Columns

Living Out Loud

DEAR, DEAR STRANGER

In a letter published in the magazine, The Sun, Norman Fischer writes, “We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.” That is, seeing someone’s actions, we assume we know their hearts and minds and understand their mot

Susan Musgrave · 2026-03-27

Living Out Loud

EUROPE FROM $700 A DAY

“Do you know where you are going?” the flight attendant asks. It doesn’t matter how snappily I dress, whether I slap on lipstick or pin my hair out of my face: people seem to think I am lost. “Of course I do,” I reply, indignantly. “To Euro

Susan Musgrave · 2026-01-16

Living Out Loud

THE GIFTS WE BEAR

The first gifts have arrived from the east; socks, mittens and toques for everyone in the family, knitted by Grandma Susie. I wear her cherished socks each day (I get cold feet, writing) and a toque - to keep the heat, and my thoughts, from

Susan Musgrave · 2025-12-19

Living Out Loud

THE FACE YOU DESERVE

The One Hour Photo girl tells me not to worry. “Not many people will see it,” she says, reassuringly. “It” being my latest passport picture. One possible explanation for my blanker than usual look is Ottawa’s mandate that facial expression

Susan Musgrave · 2025-12-05

Living Out Loud

THE EVERYDAYATHON OF MODERN LIFE

These days when I run into a friend on the Masset main street, they are often in a mighty hurry. “Great to see you, how you been, how you doing?” the exchange begins, and before I can think of an honest answer, he or she inevitably replies

Susan Musgrave · 2025-11-20

Living Out Loud

THE FINE ART OF SMALL TALK

I’m halfway down the aisle marked Household Products, trying to recall what I am doing there, when a clerk wearing a smile that mirrors his happy-face button interrupts me. “Finding everything you are looking for?” he asks. This is one of t

Susan Musgrave · 2025-10-14

Living Out Loud

TALKIN ‘BOUT MY...MEDICATION

My father called it “being down in the dumps;” the way out was to pull your socks up and count your blessings. Winston Churchill, dogged by “the black dog” all his life, drank to drown his blues. Dodie Smith, the English dramatist, recommen

Susan Musgrave · 2025-09-28

Living Out Loud

A PARALYSIS OF CURIOUSITY

My friend, Mike Meegan, boasting on Facebook that he failed grade 3, whose teacher claimed he had “difficulty putting thoughts into words” (Mike is a poet, no doubt in my mind) made me decide to put my thoughts about the school system, into

Susan Musgrave · 2025-09-12

Living Out Loud

SUFFERING A CATASTROPHE

I am a tidal wave survivor. That's what we used to call them. There were no advisories back then, no media frenzy triggering a cascade of physiological responses causing the release of stress hormones catapulting the body into fight-flight-

Susan Musgrave · 2025-08-16