Here is the second group of 7 songs that made the cut for the very best True Rebel songs of 2011.

8. AGAINST ME! - BECAUSE OF THE SHAME

Last year I presented a Side A and Side B of the best truerebel music of 2010 (based on criteria you can check out here). This year I will split the True Rebel Songs of 2011 into three parts as it was just too much for people to take in with a simple Side A and Side B. There will be 21 songs on the list so they will nicely fit into three 7 song blogs. They are not in order 1-21, but meant to be a good playlist for an 80 minute CD.

Our youth mentors at The Dam are an incredible group of people. I am so blessed to be able to work with them every week, they inspire me with their compassion, empathy and living out Mother Teresa's words, "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only love." It is a group of true rebels who are motivated by love!

Last night I had a dream about The Hunger Games. Not surprising really, since I just devoured the first two books of the Suzanne Collins trilogy. I found myself unable to put them down and have heard similar reports from others.

Scrooge is perhaps the most classic of Christmas tales. A man, obsessed by greed and selfishness experiences a moment of transformation. It is a tale that sparks the hope that change is possible. Greed and selfishness are like a disease that twist bitterness in a person’s spirit and create desperate loneliness and tear the heart apart. However, there is hope for something different. Generosity and love can take hold and free a person from the chains of greed.

Tonight we are having a Christmas party at our Meadowvale drop-in. This will be my ninth Youth Christmas Party in Meadowvale and I love them all. I have many memories of youth erecting amazing gingerbread houses, playing games, singing karaoke, competing in Christmas trivia or Christmas twister. For all the fun and laughter and the great Christmas dinners and dramas, one memory always stands out for me above the rest.

From Bronnie Ware come these top 5 things that people regret about their lives in their last moments. Working in palliative care for many years these are the things she would hear most often expressed at the end of someone's journey. (You can find the full blog here)

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard

Catchy title I know! Being of European descent myself, it might sound strange, but these were the exact words that came to my head after a brief online interaction that I just had.

My Dad was born in Holland, as were my 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents and so on... In Holland Santa Claus is called Sinterklaas and comes door to door on the evening of December 5^th with gifts. Sinterklaas does not come alone. He is preceded by a servant named Zwarte Piet, which translated is “Black Peter”.

An interesting event has made the news since Halloween. A man, new to a neighbourhood received this letter for not handing out candy on Halloween.

I'm not sure what your reaction to this letter is. For me, it is deeply troubling.

I’m  a pretty normal person in this regard; I like it when people like me, I don’t like it when people don’t like me.

This pretty normal fact about me however runs directly counter to a commitment that I have made to attempt to tell the truth as I see it. This commitment is particular to those general societal or cultural trends that run directly counter to principles of love, mercy and justice.