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Archives
- August, 2007
Dissent is Not Sad, It’s Democratic – August 22,
2007
As a baby boomer, I came of age in the late 60s, and learned well the
lessons of rebellion, questioning of authority and dissent. And I’ve
been known to participate in my share of protests and political lobbies
– although not as many I’d like, due to the sometimes awkward
requirements of journalistic “objectivity.” But in all these years,
I’ve never witnessed the reaction to dissent that displayed earlier
this week by the head of the government of my supposedly democratic
country. (Well, being appalled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a
near-constant state for me…but that’s another story.) The incident
I’m referring to involves his reaction to a demonstration held on
Monday in Montebello, Quebec against Harper’s meeting with George W. Bush and Mexican President
Felipe Calderon. They were apparently (I say “apparently” due to the
secret nature of the meeting and those leading up to it) discussing something called the “Security and Prosperity
Partnership” or SPP.
This
unpopular agreement is so unpopular that the three leaders don’t seem
to want to submit it to their respective legislative processes and would
rather discuss and agree behind closed doors (that’s been going on for
a few years now, without it hitting the public radar until recently.)
Negotiated on a bizarre merry-go-round of secretiveness, arrogance and
paranoia, this agreement is purportedly about integration, which is a
benign-seeming word. But many Canadians fear that means our laws will
have to conform with American laws, our military will be led by American
military, our energy will become American energy, and corporate needs of
any nationality will rule. It’s hard to know what the truth is, but it
seems to me that if there were nothing to hide, it wouldn’t be hidden.
And that’s the point a thousand or so folks were trying to make this
week outside the resort where the big guys were meeting. I think they
succeeded, in spite of the government’s and police forces’ best
attempts to thwart the protests. (
Reports are now surfacing that undercover police infiltrated the protest
and started the violence that was widely reported on Monday.) So what
does our embarrassing Prime Minister tell television cameras? “I’ve
heard it’s nothing. A couple hundred? It’s sad.”
What is sad
– no matter what your opinion of the SPP or the effectiveness of
protest demonstrations – is
the spectacle of the leader of a supposedly democratic country demeaning
and perhaps trying to smother legitimate dissent.
Posted:
2007/08/22 11:36 AM
Toxic Toys – August 16, 2007
Once again, Mattel is recalling millions of toys made in
China due to concerns about lead-based paint and small magnets, both of which
are harmful if swallowed. Aside from the obvious and relatively recent
problems resulting from China being corruption-ridden and totally out of control, there apparently is
a need for a whole generation of parents to educate themselves about
child safety. As a relatively naïve young mother in my mid-20s, I knew
enough about kids putting things in their mouths to give my daughters
unfinished wooden toys made by someone I knew and trusted. But now,
30-some years later, I read a quote in my local newspaper from a young
mother who said she had never considered the idea that toys could harm
her kid!
And then there’s Mattel, which is – like the
purveyors of China-contaminated pet and human foods and toothpaste
before it – acting like the victim of unreliable and unethical
offshore suppliers. Well, excuse me, but one gets what one pays for.
When companies relocate or outsource their manufacturing to places like
China in order to profit from low production costs, they should expect low quality –
as potentially unsafe – products. No matter where their manufacturing
is done, companies need to be responsible for the quality of the
products they sell. And so do the governments who create and support the economic system that encourages
offshore manufacturing.
So where are our governments in all of this?
Where are the consumer health and environment laws that are supposed to
protect us against this sort of thing? I guess they’re in bed with the
corporations that their weak laws and even weaker enforcement are
encouraging.
As the Sierra Club’s Executive Director Carl Pope
said today in a statement, “Manufacturers and federal agencies must
join together in asking China to clean up its business practices and
factories for the protection of its workers and both Chinese and
American children.” These recalls will continue until our governments
care more about protecting children than corporations.
Posted:
2007/08/17 5:31 PM
A Potholder Hug – August 12, 2007
Recently I’ve noticed that cooking makes me emotional. Or, rather,
cooking certain dishes has that effect on me. The slow and repetitive
pouring, waiting and flipping of pancake preparation on a Sunday morning
inevitably makes me teary-eyed and nostalgic for my mother’s pancakes
at those oh-so-long ago weekend family breakfasts. And the other day,
the fragrant yeast working, miraculous dough rising and energetic
kneading of bread baking brought both a tear and a smile as I remembered
how each of my young daughters approached that same project in such different
ways: Heidi with her determination and neatness, and Melanie with her
playful abandon.
I put this emotionalism down to family
circumstances and my age until I neared the end of the book
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.
This is the story of how the author’s family documented a year of
procuring as much of their food as possible from neighboring farms and
their own backyard. In one chapter, Kingsolver writes about how food
anchors holiday traditions and how she – somewhat like I – had
subconsciously “spent years denying the good in that.” Fortunately,
like I did, she got over that and now embraces all the food-related
celebrations, including one at the beginning of November called Dia de
los Muertos – the Mexican Day of the
Dead. As she describes it, this entirely happy ritual has its roots in
Aztec culture, where the Lady of the Dead presided over rituals (many
food-related) that welcomed dead friends and ancestors back among the
living. Aside from the fact that Dia de los Muertos seems like a welcome
antidote to Hallowe’en, which I have never enjoyed because it characterizes death as grotesque and
scary, it creates a reason for remembering – a “potholder hug” as
Kingsolver dubs it with her gentle wit. As I read her words: “When I
cultivate my garden I’m spending time with my grandfather, sometimes
recalling deeply buried memories of him,” I realized the source of my
recent kitchen emotionalism. When I’m cooking certain dishes, I am
experiencing the emotions attached to the person who taught me how to
cook a certain dish, or with whom I used to cook it. And I give those
memories a potholder hug.
Posted:
2007/08/12 12:59 PM
Gone Fishin –
August 6, 2007
I’m now going to shut my computer down and leave my office for at least
five days. Not sure I will succeed in staying away from work, since I am
not leaving town. And there’s always the BlackBerry.... But I do
recognize that it is time for some serious self-care before the fall publishing season heats up.
Posted:
2007/08/06 3:57 PM
In
Defense of Strong-Willed Children – August 6, 2007
Norm Lee has done many things in his life, including a stint in the
military, a job teaching English, and – when I first came across him
– working with John Holt promoting and leading seminars on home
schooling. But his life as an abused child has led him to be a ferocious
champion of children’s rights and an advocate for children who are
spanked and who suffer other types of abuse. To that end, he maintains a
website
and sends out an occasional email newsletter. Both are worth reading.
His latest newsletter arrived the other day and can be read on his
website. It’s entitled “Why I Like the Strong-Willed Child.”
It describes how, when he taught high school
English, the best pupils he had were “the school-hating
malcontents.” These students were, he maintains, way more interesting
than those who did well – in addition to being brighter and more
creative. Saner, he says. But they had a hard time because they were also the most disruptive. And often had been bullied,
humiliated and otherwise mistreated a lot. Anyway, I recommend spending
some time on Norm’s site reading this particular essay. If you’re an
unschooler, you’ll nod in agreement with his comments and
conclusions. If you’re the type who favors schooling, then I hope your
mind will be opened just a tiny bit to the assumptions we make about
children and schooling. You’ll also find out why Norm
quit teaching school.
While you’re there, I urge you to sign on to his
list of those vowing to “Stop the Hitting.”
Posted:
2007/08/06 3:49 PM
Birthing a New Magazine – August 3, 2007
For the past couple of decades, our business plan for Life Media has included a third
magazine called Natural Child, and now Rolf and I have made the commitment to end that long
gestation and launch it for January/February 2008. Its name originated in
the late 1980s, when Rolf created The Natural Child column in our
first magazine, Natural Life.
The column began in the early 90s and still runs sporadically in
Natural Life. For a number of years, Jan Hunt was a regular
contributor to the column, and she later took the name for a book and her
Natural Child Project website. Here at Life Media, we are excited to be targeting
natural parenting, which is a
subject that both Natural Life and Life Learning have
covered on a regular basis. The magazine will cover green, healthy living
for families...from pregnancy, through birth and early childhood. And, of
course, it will have our signature intelligent, progressive,
reader-oriented style. We are
offering a two-for-one introductory subscription until the end of
October. And we are also looking for contributors and advertisers. Info about all
three topics can be found on the website, which went live yesterday. (Do
let me know if you find any broken links, typos, etc.!) I hope you
will join us as we form a village to raise healthy, happy
children...naturally!
Posted: 2007/08/03
1:21 PM
Whose
Learning Agenda Is It? – August 1, 2007
I had a phone call today from a mother wanting advice –
ostensibly on behalf of her preteen daughter – about learning a foreign
language in an “unschooling” environment. She spent the first part of
the phone conversation telling me what she wanted, what she had
researched, what she was so her daughter could learn French. She had
figured out her goals for the exercise and her expectations for the
outcome based on want she wanted her daughter to do regarding the
language (speak and write it fluently). She had reviewed a number of
courses and programs but none of them met her criteria, she said. The
word “I” must have been used a hundred times in five minutes.
“I’ve sent away for information from all the language curriculum
companies.” “I’ve looked for books in the library.” “I’ve
been keeping my eyes on newspapers and magazines for references that I
can pursue to pique her interest….” When the woman finally stopped
talking to catch her breath, I asked her what her daughter’s goals were
for learning this language and why her daughter wasn’t doing the
research. Well, said the woman, her daughter just doesn’t seem that
interested. Aha. I told her, as gently as I could, that unless the girl
was interested enough to research ways to learn French, she wasn’t
interested enough in learning it. And, I said, perhaps the woman herself
was interested in learning French and that wasn’t a bad thing because
while she was doing it she would be a good role model for her daughter.
There was a big silence on the other end of the phone, followed by the
woman hanging up as soon as she could. I can only hope she thinks about
this and doesn’t waste her money, her time, her daughter’s time and
their relationship on French lessons that won’t work.
Posted: 2007/08/01
5:58 PM
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