October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the US, and in my post about it, I cited some alarming statistics. While it is horrifying that an average of one in six American women will be abused in her lifetime, it is even more outrageous that this rate doubles for women around the globe: 33% of women and girls are beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused, according to the United Nations Development Programme for Women (UNIFEM).

I've often been told that it's unusual for someone my age to observe Remembrance Day the way I do. People assume that I must have close family ties to someone who served, and my grandfather did serve with the merchant marines, but that's not why. The best answer that I can think of is that I know and once you know you cannot unknow. I've read letters from the front, seen photos, heard stories. I've studied the maps, military strategies and politics. I've seen the tears of those that served as they remember the ones that aren't here with them. Every November 11 I step away from my life to stand outside in the cold, with a poppy on my coat, because I know.

Miriam Makeba, the South African singer and vocal critic of apartheid, died last night after performing in Italy. She was 76 years old. After she left for a tour in 1960, the South African government revoked her passport, forcing her into exile for over 30 years. In those years, Ms. Makeba lived in United States, France, Guinea and Belgium, and served as a constant reminder and voice to the outside world of the struggles for justice, freedom, and equality for black South Africans.

Yesterday was - how do I say this without risking profound understatement?

As Pierre Elliot Trudeau said to an American audience in 1969, "Living next to you is like sleeping with an elephant; no matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." America is not a beast but it cannot be denied that every twitch reverberates through Canada. The United States is our closest neighbour, largest trading partner and we share the longest undefended border in the world. We watch American elections with interest and fascination. American elections are so very different from Canadians elections. There's glitz and glamour. They are huge - larger than life almost. And no more have we felt this than this past October when our American neighbours were talking about an historic election and record voter turnout, while Canadians were facing an election they did not seem to want and forgot to vote in. We're jealous.

On Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, we remember our loved one's who have gone before us and the saints who have inspired us. (Sometimes they are even one in the same.) This year I invited bloggers to take some time to remember dear souls. A number of you responded, sending me your links.

Mothers tend to share in many of the same struggles, no matter where they live. It can be hard to help our older children interpret tricky social cues, and it can be difficult (for moms of very young children, especially) to find a supportive network of other moms. But imagine if you were navigating through your motherhood journey in a country different from the one in which you were born. Imagine going through the adaptive process in a foreign country not only for yourself, but also steering your children through it.

I trick-or-treated every single Halloween when I was a kid. While I frequently dreamed of costumes like ballerinas, fairy princesses, andok , fine, the A-Team, few of those ideas were practical. Any costume that I wore had to have the ability to be worn over a snowsuit or at minimum with a very warm sweater and jacket and maybe a tuque and mittens. Not much changed when I grew up and started going to bars to celebrate. I still had to get there first and seeing as taxis weren't so affordable jackets had to be donned. That's just Halloween in Canada.

I was planning to write another post related to the election, and then this news crossed my inbox: The lead detective assigned to investigate journalist Chauncey Bailey's killing ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV, former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, to a role in the killing and interfered in two other unrelated felony cases involving Bey IV, according to an investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project.

Hey Canada, we've got a problem. It seems that last week, two in five of you didn't bother do a very simple task. You didn't put an "X" on a piece of paper. Two in five of you, my fellow Canadians, did not vote. I was in and out of my voting station in four minutes. I still would have done if it had taken me four hours. It's a duty. It's a right. It's something we're darned lucky to have. Yet 40.1 percent of you did. not. vote.

There is nothing as infuriating as dangerous public policy made on circular logic. The latest example of irrational policies coming out of the Bush administration is the decision to withhold condoms, birth control pills, and other contraceptives paid for by the United States from Marie Stopes International, a British non-governmental organization that operates family planning and reproductive health clinics in impoverished nations.

Last week while I was on vacation, my Grandmother passed away. She was frail, and ill and ready to be released from this mortal coil. And so it is with both sorrow and contentment that we greet her passing and honor her memory. This means, that for the first time this year, her icon will join Grandpa's on our mantelpiece as we celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.