The @tdsb.on.ca is forcing out beloved RHSA Principal Barrie Sketchley who has served this public art school for 33 years, ignoring students, parents & staff. We urge MPP Paul Calandra to act — reinstate Mr. Sketchley & help restore trust in TDSB governance. #SaveSketchley

Happiness is searching for salamanders with a scientist in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a trip to Townsend, Tennessee: www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/03/expl...

As a tiny reprieve from all the madness in America right now, I bring you sea beans (note: harvested from Padre Island National Seashore on the Gulf of MEXICO): www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/03/seab...

"There was a mass shooting tonight in Canada." That's a sentence you don't hear often, but it's true. It happened. I have some thoughts about guns and grief... and the measure of a nation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNqB...

In Grenada (which you can get to on a non-stop flight from Toronto), I developed a micro-obsession with a tree. My latest for @moderntraveller.bsky.social: www.moderntraveller.ca/home/rainbow...

El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.

When in Memphis, walk the red carpet at the Peabody Memphis with the resident ducks and duckmaster Kenon Walker. I spent a lot of time polishing this ode to microadventures for @journeywoman.bsky.social. ***** journeywoman.com/uncategorize...

I hope America is as lucky as the delta jet - everyone survives but the right wing explodes

On a recent group media trip to Grenada, I was poking for a national park story to write about for National Parks Traveler. I thought I was going to write about Grand Etang National Park. Then I spotted a national park/dove sanctuary on the map. www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/02/savi...

Why do I love seeing the Canadian arctic on expedition cruises with Adventure Canada? My latest story for Zoomer (the Feb/March issue is on newsstands): jenniferbain.co/wp-content/u...

Have you toured the mid-century modern international lounge (a public space) at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland? Sometimes the best part of a story (this one is for Zoomer: jenniferbain.co/wp-content/u...) is the chance to run a photo.

When I was told that Memphis has twice as many wing joints as barbecue joints, this former food editor and two-time cookbook author knew what her angle would be for @moderntraveller.bsky.social: www.moderntraveller.ca/home/when-in...

That time I hopped a plane to Newfoundland just because a super rare Steller's Sea Eagle was spotted in a national park. Another @parkstraveler.bsky.social story: www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/01/rare...

Really interesting things going on with caribou in Jasper National Park. My @parkstraveler.bsky.social story: www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/12/firs...

I went to Jordan in October 2023 + sold two stories as soon as I returned. But it took until now to find a happy home — with @journeywoman.bsky.social — for this last piece: journeywoman.com/destinations...

I've always been a newspaper-style writer - writing each story as it comes. Every now and then, I get to write a retrospective, — like this "birds I've seen around the world" piece for Zoomer (in the Feb/March issue on newsstands): jenniferbain.co/wp-content/u...

A good story writes itself, we learned at journalism school. You have to write your way through the rest of them. That was my challenge when I went to the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site in Nova Scotia to write about Christmas. #travelwriting www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/12/chri...

Sometimes you go to a city a million times before finding the spot that really speaks to you. I finally caught a guided tour of Habitat 67 in Montreal & geeked out on the Brutalist spot whose creator insists it's actually anti-Brutalist: ** #travelwriting www.moderntraveller.ca/home/touring...

Woody the Talking Christmas Tree, I am your new + biggest fan. I met you twice since you refused to wake up the 1st time. I hit the Halifax library microfiche to try to learn more about your 1983 origin story. Does anyone have 1983-2021 Woody intel/photos? *** www.moderntraveller.ca/home/waking-...

I've spent the weekend communing with Woody the Talking Christmas Tree in the Mic Mall Mall in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Story to come in @moderntraveller.bsky.social on this freakish indoor roadside attraction (ballpark 55 feet)! #visitnovascotia #compellingnovascotia #travelwriting

I spent 3N/2D in Jasper to gather 3 stories on how the town/park is recovering from the devastating summer wildfire. My 2nd story is for US-based @parkstraveler.bsky.social and is wrapped around bizarre-looking trees I photographed @ Lake Annette: ** www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/11/jasp...

Winning awards brings $ and the chance to revisit favourite stories. My story on the feral cats of San Juan won bronze in the SATW Canadian Chapter awards + my photo of Inuit drum dancers in Nunavut won gold. www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/08/mari... www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/11/insi...

When is the right time to return to a beloved tourist town that has been ravaged by wildfires? For Jasper, the time is now. I travelled to Jasper National Park, took food + van tours + wrote about it for @moderntraveller.bsky.social #travel #travelwriting: *** www.moderntraveller.ca/home/jasper-...

I have to go to bed, so sadly I'll miss the big moment, but knowing that when I wake up Bluesky will have reached its 20 million-user target is incredibly exciting to me, and I expect too many of you. So glad this place is blossoming! And so glad to be experiencing its blossoming with all of you. 🦋

An extinct flightless bird known as the great auk was my summer obsession while I was at my Newfoundland place on Fogo Island. @moderntraveller.bsky.social gave my story a happy home. Now if I just had the gumption to write a book about Canada + the auk.... www.moderntraveller.ca/home/on-fogo...

It was one of those "mountain reflects in glassy lake" days as I finally got to see how Jasper National Park + the town of Jasper are doing after devastating summer wildfires. Marmot Basin opens for skiing Nov. 22. Jasper's hotels/restaurants are ready for visitors to return. #travelwriting

Sometimes you just "see" a story, like when I learned about the man who brings his Newfoundland dog to Signal Hill National Historic Site in St. John's. I found him on Facebook + made sure they were there for photos the day I went to hike. #travelwriting www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/10/meet...

Any Monterey furniture buffs out there beyond Diane Keaton? I'm always looking for unique angles on @officialnps.bsky.social stories + so at Oregon Caves National Monument, I dug into how its Friends group is saving historic furniture. #travelwriting * www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/10/savi...

Why do I choose the stories I do? Seeing six Swiss-style chalets in Golden, B.C. in 2023, I knew I had to return when they became rentals so I could write about why a railway hired mountaineering guides from Switzerland + built them homes. #travelwriting www.moderntraveller.ca/home/digging...

A couple of block lists - will share more later. bsky.app/profile/did:... bsky.app/profile/did:... Instructions: 1. Select the list 2. Tap "Subscribe" button on the top 3. Select "Block" or "Mute" the entire list.

1/3 How to divide one Adventure Canada expedition cruise into three freelance stories. For National Parks Traveler (a U.S. outlet), zero in on remote and rarely visited Torngat Mountains National Park in northern Labrador. Lead with polar bears. *** www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/11/shar...

Lonely Planet got me through Europe + Asia, so it was an honour to co-author Lonely Planet Atlantic Canada (May 2024). I wrote the Newfoundland & Labrador chapter + essays on knitting culture + wildlife like puffins. These guidebooks are updated every two years so that work begins in 2025 for 2026.