crossroads. He’s the program coordinator for Essential Communications Ltd., which runs Durham’s Ontario Self-Employment Benefit Program, a remarkably successful provincial initiative that helps people transition from unemployment to self-employment.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Virtual Businesses: Home, sweet home—you can’t imagine working anywhere else. Except on days like this. You’ve been waiting all morning for an important phone call and a FedEx delivery. Car keys in hand, foot tapping, you need to leave for your 1:00 business meeting at the neighbourhood Tim Horton’s. It’s 12:45; you’re convinced that the moment you leave the house, the phone will ring and the FedEx van will chug around the corner. Ruefully you admit it may be time to move out of your home office.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: We Deliver: In today’s world, time is our most precious commodity. The universal cry, “Stop the world I want to get off!” has reached the ears of five resourceful Durham entrepreneurs. In their own unique manner, each enterprising business person aims to rescue us from life’s fast pace with their product or service. Time to stop and smell the roses, they say – we deliver.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Wonder Women: The turning point for one came when her commute time jumped from one hour a day to two and a half. For another, it was the prospect of another summer of aching feet and low pay from waiting tables. Yet another became disillusioned with her company’s worker-bee mentality. Another followed her love of home décor. Their paths were diverse but their destinations were the same—small business. Four female entrepreneurs talk about the journey.
DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: You Do What? A Trio of One-of-a-Kind Entrepreneurs: Where does the germ of a business idea sprout from? Peter Miller of Essential Communications knows. He’s the program coordinator for Durham’s Self-Employment Benefit program, a federally-funded training ground for entrepreneurs.
EAST OF THE CITY: A Fond Farewell: Durham College and UOIT students and staff bid a fond farewell to Dr. Gary Polonsky as he retires from joint presidency of the college and university. The dynamo who delivered a University to Durham Region leaves behind a priceless legacy and big shoes to fill.
EAST OF THE CITY: A lesson in eco-tourism: Heather O’Connor spends a weekend in Ottawa and discovers a luxurious “menu of amusements” and a surprising growth in eco-tourism. While tourism is naturally a consumptive industry, Ottawa is setting the ‘green’ example.
EAST OF THE CITY: Dressed to Sell: Thinking about selling your home? Think about staging. The real estate agent brings buyers to the door but staging brings them to the table.
EAST OF THE CITY: Greenhouse Gardening: We Canadians are passionate for gardening, with this activity ranking second among our most-frequently enjoyed physical pastimes. Is it any surprise then that we turn to greenhouse gardening as a respite from the long cold winter?
EAST OF THE CITY: Love Stories: Three couples reveal how they were struck by Cupid
EAST OF THE CITY: Music Man: The call came out of the blue while Dan Clancy was sitting at home with his family. “Hi Danny. It's Paul Hoffert from the band Lighthouse. My wife Brenda and I would like to come and see you perform at the Tartan.”
EAST OF THE CITY: Preserving Memories: The beautiful old house captured Lynn Fenech’s imagination. Built in 1827, The Poplars was Cobourg’s oldest standing home, with a history rich in figures from the past. One of those people was Fenech’s great-great-grandfather, Dr. John Beatty, a mayor of Cobourg and a founder of University of Toronto’s Victoria College. For over a hundred years, generations of Beattys had called The Poplars home. As a treat to herself, Fenech had commissioned a watercolour of her ancestral home; she also wished to have a replica of the Regency-style house built.
EAST OF THE CITY: The Art of Sustainability: Scratch the skin of an artist and you’ll often find an environmentalist beneath.
EAST OF THE CITY: Two of a Kind: Jim Flaherty and Christine Elliott -- One is the country’s official money minder. The other is a newly-sworn-in MPP. Together they made Canadian political history this past spring.
EAST OF THE CITY: Wine, Women and Song: The story of Port Perry farm boy Irwin Smith and how he turned a winemaking hobby into a successful, award-winning enterprise.
GREEN LIFE: Bin, Box or Bag: Durham residents love their blue boxes. Last year, we diverted 56% of our waste, an astonishing 145,000 tonnes, from landfills through a combination of Blue Boxes, Green Bins and yard waste. Nonetheless, recycling day often finds us asking, “Bin, box or bag?”
GREEN LIFE: It's in the Bag: Plastic shopping bags: they blow around like brightly-coloured tumbleweeds, littering our streets, our fields, our water.
GREEN LIFE: James Walker -- Green Pioneer: He’s been called The Man Who Planted Trees and Canada’s Johnny Appleseed. In truth, James Walker was a modest man with a prescient dedication to our environment.
HEALTHCARE CAREERS EXPRESS and LIVE IT!: Art Therapy -- A picture paints a thousand words : All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up. ~ James Baldwin
HEALTHCARE CAREERS EXPRESS: Psychologists -- Lean on Me: Lean on me, when you're not strong, And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on.
HEALTHCARE CAREERS EXPRESS: Sports Medicine -- Keeping athletes in the game : …And the Maple Leafs have the puck… Sundin races down the ice… McGrattan cuts in to intercept ... And just hammers Sundin into the boards!
INSIDE SOCCER: The Sky's the Limit: The Durham Region Soccer Association Referee Academy
LIVE IT!: Fat Chance: Today’s children face a deadly epidemic. It’s not caused by a virus or a bacillus or a genetic mutation. It requires no pharmaceutical intervention or vaccination – it’s eminently curable. Nonetheless, this generation of children threatens to be the first in recent history with a shorter lifespan than their parents. What can be done to protect our children?
LUXURY HOMES: A Rich Shade of Green: Local legend says the steep slope was Toronto Ski Club’s first ski hill. In the late 1800’s, skiers started uphill at the Eaton cottage and schussed through the formal gardens, right down to High Park’s Wendigo Creek.
MOXI FEMME: Books: Reviewed this month: The Hatbox Letters by Beth Powning, The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown and Beauty Tips from Moosejaw by Will Ferguson
NORTH OF 89: The Phoenix House -- Rising from the Ashes: From the ashes sprang opportunity -- no longer a renovation but a renaissance.
REM: Home Staging -- A win, win situation: “Staging saves me time, the house sells quicker and the client gets more money. I hire a CSP for all of my listings, regardless of price.” ~ Paul T. Cody, Re/Max Twin City Realty
REM: Keeping It Neutral: The powder room was painted Drive-By Shooting Red. The living room-dining room was Wedgwood Blue. The kitchen glowed Pepto-Bismol Pink. The colour combinations in her clients’ open-concept home made home staging professional Brenda Bain slightly queasy.
REM: The Feast or Famine of Staging Suites: No matter how spacious it is, an over-furnished condo feels like a too-tight suit. Buyers look elsewhere. The trick is to replace these “house-sized” groupings with “condo-scaled” equivalents. The result? A suite that feels bigger. ~ Canadian Staging Professional™ (CSP™) Darren Brand.
THE WORDWEAVER: My Secret Love: Paul Feldman, an Ajax entrepreneur, distributes and teaches Dragon NaturallySpeaking. He has also written his own manual, one that connects straightforward commands to the actions they perform. He could have entitled it Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Dummies.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: A symphony of scents : When summer warmth bathes the garden, the heavy blooms of roses and peonies open, providing a joy for the nose as well as the eye.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Backyard Bounty -- Giving Fruit Trees a Healthy Start: You’ve dreamed all winter of biting into a juicy, sun-warmed globe of fruit from a tree you’ve grown in your own backyard. It’s a tempting dream, but don’t grab a shovel until you’ve done your homework.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Building a Greener Future: Just as a child selects from many shades of green in a box of crayons, the homebuilding industry offers several green brands.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Ornamental grasses -- the grass isn't always greener: The “grass isn’t always greener”: it may be pink, grey, purple, yellow, red, white, blue or black.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Xeriscaping -- Can your garden take the heat?: Have you ever noticed how some folks can spend hours in the sun without getting sunburned while others burn with the least exposure? Plants are like that, too.
TORONTO SUN: Architects of the city's future : New book sheds light on firm's 'beautiful buildings that work'

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