Like most classrooms, reading is a big part of our day. After lunch time, we have D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read), where my students pull out a variety of books and magazines to read. . . . During these past few weeks D.E.A.R. time has meant something else to me. While the rest of the class continues reading quietly, I’ve been taking a different group of students each day to read a specific book.

If I said that someone I knew left her full-time job, sold the company she had nurtured since 1994, and planned to move to the other side of the world to follow her dream, how would you think she felt? My initial thought was nervous, and probably excited. Laurie Brinklow is the person diving into this new adventure, and in speaking with her I realized that nerves do not appear to enter into the picture.

Whether in India, Nigeria, the Middle East, or Canada it seems women of colour have been obsessed with fair skin. However, such obsessions are not without their critics, and as people have begun to critically analyse the reasons behind and implications of this obsession, so have people started to rethink their attitudes.

I Have My Mother’s Eyes is special for numerous reasons. Not only does it tell the story of Zosia Hoffenberg’s escape out of Poland (and Europe) during World War II, but it does so using three voices: Zosia herself (as told by daughter Barbara), the author (Zosia’s daughter), and Danielle, Barbara’s daughter, who took over the project and ensured its publication after the author died from cancer.

I have a great deal on my gym membership. It cost me only twelve dollars a month. But, in the year and a half that I have had this membership, how often have I actually used it? ZERO! Yes, that is correct—I have not gone once. My point: no matter how great a deal you obtain on that gym membership or piece of equipment, if you do not actually use it, it is a waste!