i had the privilege just a week ago to put in a day at the Manse Road Habitat for Humanity site, here in Toronto. I was invited to go by my daughter who is a team lead there. She has been chasing after me for some time now, insisting that I would be up to it because I had expressed concerns about spending a whole day engaged in physical labour. My norm for a workday is one spent sitting at George Brown College.
Turns out - she was right. What a high the day was for me! I came home from it tired and more than ready to head to the couch, but it was a good tired. It was the kind of happy-tired that comes from putting yourself out to do something new and challenging, something that leaves you feeling like your day actually meant something. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that nothing was aching the next day, a bonus I put down to my regular workouts at the gym.
I spent the first little while involved in little things, like helping to clean up the site, walking around looking for stray bits of wood I could clear away, or dropped nails I could retrieve. In very little time, however, I found myself assigned to the chop-saw, a machine I had never before handled. I needed a little instruction, of course, but then I was on my own and feeling capable! A crew was skinning dimensional lumber with OSB (oriented strand board) and I was taking the orders for various needed lengths. I was really getting into manoeuvring that saw, I tell you.
After a lunch break, I got involved in sinking 2" nails home into the OSB, at a distance of about every 6 inches. I felt good first of all because I was able to swing the hammer with a single-handed grip while some other volunteers were strangling their hammers in two-handed vise-grips. It also felt good to challenge myself on the number of hits it took me to sink each nail. I was able to keep it down to 5 or 6 for most of them, although I managed a couple of them at just four. That felt extra good.
The camaraderie on such a site is a pleasant part of the day. People you've never met before are ready to share easy laughter and extra effort with you, and enjoy everything the day has to offer, side-by-side in a way that feels as though you had indeed known each other for much longer than an hour or two. Everyone was so accepting of everyone else.
Before we left the site, I was invited to write something on one of the houses on which I had worked. I wrote "Blessings on this house" on the rough opening of the patio door. That was another good feeling, just as pitting myself against the challenge of the required exertion had been, especially when I was wielding that hammer and when I was helping to dismantle some scaffolding.
The very best part of the whole day, though, came on the drive home with my daughter. This very capable young woman is so at home in that milieu, so obviously respected there and looked to for direction by many others. She graciously offered to allow me access to a special part of her life, to share her beloved Habitat workplace with me. I was concerned, very concerned at first, that she not find me lacking, not feel like she wished she had not invited me after all. In no time, I was too busy to give that worry a second thought, but it returned on the drive home while I waited for her comments on the day. What a feeling of pride she gifted me with; what a rush of happy relief when she said "Mom, you were awesome. I was proud of you."
She ended the day by inviting me to come back again. I think I might just take her up on that!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Bleeding Hearts, Everywhere
Canada's Governor-General Michaelle Jean offered a gesture of solidarity to the Inuit people of Nunavut on Monday. She used a traditional ulu to slice into a seal during the preparations for a community feast in Rankin Inlet, but unless she herself declares that she did what she did in solidarity with seal hunters, then the interpretation that it was a gesture extended to the Inuit people en masse is valid.
After wielding the ulu, the GG asked if she could try the heart and was soon offered a raw piece of the delicacy. She accepted it, commenting after eating that it was much like sushi.
Paul Waye, the town manager in Rankin Inlet, said "She was a delight to have in the community and her participation in the community feast was very well respected by the whole community. To see someone, the head of state, come to Nunavut and participate in traditional activities it really strengthens ties and makes us feel a part of Canada again." His words carry the most significance in regard to the GG's actions. Absolutely, she was showing solidarity with a segment of Canada's population that has been too long devalued. Official recognition of these people and respect for their culture and traditions is desperately long overdue. If there could be any doubt about the woman's intentions, they should be cleared up by her using the trip to further urge the government to build a university in the North in order to help the Inuit be a part of the economic growth in their own region.
Jean's sampling of the raw Inuit delicacy has many up in arms. Her action was denounced Tuesday by the Humane Society International, which opposes the hunting of seals and supports a European Union ban on Canadian seal meat. There are accounts being written that talk in disgust of her using tissue to wipe her bloodied hands after eating the proffered morsel. Give me a break, people. What would have made you happy? Did you want to see her lick her fingers, or would you have better pleased if she had turned to Paul Waye, and wiped her fingers down his shirt sleeve?
When you get right down to it, all the fuss over the seal hunt is no more than an indulgence in looking askance at the goings-on in someone else's bailiwick while the same is happening in your own. The European Union might want to take a little look at bull-fighting before they draw too many more shocked breaths at the seal hunt. The killing of seals by the Inuit is no more horrendous than the merciless baiting and savagery doled out to the poor beasts ushered into the bull-fighting rings. Perhaps the seal hunt is just a little better, in fact, given that the flesh of the animal is used as food, and its demise is not greeted with frenzied cheers by a crowd of depraved types who gladly pay to watch an animal being tortured to death.
Of course, there is a possibility that not all those EU members who denounce the seal hunt go to the bull ring themselves, but I imagine there's a damn good chance the majority of them are meat-eaters. If they are, then once again they need to clean up the action in their own backyard before they dump self-righteous indignation on ours. Until they can give a written guarantee that not a single one of the animals whose flesh they ingest has been improperly/inhumanely murdered, they should not declare the seal hunt to be any more wrong than what took place in order to bring dinner to their table.
There have been far too many pictures in the media of seal pups with their big, black eyes looking at the camera, and not nearly enough of calves (veal) staring in mad terror at the mallet as it swings toward their heads or the blade as it swings toward their necks.
Maybe the problem here is that the description of "cute" has not been artificially assigned to cows in enough media releases. For that matter, neither has it been assigned to pigs, or fish, or chicken or ... the list goes on and on. Each one of these creatures dies in order to make a meal for humans. Many of them live lives of cruel confinement before they are sent off to eternity, but there is little outcry about it from the EU or anyone else who decries the seal hunt. Maybe the problem here is the arbitrary assigning of more worth to some animal lives than others. If the Eu really needs a cause to champion, why don't they slap some of the holier-than-thou condemnation on the makers and consumers of shark-fin soup?
Maybe, just maybe, the problem here is not one of cruelty to any animal. Maybe the problem is simply one of hypocrisy.
After wielding the ulu, the GG asked if she could try the heart and was soon offered a raw piece of the delicacy. She accepted it, commenting after eating that it was much like sushi.
Paul Waye, the town manager in Rankin Inlet, said "She was a delight to have in the community and her participation in the community feast was very well respected by the whole community. To see someone, the head of state, come to Nunavut and participate in traditional activities it really strengthens ties and makes us feel a part of Canada again." His words carry the most significance in regard to the GG's actions. Absolutely, she was showing solidarity with a segment of Canada's population that has been too long devalued. Official recognition of these people and respect for their culture and traditions is desperately long overdue. If there could be any doubt about the woman's intentions, they should be cleared up by her using the trip to further urge the government to build a university in the North in order to help the Inuit be a part of the economic growth in their own region.
Jean's sampling of the raw Inuit delicacy has many up in arms. Her action was denounced Tuesday by the Humane Society International, which opposes the hunting of seals and supports a European Union ban on Canadian seal meat. There are accounts being written that talk in disgust of her using tissue to wipe her bloodied hands after eating the proffered morsel. Give me a break, people. What would have made you happy? Did you want to see her lick her fingers, or would you have better pleased if she had turned to Paul Waye, and wiped her fingers down his shirt sleeve?
When you get right down to it, all the fuss over the seal hunt is no more than an indulgence in looking askance at the goings-on in someone else's bailiwick while the same is happening in your own. The European Union might want to take a little look at bull-fighting before they draw too many more shocked breaths at the seal hunt. The killing of seals by the Inuit is no more horrendous than the merciless baiting and savagery doled out to the poor beasts ushered into the bull-fighting rings. Perhaps the seal hunt is just a little better, in fact, given that the flesh of the animal is used as food, and its demise is not greeted with frenzied cheers by a crowd of depraved types who gladly pay to watch an animal being tortured to death.
Of course, there is a possibility that not all those EU members who denounce the seal hunt go to the bull ring themselves, but I imagine there's a damn good chance the majority of them are meat-eaters. If they are, then once again they need to clean up the action in their own backyard before they dump self-righteous indignation on ours. Until they can give a written guarantee that not a single one of the animals whose flesh they ingest has been improperly/inhumanely murdered, they should not declare the seal hunt to be any more wrong than what took place in order to bring dinner to their table.
There have been far too many pictures in the media of seal pups with their big, black eyes looking at the camera, and not nearly enough of calves (veal) staring in mad terror at the mallet as it swings toward their heads or the blade as it swings toward their necks.
Maybe the problem here is that the description of "cute" has not been artificially assigned to cows in enough media releases. For that matter, neither has it been assigned to pigs, or fish, or chicken or ... the list goes on and on. Each one of these creatures dies in order to make a meal for humans. Many of them live lives of cruel confinement before they are sent off to eternity, but there is little outcry about it from the EU or anyone else who decries the seal hunt. Maybe the problem here is the arbitrary assigning of more worth to some animal lives than others. If the Eu really needs a cause to champion, why don't they slap some of the holier-than-thou condemnation on the makers and consumers of shark-fin soup?
Maybe, just maybe, the problem here is not one of cruelty to any animal. Maybe the problem is simply one of hypocrisy.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Beatboxing Canuck Girl
From May 28th to June 1st, 2009, more than 140 international vocal percussion and beatboxing artists from around the world will travel to Berlin, Germany, to compete in the World Championship event on stage One of those taking part in the Online Battle is 17-year-old Julia Dales from Canada. She won the Beatbox Championship Wild Card with her beatboxing videoclip, judged by Kid Lucky of the USA, Roxorloops of Belgium, and Bee Low of Germany to be the best of all those who vied for the Wild Card. You go, Canuck Girl!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Honking at the Pope
A statement was released on Sunday by the Generation to Generation Bearers of the Holocaust and Heroism Legacy organization, calling on Israeli drivers to honk their horns on Monday at 6 p.m. in protest of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Yad Vashem. The statement read, "With a short honk, Israeli citizens across the country will express their disgust for the visit of the pope who encourages Holocaust deniers and displays of anti-Semitism." I know if I had been there, I might have damn near worn my car's horn out honking out my derision for this backward-thinking waste of time currently holding the title of pope.
The funky-hatted one, formerly of both the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht, visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of his visit to various sites in the middle east. The Legacy Organization wanted the horn-honking protest because they've got their collective shorts in a knot over one or two sticklers, like Benny lifting the excommunication from the Holocaust denier, Bishop Richard Williamson; Benny concluding the canonization of Hitler's Pope; and Benny's decreeing in 2007 that the rather anti-Semitic Good Friday prayer must be used in all celebrations of the Liturgy of Good Friday. This prayer, for those who may not be aware, has long been a bone of contention between Jews and the RC church. During its history, it has gone through various wordings, some of them more outright insulting and defamatory, but all of them asking the almighty to make the Jews aware of the error of their ways in not accepting Jesus as their saviour. It does seem a little contradictory to claim you respect the people you pray will be converted AWAY from their faith and into yours.
During his visit to the Holocaust Memorial, Benedict apparently spoke at length about the importance of remembering the victims of the Holocaust, as though he actually cared. He ended his speech, however, with an admonition to "all people of goodwill (to) remain vigilant in rooting out from the heart of man anything that could lead to tragedies such as this!" which one does he really want; Catholicism to continue mouthing the Good Friday invocation of almighty influence in effectively bringing to an end the practise of Judaism; or the peaceful tolerance of each for the other? You can't have both, Benny.
The funky-hatted one, formerly of both the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht, visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of his visit to various sites in the middle east. The Legacy Organization wanted the horn-honking protest because they've got their collective shorts in a knot over one or two sticklers, like Benny lifting the excommunication from the Holocaust denier, Bishop Richard Williamson; Benny concluding the canonization of Hitler's Pope; and Benny's decreeing in 2007 that the rather anti-Semitic Good Friday prayer must be used in all celebrations of the Liturgy of Good Friday. This prayer, for those who may not be aware, has long been a bone of contention between Jews and the RC church. During its history, it has gone through various wordings, some of them more outright insulting and defamatory, but all of them asking the almighty to make the Jews aware of the error of their ways in not accepting Jesus as their saviour. It does seem a little contradictory to claim you respect the people you pray will be converted AWAY from their faith and into yours.
During his visit to the Holocaust Memorial, Benedict apparently spoke at length about the importance of remembering the victims of the Holocaust, as though he actually cared. He ended his speech, however, with an admonition to "all people of goodwill (to) remain vigilant in rooting out from the heart of man anything that could lead to tragedies such as this!" which one does he really want; Catholicism to continue mouthing the Good Friday invocation of almighty influence in effectively bringing to an end the practise of Judaism; or the peaceful tolerance of each for the other? You can't have both, Benny.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
So What Are the Odds?
Did you miss the day this week, or were you one of those in the know on 05/07/09, also called "Odd Day"? Apparently, three consecutive odd numbers make up the date only six times in a century. The last time the six Odd Days got on their way was back in 1905, on 01/03/05, just thirteen months after the Wright brothers ushered in the aeronautical age at Kitty Hawk. The Wright Flyer they piloted that day was the first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft to make a sustained, controlled flight with a pilot aboard. Gives you a feel for just how infrequent these "odd days" really are, doesn't it?
Of course, if you're into mathematical quirks, you'll want to be aware of Square Root Day as well. On such a day, the numbers representing a date's month and day are the square roots of the final digits for the year. A little more prolific than Odd Days, Square Root Days come around nine times in a century. Google either one of these occurrences and you're bound to bump into Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, California, high-school teacher who is deeply into such numerical patterns and is responsible for oddday.net .
While I realize this might be all just a big yawn to you, I also know there are some of you out there who are already beginning to plan big celebrations for the next numerical-pattern day that rolls around. Heck, why wait? Get all your math-loving buddies together some evening, serve some light refreshments, and just go crazy figuring out all the Odd and Square Root Days we can look forward to in the 21st century. Add an edge to the party by challenging your guests to predict what current science-fiction imaginings will have made their way to reality on the brave new horizon.
Of course, if you're into mathematical quirks, you'll want to be aware of Square Root Day as well. On such a day, the numbers representing a date's month and day are the square roots of the final digits for the year. A little more prolific than Odd Days, Square Root Days come around nine times in a century. Google either one of these occurrences and you're bound to bump into Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, California, high-school teacher who is deeply into such numerical patterns and is responsible for oddday.net .
While I realize this might be all just a big yawn to you, I also know there are some of you out there who are already beginning to plan big celebrations for the next numerical-pattern day that rolls around. Heck, why wait? Get all your math-loving buddies together some evening, serve some light refreshments, and just go crazy figuring out all the Odd and Square Root Days we can look forward to in the 21st century. Add an edge to the party by challenging your guests to predict what current science-fiction imaginings will have made their way to reality on the brave new horizon.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Hebetude in Parliament?
This just in - only two-thirds of Canada's Members of Parliament have university degrees. Is our government dumbing down?
A Public Policy Forum report says that there have been changes made in the Members brought in by the last election. Along with the education stats comes the news that most of the current Members of Parliament made their way to a seat from business backgrounds rather than the more traditional lawyer-becomes-politician route. The last election also whitewashed Parliament, when ethnic diversity and the number of foreign-born Members decreased.
David Mitchell, president of the Public Policy Forum, says these changes are responsible for the "unprecedented level of partisan acrimony" currently displayed in Parliament. Have you ever turned the TV on to watch the doings in Parliament? It's like watching any teacher's worst nightmare-come-true of the class from hell. So many of our representatives act like they never learned any manners, never looked up the meaning of the word "civility". You have to wonder sometimes, with the spectacles Parliament has had to offer lately, how is our country supposed to continue functioning well?
A Public Policy Forum report says that there have been changes made in the Members brought in by the last election. Along with the education stats comes the news that most of the current Members of Parliament made their way to a seat from business backgrounds rather than the more traditional lawyer-becomes-politician route. The last election also whitewashed Parliament, when ethnic diversity and the number of foreign-born Members decreased.
David Mitchell, president of the Public Policy Forum, says these changes are responsible for the "unprecedented level of partisan acrimony" currently displayed in Parliament. Have you ever turned the TV on to watch the doings in Parliament? It's like watching any teacher's worst nightmare-come-true of the class from hell. So many of our representatives act like they never learned any manners, never looked up the meaning of the word "civility". You have to wonder sometimes, with the spectacles Parliament has had to offer lately, how is our country supposed to continue functioning well?
Happy Mother's Day!
If you find yourself looking for a last minute gift for Mom, you might want to consider giving her a gift that will keep on giving and giving, over and over. I'm talking about a Kiva gift certificate. Your Mom could even use it to help out another Mom somewhere in a less privileged country. Follow this link and you'll be able to select the gift value and get Mom's gift certificate right now. After all, why wait? You can give a basic amount gift of $25.00, or go just as high as you'd like. It's all going to give Mom a great feeling of satisfaction, as I said, over and over again. She can redeem her certificate and lend the funds to the entrepreneur of her choice, or the "Momtrepreneur" as the folks at Kiva are calling the mothers to whom Kiva loans have been given. Once that first recipient has repaid their loan, your mother can reloan her original amount to a new entrepreneur.
Kiva is appealing to a lot of people these days as just the right way to spend a little money. April 2009 was, in fact, Kiva's third record-breaking month in a row! This organization, only 43 months old, has generated loans to the amount of $71,063,885. and funded 167,782 entrepreneurs, so far. Between the lenders, and the loan recipients, Kiva currently represents 165 countries. Maybe it's time to get your Mom involved, too.
Kiva is appealing to a lot of people these days as just the right way to spend a little money. April 2009 was, in fact, Kiva's third record-breaking month in a row! This organization, only 43 months old, has generated loans to the amount of $71,063,885. and funded 167,782 entrepreneurs, so far. Between the lenders, and the loan recipients, Kiva currently represents 165 countries. Maybe it's time to get your Mom involved, too.
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