Rose's Cantina

When my brother Gary was a young lad attending public school, the teacher called in my mother for a conference. "Mrs.. Simpson, I don't know what to do with Gary," the teacher said. "He's stupid." Gary wasn't stupid, of course. He was just one of those students who might have been called special needs in our current education system. But he didn't have special needs. He just needed to be taught differently. There was no help for kids like Gary back in the 60s. Fortunately for him, he majored in perseverance. Gary is a rower and a marathon runner. He doesn't give up even when faced with adversity. His struggle did one thing. It made him dogged, and as a result of his sheer pig-headed determination, he went on to get his undergrad degree and a masters. He is now a principal in London, Ontario who works with kids with ADHD and other learning issues. A few years back, he was named principal of the year in London. Our family could not be more p...

    Hey Torontonians! Lend me your ears! My friend Tom Berend wants to tell you about his new play called  " The Taliban Don't Like My Knickers" which is part of the Toronto Fringe Festival . Here's the backstory in Tom's own words. I volunteer teaching older children with severe reading disabilities, and I was posting questions to an on-line dyslexia discussion forum in the UK. Somehow, a dyslexic theater group picked up my name not realizing that I was in Canada, and Lennie, the producer sent me an invitation to a theater performance they were producing that weekend; a shoestring affair for dyslexic actors and writers in the backroom of a pub. Now, I had never heard of dyslexic theater, and I'm betting you haven't either. I was intrigued. The play they were marketing was about as small-scale as you can imagine. And yet here they were, these dyslexic young people embracing literacy and storytelling, proudly and confidently telling their...