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 to your incredible dreams * FAN THE FLAMES * I love to hear from you. Click FOLLOW THIS BLOG VIA EMAIL and join the global party. Don’t forget to send back the confirmation email you’ll receive. I post every two weeks, more or less. For an almost daily fix, click BURNS THE FIRE on Twitter and LIKE BURNS THE FIRE on…

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If you can’t stand the heat

 I just read, or should I say gobbled the book ‘Heat’ by Bill Buford. This Grade-A wordsmith left an editing post at the New Yorker to fulfill his fantasy of learning to cook at NYC’s Babbo; the 3-star Italian restaurant of culinary maharishi Mario Batali. The inside kitchen poop was fun and sharply drawn (I’m a…

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The Truth and nothing but

 I just read an article in the NY Times by Brooklyn blogger Emily Gould about the extreme pitfalls of exposing your personal life on the web. I have rarely gotten into that kind of trouble. I was born a fiction writer, a dramatist, I spend the vast majority of my time making things up, but, a blog’s lure to…

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In My Garden of Eden

 On my hands and knees in the backyard, pulling weeds and planting seeds in the earth, I know I am not alone. There is a small cluster of idiosyncratic people with names like Cookie, Fritz, Fanny and Dio milling about the grass, seemingly aware of the budding plants and my burgeoning skills, but mostly just…

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Fantasia is My Idol

 Let me tell you about the righteous, raw female funk of Fantasia Barrino– whose body, soul and voice of god obliterated mediocrity for a few heart-pounding moments on American Idol last night. Fantasia was crowned another year, but was on last night to remind mainstream America (and me) what fearless artistry is, and how music…

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As The World Turns

 I was a spinning top Saturday night at the Portuguese on St-Urbain. My husband Ned and I are learning how to ‘couple dance’, which is not as ball and chain as it sounds. Holding hands, we follow the steps as best as we can, and promptly forget them. My favorite (un-mastered) move was when he…

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Savage Night in Canada

 Saturday night, the Montreal-Canadians were annihilated by the Philadelphia Flyers in the pride-shattering Eastern Conference semi-finals. No shiny Stanley Cup for rabid Habs fans this year. Unshaven alpha males smashed into each other on the ice; bone-crushing, rage roaring he (haw) men in a bloodthirsty fight to the death. Now, here’s the rub: they do…

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Dreams Do Come True

 It’s a glorious day full of possibility. The sun is blasting the earth, soaked from this weekend’s seasonal cry-fest. The smell of damp dirt should be bottled for fertility. Dreams do come true. My friends Marlo and Andrew just birthed their second baby: the fabulous, flying Frida. As the story goes- she jettisoned out of…

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B-Mania

 One day, at 21, I was hungry, left home to buy some food and entered a used-bookstore – stockpiled from ceiling to floor with reams of paper bound together by the imagination, instead. The store’s buzzing shelves contained every title under the sun, and then some, so I spent all the money I had to buy what I could, to…

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That time of year

 It’s another seasonal show-stopper in Montreal. The sky is a happy shade of blue, the air is as sweet as my husband’s kiss and there is dancing in the streets. When you live in a place with extreme weather and four such radical peaks, there is an explosion of joy that is hard to beat,…

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Come together

 Cynics beware. I hate a threat when I’m  about to bare my heart, but it’s hard to resist given the clash between hope and despair I witnessed at our alternative, multi-culti Passover seder this past Saturday night. Traditionally, Passover is a biblical fest celebrating the Jewish exodus from Egypt and liberation from slavery, but with all due respect, that was then and this is now. People everywhere continue to oppress and be enslaved, and depression rules. Why do we keep repeating the past? Why can’t we get along?? As a child, I loved Passover; the long table filled with family and friends, the songs (read: prayers) and the flourescent jelly…

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I am a Jewish (wo)man

 “There are no two words more precious to a writer than, ‘You’re free.’”   (Philip Roth) My desk is a mess. It’s impossible to see its wooden top save for a few fuzzy patches, hair on a balding man. Ideas are scattered everywhere. I had it in my head that I would write about the…

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Love, once planted

 The other day, I walked over to see the dentist (what shiny, white teeth he has) to discuss prioritizing the dental and periodontal issues I have to suffer through and pay for. Given that my problems are largely hereditary, there was no better place to go afterwards than to see my parents; not to wrack…

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American Idol

 Last night I watched American Idol. This corn-porn celebration of mediocrity fascinates me. I’m not entirely sure why, nor do I really want to deconstruct the experience and ditch the fun. That being said; the eight copycat contestants left largely bore me (O Chikezie, Amanda, where art thou?) and my fave- Josiah Leming– was booted out during Hollywood week- he never got to bring his writhing heart and scorching singer-songwriting to mainstream America (so afraid of the fire). So, why are my eyes still glued to the screen (when I sometimes mute the sound)? Am I waiting for someone to stop pretending they are someone else, and bust it out…

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Love is in the air

 My husband Ned and I took our first dance class this weekend. He spun me like a top and I did my best to let him lead. Blissful in our kitchen on the first real day of Spring (Sunday, April 6), our friend Samar tells us that we are the only couple she knows that are really living an honest and true love, and I think, we move well together, even if we don’t know all the steps. What makes a love true? Can we be honest with each other if we lie to ourselves? Spring is in the air. The dog-shitty smell is the giveaway. Melting snow erases the…

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La Levina: Jewish Muse

 Whenever I open my eyes, or close them, a goddess appears to excite me. No presence burns brighter in my imagination than the inimitable Naomi Levine. That she happens to be both my oldest friend (I fell for her round eyes, Cat-woman glasses and ski jump nose on the first day of Grade 6 at…

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My son is gay?

 For all of you who I haven’t already hit over the head with the 75-second video, My son is gay? by John Roberts (a mom comes to terms with the fruit of her loins), the time has come. It’s a classic, and so remarkably simple and hilarious and hard-hitting, it brings me to my knees.…

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Wanderlust

 Just fell in love with Bjork’s video and song Wanderlust off the ‘Volta’ album. It’s a dream come true; a modern fairy-tale rooted in the natural world. Bravo to its creators Sean Hellfritsch and Isaiah Saxon, and the uncanny Ms. Guðmundsdóttir. Create without fear! * FAN THE FLAMES *

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Heat

 It’s winter in spring. The sun pours into my office, daring my shivering body to believe it can melt the mountain of snow in my backyard. Perched on my exercise ball in front of my computer, I wonder what it is I have to say today, if anything at all. I notice the coloured sticky…

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Sea Me

 In my dream, I was high in the sky hovering over the turquoise sea, and while I had no idea what was holding me up, I knew I had to let go. Gripping a pencil in one hand and a ladder in the other, I let go but good, not really wondering whether I should…

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Piss & Vinegar

 My husband begged me to write a blog to chill me out, so here I am. Piss & Vinegar was my first thought for its title, because my mother says I’m full of it. Some people think it’s an insult, but it’s a real compliment to me. My second thought was Burns the Fire because that’s…

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