tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54816431247632483862024-02-20T20:32:25.956-08:00Saving the world in my spare timeWhy's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.comBlogger280125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-25258272524674073892019-11-20T03:52:00.002-08:002019-11-20T03:52:52.946-08:00Just testing to see if this still works!After about 2 1/2 years, I hope I'm ready to come back to posting on Saving the World in My Spare Time. Figuring out how to get back onto Google, and Blogger, with a new machine and being unsure of old passwords is tricky ... don't understand the questions that well! But here goes!Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-62458027392237763632017-03-30T12:49:00.003-07:002017-03-30T12:49:42.760-07:00High School Journalists Publish Real News<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hello Everyone,</span></span></i> </b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I hope this note finds you well, and that you've found some inspiration in others' actions recently, as I have. Keeping in mind that many people in all places are working on practical, useful, and helpful projects is a great boost to me. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A recent item on the Village Voice, a long-running news source in New York, wrote about the work of high school journalists</b> <b>writing for the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Classic</span></i>, at Townsend Harris High
School in Flushing, New York.</b> (New York is D. Trump's state, so the story was particularly inspiring).</div>
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The students were reporting information about their interim high school
principal, including allegations that at her former school she had “berated
individual teachers [and] ignored students with disabilities”, and had
mishandled an Islamiphobic incident at your Townsend Harris HS.</div>
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The school district is looking for a permanent principal at THHS, so reporters stationed themselves to interview candidates. </div>
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As the Village Voice article (link below) reported, <i>“According to a letter written by State Assembly Members
David Weprin and Nily Rozic, at a recent District Leadership meeting a
[Department of Education] representative called the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Classic</b> ‘fake news’ while defending” the current interim
principal.</i></div>
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The student journalists' response is to become even better journalists, to find out information, and publish.</div>
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Townsend Harris is a top-ranking high school, and its students come from many different backgrounds. </div>
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Thank you student journalists at Townsend Harris High! Your work - your efforts to report truth - is traveling far beyond your age group and your state. And reading about your work sure helped my day!</div>
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Best regards to all,</div>
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<i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why's Woman </b></span></span></i></div>
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<b>For full article: Village Voice, March 21/2017</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/news/youth-in-revolt-student-journalists-square-off-against-their-own-principal-and-the-doe-9791791">http://www.villagevoice.com/news/youth-in-revolt-student-journalists-square-off-against-their-own-principal-and-the-doe-9791791</a></div>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-61718171324591404632017-03-05T18:17:00.002-08:002017-03-05T18:17:42.154-08:00Aleppo Syria - the 1.5mm seed connection<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: magenta;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hello,</span></b></i></span></div>
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I hope this note finds you well. </div>
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Yesterday was Seedy Saturday in London, Ontario.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of conversations with lots of
gardeners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Displays and talks about
gardening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeds for sale.</div>
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I bought seeds from Kim Delaney of Hawthorn Farm (<a href="http://www.hawthornfarm.ca/">www.hawthornfarm.c</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">a</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kim is brilliant and practical, understands
the importance of good seed and healthy soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I bought Aleppo hot pepper seeds ... casually, because Aleppo and Syria
are in the news and I thought growing those peppers would keep me mindful of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that county’s difficulties.</div>
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Well, today I looked up the Aleppo pepper – which is a
common enough pepper to have its own Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleppo_pepper">entry</a> – and got popular beyond its
origin border in the mid 1990s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
good to know that when it’s properly ripe it’ll be burgundy ... growing tips
are good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s not a really, really
hot pepper ... so the pepper-sensitive in our household will be o.k. with it.</div>
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And then I looked at some of the other entries that popped
out of Google search ... and came upon a National Geographic article from May
16, 2014, which was about two weeks after “either one side or the other destroyed
the city’s water supply.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The city being
referred to is Aleppo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the war situation
referred to is, of course, the war in Syria ... which is destroying lives,
buildings, infrastructure, and agriculture ... including the growing and trade
in spices ... including the Aleppo pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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As author Maryn McKenna wrote in 2014, “With 100,000 dead
and grave diseases such as polio spreading in the turmoil, the loss of a spice
might seem a small matter. But the peppers of northern Syria are not just a
flavor; they are a heritage.”</div>
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<i>A heritage in food culture and family.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the Syrian growers and cooks, it won’t
matter that across the border<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers
in Turkey grow the same pepper – the Aleppo pepper – and give it a different
name, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maras, </i>after the Turkish
province of Kahramanmaras.</div>
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<i>Aleppo</i> seeds are those kept by growers,
smallholders, householders, men and women in Syria. And those seeds in Syria
have a lifespan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the lifespan of
pepper seeds?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four or five years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is saving the Syrian Aleppo pepper seeds
- who is able to grow out the seeds to have more seeds - amidst bombs and terror and loss and drought?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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My little Aleppo pepper seeds are probably great, great,
great grandchildren seeds of peppers that came from Syria 20 years ago ...
getting over to Southwestern Ontario by whatever route it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t realize the responsibility I took on
yesterday when I bought my seeds. </div>
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Food connects. Seeds connect. The practicality, the reality, of such small things is huge and pushes at my heart and mind.</div>
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Be well,</div>
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<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Why's Woman </i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>How the Syrian Conflict Affects Your Spice Rack.<span> </span></b>by<b>
</b><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Maryn
McKenna, National Geographic, </span></strong>May 16, 2014 <span> </span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span> </span><a href="http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/16/a-brutal-war-destroys-a-city-and-a-spice/">http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/16/a-brutal-war-destroys-a-city-and-a-spice/</a></span></strong></span>
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Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-20017110888582266422017-02-12T20:08:00.001-08:002017-02-13T04:00:23.750-08:00Refuse to remain silent ...Mendler's counterfascism tools<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hello everyone,</b></span></span></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">I hope this note finds you well and that your Sunday activities weren't dreary to match the weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">This morning, an email
arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its writer commented on the “resistance
... coalescing” around Donald Trump’s actions, and that right now is a time
when we can act and connect with others on issues that we care about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She noted that when people are angry or
afraid they are also receptive ... implying that now is a time that good can be
done, together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An important thing to
say, I thought.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">And not an hour later I got
an email from the Toronto chapter of Voice of Women for Peace (<a href="http://www.vowcanada.org/">www.vowcanada.org</a>), saying that Quaker
peace activist and writer, Skip Mendler, was going to be speaking at the
Friends House in Toronto on the topic of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>”A handy guide for preventing fascism”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well ... here I am in London, Ontario, ... so I did what any other
research geek would do and went online.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Mendler sounds like quite a
guy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He talks about groups like
Emergency Circus and Clowns Without Borders, which help children in refugee
camps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knew there were such groups?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">He’s got a facebook page (</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=skip%20mendler">https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=skip%20mendler</a>) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">and one of his opinion pieces
for an (online?) publication called OpEdNews is titled <b><i>“If You Can Keep It” ...
Preventing American Fascism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></b>(<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/IF-YOU-CAN-KEEP-IT--Prev-by-Skip-Mendler-Fascism-151130-100.html">here</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In this November 2015 piece,
he outlines what fascism is - an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">enforced</i>
unification of institutions - and that such situations have to be imposed
because people differ in so many ways that the structure and strictures of
fascist (or corporatist) regimes don’t happen when people are able to express
themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">He says we need to think of
fascism in the same ways as we think of a disease ... <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">like herpes</i> ... so we can figure out how it’s caught, and how to
reduce the factors – stresses – that cause a flare up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">He says that people are
susceptible to this imposed fascism when they become fearful, suspicious,
lacking in empathy, obedient, nationalistic and rely on force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also commented – a year before the
U.S. election - that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It is far more likely
that fascist power will be established in the USA through apparently “free and
fair” elections than through some kind of armed rebellion ... also far more
likely to come from the grassroots up, rather than being imposed from above.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Well ... the Trump certainly
knew how to do the rhetoric that stirred up people, so maybe that’s a
grassroots change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His team is a bunch
of ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Better get back to Mendler’s ideas!</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The Counterfascist Toolbox</span></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">- Turn the terms so we aren’t susceptible to fascism: <span style="color: purple;">be
compassionate, kind, creative, imaginative, vigilant, informed, and thinking.</span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">- <span style="color: purple;">Vigilance - </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">pay attention to what's happening in the news, in your neighbourhood, city, province, country, other countries. Yes, it can be a lot! So "pick your battles"... the topics you really pay attention to and will/can act on. Expanding Mendler ... the more you pay attention the better you'll be at <b><span style="color: purple;">Anticipation</span></b> which helps you be pro-active: call the city clerk and ask if s/he's been told something's been given reserved time on an agenda a month hence... then call your group to be get the documents in a row, ready to write and counter the points you expect.</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: purple;">Centeredness</span></span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">
– being able to maintain “calm, rational equanimity in the face of ...
provocation – counters the tendency to panic, or take rash, impulsive, and
ultimately counterproductive action.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">- And “centeredness supports <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;">courage</span>” </b>whether speaking up to a comment
at work or carrying a sign along main street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">- We also have to reach out
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;">make communities</span> </b>of many types:
in our neighbourhood, of people with shared interests, and at all levels of
government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">- “And most of all: whatever
happens – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: purple;">refuse to remain silent</span>.”</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I'd love to have heard Skip Mendler speak in person ... and to have spent my evening with the wonderful community that would have been at a VOW event. I'm happy to have run across his writings today tho' and thank him for being out there - being imaginative, centered and courageous, in communities quite a ways from his home in the U.S. I think I can say I'm already on top of his last piece of advice ... and I promise to work on the others. <span style="color: blue;">Thanks Skip!</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Best regards to all,</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: magenta;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Why's Woman </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></span></div>
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Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-60255412286531769862017-02-03T19:07:00.001-08:002017-02-03T19:07:06.924-08:00So Much of the World is Inside America<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> “America is committed to the world because so much of
the world is inside America” </span></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Ronald Reagan</span></div>
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<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span>Hello Everyone,</span></b></i></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I hope this note finds you well, and finding ways to work
in your community on projects that bring people together.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Never did I think I’d write
down words spoken by late U.S. president Ronald Reagan!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Angelina Jolie uses them in
her New York Times opinion piece,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Refugee Policy Should Be Based on Facts Not
Fear</span></b> (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/opinion/angelina-jolie-refugee-policy-should-be-based-on-facts-not-fear.html?_r=0">here</a>)</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jolie is a special envoy of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a film maker and actor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">This post is a riff on her
comments ... and I’ll do my best to put quotations marks or credit to Jolie
when I paraphrase her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Jolie writes that “refugees
are men, women and children caught in the fury of war ...often the victims of
terrorism themselves.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that of the 65
million refugees and displaced people worldwide, less than 1 percent of those
are settled anywhere around the world during any one year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, 650,000 worldwide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jolie points out that refugees into the United States are
screened over several months <span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">through interviews,
and “security checks carried out by the F.B.I., the National Counter-terrorism
Center, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The United States and other
countries worldwide – including Canada – have agreed to take in refugees as an
aspect of their participation in United Nations Conventions, international laws
against discrimination on the grounds of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">If I understand the
situation, nations see such conventions in a practical way:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>doing the good of taking in refugees, and
seeing people as equal, are good for nations’ security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> What a funny blend of ethics and politics, but if it works, that's good. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Jolie speaks passionately in her article about how openness and compassion towards others will bring those things home to ourselves and our country. Her comments are worth reading and heeding. (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/opinion/angelina-jolie-refugee-policy-should-be-based-on-facts-not-fear.html?_r=0">here</a>)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Very best regards,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Why's Woman</b></i></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-26261022598411783842017-01-31T15:48:00.001-08:002017-01-31T15:48:17.903-08:00From far and wide ... O Canada<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Hello everyone, </b></i></span></span><br />
I hope today finds you well. With something interesting happening to you today. Something good.<br />
<br />
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<br />
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It felt spontaneous, even tho’ someone must have
started it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday, about 300 people gathered at the London, Ontario
mosque to tell its members and the Muslim community that we care about them and
will never accept the hatred and prejudice that led to a murder of six men at a
mosque in Québec City (with many other men wounded).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People spoke from the heart ... all clear about Canada as an
inclusive place ... that our neighbourhood, our city, our country respects and
needs everyone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Someone began to sing O Canada, our national anthem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And people joined in and sang out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Me ... I couldn’t get my voice to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mouthed the words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never before really felt the emotion behind the
words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt it then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From far and wide ... O Canada.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Be well,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Why's Woman</b></i></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-86227731933639367222017-01-25T14:27:00.003-08:002017-01-25T14:27:37.814-08:00Let's find the ways to make the win<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">Hi all,</span></b></span></i><br />
<br />
Hope this note finds you well. <br />
<br />
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<br />
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Just read an article about a minor hockey
president's anti-woman comments* (referring to the January 21 march) ... comments on his own blog ... but he's held positions of responsibility where young people are for many years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I don't
buy his comment that the words were taken out of "Context" (especially since he's posted other things over the years).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sexism and powertripping language are sexism
and powertripping language, and examples over time just paint the picture of
the speaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's good for people to
read the words, feel the attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
need to know this stuff is out there. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To quote from a recent, much publicized
Golden Globe winner: "this instinct to humiliate when it's modeled by
someone in the public platform ... filters down into everybody's life because
it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disrespect invites disrespect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Violence incites violence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the powerful use their position to bully
others, we all lose."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all need to listen, heed the sign that says "Tomorrow, there'll be more of us" ... marching, and paying attention to political goings on, and working to not just keep things that are good but to make more things better. <i>We're going to find the ways to make the win.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Hastily expressed ... and with all best regards,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">Why's Woman </span></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
*http://www.lfpress.com/2017/01/25/windsor-hockey-exec-says-hes-sorry-for-facebook-slur<br />Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-54992009443342943252017-01-22T16:02:00.001-08:002017-01-22T16:03:23.484-08:00Beautiful Healthy Terrace Garden Has Big Effects<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta;">Hello!</span></span></b><br />
<br />
I hope this note finds you well.<br />
<br />
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My great interest is urban agriculture ... and I always
follow stories on a Canadian website <a href="http://www.cityfarmer.info/">City Farmer</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>City Farmer gathers articles from all over
the world, and shows that there are many innovative, entrepreneurial, active,
positive things happening world wide. Food <i><u>is</u></i> the way to bring people together!
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I've just taken a look at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">flourishing
</i>urban, vegetable garden tended by Anusuya Sharma, on her terrace in
Bengaluru India. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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She’s taken courses on vegetable gardening, and says that
over twenty years ago she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“learnt that
terrace gardening could be a full-fledged way of cultivating crops for
sustainable living. Since then, my passion for it only grew and I have never
looked back”</i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She catches and uses rainwater, and
recycles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And says that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“fresh chemical-free vegetables grown at home reduces my family’s
carbon foot print, a core issue in global warming,”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It helps my heart to read about someone who
understands her own and her home’s place in such bigger cycles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See the article at its original source here:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bengalurus-oldest-urban-farmer-leads-way-sustainable-living-55716">http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bengalurus-oldest-urban-farmer-leads-way-sustainable-living-55716</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Best regards to all!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why's Woman </b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-14971730703197309772017-01-10T14:24:00.000-08:002017-01-10T14:24:08.388-08:00Paying attention to what others say<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hello everyone,</b></span></span><br />
<br />
I hope this note finds you well, moving into this new year 2017 with good health and good things happening.<br />
<br />
This year I will try to add more often to my ongoing books of quotations (I write them in Paramahansa Yogananda's Inner Reflections daybooks).<br />
<br />
A friend ran across something that reflects how important what people write is to our lives: <b><span style="color: #38761d;">"When you read a line that is so well written, you just close the book and stare at the wall for a while."</span></b> No name was given for the original writer of this, but I understand the feeling and the action of it. I've had these moments in books as diverse as Agatha Christie's mysteries, Margaret Atwood's trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake, and Robert Munsch' children's books.<br />
<br />
Like so many people, I sought out the clip of Meryl Streep's speech at the recent Golden Globe awards. Without naming names she gave chastisement to one, and good advice to all: <b><span style="color: #38761d;">"...this instinct to humiliate when it's modelled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use [their position] to bully others, we all lose."</span></b> <br />
<br />
What is the balance between being respectful of everyone and understanding political/power game playing so that one is able to maintain equality, and one's own power? How much does one have to play the gameplayer's game to simply not lose? Or are those even the questions? How far can one step away from the gameplayer and interact, instead, with the pawns the gameplayer is using, and make the connection and change there? How to watch one's back while looking forward? <br />
<br />
Complicated questions and complicated thoughts from them ... not sure if I'm near answers.<br />
<br />
For a lighter heart quotation, another anonymous says <b><span style="color: #38761d;">"A clean house is a sign of a wasted life"</span></b>. Cleaning is not a waste of time ... it does have some practical value! However, the quotation is a nice out when the place gets out of hand!<br />
<br />
Very kind regards to all!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why's Woman</b></span></span>Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-44216303902117528722016-12-31T16:45:00.001-08:002016-12-31T16:45:03.102-08:00Looking forward to 2017Hello everyone,<br />
<br />
It's been a very long time since I posted! 2016 was a little much! Had to withdraw from some things.<br />
<br />
I'll be here in 2017 tho'!<br />
<br />
And wish everyone a far, far better New Year!<br />
<br />
Why's WomanWhy's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-50847803868264886512016-04-03T04:44:00.000-07:002016-04-03T04:44:06.242-07:00War Memorials ... What are We to Remember?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="color: magenta;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span>Hello everyone,</span></span></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span>I hope this note finds you
all well.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span>This post is on a rather
different topic than usual. On </span><span>Apr 2, 2016</span><span>, I wrote to our Mayor and Councillors.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: navy;">A report to Community and Protective
Services Committee on Wednesday, March 3 - <a href="http://sire.london.ca/cache/2/fafg20u2unnnfq45d45gl245/22179204022016083453720.PDF"><span style="color: navy;">LAVIII Public Art Monument</span></a> - recommends
funding up to $100,000 to be "drawn from the City of London <u>Public Art</u>
Acquisition Reserve Fund" for purchase of a LAV war vehicle, to become a
war memorial at Wolseley Barracks.</span></i></span></div>
</span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></i></b><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">In my own opinion, an object phrased as
having "unsurpassed lethality" and described as "formidable and
dominates the battlefield" is not an art piece.</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;"><span> </span>Those phrases come directly from the General
Dynamics website, advertising the merits of their products.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">I urge all members of City
Council to vote against spending City funds to purchase a weapon to be used as
a war memorial</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">Ursula Franklin once wrote
that "violence is resourcelessness".<span>
</span>She has written and spoken about "the futility of war and the
connection between peace and social justice",</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">
and has been an active member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">I'm sure she would challenge London Council
to come up with a more resourceful way to remember soldiers killed in war ...
and perhaps to come up with a memorial that indicates that the lives sacrificed
by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were related to lives lost and livelihoods
destroyed of the people in that country.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">War is not a series of isolated
soldiers. Canadian lives lost in a war elsewhere do not give us
permission to forget the people of that other country.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">A thoughtful expression of it being wrong
to spend any money on such a vehicle for a monument is in Larry Cornies
article, printed in Saturday's London National Post (er Free Press)<span> </span>... but, notably, <u>not</u> on the
website.<span> </span>I urge you to read it and
consider.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: navy;">Another </span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">London</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">
Free Press article reported that all members of CPSC voted for this.</span></i></span></span></div>
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></b></span></i></b><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span><div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: navy;">I hope that all Councillors next week will
vote against City funds to purchase a lethal weapon for a monument, and will
request that any monument meet </span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">Franklin</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;">'s
challenge.</span></i><i><span style="color: navy;"></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</span></i></span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></i></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">One councillor
wrote back to let me know he had recused his vote at Committee because he is in
the Canadian Armed Forces. I wrote him back, of course.</span></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">My late father was in the British army for 14 years,
about 1937 to 1951, serving in </span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Egypt</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">, </span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Malta</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
and what was for his time </span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Palestine</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">.
My Dad almost never spoke about his time in the army, but I remember turning
around one time when a war movie was on tv and he had tears in his eyes.
He said sometimes, when a news item came on, that people never thought what war
did to the people living in the country where the fighting happened. My
mother's <span>first</span> fiance was a
Canadian pilot, killed within the first year of WWII. Dad never bothered
her to get rid of his photo, which she kept in the bottom drawer of the dining
room buffet; I still have that photo.<br />
<br />
So, in my experience, remembering soldiers and people of the war zone is
connected. I hadn't even recalled these things until the recent news
items ... and have seldom had a reaction to anything as viscerally as the
thought of another memorial tank. (And I hate those guns pointed out from
Provost by the river forks.)<br />
</span></span></i></div>
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</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span>Thanks for the ear everyone,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span>Best regards,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span>Why's Woman</span></span></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span><span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Ursula Franklin: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Franklin">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Franklin</a></span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">LAVIII</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Public</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Art</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Monument</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">: </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://sire.london.ca/cache/2/fafg20u2unnnfq45d45gl245/22179204022016083453720.PDF">http://sire.london.ca/cache/2/fafg20u2unnnfq45d45gl245/22179204022016083453720.PDF</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Critics of LAV memorial stir political discomfort
before Tuesday decision<br />
</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.lfpress.com/2016/04/01/critics-of-lav-memorial-stir-political-discomfort-before-tuesday-decision">http://www.lfpress.com/2016/04/01/critics-of-lav-memorial-stir-political-discomfort-before-tuesday-decision</a></span></div>
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<![endif]-->Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-70850027522703676422016-03-28T06:59:00.000-07:002016-03-28T06:59:24.067-07:00Preserve, within a wild sanctuary<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span style="color: magenta;">Good morning!</span></b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope this musing finds you well. And that you've had some time over this past Easter weekend to do something you enjoyed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
... It may be that all one needs to write is some inspiration
from the voices waiting inside Bartlett's
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Familiar Quotations </i>(my copy being
the 1955 edition, by coincidence, the year I was born).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hoping for some <u>concrete</u> ideas about the word
"sanctuary" I turned to the <u>only</u> quotation indexed to that
word:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preserve, within a
wild sanctuary, an inaccessible valley of reveries.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">from
a Certain Measure (1943)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">by
Ellen Glasgow (1874-1945)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not even sure what it means!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why can she not get to the reveries - the dreams?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there's a sensibility I like.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She's instructing us to keep those (as yet?) dreams <u>safe</u>,
inside a wild sanctuary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Implying that our dreams are wild?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That our dreams are fresh, new, unexplored ... not everyday and overused?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thinking this much about a single line ... it's rather like
figuring out poetry, which I admit I've never like to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps I'm finally old enough to tackle
poetry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's been rather fun this
morning thinking on Glasgow's words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Best regards,</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta;"><i><b>Why's Woman</b></i></span></span>Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-80114202961364270072016-02-22T08:42:00.005-08:002016-02-22T08:42:57.537-08:00The world does not run just fine without you<i><b><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hello!</span></span></b></i><br />
<br />
I hope this note finds you well. And doing something interesting that counters the long February ... that lone February 29th must surely equal 5 days in any other month!<br />
<br />
Without expecting to, I've been reading about how to be an activist. A friend recommended a book with a title as long as many a 19th century classic: <i>Blueprint for Revolution: how to use rice pudding, Lego men, and other nonviolent techniques to galvanize communities overthrow dictators, or simply change the world.</i><br />
<br />
Author Srdja Popovic touches on all those things and more as he recounts his own experiences with the Serbian revolution, and going on to train people from other countries in how to focus on goals and bring them about. His experience is mostly with people whose countries are under the thumbs of political tyrants, and the movement is toward democracy. The dangers of such situations are real; the consequences of mistakes can be fatal. <br />
<i> </i><br />
His focus is on "big picture" things, important things like having a clear idea of what your goal is, defining your group's "brand", figuring out the biggest audience you can get on your side because they already agree with something you agree with, using nonviolence and humour, beginning with actions that are small and achievable, following through ... and other things like making sure any action has the details planned and people assigned to carry out the details.<br />
<br />
Reading, I knew that what he said was important, and correct ... and I also had some nagging feelings of distress. <br />
<br />
Where were the people? Particularly, where were the <i>women</i>? I think he cites only two examples where women are the leaders of actions. <br />
<br />
And although I recognize that his "how-to" book is a sort of "meta" how-to" - and forgive the term "meta"! - I would have liked him to at least mention some of the resources that give the how-to organize and carry through the individual events that lead to the big change. <br />
<br />
There were few references to change other than political governance. Where were the references to environment, gender, social justice, economy, city bylaws, school board rules ... all sorts of things where the ordinary people (Hobbits, in his reference) make so many changes?<br />
<br />
Just a note on Hobbits, characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's books. Popovic is not the first person to refer to Hobbits when he describes how people can come from everyday lives to make change.<br />
<br />
A Canadian woman,Bobbi Speck, became a leader in the 1969 fight against an expressway that was to be built through a neighbourhood in her home city of Toronto. She was in the late stages of pregnancy and then a new mother when she and others went door to door, met with city council, and did all sorts of organizing work. At some later date she had a chance to note that:<br />
<br />
<i>" ... And life can seemingly return to normal, but the little people are forever changed. This is the theme of The Hobbit and the trilogy by R.R. Tolkien, and this is something we know in our hearts without being told." </i>[Speck]<br />
<br />
This quotation, given in Elizabeth May's (2006) book, <i>How to Change the World in Your Spare Time, </i>is just one place where May emphasizes the power of individual people, and that we become more powerful by doing because it helps us recognize just how much we do know. <br />
<i> </i><br />
"<i>The first step of engagement will leave you feeling empowered. Moreover, any notion you may have had that the world runs just fine without your help may be shattered. ... it becomes increasingly clear that those in power are not very competent. It becomes obvious that you know more about the subject than those who are regulating an industry or making zoning decisions. </i>[May]<br />
<i></i><br />
Elizabeth's book is a how-to that advises how to handle details of many types of activities that make up the big picture of change. She stresses the utility of humour, and the necessity of kindness, clarity, and nonviolence in actions. <br />
<br />
I only recently found out that she lived in Muriel Duckworth's home in Halifax, during at least part of her time at university. Muriel was one of the founding members of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, and someone I met and knew during my two years living in Halifax in the mid 1980s. <br />
<br />
I've met Elizabeth May only once here in London, Ontario ... and, as you see, my blog is named after her book. Knowing that two of my most important influences had not only met each other but were long-time friends and colleagues, was a pure sit down and cry moment. Totally soggy, throat swollen, and completely good ... knowing I was truly connected to not only a big picture but a <i>big, many-coloured, many-peopled, vision</i>.<br />
<br />
Well, this post drifted from where I thought it would go! I'd intended to make a few more notes on non-violence stuff and activism from <i>The Transition Companion</i> and mention more about Voice of Women, and the Raging Grannies ... mostly to say that Popovic's book might be a most recent one, but it sure isn't the only one, and I prefer the inclusivity of my other references.<br />
<br />
The world needs us all.<br />
<br />
Very best regards,<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why's Woman</span></span></i></b><br />
<br />
<br />Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-6953167657871229032016-02-03T07:38:00.001-08:002016-02-03T07:38:22.548-08:00Risk Doing Something<span style="color: magenta;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hello, </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I hope this note finds you well.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
My husband and I were talking this morning ... about some online criticism Prime Minister Trudeau has gotten for "selfies". Quite a few of the comments don't seem to realize that Trudeau is not the one taking the selfies; rather, others want him in their selfies.<br />
<br />
Selfies are not the point tho'. More to the point is that use of media is an essential tool in how politicians work these days. As my husband said, [former prime minister] "Harper had a travelling hairdresser. If that doesn't tell you something about attention to image, nothing can!"<br /> <br /> And if activists on fronts of environment, poverty, food security or anything else are going to get their messages out and - more important perhaps - if they, if <b><i>we</i></b> are going to communicate with others, engage, others ... well, I guess we have to learn how to use media in ways that keep us <b><i>ahead</i></b> of the politicians and lobbyists on whatever the "other side" is in our cause.<br />
<br />
I suppose I'll come kicking and screaming to more media. I hate having to learn new technologies and their individual quirks and ways of screwing up. And I'll always say that getting people knitting together in a room is a great way to ensure that things get talked about and to make sure everyone knows what she (or he) is going to do once out of that room.<br />
<br />
<b>Underlying whatever methods are used to get people in touch and doing, is the simple fact that there are a lot of things to be done!</b> And, to quote further from something my husband wrote down: <br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><i>"Tough times are not the times you want to go into a shell. This is the time to be optimistic, daring, out there, step up, stand out, say good things and be present. Turtles aren't going to bring Canada anything new... and foreign bigness is just going to rob us of what's left of our vision. If we want our economy to be our economy, we may well have to reboot it all from the ground up.
That means that everyone who has a sense of industry and commerce needs
to be industrious and commercial and <span style="font-size: large;">risk doing something</span>" </i></b></span><br />
<br />
That's as far as I've gotten today with this train of thought. <br />
<i> </i><br />
Hope your own day goes well. Best regards,<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta;"><b>Why's Woman</b></span></span>Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-10547006504724137322016-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:002016-01-17T19:20:12.118-08:00Guelph Organics Conference a good place for conversation about why GMO has got to go!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<span style="color: magenta;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Hello,</span></span></b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Happy New Year! I hope that 2016 will be a healthy, happy, interesting time for you.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Barbara Kingsolver points out
in her book <i>Small Wonder </i>that "a
sound-bite culture can't discuss science very well". To talk about genetic
engineering requires conversations about biodiversity, land rights, toxins and
health, and respect for a "commons" of life.<span> </span>It requires respect for farmers, researchers
and all observers of the complexities of growth and selection.<span> </span>The 35th Guelph Organics Conference will be
held January 29 - 31 (www.guelphorganicconf.ca) and is a wonderful place to
have conversations.<span> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I mention the conference because there's been a series of articles in our local London Free Press newspaper (one of the Sun Media papers). </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Recently, a LFPress editorial
advocated insecticides that threaten food security. LFPress also praised research
into an alfalfa splice and speculated it could be a magic bullet for drought
resistance, without mentioning existing drought-resistant seed and farmers who
know how to hybridize. <span></span>Then, LFPress gave
space to advocacy of rice genetically modified to provide Vitamin A, without
mention that more Vitamin A can come into the diet from leafy vegetables. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>The same pro-genetic modification of seed article also quoted people who commented that the "louder", activists are "winning" the public relations battle to turn the public against genetic modification of seed. It's a funny praise, in a way, for low budget organizations in their opposition to world-market-dominating, billion dollar, agri-chemical companies!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Who's
put the pressure on our local newspaper? Are the same articles published all across the Sun Media "family" of newspapers? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I'll leave you with a bit more from Barbara Kingsolver. Every essay in her book <i>Small Wonder</i> is worth reading and pondering. The essay quoted below - A Fist in the Eye of God - is a an education and a philosophy in itself, well worth reading and talking about.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Kind regards,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: magenta;"><i><b>Why's Woman</b></i></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>[when someone asks] </span>"In two hundred words or less, can you
explain to me why I should be nervous about genetic engineering?" I
tell them, "Sit down, I'll make you a cup of tea, and then get ready
for more than two hundred words."</span></span></div>
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<span>A
sound-bite culture can't discuss science very well. Exactly what
we're losing when we reduce biodiversity, the causes and consequences of
global warming - these traumas can't be adequately summarized in an
evening news wrap-up. Arguments in favor of genetically engineered food,
in contrast, are dangerously simple: A magazine ad for an agribusiness
touts its benevolent plan to "feed the world's hungry with our
vitamin-engineered rice!" To which I could add in reply my own snappy
motto: "If you thought that first free hit of heroin was a good
idea..." But before you can really decide whether or not you agree,
you may need the five hundred words above and a few thousand more. If so,
then sit down, have a cup of tea, and bear with me. This is important.</span></div>
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<span><span> </span>Barbara Kingsolver, in essay <i>A Fist in the Eye of God, </i>in Small
Wonder, </span></div>
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Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-70619128188248592722015-12-20T08:37:00.000-08:002015-12-20T08:37:47.184-08:00Quotations through the year ... perhaps they'll touch you too?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span> <span style="color: magenta;">Hello everyone,</span></span></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I hope this note finds you well, as we head toward the end of 2015. </span> <span style="font-size: small;">Not overburdened with Christmas or other celebration dinner plans, and certainly not having to do more shopping! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've just taken a browse through my 2015 Inner Reflections calendar, where I put quotations from whatever I happen to be reading, as the thought touches me, through the year. This past year I've not filled in nearly as many days as usual; this is a pure reflection of being too busy with other things that aren't as important as taking the time to reflect each day on someone else' thought, idea or belief. Next year I'm going to try to get back to keeping the notes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Below are some of the thoughts that I did record. Individually or together, they have meaning ... and not always do they reconcile. That's people and ideas! That's one's own mind, over time and situations.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I hope some of the the quotations below have meaning for you, or spark your own train of thought and perhaps writing or action.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Best regards, as always,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: magenta;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why's Woman </b></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>You don't have to burn books
to destroy a culture.<span> </span>Just get people to
stop reading them. <i>Ray Bradbury</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Don't ask what the world
needs.<span> </span>Ask what makes you come alive,
and go do it.<span> </span>Because what the world
needs is people who have come alive.<span> </span><i>Howard Thurman</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>The strength of collective
silence is probably one of the most powerful spiritual forces.<span> </span><i>Ursula
Franklin</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>A life is like a garden.
Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.<span> </span><i>Leonard
Nimo</i>y</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I ask only one thing of you:
give me your hand.<span> </span>I will not let
go.<span> </span>We are on a mission to help nature,
our world, and our only home.<span> </span>Together,
we will succeed.<span> </span><i>Diana Beresford-Kroeger, from The Sweetness of a Simple Life</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I rage at the imminent loss
of my friend. And I think, 'What would Terry [Pratchett] do with this anger?'
Then I pick up my pen and I start to write.<span>
</span><i>Neil Gaimon</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span>Granny Weatherwax'</span></i><span> definition of sin: "When you treat people as things."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>A good garden's built on
basics.<span> </span>The first is soil fertile enough
to grow crops well and the second is the knowledge of how to make the soil
fertile if it isn't.<span> </span><i>Harry Dodson</i>, from Harry Dodson's
Practical Kitchen Garden, 1992, </span><span>BBC</span><span> Books</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>In nature's economy, the
currency is not money - it is life.<span> </span><i>Vandana Shiva</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>All it takes is one good person
to restore hope.<span> </span><i>Pope Francis</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>We need to discern who we are
and expand on our humanness and sacredness.<span>
</span>That's how we change the world, which happens because WE will be the
change.<span> </span><i>Grace Lee Boggs</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I veer between optimism and
realism.<span> </span>As ever, I like optimism
better.<span> </span></span><span>Elizabeth</span><span> May, from COPS21, Dec. 7/15 report</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>The key to the future of the
world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known.<span> </span><i>Pete
Seeger</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Things are impossible only
until someone decides they're not.<span> </span>Let's
imagine a better future and work together to create a safer, cleaner and more
just world.<span> </span><i>David Suzuki</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Prepare for the victory
party.<span> </span></span><i><span>Elizabeth</span></i><i><span> May</span></i></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-10727711939493035552015-12-13T20:24:00.001-08:002015-12-13T20:24:22.529-08:00Final Agreement Reached at UN Climate Negotiations<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Final
Agreement Reached at UN Climate Negotiations</span></strong></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">December 13,
2015<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> The following was </span>posted by Elizabeth May,
leader of the Green Party of Canada. She has been at the COP21 climate talks in Paris ... where she's gotten the energy to make regular postings I don't know, but she has ... and hurray for her!</span></em><span style="color: black;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The morning after 13 days - 3 all nighters…And the
Paris Agreement is accepted. The </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">21 decision is agreed. What does it all mean?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have been working on climate for the last 29 years.
In that time I have seen lip service from most politicians, courage from a few
politicians, venality from some corporations (Exxon come to mind), leadership
from others. I have witnessed opportunity after opportunity squandered for
political expediency. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Agreements
signed and then ignored. Overall we have procrastinated and lost decades when
we could have averted the climate crisis nearly entirely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now we are in it. With loss of life and devastating
droughts and heat waves, extreme weather events, sea level rise and loss of
Arctic ice and permafrost. No longer are we arguing about a future problem. We
have already changed the climate, so the debate of 2015 is “can we avoid the
very worst of the climate crisis? Can we ensure the survival of human
civilization? Can we save millions of species?” To do so requires transitioning
off fossil fuels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You will undoubtedly hear some denounce the Paris
Agreement for what it does not do. It does not respond with sufficient urgency.
It does not use the levers available to governments to craft a treaty that is
enforceable with trade sanctions to add some teeth. Those criticisms are fair.
As trade lawyer Steven Shrybman said more than a decade ago “If governments
cared as much about climate as they do about protecting intellectual property
rights, we would have laws that require carbon reduction in every country on
earth.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nevertheless, the Paris Agreement is an historic and
potentially life-saving agreement. It does more than many of us expected when
the conference opened on November 30. It will be legally binding. It sets a
long term temperature goal of no more than 1.5 degrees as far safer than the
(also hard to achieve) goal of no more than 2 degrees. In doing so, it may save
the lives of millions. It may lead to the survival of many small nations close
to sea level. It may give our grandchildren a far more stable climate and thus
a more prosperous and healthy society. It clearly means the world has accepted
that most known reserves of fossil fuels must stay in the ground.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is absolutely true that </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Canada</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> announcing support for 1.5 degrees mid-way through
the conference made a huge difference in keeping that target in the treaty. I
heard that from friends and contacts around the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To avoid 1.5 requires immediate action. Unfortunately,
the treaty is only to take effect in 2020 (after it is ratified by 55
countries, collectively representing 55% of world GHG emissions). We have built
into the treaty mandatory global 5 year reviews – what is called the
“ratcheting up mechanism.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The mechanism to force all governments to assess the
adequacy of their own plans only kicks in in 2023. That gap from 2015 to 2023
could well foreclose any option to hold temperature to less than 1.5 or even 2
degrees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So in addition to the Paris Agreement we also passed
the Decision of </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">21. It includes some actions before 2020. The language
there is far from perfect but gives us a chance to increase targets before
2020. In 2018, there will be a “facilitative dialogue” within the UN to assess
the adequacy of targets and to prepare for new ones for 2020. The decision
document is actually longer than the treaty itself and includes many actions to
be undertaken within the ongoing UNFCCC </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> process. Among them, the IPCC is requested to produce a report to </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> spelling out what level of GHG emissions will lead us to holding
global average temperatures to no more than 1.5 degrees C above those before
the Industrial Revolution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Canadians can be rightly proud of what our government
did in </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Paris</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">. While I did not support our position on every single
issue, I cannot be more proud of what we did on most issues, nor can I thank
our newly minted (and now totally exhausted) Minister of Environment and
Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, enough for her work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What matters now is what we do next. </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Canada</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">’s climate target remains the one left behind by the
previous government. We have no time to waste in re-vamping and improving our
target. We should be prepared to improve it again in 2020. But let’s ensure we
get started. The Liberal platform committed to, within 90 days of </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">21, consultations with all provincial and territorial governments. In
his speech at </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">COP</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">21, Trudeau expanded that to engaging with municipal
governments and First Nations as well. That is all excellent. Ideally this sets
in motion a quick-start to identifying a more ambitious target with actions
spelled out in the spring 2016 budget.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Earth Day 2016 has been chosen in the decision
document as the day for formal signatures to the Paris Agreement. Ban Ki-moon
has been requested to organize a signing ceremony in </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">New York</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> at UN headquarters. Let’s all take a moment to send a
thank you note to Prime Minister Trudeau and Environment and Climate Change
Minister Catherine McKenna and urge that Canada’s new target be ready to be
tabled at the UN on April 22, 2016 when Canada shows up to encourage all other
countries to improve their own targets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Paris</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">threw us a
lifeline. Don’t let it slip between our fingers.</b></span></div>
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Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-36370050966073971112015-12-10T06:15:00.002-08:002015-12-10T06:15:23.512-08:00100 Canadian Communities endorse environmental rightsGood morning everyone,<br />
<br />
Just received an email from the David Suzuki Foundation.<br />
<br />
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Toronto, Ontario has became the 100th community to
pass a Blue Dot municipal environmental rights declaration — a significant step
towards ensuring that all levels of government recognize your right to breathe
fresh air, drink clean water, eat safe food and have a say in the decisions
that affect your health and well-being.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This means that, so far, 8,000,000 Canadians live in cities that have said formally that citizens have a right to drink clean water, breathe fresh air, eat safe food and have a say in health and well-being decisions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is pretty great. The initiative was launched in September 2014 by the David Suzuki Foundation, and there's more information about it <a href="http://bluedot.ca/">here</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm going to do some checking at London, Ontario City Hall to find out how it is that London isn't on the list!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">Best regards,</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why's Woman </span></span>Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-52258042300897566472015-11-15T07:29:00.000-08:002015-11-15T07:29:41.653-08:00It is said that the heart has to break to hold more<i><span style="font-size: large;">Good morning everyone,</span></i><br />
<br />
I hope this note finds you well.<br />
<br />
Some days are more full than others.<br />
<br />
Wednesday through Friday I and a friend spent many, many hours travelling by car between London and Ottawa for a conference: Food Security in a Changing Climate. It was organized by the Canadian Climate Forum* - itself begun by scientists from a <i>disbanded</i> Canadian federal government department, along with other climate scientists and people in other professions and avocations. The conference was more than worth the travel time, and rain on the scary 401 highway at night!<br />
<br />
To be in a room with activists, politicians, scientists from many realms - all people who care and think and act - is amazing. Mind and heart filling, physically felt ... amazing. Tho' there were ideas I'd have liked to have heard brought forward at the sessions, given the format and the 1 1/2 days of meetings, nothing else could have been squeezed in. And we've got time to go forward and bring in more people and ideas and actions ... especially actions. Dr. Richard Hebda** helped sum up our time and was emphatic that we have to keep in touch. I'll be mailing him a real card soon, thanking him for two kinds of bean seeds. His research and that of other presenters was as sophisticated and done-by-protocol as anyone's ... that he is at heart a gardener touches me and confirms that that sort of connection keeps us all stronger. I got to have a chat with Elizabeth May, head of the Green Party of Canada, and an ongoing inspiration for all the environment-related work I do!<br />
<br />
In the way of our contrary universe, I returned home to a plumbing problem (at least we now know where the <i>smell</i> was coming from and can begin to fix <i><u>much</u>).</i><br />
<br />
In the way of the universe that smacks us upside the head to put things in perspective, I returned home to hear about the shootings in Paris. They had been happening just at the time our conference had been wrapping up. <br />
<br />
At the food security and climate change forum we'd heard about a six year drought in Syria that had begun well before the current military horrors ... and that, very likely, the disruptions caused by 80% reductions in crops (climate change related!) are as strongly related to what's going on there as any political infighting.<br />
<br />
What grief were the organizers going through as they had to clear up
after the conference, a time when they should have been excited and
planning forward? The French ambassador to Canada had been
guest speaker at a Thursday evening dinner, speaking about the upcoming
climate change conference of parties. What shift in heart and mind has he felt in the last two days? <br />
<br />
The above is such a short note to cover 5 days of life!<br />
<br />
How is it that an "empty" feeling can be heavy and physical at the same time? <br />
<br />
Twenty years ago I trained as a yoga teacher at the Kripalu Center, and over the years did much reading. Many times I've come across the idea that a heart can be so full of emotion that it breaks, so that it can heal and be able to hold more and help a person give more. I explain that badly, no doubt. And no doubt the psychologists have a different take on things. I do know that the emotion of deep grief "bursts" and moves to a fatigue and other feelings and can, with thought and time and compassion from onself, lead to greater strength. I've certainly had my most recent break in these last few days ... and I'm glad to know that I've experienced that regrouping before and will again.<br />
<br />
Namaste dear people,<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why's Woman</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
* Canadian Climate Forum: <a href="http://www.climateforum.ca/">http://www.climateforum.ca/</a><br />
** Dr. Richard Hebda's short biography: <a href="http://www.climateforum.ca/?page_id=5447">http://www.climateforum.ca/?page_id=5447</a> Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-42842196482676604102015-11-09T07:01:00.002-08:002015-11-09T07:01:46.850-08:00Something to say again as Canada changes government<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><i><b>Hello</b></i>,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I hope this note finds you well. There's been a lot happening in the last while.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>People who know me would not
believe that I can be lost for words.<span>
</span>I'm usually writing a letter to the editor or to city council,
researching something, or posting on a sister site <a href="http://www.communitygardenslondon.ca/">Community Gardens London</a>. For a long while now, posts here have been infrequent. I'm hoping that will change.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>On the </span><span>CBC</span><span> news and vaulting through Facebook is a post by journalist Jody
Paterson, beginning with some thoughts from her scientist son and continuing
with her own relief at being rid of Canada's just past prime minister.<span> </span>(</span><span>Paterson</span><span>'s blog: <a href="http://closer-look.blogspot.ca/2015/11/on-going-viral-and-feeling-hope-my.html">here</a> )</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Paterson</span><span>'s son wrote about the un-gagging of Canadian
government scientists: <i><span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #141823;">"It
is official. At an all staff meeting today with some of the best scientists in
the world, certainly the ones who know our coast better than anyone (and I am
lucky enough to work for some of them), we were told that it's ok to talk to
the media or anyone about what we do without permission. <b>That's how surreal it was. That's how things changed over night.</b>"<br />
<br />
</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Journalist </span><span>Paterson</span><span> followed with: <i>"What
I have come to see through the popularity of that post is just how oppressed,
bitter and sorrowful Canadians had become under the Harper government, and how
hungry they were for optimism and hope again. I wonder if we even knew how
dejected we felt until the day of the election, when even apolitical types like
me felt our hearts lift at the prospect that maybe, just maybe, the Dark Lord
had been vanquished and hope was possible again."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>On the morning of October 20
- the "morning after" </span><span>Canada</span><span>'s federal election.<span>
</span>I scanned news sites to double-check results.<span> </span>And somewhere along the way my shoulders
relaxed.<span> </span>Something inside got quiet in a
way it had not for a while, in a way that's different from meditation.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Over the last couple of weeks
I've identified the feeling as feeling hopeful about an array of things,
including: that Canada just may be able to contribute something useful to the upcoming
climate talks in France; that perhaps Canada may be able to get itself out of a
trade agreement that gives 12 more countries the right to sue us when they
cannot take over our economy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I've been fighting with
myself to not smile when I hear our new prime minister Trudeau make a
speech.<span> </span>That fight comes from the years
long habit of worry and fear for our country.<span>
</span>As "a Taurus" astrologically (even tho' I profess to not put
any credence in the characteristics given) I am slow to change.<span> </span>My head also realizes that fear is pervasive
and moving from fear is not an overnight trip.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>I've also spoken with
acquaintances who are members of the NDP and Green Party who question what is
going to happen next ... and then - to a one - make a positive comment about
Mr. Trudeau along with their "we'll see" comment.<span> </span>From these people, this is high praise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>So, I'm taking a breath,
smiling a bit as I write, and expecting that I'll be writing more.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Very best regards,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Why's Woman</span></span></i></b></div>
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Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-55025372382779420322015-08-25T19:18:00.001-07:002015-08-25T19:18:08.933-07:00Faith ... some ideas for activists from 500 years ago<b><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hello everyone,</span></span></b><br />
<br />
Hope this note finds you well. I'm not the blogger today ... just sending along a quotation about faith ... written by Francesco Guiciardini, an Italian historian and politician who lived 1483 – 1540. <br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #351c75;">…<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Faith breeds obstinacy</u></span>—for faith is no more than believing firmly and
almost with certainty things that are not in themselves reasonable; or
if reasonable, believing them more unreservedly than reason warrants.
<br />
<br />Therefore, he who has faith becomes stubborn in his belief, and goes on
his way resolute and intrepid,
contemning/disdaining/disregarding/deprecating difficulties and dangers,
and ready to suffer every extremity.
<br />
<br />And so it happens that, as the things of this world are subject to
infinite changes and chances, unlooked for help may come in many ways
over time to one who has obstinately persevered. And when this
perseverance is the result of faith, it may well be said that faith can
accomplish great things.
<br />
<br />We currently have a great example of such stubbornness of the
Florentines—a group who, contrary to all human reason, prepared
themselves to await the joint attack of Pope and Emperor, with no hope
of receiving help for anyone else, with disunity among themselves, and
with difficulties facing them on every side. For seven months, they have
managed to fight off the assaults of armies, even though it seemed
impossible for them to do so even for seven days.
<br />
<br />In fact, they have brought things to such a point that if they were to
win now, no one would be surprised, whereas earlier, everyone assumed
they would lose.
<br />
<br />And this stubbornness of theirs is mainly due to the belief that—as
Friar Girolamo of Ferrara told them in his sermons—they cannot be
destroyed.</span></i>
<br />
</b><br />I note this here because I'm feeling obstinate after a meeting at City Hall today ... and need to get myself ready for the next round.<br />
<br />
Kind Regards,<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><b>Why's Woman </b></span><br />
<br />
Francesco Guicciardini: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Guicciardini">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Guicciardini</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%A6Faith%20breeds%20obstinacy%E2%80%94for%20faith%20is%20no%20more%20than%20believing%20firmly%20and%20almost%20with%20certainty%20things%20that%20are%20not%20in%20themselves%20reasonable;%20or%20if%20reasonable,%20believing%20them%20more%20unreservedly%20than%20reason%20warrants.%20%20Therefore,%20he%20who%20has%20faith%20becomes%20stubborn%20in%20his%20belief,%20and%20goes%20on%20his%20way%20resolute%20and%20intrepid,%20contemning/disdaining/disregarding/deprecating%20difficulties%20and%20dangers,%20and%20ready%20to%20suffer%20every%20extremity.%20%20And%20so%20it%20happens%20that,%20as%20the%20things%20of%20this%20world%20are%20subject%20to%20infinite%20changes%20and%20chances,%20unlooked%20for%20help%20may%20come%20in%20many%20ways%20over%20time%20to%20one%20who%20has%20obstinately%20persevered.%20And%20when%20this%20perseverance%20is%20the%20result%20of%20faith,%20it%20may%20well%20be%20said%20that%20faith%20can%20accomplish%20great%20things.%20%20We%20currently%20have%20a%20great%20example%20of%20such%20stubbornness%20of%20the%20Florentines%E2%80%94a%20group%20who,%20contrary%20to%20all%20human%20reason,%20prepared%20themselves%20to%20await%20the%20joint%20attack%20of%20Pope%20and%20Emperor,%20with%20no%20hope%20of%20receiving%20help%20for%20anyone%20else,%20with%20disunity%20among%20themselves,%20and%20with%20difficulties%20facing%20them%20on%20every%20side.%20For%20seven%20months,%20they%20have%20managed%20to%20fight%20off%20the%20assaults%20of%20armies,%20even%20though%20it%20seemed%20impossible%20for%20them%20to%20do%20so%20even%20for%20seven%20days.%20%20In%20fact,%20they%20have%20brought%20things%20to%20such%20a%20point%20that%20if%20they%20were%20to%20win%20now,%20no%20one%20would%20be%20surprised,%20whereas%20earlier,%20everyone%20assumed%20they%20would%20lose.%20%20And%20this%20stubbornness%20of%20theirs%20is%20mainly%20due%20to%20the%20belief%20that%E2%80%94as%20Friar%20Girolamo%20of%20Ferrara%20told%20them%20in%20his%20sermons%E2%80%94they%20cannot%20be%20destroyed.%20%20Francesco%20Guicciardini%20%20https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Guicciardini"> </a>
Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-28724533222185496822015-08-23T17:46:00.001-07:002015-08-23T17:46:59.392-07:00Reaching beyond the climate change reports ... to keep going<span style="color: purple;"><b>Hello everyone,</b></span><br />
<br />
I hope this note finds you well.<br />
<br />
The summer has been going by quickly ... I've been working gardening for other people many mornings... taking naps in the afternoon as the heat knocks me out.<br />
<br />
I've never done well in the heat. And the nightly weather reports have been revealing about this. A lot of heat records in August were set in 1955 for our Southwestern Ontario area. And I've been thinking: Poor Mum! At home with a new baby in a month with days at 34 degrees celcius. And Mum hated hot weather even more than I do. <br />
<br />
As a matter of fact - and forgive me if I mentioned this in a previous post - I'm quite sure that it was hot weather in 1999 that contributed to Mum's death. Never mind that she was 80. There'd been a spate of really hot weather ... and several days after it passed she passed away. It was quick, for which I've always been grateful.<br />
<br />
And now, with the weather reports and the climate change reports in the media and on even local news ... well, I'm sure glad she's not around to hear about it all. Or to hear about the harms to the animal world, or poaching of endangered species in other countries. So many shows on her favorite TVO would be bringing her awful information, if she were here to watch.<br />
<br />
How does this little reminiscence fit with Saving the World in My Spare Time? A number of ways. <br />
<br />
Certainly, there's having to say that being upset by all that goes on is distressing. Being distressed about climate change reports or (yet another) report on the harm neonicotinoid insectivides are wreaking upon the environment (pollinator deaths) is a normal response. And those of us who are working on environment topics need to be able to say to others that we get tired. <br />
<br />
As Jenna Woginrich (Cold Antler Farm blog) happened to write today in regards to her farm ... it takes a community to make it work. We who slog away reading pesticide reports, watershed diagrams, or community garden strategic plans that make no commitment to the gardeners all need to realize that ... altho' we are using hours of our lives on lonely paperwork, we may be one of the few people in our community who understand the local history/impact of a particular situation and that is good. A few more of our hours need to be spent locating and speaking with the other few who are concerned about a topic. And it's together that we will be able to continue fact-checking, letter-writing, webkeeping, and communicating.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, we need to spend that little extra time on something we don't think we have time for ... and the reaching out will eventually save a bit of time and add a bit of stamina and inspiration for saving the world.<br />
<br />
Just a few thoughts. Getting back to the blog page.<br />
<br />
Hope you are taking time for yourself this summer ... gardening, bike riding, reading a great book, eating good food with friends.<br />
<br />
Very best regards,<br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><b>Whys Woman</b></span>Why's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-84944759608450806072015-06-30T19:57:00.001-07:002015-06-30T19:57:27.618-07:00Rainwater capture and climate changeHello Everyone,<br />
<br />
Hope you are well. If you are in the Southwestern Ontario area that's had so much rain lately ... I hope you are also dry! I haven't checked the Environment Canada tally but we must have had two bouts of rain over the last two weeks that that had over 5cm of rain each time.<br />
<br />
I actually went out and purchased two new garbage cans to store rainwater in! Couldn't afford proper rain barrels or hose attachments, but I bucketed water from the one catch-barrel into the others and now have three on the porch. The two proper rainbarrels at the side of the house were already full from the previous rain, as was a container by the back door, one by the vegetable garden, and every small buckets and watering can around the place.<br />
<br />
And it rained a bit this evening! Just to get a last measure in for June.<br />
<br />
So a June with an overabundance of rain follows May with really no rain.<br />
<br />
The interior of British Columbia is having a heat wave. The Canadian Prairies are having drought. And who knows if Ontario here will get rain for the rest of the summer!?<br />
<br />
Welcome to climate change and weather anomalies. <br />
<br />
I wonder if anyone has yet put together the garden workshop series on Gardening for Climate Change, or a book of that title. <br />
<br />
A further odd thing is that we have all the things we did not plant specifically growing huge around the gardens. Things like peppers, tomatoes, beets, and basil - things we planted - are growing slowly. <br />
<br />
I don't really know what it means ... perhaps just to be happy for the herbs we've got in abundance. More catnip this year than I've ever seen. Taller day lilies and coffee chicory.<br />
<br />
Lots of flowers.<br />
<br />
I'll take that.<br />
<br />
Best regards to all!<br />
<br />
Why's WomanWhy's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-47846604607287750182015-06-14T19:26:00.001-07:002015-06-14T19:26:09.658-07:00The power of knitting - and Happy Birthday StephanieHello everyone,<br />
<br />
I've been busy gardening for many people ... and sometimes for myself and family. And struggling to find time to ... time to do something that I haven't even been sure of what I wanted it to be.<br />
<br />
And then I read Stephanie Pearl McPhee's <a href="http://www.yarnharlot.ca/">Yarn Harlot</a> blog post for today. It's her birthday, and altho' she doesn't usually work on her birthday, today she's been working - teaching workshops to creative people who gathered to share ideas and be inspired - and discovered that this work day is really a good birthday because she has been doing things she loves. As she said:<br />
<br />
<i>"Yeah, I'm going to work a 12 hour day on my birthday ... but ... I'm so lucky that this is my work. I'll be surrounded by people who have set aside a whole weekend to learn to make things, and celebrate being someone who makes things, and the whole day we'll talk about knitting, and how it works and every person here, every one of them, thinks that's not stupid."</i><br />
<br />
The parts I really like in that quotation are <i>"celebrate being someone who makes things" </i>and <i>"every person here ... thinks that's not stupid"</i><br />
<br />
The celebration of herself is something beyond the "do what you love" idea from the '90s ... and I think it takes it several big steps forward.<br />
<br />
It involves loving the act - the art/craft of knitting in Stephanie's case - and it involves a recognition and celebration of her good self. And the shared joy in the activity bolsters the community.<br />
<br />
I'm just thinking quietly to myself that I am a gardener. I make gardens. I am able to help other people make gardens. That's good. And I like it. And I like myself for that.<br />
<br />
Well, isn't that something!<br />
<br />
Happy Birthday Stephanie! Thanks for working on your birthday and touching me, as well as all the people who are in your workshop.<br />
<br />
Best regards to all of you!<br />
<br />
Wise WomanWhy's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5481643124763248386.post-45831379900247520832015-05-18T20:01:00.000-07:002015-05-18T20:01:39.267-07:00heat, no rain and long roots ?Hello Everyone,<br />
<br />
Does this month seem to be going at double speed? Does that have something to do with the over-warm weather and the lack of rain? (I live in Southwestern Ontario) Is there any keeping up with the gardens?<br />
<br />
Well ... as for the gardens, I'd'a thought things wouldn't be growing so fast because of the lack of rain. However, the heat must be causing everything to leap up. I've got several stalksof peach leaf bellflower that have full buds on them. The Sweet Cicely is blooming - a gorgeous sweep of it at the front. Tulips flower for about two days then fade. I blink and mised the sweetbay magnolias.<br />
<br />
The other hand of it? Seems to me a lot of seeds are really slow germinating, and the ones that have germinated - some kale and coriander, beets and spinach in the gardens ... well, the tiny plants seem to have stalled in growth. I'm hoping that they are sending down really long roots into the soil, looking for moisture.<br />
<br />
The seeds that haven't hesitated to germinate are - big surprise! - garlic mustard. It's all over my place, and several other gardens I work in.<br />
<br />
Just realized I was asleep at my keyboard ...that's another indicator of the weird weather ... but one I'd better pay attention to.<br />
<br />
Signing off ... and sending best regards,<br />
<br />
Why's WomanWhy's womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109477303883465019noreply@blogger.com0