By Emily Stonehouse We are a town that greatly depends on summer traffic. I get it. And I haven’t seen any specific numbers, but as a local, it seems like the community was bumping this…
Lens
By Emily Stonehouse At the first official flag raising in Dysart by Pride in the Highlands, I brought my kids. I was thrilled to be there. A first in the community, and a clear-cut action…
The greater good
By Emily Stonehouse The other day, I inched my way towards a line of red brake lights around the high school. I wasn’t sure why we had stopped, and my initial response was irritation. Summer…
Sorry
By Emily Stonehouse We’ve all made jokes about it. The fact that we as Canadians have ‘sorry’ built into our daily repertoire, right up there with toonie and double-double. We say it when we bump…
Questions
By Emily Stonehouse We don’t know everything. Yes, perhaps a startling realization. I wrote a few weeks ago about how there is always more to every story, about how there is power in seeking more…
It’s here
By Emily Stonehouse If there’s one thing that stops us in our tracks, it’s the weather. We can be looking forward to the next event, next show, next memory to be made, but suddenly, all…
Oh Canada
By Emily Stonehouse If you were to explain Canada Day to someone who had never heard of the holiday before, how would you start? Would you lead with the fact that it’s the day we…
A new normal
By Emily Stonehouse We watched the smoke float through our neighbourhood without batting an eye. Some just called it “haze” or “fog”, like it wasn’t toxic air floating from neighbouring provinces. Adam Frisk wrote about…
Colours
By Emily Stonehouse Nearly every Canadian would recognize Steve Paikin. His face has graced the screens of CBC and TVO for decades, and he was the moderator of the English debate during the last federal…
Mud
By Emily Stonehouse As we watch the smoke drift into our backyards with wildfires ravaging the country, they passed Bill 5. A contentious topic, which will make immediate changes to the Endangered Species Act, the…
Changes
By Emily Stonehouse The other day, I was invited to sit in on a presentation to the Rotary Club by historian Steve Hill on the past stories of newspapers across the county. And while this…
Good news week
By Emily Stonehouse I was curious about what would fill our papers during the cracks between news stories. There are no elections, council meetings have been fairly status quo, local schools are in the preliminary…
Representation
By Emily Stonehouse When Jessica Slade approached me about writing some columns for our newspapers leading up to the federal election, I was elated. Slade brings over a decade of political experience to the table,…
Personal
By Emily Stonehouse I am not sure if it’s a direct result of the actions coming from our neighbours to the south, but there’s been a shift in the feelings around these elections lately. The…
Youth
By Emily Stonehouse We spend a lot of time talking about how we live in a community of seniors. That’s the fact of the matter; the majority of the population is over the age of…
Buzz
By Emily Stonehouse As someone who writes words for a living, I am often captivated by the weight some add to fly-away terms. During election times, a series of buzz words are so frequently thrust…
Until it’s gone
By Emily Stonehouse Full disclosure: I had an entirely different editorial written. It was a shoutout to Dysart, and their efforts towards including others in their parks and recreation plan. They do deserve some kudos…
Misinformation
By Emily Stonehouse There are a lot of buzz words circulating around the veins of our world these days. It’s no secret that we are in an era of political strife; a marked delineation of…
Five years
By Emily Stonehouse Five years ago today, I was toying between the idea of shutting down my computer, or letting it sleep. I am notorious for letting my computer drift to sleep; leaving the steady…
Elbows up
By Emily Stonehouse It’s been a weird few years. I think we can all agree on that. A pandemic and natural disasters and political fraught. And all of it, coming to us faster than we…
Try
By Emily Stonehouse When I was in high school - yes, our very own Haliburton Highlands Secondary School - not so long ago, we held a mock election. It was a good opportunity to understand…