The K MacKenzie Official

Each new year begins with the hope and promise of being better than the last. Traditionally, December 31st and January 1st mark the official celebration of the passing of one year, while we look forward to a new year ahead. For some, January 1st allows a time of reflection & renewal. A moment to pause to remember the blessings in our lives and a chance to recommit ourselves to our resolutions. As 2020 socially isolated us, 2021 remained hopeful for many including myself. After enduring the impacts of closures, limited mobility and seclusion, the bleak new reality of what we all experienced together left many uneasy. Not since the 1918 Spanish Influenza has the world experienced the loss of so much life, than those from COVID 19. Luckily in 2021, a light at the end of a very dark tunnel was revealed. Beginning with the AstraZeneca vaccine, quickly followed up by Moderna, Pfizer and lastly, Johnson & Johnson. That beacon of hope however, would be challenged by conspiracy theoris

Fan bases should leave a sense of community. Where people share their love of music for a band, group or artist & experiences of concerts and meet & greets. Not where people are turned away at the door for whatever reason. That's not a community. Take it from someone who knows! But what does it mean to be a fan these days? Especially, in the sphere of social media? As someone who once ran a fan group on Facebook, one thing I learned is: Responsible admins always cater not only to fans, but also to the bands, groups and artists they promote. Think of it as Public Relations: a page that promotes an upcoming project, music video and/or album. However, being a fan can be difficult in the age of social media. After private conversations over Twitter, I encountered I wasn’t alone in being blocked by an Instagram page claiming to promote a band from Finland. One, I was newly familiar with. A page I myself had ZERO interaction with, but became aware of only to find myself blocked f

                                                                                     In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Images: Essex County Cenotaph - Windsor, Ontario Taken: August 29, 2019 Image: Flags of The Fallen. Windsor - Essex Remembrance Day Ceremony Taken: November 11, 2019 (outside Windsor’s City Hall Square) Additional Images From 2019 Image #1: A lone guard stands silent at the Windsor-Essex County War Memorial Cenotaph, as ceremonies commence. Image #2: Wreaths of Remembrance Image #3: Windsor Fire, Windsor P

Many people remember where they were on the morning of September 11th, 2001. For me, I’ll never forget the horror I awoke to after crawling out of bed that morning. For many, September 11, 2001 started out as just another beautiful day. Until a single act of terror would ripple over the next 2-decades of our lives. The morning of September 11, 2001 was not your usual morning for me. Instead, I would be rattled awake by my mother from a peaceful sleep. That morning, my bedroom alarm clock was set to wake me up early in order to prepare myself to attend a meeting at a nearby Catholic High School early that day, to inquire about enrolling after finding myself expelled from my previous high school (long story). And while I would still attend that meeting; I found myself first confronting the horror only those who lived through Pearl Harbor in 1941 faced. At first, when I was awakened to the news of the attack on the Trade Towers (in a half-awake/half-asleep stooper) , I thought my mother

Love means never having to “I’m sorry” and idealistically, the most important part of any relationship should always be honesty. Recently, I’ve been casually binge-watching MTV’s Catfish on Crave Canada . I’ve seen some of the show from time to time whenever it aired on MTV Canada however due to the pandemic and recent 2nd wave lockdown protocols, I’ve had some time to also watch episodes I’ve missed. Which brings me to why I’m writing this. It was after showing the “Jacqueline Linkwood aka: Tracey Barbie” episode to my parents that my father brought up something I never contemplated: IDENTITY THEFT ! Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of the word Con Artist is:  “a person who deceives other people by making them believe something false or making them give money away” As we all know social media offers nothing other than artificial relationships more often than not, with people we don’t even know and everyday, people are forming “intimate relationships” with those whom they’ve nev

Written By: Kristen MacKenzie            Originally Written: 2016    Edited: 2021                                                    Guest Editor: Sarah Cipkar  Copyright: 2021    In Pew Research Center ’s Internet, Science & Technology article dated November 11, 2016, 79% of all internet users documented use Facebook. In a national survey conducted between March 7th - April 4th, 2016, a little over 1,500 adults aged 18 years and above across the U.S. discovered ‘Facebook continues to be America’s most popular social networking site’. Roughly 8-in-10 Americans use Facebook, double the number of those on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or LinkedIn. Meanwhile, 62% of adults online aged 65+ also use Facebook. While Facebook remains popular, according to a January 2014 TIME magazine article, more than 11 million estimated people have left since 2011. So why is this happening? To explain this, we need to understand a number of reasons behind it. For those who aren’t aware, yes I had