Spencer West

Motivational Speaker

On the final day of our trek from Edmonton to Calgary to raise money for clean water overseas, we're just outside the city limits of Cowtown. I can see Calgary's skyline, and after 10 straight days of walking on my hands, it's like a mirage in the desert.

Grooch

A generation"X", middle class, lover of satire and hyperbole.

The first round of the 2013 NHL Playoffs is finished and only one of four Canadian teams remains.

The water cooler talk is all about "who will I cheer for now?"

Bill Haines

Bill Haines is an avid reader, blogger and writer who lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Hey, I loved Star Trek growing up and I think my whole generation did. But be forewarned. I am going to help you find the tears. But until I thought of Star Trek and Dr. McCoy, I could not find the tears either.

The themes of Star Trek are great. The inclusiveness, the friendship, the camaraderie, no one was expendable, we were all members of the crew, no matter race, faith, colour or sexual orientation, we were all working together for the common good; for the mission.

Anne Theriault

Feminist blogger

Stay in bed. Hunker down under the covers. Read Sheila Heti's How Should A Person Be? and highlight the passages that you feel specifically apply to your life. Eat too many cookies. Let your cat lick your face clean, but stop her when she tries to groom your eyebrows.

Mark Milke

Senior Fellow, The Fraser Institute

Fact is, Alberta's red-ink budgets have much more to do with real per-capita program spending being near historic highs. This also explains why so many Albertans "hiss" at the notion of a sales tax. To understand why the spending side of the government ledger deserves more attention, consider some statistics about Alberta's program spending, ones that take into account Alberta's population growth and inflation rate.

Marni Soupcoff

Managing Editor, Blogs

I'm sharing my cottage experience to make you feel better about the long weekend no matter your plans. Because if you're going to a cottage, you'll be making enduring memories of special time spent with family and friends. But if you're not, you'll be saving yourself an untold amount of aggravation, revulsion, and cash.

Lucas Silveira

Musician

I was repetitively asked "Are you a boy or a girl?" throughout childhood and adolescence and usually followed by "Fucking dyke!" Very recently, all of these wounds resurfaced when I saw this comment left by a woman on a video I posted on Facebook to raise funding for a tour for my band The Cliks. Don't shame me for speaking up for myself. Shame those who hurt me.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook

The Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog, www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca

Summer is coming and you may want a new appetizer for your first BBQ of the season. I have to give my husband credit for this recipe. Some of our readers know by know that he loves to BBQ and while on holidays in April he filled our shopping carts with a few ingredients and surprised me with these tasty appetizers.

Hannah McKinnon

Environmental Defence

TarSandsRealityCheck.com, which launches today, offers fact-checked, easy to understand information about Canada's tar sands. Created by academics, economists, scientists and international environmental organizations,...

Cody Battershill

Founder of Calgaryism, Realtor

Calgary is an amazing city to raise a family in, there is no question about that. If you find yourself questioning that statement then my reply would be to consider the context and perspective of alternate choices.

Erin Hawkes

Blogger

The CIA was not spying on me. Nor were FBI agents looking to bring me down. And I was neither the President, Jesus Christ, nor Cleopatra. These, I had heard, are the content of delusions that characterize schizophrenia. Given that logic, I did not consider myself to have schizophrenia. I think that these shallow nuances of delusion kept me in my illness and away from probing psychiatrists.

Kathy Buckworth

Writer, public speaker, television personality

A study by Today.com that suggests three is the most stressful number of children to have. A mom of three explains that the stress level increases when it comes to things like crossing the street, versus two kids. But I have four kids, and to the best of my recollection, I don't recall sprouting an extra arm when that last child arrived.

J.J. McCullough

HuffPost Canada Media Critic

The Liberal Party of B.C. is not a brilliant outfit by any means. Much of its agenda is faddish and unscientific, and, if past performance is any indication, simply doesn't work. Yet it's also the party associated with business, capitalism, status, success, and wealth -- and now a four-term majority government to boot. What does make many squeamish, however, is the idea of a party run by hippies and radicals who dogmatically cling to the 20th century's most discredited economic theory simply for reasons of pride or denial. It comes off as a little pathetic.

Peter Worthington

Co-founder of the Toronto Sun

If you are reading this, I am dead. How's that for a lead? Guarantees you read on, at least for a bit. After attending George Gross's funeral in 2008 I half-facetiously remarked to the Toronto Sun's deputy managing editor, Al Parker, that I had been around so long that no one was left who knew me back then, and I had better write my own obituary. "Good idea!" said Parker with more enthusiasm than I appreciated. So here it is, not exactly an obit but a reflection back on a life and a career that I had never planned, but which unfolded in a way that I've never regretted.