Author Archives: Djanka Gajdel

Political Correctness, Meet Your Ego

I grew up in a noisy Eastern European family that only knew spirited discussions around the dinner table.  Our relatives would debate over a spread filled with food and drink. The tone was loud to compete with the lively conversations happening simultaneously. Once the night was over, everyone would hug, kiss and part ways until […]

Titty Torture

It’s that marvellous time of the year where my breasts get squeezed into pancakes you’d find at an IHOP.  My biennial mammogram. Sounds like candygram but not so sweet. I arrive at my appointment wondering whether a guy would ever agree to get his family jewels squished between two acrylic square panels resembling s’mores. I […]

Weed The North

We are currently in an incarnation of the Prohibition Act in Canada – this time its weed. It was bound to happen, and it’s unfolding in the second largest country on the planet. A peacekeeping, compassionate and apologetic nation who is the custodian to a quiet hip quotient. Hosts to the largest Gay Pride Parade […]

The best (and worst) first-date story ever

We met the good, old-fashioned way. In a bar. It was a time when Tinder was inconceivable and computer dating not yet invented. I’m grateful our courtship was void of technology because at least no one could record our first date. It was an event ripe to become a sketch on Saturday Night Live. It was […]

Beauty, Power & Grace – An Ode to Aretha

Reflecting on the soundtrack to our lives, Aretha was an anchor playing in mine. To me, she was Our Lady of Soul. A break-up, declaring oneself, a liberating moment, all sealed with Aretha belting out R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  A song that has become a familiar worldwide chant of empowerment, ‘I Say A Little Prayer,’ ‘(You Make Me Feel […]

Shove This Up Your Cloud

It feels like I’m living through an ongoing technological revolution. While others yell “Viva la revolution” I’m thinking “Vive la résistance.” I have a unique relationship with technology – none. I change my Apple sign in daily. It’s not even ‘a’ thing anymore; it’s a ‘we’ thing. Anything electronic resists me so intensely there’s a […]

Bloom, Bust, Botany

With summer here I’m reminded of how useless a gardener I am. Except for a sprawling German ivy and some moss, weeds seem to be my most loyal patrons. I’m so lousy with plants that I was genuinely concerned about becoming a parent knowing I could kill a healthy houseplant in a week. Though I […]

In Praise of Plastic – Memoir on Condom Furniture

When weather forecasters predict a hot day, I’m painfully reminded of an unusual milestone growing up: being stuck to the furniture. In the sweltering summer months of the early 1960s, I would grab a cold pop and sit on the plastic-encased couch, forgetting that my flesh would adhere to the surface. Moments later I would stand up, screaming as […]