TALK

May 7/26 HEADLINE: 'RAT VIRUS ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP'.  Illness about a cruise ship - what else is new?  Why does anyone want to go on a cruise, I wonder. Who wants to be stuck on a ship with a virus, deadly or not! I went on a cruise once, for my honeymoon, my first husband's idea. And by the end of the week long sea voyage we were headed for divorce court (yes, it was a very short marriage). Lining up for those wonderful  germ filled buffet, jammed in onboard swimming pools, mini golf.  Really, I we had to pay for an expensive cruise for this? The good days were landing in port where everyone rushed to get off the boat. And heading slowly back onboard at the end of the day. I had decided then and there to just fly to the beautiful Caribbean island that I was introduced to, forget the boat.  Some people love cruises..Im definitely not one of them.

  I've got to seriously jazz up this page. It's my background page - Mainly CBC TV News anchor days, and my time as a columnist with The National Post. Check out 'Old Site' above for National Post articles and also Life Blog, a lot of that about breast cancer, since I was diagnosed with that a couple of years ago. All good, cancer only changed my life for the better so far..check it out!
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Modern Love is likely the most popular column in the world. They get 10,000 submissions a year, and choose one a week. So I was honoured to be chosen. My appearance in the famous column probably had a lot to do with me making Dalhousie University’s top 100 notables for 2025, from a site that records Wiki hits. Either Modern Love or my website. Author Lucy Maude Mongomery was number 1, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroony was number 2. I was number 74 and thrilled about it!  Yikes now I see I'm #75. (Dalhousie University  edu top 100, if yoiu're curious). 

If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you can read some of my articles, there are buttons to press or press button above, many  interviews with the rich and famous from my days as a columnist with The National Post. Lots of photos here too and my background info. Apparently, I’ve been around for a long time! And you might notice the cover shot I got on the Post for an article I did called ‘How To Get Rich’, which is ironic, since I know so much more about ‘How to Get Poor’…haha. I have also written for Readers Digest, MacLeans Magazine, and NYT Special Features world wide syndication. Thanks for checking me out, and my best wishes.

Luke’s Fathers Day
SYNDICATED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES SPECIAL FEATURES Luke has been looking forward to Father’s Day for a long time now. His card is carefully painted and signed, and he has a long list of plans for the big day. Luke is always talking about his Dad, especially around Father’s Day. “Mom, remember that long hike Dad and I took through the forest? We were gone all day, and you were so worried we were lost.” “Oh Luke”, I say, “you were only three then. How can you remember that?” But he does remember. Luke and his Dad were always together - fishing, hiking, planting in the garden – days that Luke loves to recall. I guess it’s not that unusual for a nine-year-old to be so crazy about his dad, but Luke’s father died in a car accident more than five years ago.Who would have thought that a three-year-old would not only remember, but cherish, the short time he and his Dad had together? Everyone told me that Luke would forget – but everyone was wrong. Noone stopped to think about that larger-than-life bond between father and son. I have watched as Luke’s mind adapted to life without a Dad. But Father’s Day is still a big challenge.I thought I had licked the problem years ago with my Band-Aid solution called Brother’s Day. The boys exchanged gifts and went to Canada’s Wonderland – whatever it took to escape the reality of the day. “Brilliant,” I thought at the time. but Brother’s Day came to a crashing halt last year when Luke announced: “Mom, other kids don’t celebrate Brothers Day – it’s really Father’s Day!” He assumed that I simply didn’t know, why else would I ignore his Dad’s Day?Luke also confided that he had overheard some kids in school whispering that he would have nothing to do on Father’s Day, since he had no father. At first I was angry with those kids, but then I realized that I was as guilty as they were, since five years earlier, I had taken the 'Dad' out of Luke’s Father’s Day, hoping to save him from the hurt and pain.“I want to celebrate Father’s Day”, Luke told me, and I realized that my little boy was growing up. It was so much easier to deal with the toddler who said the funniest things in his attempts to understand the situation. At his father’s funeral, he’d indignantly noted that something was missing. “Where’s Dad?”, he repeatedly asked, "he was supposed to be here!”I remembered the little boy who greeted his friend shortly after his Dad died, yelling: “Kathleen, Kathleen! You won’t believe what happened! My hamster died and so did my Dad.” “What happened to the hamster?”, Kathleen asked. The hamster was quickly forgotten, but not Luke’s Dad. There were always signs that his Dad was on Luke’s mind. At a party one day, Luke blurted out, “My daddy’s dead”. All conversation stopped, as embarrassed guests looked toward Luke. I gulped. "But my mom’s realllly alive!”, he continued, saving the moment and giving me a description to live up to.For a while, whenever the phone rang, Luke would yell, “I’ll bet it’s Dad!” The Christmas Eve after his Dad died, when Santa – my dad – called to talk to the kids, Luke hung up on him saying, “I can’t believe Santa wouldn’t put Dad on the phone.” I guess in a little boy’s mind, Santa’s workshop is as close to heaven as you can get.But those days are long gone. Luke isn’t that little boy anymore. The easy Band-aid solutions don’t work. So what to do about Father’s Day this year? Well, since Luke has decided that he wants to celebrate it, we'll be doing what he wants to do, what everyone else will be doing that day - honouring Dad.And I think it’s time for Luke’s classmates to realize something that his mom has finally figured out, something that Luke has known all along: and that is that Luke does have a father, a wonderful father, who’s alive and well and living in a little boy’s heart.© 2000 by Sharon Dunn,
Distributed by New York Times Special FeaturesReprinted in Reader’s Digest
June 2001.



My  career in television began at the age of 16 when I snagged a reporting job on the local CBC station in Sydney, Nova Scotia after challenging a radio reporter during an interview for my high school. He cut me off before I had a chance to promote a hot band called Killer Egg. And I let him have it. The manager came out and hired me on the spot.During my school years at the wonderful Holy Angels High in Sydney, Nova Scotia, I became well known as a debater with a sarcastic wit, and by the time I left high school was an award winning,, still undefeated debater, as well as President of the Student Council, Student of the Year, and Recipient of the Birk’s Medal for Leadership. Wonder how I pulled that off? I was definitely smarter as a teenager, or maybe just more strategic!In their promotional material, CBC Toronto wrote in 1982ish that I was the most widely watched news anchor in the history of CBLT-TV News (CBC Toronto). And that I took programming ratings to their highest levels ever. That was a loong time ago..I have countless years experience as a Broadcaster: TV News Anchor, Host, Interviewer, Reporter, Analyst, Writer, Story Editor and Public Speaker. I also had a free acting gigs and I’m possibly the worlds worst thesbian. Just warning you.. Reporter/Anchor
Host/Senior Editor
Host/Presenter
Keynote speaker
Actress 

THIS IS ACTUALLY MY BACKGROUND PAGE

This is a title

  'A Ball Gown For 7 Dollars - Try To Top That' by Sharon Dunn.  Last update: May 6, 2009 © Copyright 2009, National Post. 

In these uncertain economic times, there's no point spending money needlessly.  Sharon Dunn, National Post
 When my editor asked me to do a piece for the frugal series, I knew she was on to me. It must have been my bragging that did it, because I do love to save a buck, particularly on clothes, and I do love to talk about it. I think it goes back to my university days at Dalhousie in Halifax, when I bought a "hot" sheepskin coat off the street for 20 bucks. I didn't know it was hot at the time, but when I recall how the "sales clerks" jumped off the back of a white, unmarked van with about 100 coats for a two-minute sales frenzy before folding up and disappearing into the night, I think it's safe to say the garment was suspect.Although that was the beginning and end of the purchasing of stolen goods for me, it does seem to have been the start of my addiction to buying clothes at good prices -- really good prices.And it can be fun being frugal. Last year I met CNN's Larry King, and he complimented me on the dress I was wearing. It was a Chinese-inspired red (with gold background) brocade that cost me a whopping $24. I graciously accepted the compliment as though I was wearing Valentino, instead of five-and-dime couture. Luckily, he didn't ask the name of the designer, although that has happened. I once wore a one-shouldered black sheath dress to a large awards show. I was an underpaid television news anchor at the time, and a Toronto columnist, recognizing me, stopped and complimented me on it. When she asked who designed it, I froze for a moment, before telling her I didn't quite remember. (I actually remembered very well. I had bought it from a clearance house for $19 from a rack of thousands.) I told her I thought I had bought the dress at Holt Renfrew, the most expensive store I could think of. Fortunately, she left it at that.

There are braver sorts than me out there. Take Toronto society maven Catherine Nugent, just back from France, who told me, "I bought a wonderful caftan in the market in the South of France for $30. It had three layers with silver weights holding down the layers. I bought it four years ago and wear it still. I dress it up with nice beads and jewellery." Nugent had no problem letting people know where she got the frock. "I told them the truth," she said. " 'I got it at the market.' And they all ran out to get one," she laughed, although she did concede that not all society types would shop for clothes at a market. "I think it takes courage and self-assurance."Buoyed by Nugent's example, I'm now about to make a bold admission, to go where no woman has gone before. (I'll probably regret this, but here goes.) To last year's Brazilian Ball, I wore a copper-coloured gown that cost me $7 -- yes, that's $7. I bought it at Winners. Even for Winners this is a very low price, but I guess the price just kept going down because the dress didn't fit anyone. Of course it didn't fit me, either, but that didn't stop me -- a deal's a deal. The amazing thing is that I liked the dress even before I looked at the price tag, and then after looking at the price tag I really liked it. I feel I should admit that the night I wore the gown, I was also carrying a $1,200 Christian Dior purse. I should also admit that the Dior bag didn't exactly cost me $1,200. (I bought it at an outlet mall for about $200.) In my opinion, that purse, which I've had for years, is the only reason I was able to get away with the $7 gown, assuming I did get away with it.I knew Marlene Borins, the president of the Mount Sinai Hospital Auxiliary, would tell me the truth. She's a fabulous dresser herself and a blunt and forthright type. I spent time at her table at the ball and asked if she remembered the dress I wore. Insisting she did, she said, "I thought it looked great." When I told her that it cost a mere seven bucks, she replied, "Best $7 you've ever spent." Was she surprised at the price? "Yes," she said, "I thought it cost a few more zeros." When I asked if she would ever consider wearing such a dress, she answered wryly, "I haven't been as lucky as you, to find a dress at that price point." Though she did admit that, unlike me, she wasn't looking for a dress at that price point. And, by the way, she doesn't even recall my Dior bag!

In my opinion, the best-dressed women I've met are not necessarily the ones who walk out of the couture houses, the ones who insist on being dressed from head to toe in Gucci or Chanel at all times, even while gardening or power walking. No, the best dressers I've encountered tend to be "costumers," "eclectic dressers," those who mix expensive and chic. Speaking of chic, Suzanne Boyd, editor-in-chief of Flare magazine. The first time I met her, she was sporting what appeared to be a man's shirt, open to the waist, exposing a frilly pink bra. The effect was incredible. Let me point out that if I wore this outfit, I would be arrested, but Suzanne was not only able to pull it off with class, she actually looked dignified.I'm even more frugal when it comes to my hair. More and more people, and not just women, are telling me that they spend hundreds of dollars on their hair every six weeks, some up to an incredible $300 for colour and streaks. There are options, you know. It seems that people are paying for a trendy place, for "ambiance." Frankly, I'm not interested in that. Having gone to a high- priced, in-vogue hairdresser for years, and watching my hair thin out and turn a whiter shade of pale from too much bleach, I decided that if I was going to have my hair ruined, I might as well pay less for the privilege. So I found someone new who isn't trendy. She still calls her workplace a salon (I call it a dive), but the price is right. First time in her chair, she charged me $8 for highlights that in some salons would cost me $250. By the way, she now charges me about $20 for a full head of streaks. Still not bad, but hardly her $8, rock-bottom price from the old days (just last year). I'm afraid I'm losing her. Next thing you know, she'll move to a downtown loft and charge $20 per streak. If that happens I'll take solace and join one of my wealthiest friends, who has long blond tresses and who colours and streaks her locks at home with products she buys at the drug store. Her hair is in beautiful condition, and she saves a fortune, even though she doesn't need to. "There's no way I'm spending hundreds of dollars on my hair when I can do it myself," she says. My sentiments exactly.This summer I'm going to be even more frugal than usual. I'm not buying a thing, not even a T-shirt. But I am going to have a whole new wardrobe. How? By losing 10 pounds. That way, my summer clothes will all look different. And if that doesn't work, what with the weight I've gained over the winter, my clothes are destined to look different regardless. Either way, I'll win -- well, at least I'll save money. And maybe that $7 dress will finally fit me. by sharon dunn
  
Picture below CHATELAINE photoshoot 1980's, hair by RODNEY FROM MONROE'S IN YORKVILLE. And below that , I'm sharing the cover of The National Post with the two Michaels, 2003. They titled my story, 'How To Get Rich', which is ironic since I know so much more about How To Get Poor. But no matter because I really have had wayy too much fun! 

ABOVE A VERY WACKY VIDEO FROM THE 70'S AT CBC HALIFAX. I THINK MY GOAL WAS TO PRODUCE A REALLY GOOD AUDITION TAPE BUT I OBVIOUSLY FAILED. IS NICE TO SEE DENNY DOHERTY ON THE REEL THOUGH (THE VOICE OF THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS, REMEMBER THEM?) WE HOSTED A SUMMER SHOW TOGETHER. DENNY WAS FROM HALIFAX. MY MOTHER WOULD TELL ME NOT TO LET MY VOICE GET SHRILL WHEN ON THE AIR BUT I FAILED WHILE DOING THE WEATHER BECAUSE I WAS NERVOUS DOING IT, NEWS WAS MY USUAL GIG. AND CAN YOU TELL HOW MUCH I HATED DOING THE PARADE? IT WAS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. AND THEY FORCED ME TO DO IT EVERY YEAR. OTHER THAN THAT, WHY OR WHY DID I DECIDE TO GET BANGS? SEE ABOVE..