Verbal attacks can deeply scar youngsters

City Lego seller continues to build up its business

Brick by brick, a Winnipeg Lego seller is building its third expansion — in less than two years.

Meetings accomplish something that an email never could while respecting people’s time, building relationships

There are few workplace experiences that unite employees quite like complaining about meetings. Ask almost anyone what frustrates them at work, and somewhere on the list will be the meeting that could have been an email. We’ve all been there. Thirty minutes scheduled for a simple update somehow turns into an hour. Half the attendees don’t need to be there. Someone shares their screen for ten minutes trying to find the right document. The meeting ends with everyone wondering what was actually decided.

It’s no surprise that organizations are looking for ways to reduce meeting fatigue. Every hour spent in a meeting is an hour that isn’t spent serving customers, solving problems, writing reports, or completing projects. As calendars become increasingly crowded, employees often find themselves working longer days simply to catch up on the work they couldn’t accomplish because they were in meetings.

The obvious solution seems simple: hold fewer meetings. In many cases, that’s exactly the right answer. Routine updates, policy reminders, project status reports, and information that doesn’t require discussion can often be shared through email and chat platforms. Not every piece of information deserves everyone’s calendar.

But eliminating meetings altogether would create a different problem, especially as more organizations embrace hybrid and remote work.

Proposed Transcona development — which could add 20,000 people — gets thumbs down from residents

Dozens of Winnipeggers fear plans to make way for up to 20,000 more people to live in south Transcona would dramatically alter their neighbourhood and tie hefty fees for new services to their property titles.

If city council adopts the proposed South Transcona secondary plan, all future development applications would need to conform to its goals. The affected area is located south of Dugald Road, north of St. Boniface Road, east of Plessis Road and west of Murdock Road.

Homeowner Virginia Page Jähne fears the plan could add a massive tab to the title of her 4.3-acre property to cover services required for the development.

“My main concern is that they are wanting to put $1.4 million onto my title to pay for this. Now, they say that I will not have to pay it unless I subdivide. But if a person comes by and wants to buy from me … and they see that $1.4 million … what’s the first thing (they’re) going to do?” said Page Jähne, in an interview.

Get out and about, have a sip at local beer, wine events

Beer and wine fans in Winnipeg can enjoy the dog days of summer and the first days of fall with a bumper crop of events coming in the next month that are sure to please most palates.

On Monday, the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) presents the Rosé the Night Away event on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre (281 Donald St.) from 7-9 p.m.

A range of pink wines will be available to taste alongside small bites. Tickets are $42 for CAPS members and $55 for non-members and are available at wfp.to/iRV.

On Saturday, Aug. 22, the Winnipeg Beer Festival returns, with more than 20 producers pouring samples, including core pours and small-batch brews at Le Patio 340 (340 Provencher Blvd.).

Men’s recovery home dedicated to ‘homeless hero’ Faron Hall’s memory

Faron Hall never got the chance to begin recovery. Once heralded as Winnipeg’s “homeless hero” after twice plunging into the Red River to save strangers from drowning, Hall told St. Boniface Street Links executive director Marion Willis shortly before his death in 2014 that he wanted help for his alcoholism.

Aunt’s hidden, mysterious life unlocks a moving meditation on humanity and family

Valérie Perrin is not a household name on this side of the pond, but in France her novels have garnered multiple awards. In Tata, Perrin’s fourth novel but the second translated to English, a simple but intriguing premise unfolds into a complex, multi-faceted story, one that seemingly incorporates the lessons of not only her three prior novels but also her several produced screenplays.

Scene 1: Paris, an upscale apartment in the autumn of 2010. Agnes, a celebrated film director, is publicly lauded but privately still reeling from her divorce three years ago. The phone rings. On the other end is a provincial police officer from Gueugnon, who regretfully informs her that her aunt, Colette Septembre, was found dead in her home that morning.

But Agnes reacts with confusion, not grief — Aunt Colette died three years ago.

It’s a great set-up for a thriller, although this isn’t one.