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Living Out Loud
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MAD WITH THE TRUTH
Christopher Isherwood, when asked, “Why do you go on living? replied, “Because I have a Wednesday lunch date.”
Susan Musgrave · 2026-07-30
Opinion
CRIMES OF FASHION
When it comes to haute couture, I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch, clothes that fit comfortably and keep me warm.
Susan Musgrave · 2026-05-21
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