Category Archives: Uncategorized

The prolific Azorean literary critic and essayist Vamberto Freitas wrote, “Our geographies are now interior and no longer have anything to do with physical distance, longing and absences.”* (My translation from the original Portuguese text.) His observation on the immigrant’s … Continue reading →

Normally, I don’t watch Saturday morning TV, but when I woke up today, I remembered that it was time for the start of the weekly Portuguese shows. They came on one after the other, each 30-minute show giving a different … Continue reading →

On one of my meandering walks through Rosetta McClain Gardens I came upon a bench where someone had left a pair of shoes neatly placed on the ground in front of it. The composition was too good to miss and … Continue reading →

Very early in the morning of the fifth Sunday after every Easter, people come together to create the long, beautiful flower carpets that are spread throughout the city streets of Ponta Delgada in anticipation of the afternoon procession of O … Continue reading →

Toronto is a vast city built along the north shore of Lake Ontario where an ever growing number of high- rise buildings are filling in the skyline in the downtown core and spreading out like an unchecked virus across the … Continue reading →

Artwork created by the students of Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts   I moved to Birch Cliff Village fifteen years ago. At the time it felt like I was going very far away from Toronto. I still remember when … Continue reading →

Growing up Azorean-Canadian, mainland Portugal was foreign to me until my first visit several decades ago. I did not go to the Algarve then. It was only when I met my partner that the Algarve became a place of destination … Continue reading →

In an age of globalization and ever-expanded connectivity with our world, I search for a way back to a singular place, a single point in time where I might connect with my deepest experience of change and loss: the moment … Continue reading →

The taxi had finally arrived. The driver watched Eulália Dias as she descended from her front porch one heavy step at a time. He got out of the cab to open the back door for her, smiled an apology for … Continue reading →

Drawing by Jamey McDonald Today marks my 49th anniversary of emigrating from the Azores to Canada. This past week I have spent time in Montreal, the first place I set foot on North American soil on a cold February day … Continue reading →