Posted by Denis Kase
November 1, 2009

I thought that the following very brief clinical, outline of a very sad, traumatic period that our family endured would perhaps be of interest

It is meant to portray the incredible strength / spirit and courage that my wife has in abundance.

Our son was an exceptional basket ball player who played in the Local comp.
His natural abilities soon had him in the town squad team and also the “Junior Pacers team,” representing the very best players in this district.

It was whilst coming home from a “Pacers” game in the city and traveling to local squad training that an accident occurred.

At approx 5.45pm on the 18th February 1996, while I was employed on an oil rig offshore the family car driven by my wife was struck by a train traveling at 87kph on a level crossing within a large town, killing our only 11yr old son/ child instantly.

Posted By Anne Marie Bennett
October 26, 2009

If I were writing my autobiography, the chapter detailing my life in 2001/2002 would be titled “Journey: Interrupted.”

I was 45 years old and had been going about my business, living a normal life, working full time, helping my husband raise teenaged children from his first marriage, enjoying our home, time with friends, and my new hobby of rubber stamping and collage art. 


Then came the startling news: Stage II Infiltrating Ductal Breast Cancer.

I began this Journey: Interrupted like one begins any lengthy journey that ventures into the medical world- with fear, trepidation… and lots of resistance.  I was about to go through through 3 surgeries, 12 weeks of chemotherapy, and 42 radiation treatments.  Who wouldn’t resist that?

But I soon realized all of that resistance was exhausting me instead of helping me to heal...

Posted By Sana Saleem
October 26, 2009

Feminism stems from a strong belief that equal opportunity; rights and respect should be given irrespective of gender. Unfortunately in the society we live in feminism has always been kept under scrutiny.  It’s considered more of an inclination towards female chauvinism than a struggle against gender bias.

What most of the people fail to realize is that women right activist are like any other human right activists fighting against gender bias. Regardless of the allegations the struggle towards equal women rights and opportunities continue.

However the struggle is not only against the norms but much more is required to reach out and help. The list begins with lack of funds, opportunities, and the fear of breaking taboos. Quite often cultural barriers also play their role in snubbing voices. Fortunately we still have women who do not accept any of these as an excuse and continue their struggle irrespective of the norms.

One such woman is Rana Tauqeer, the founder of ZeyroZabar, an online Urdu magazine, which started off as women’s magazine and has now become the resource for the entire family. The idea of ZeyroZabar is not only highlighting women rights and their issues it is about emancipation of women. An ideology set to trigger a pivotal change to the society with a mere notion “empowering women for a better future.”

Tauqeer’s journey began when she moved to Canada with her family. After working with an election office as an office manager Rana explored the South Asian media and its diverse readership in Canada. Tauqeer recalls her experience thus:

Susan notes: this is the story of Dr. Janet Rose Wojtalik, powerful advocate for creating the female leaders of the future. I've cut and paste it from her great (and FREE!) e-book The 7 Secrets of Parenting Girls, which you can download here.

I was born on August 24th, 1953 to Stanley and Agnes. The second of three children, I grew up in a warm, loving, middle class home peppered by typical gender role models: dad was the breadwinner and mom stayed at home, raised the children and took care of the house, the shopping and my father’s paycheck.

Academically, my mom had a high school diploma but dad had to drop out of school in eighth grade to work and help provide for his family. He grew up in the depression era and food on the table at that time was more important that an education for the able-bodied boys in the family.

I have one older sister and one younger brother. We all went to college. That fact in itself had always caused me to wonder why...

Susan notes: a story of discovery by Joanna Lillis, originally published on Eurasianet (with a slide show/video); special thanks to both Lillis and Eurasianet editor Justin Burke for their kind permission to republish it on AWR.

The women’s faces gaze down from the walls, young and old, dark and fair, blue-eyed and brown-eyed.

Some look sad, some stoical, some bitter, and some simply confused.

These women, who came from all over the Soviet Union, had one thing in common: they had been incarcerated in Stalin’s gulag although they were not even suspected of committing an offense themselves.

Their crime? Being married to an enemy of the state, for which they were sent to this prison in Soviet Kazakhstan, ending up in part of the infamous network of concentration camps which stretched across Siberia, down onto the Kazakh steppe.