Rosemary Ganley |
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
0 Comments
Never in my long life have I been enthusiastic about the Conservative Party.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
September 7, 2024
The historic, hopeful Democratic National Convention in Chicago gave us progressives and centrists four evenings of entertainment, political talk and real hope. Now, it’s time I rummage through the clippings I’ve saved over the past four months, and look at Canada.
Never in my long life have I been enthusiastic about the Conservative Party, its values, personnel or policies. I now am frankly concerned about the current iteration of the Party taking control of our country in the federal election of October 2025. Fundraising over the summer amounted to $3 million for the NDP, $6 Million for the Liberals, and $20 million for the Conservatives.
Not sure why. We have giant problems such as addictions and housing, but I’m not at all tired of this nine-year Prime Minister. Good action has been taken by the present government in guiding us through COVID, in bringing in the strengthening of gun laws, in launching the $10/day childcare program, the Child Tax Credit, dental benefit, and drug subsidies. Measures to reduce carbon by putting a price on it, and rebating to citizens the amount they paid. Acting on housing shortages and too-big immigration numbers. Reducing inflation. Dealing with wildfires. Working to bring labour peace to the railways.
Managing crises in government is everything. We have an experienced, internationally- aware Prime Minister. Canada is still the number one country in the world for hope-filled people elsewhere.
In contrast, Conservative leader Mr. Poilievre has spent the summer on a makeover: no more eyeglasses, and tight T shirts. He has worked several private fundraisers, in mansions and clubs. He has flirted with American far-right personalities, drawing endorsements from such people as Tucker Carlson of Fox News, and the dreadful Alex Jones, who denied the Sandy Hook school massacre ever happened.
Just as he encouraged the convoy of truckers who clogged Ottawa’s main streets for 3 weeks in 2022, Mr Poilievre welcomed members of Diagolon, the loony, far-right group started in Canada by Jeremy MacKenzie. I can hardly bear his attacks on the CBC, which is a national treasure. Recently he spoke to the shady group, the International Democratic Union headed by one Stephen Harper, whose mission is to replace progressive governments everywhere with right wingers. Mr. Poilievre told them, “We have the worst economy in the G7 by far.” Bloomberg News replied, “Canada has become an international trade powerhouse, boosting exports by 46% since 2015.”
It’s an old ploy: fear- mongering. Present the message that everything is broken and bleak, and install oneself as a savior. He visited three churches of the “Liberty Coalition.” This fundamentalist organization campaigns against LGBTIQA+ rights and for a “Christian” nationalist state, and raised $1.3 recently to elect candidates who share their values, at City Council and school board levels. Not any kind of Christianity I recognize.
The Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party in the U.S.A. rely on the same attack playbook. But it doesn’t match the national mood as I read it. We had a great Olympics, the outdoors is being enjoyed by more people, and the middle class is getting larger.
If the Conservatives are going to take this tack, we’ll need Torontonian Daniel Dale, fact- checker extraordinaire for CNN (“Trump has told some 30,000 lies”) to come home for the election.
I am uneasy about the style and messaging of our Peterborough Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri. She is a warrior for Mr. Poilievre, is seen behind him in every TV shot, and works for a cabinet position. Her feminism is strange. She exudes negativity. She advocates, but ineffectively for the homeless and abused. She emits an anti-Trudeau fixation in every utterance. I asked her once what work she had done. “I am an influencer,” she replied.
As important as the leader, is the competence of the team. I cannot discern much talent in the Conservative caucus. Eighty-one members out of 143 are anti- choice, for one thing.
We’ll need to be cool, steady, and critical.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner September 7, 2024 >LINK<
Never in my long life have I been enthusiastic about the Conservative Party, its values, personnel or policies. I now am frankly concerned about the current iteration of the Party taking control of our country in the federal election of October 2025. Fundraising over the summer amounted to $3 million for the NDP, $6 Million for the Liberals, and $20 million for the Conservatives.
Not sure why. We have giant problems such as addictions and housing, but I’m not at all tired of this nine-year Prime Minister. Good action has been taken by the present government in guiding us through COVID, in bringing in the strengthening of gun laws, in launching the $10/day childcare program, the Child Tax Credit, dental benefit, and drug subsidies. Measures to reduce carbon by putting a price on it, and rebating to citizens the amount they paid. Acting on housing shortages and too-big immigration numbers. Reducing inflation. Dealing with wildfires. Working to bring labour peace to the railways.
Managing crises in government is everything. We have an experienced, internationally- aware Prime Minister. Canada is still the number one country in the world for hope-filled people elsewhere.
In contrast, Conservative leader Mr. Poilievre has spent the summer on a makeover: no more eyeglasses, and tight T shirts. He has worked several private fundraisers, in mansions and clubs. He has flirted with American far-right personalities, drawing endorsements from such people as Tucker Carlson of Fox News, and the dreadful Alex Jones, who denied the Sandy Hook school massacre ever happened.
Just as he encouraged the convoy of truckers who clogged Ottawa’s main streets for 3 weeks in 2022, Mr Poilievre welcomed members of Diagolon, the loony, far-right group started in Canada by Jeremy MacKenzie. I can hardly bear his attacks on the CBC, which is a national treasure. Recently he spoke to the shady group, the International Democratic Union headed by one Stephen Harper, whose mission is to replace progressive governments everywhere with right wingers. Mr. Poilievre told them, “We have the worst economy in the G7 by far.” Bloomberg News replied, “Canada has become an international trade powerhouse, boosting exports by 46% since 2015.”
It’s an old ploy: fear- mongering. Present the message that everything is broken and bleak, and install oneself as a savior. He visited three churches of the “Liberty Coalition.” This fundamentalist organization campaigns against LGBTIQA+ rights and for a “Christian” nationalist state, and raised $1.3 recently to elect candidates who share their values, at City Council and school board levels. Not any kind of Christianity I recognize.
The Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party in the U.S.A. rely on the same attack playbook. But it doesn’t match the national mood as I read it. We had a great Olympics, the outdoors is being enjoyed by more people, and the middle class is getting larger.
If the Conservatives are going to take this tack, we’ll need Torontonian Daniel Dale, fact- checker extraordinaire for CNN (“Trump has told some 30,000 lies”) to come home for the election.
I am uneasy about the style and messaging of our Peterborough Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri. She is a warrior for Mr. Poilievre, is seen behind him in every TV shot, and works for a cabinet position. Her feminism is strange. She exudes negativity. She advocates, but ineffectively for the homeless and abused. She emits an anti-Trudeau fixation in every utterance. I asked her once what work she had done. “I am an influencer,” she replied.
As important as the leader, is the competence of the team. I cannot discern much talent in the Conservative caucus. Eighty-one members out of 143 are anti- choice, for one thing.
We’ll need to be cool, steady, and critical.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner September 7, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
In August 2025, Peterborough will play host to a weeklong Irish festival.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
August 31, 2024
Psychologists tell us that to be mentally healthy, especially in older age, we need to know, accept, sometimes forgive and, generally, celebrate our roots — even if they are multiple. This is happening right now in the U.S.A. with the ascent of Kamala Harris, who has both Caribbean and Indian heritage.
Our backgrounds and experiences have formed us - ethnic, religious, cultural, familial and geographic. And so, the Irish folks of Peterborough will have a weeklong festival in August 2025 to learn about, take pride in, and sometimes suffer with their Irish heritage.
The date marks the bicentenary of the first settlement of what grew to become Peterborough. Events will be held August 1 - 10, 2025, and hundreds of Peterborough people living elsewhere and many people travelling directly from Ireland are expected. Mary Smith, Vice-Chair of Nine Ships Inc., recently travelled to Ireland and experienced the enthusiasm of people there.
In 1825, almost two hundred years ago, nine ships sailed from Cobh Harbor in Cork County, Ireland bearing 2,100 mostly poor and illiterate Irish peasant-farmers and their families. The move was a project arranged by the British colonial powers then in place, to relieve the overpopulation and poverty in their territory.
These Irish were “settlers,” a term that has new significance as we become aware and respectful of the Indigenous peoples who were here originally. Patricia Young, a retired drama teacher who has researched the arrivals at Young’s Point said, “The most enjoyable thing for me has been learning about the co-operative relationships that developed between the Indigenous people and the arrivals. The latter group needed help - learning about the clearing of land, soil treatment, crops that would grow, and basic survival skills such as living through a Kawartha winter.”
Before their arrival, the population of this area was only 650 people. Research shows the descendants of 223 families live here today. Irish names of local places include Douro, Ennismore, Galway, Cavan, Monaghan and Downeyville.
I went to an information session on July 30 at the Chamber of Commerce where the project, Nine Ships, 1825 Inc. was launched. Over 40 citizens attended and heard enthusiastic greetings from Janice McGann, the Irish consul in Toronto. Peterborough residents actively engaged in the project include lawyer Brendan Moher, Mary Smith, former Mayor of Selwyn, Maureen Crowley, Secretary of the Canadian Irish Club, Elwood Jones, archivist at the Trent Valley Archives, and Dennis Carter-Edwards, a historian and cultural resource manager at Parks Canada.
I learned the indefatigable Irish descendant Rosemary McConkey has published a book of stories entitled “Green Routes,” which focuses on the Irish settlers. I chatted with Ken Armstrong, who led the celebration of the 150th anniversary of their arrival in 1975. It was significant that the chiefs of three nearby First Nations were present - Laurie Carr of Hiawatha, Keith Knott of Curve Lake, and Taynar Simpson of Alderville. The organizers hope that the commemorations next year will lead to deeper reconciliation after a complex history.
Among the events will be a play by Megan Murphy entitled “Wild Irish Geese” and a gala at the Canadian Canoe Museum. Tours, concerts and exhibits are planned. Marlin Travel will take a tour group to Ireland in September 2025.
Erin Robitaille, web developer, unveiled the attractive website www.nineships1825.com. A call went out for donations from supporters and businesses to help with costs.
With the enthusiasm I saw and the organizing skills of these citizens, there is no doubt the Nine Ships event will be a huge success.
I can’t leave this column without commenting on the happy Democratic convention just concluded in Chicago, and the impressive candidate they chose to run for president. It had energy, the arts (music and poetry), and diverse speakers including Republicans who had seen the light and old masters of the political rally — the Clintons and the Obamas. Every Canadian I have met since said they were delighted with it. We were counselled not to demonize MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters but to educate them, perhaps by the way we live and the ways we disagree.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 31, 2024 >LINK<
Our backgrounds and experiences have formed us - ethnic, religious, cultural, familial and geographic. And so, the Irish folks of Peterborough will have a weeklong festival in August 2025 to learn about, take pride in, and sometimes suffer with their Irish heritage.
The date marks the bicentenary of the first settlement of what grew to become Peterborough. Events will be held August 1 - 10, 2025, and hundreds of Peterborough people living elsewhere and many people travelling directly from Ireland are expected. Mary Smith, Vice-Chair of Nine Ships Inc., recently travelled to Ireland and experienced the enthusiasm of people there.
In 1825, almost two hundred years ago, nine ships sailed from Cobh Harbor in Cork County, Ireland bearing 2,100 mostly poor and illiterate Irish peasant-farmers and their families. The move was a project arranged by the British colonial powers then in place, to relieve the overpopulation and poverty in their territory.
These Irish were “settlers,” a term that has new significance as we become aware and respectful of the Indigenous peoples who were here originally. Patricia Young, a retired drama teacher who has researched the arrivals at Young’s Point said, “The most enjoyable thing for me has been learning about the co-operative relationships that developed between the Indigenous people and the arrivals. The latter group needed help - learning about the clearing of land, soil treatment, crops that would grow, and basic survival skills such as living through a Kawartha winter.”
Before their arrival, the population of this area was only 650 people. Research shows the descendants of 223 families live here today. Irish names of local places include Douro, Ennismore, Galway, Cavan, Monaghan and Downeyville.
I went to an information session on July 30 at the Chamber of Commerce where the project, Nine Ships, 1825 Inc. was launched. Over 40 citizens attended and heard enthusiastic greetings from Janice McGann, the Irish consul in Toronto. Peterborough residents actively engaged in the project include lawyer Brendan Moher, Mary Smith, former Mayor of Selwyn, Maureen Crowley, Secretary of the Canadian Irish Club, Elwood Jones, archivist at the Trent Valley Archives, and Dennis Carter-Edwards, a historian and cultural resource manager at Parks Canada.
I learned the indefatigable Irish descendant Rosemary McConkey has published a book of stories entitled “Green Routes,” which focuses on the Irish settlers. I chatted with Ken Armstrong, who led the celebration of the 150th anniversary of their arrival in 1975. It was significant that the chiefs of three nearby First Nations were present - Laurie Carr of Hiawatha, Keith Knott of Curve Lake, and Taynar Simpson of Alderville. The organizers hope that the commemorations next year will lead to deeper reconciliation after a complex history.
Among the events will be a play by Megan Murphy entitled “Wild Irish Geese” and a gala at the Canadian Canoe Museum. Tours, concerts and exhibits are planned. Marlin Travel will take a tour group to Ireland in September 2025.
Erin Robitaille, web developer, unveiled the attractive website www.nineships1825.com. A call went out for donations from supporters and businesses to help with costs.
With the enthusiasm I saw and the organizing skills of these citizens, there is no doubt the Nine Ships event will be a huge success.
I can’t leave this column without commenting on the happy Democratic convention just concluded in Chicago, and the impressive candidate they chose to run for president. It had energy, the arts (music and poetry), and diverse speakers including Republicans who had seen the light and old masters of the political rally — the Clintons and the Obamas. Every Canadian I have met since said they were delighted with it. We were counselled not to demonize MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters but to educate them, perhaps by the way we live and the ways we disagree.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 31, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
Maybe sports competition, well managed and largely volunteer, will show us the way.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
August 17, 2024
The Olympic Games have declared it - we really are a nation of hammer-throwers. Two gold medals prove it. Take some pride. Plus, medaling 27 times in 15 sports, we have proven to be more than a one-trick pony.
The gender-equal, 2024 Summer Olympic Games have held many of us in thrall for two weeks, thanks to the beauty of the setting, the panache of the French in organizing, and the excellence of the athletes.
One man who was demonstrating for peace in downtown Peterborough beside me on Hiroshima Day August 6, when asked if he had watched a lot of Olympics, said, “See these square eyes!” Two hundred and six countries, plus a refugee team, 9,000 athletes, 9 million live spectators.
“The very best games in the world’s most beautiful city,” said Bruce Arthur in the Toronto Star.
A hand-off ceremony to Los Angeles for 2028, moving from the sublime and the elegant to the everyday - American-style - featured Tom Cruise on a motorbike lighting up the double OO’s in the “HOLLYWOOD” sign in the hills of California to morph into the Olympic rings.
The global games are expensive to stage. Many countries decline to bid for them at all for this reason. Setting a budget for the games depends heavily on national, state and city governmental funding.
Media organizations send hundreds of sports journalists and producers to cover them. Reliable, experienced and friendly host Scott Russell, headed the CBC’s wall-to wall coverage. He was ably assisted by Devin Heroux, who elicited some heartfelt interviews from Canadian winners and losers, and by the iconoclastic snowboarder Craig McMorrow, who always had something fresh to add. Andie Petrillo provided valuable information.
I scrutinized the large company's ads and found many to like. In these days of shrinking journalism, jobs in communications departments are filled with talented “message” people who have a pulse on society.
I’m not a Bell customer, but I liked the Bell one, which is clever and contemporary: kids choosing up teams. It had a strong message of inclusion. “The new kid” was one choice, “Mr. Yang” (an elderly Asian-Canadian), was another, and a Para-Olympian was a third. It had a sense of humor, always a welcome quality in an ad. Christine Sinclair, the great soccer player, played along and was shown uttering “At last,” as she was picked at the end, by a 10-year-old captain for her team.
“Canada is a team we all play for,” stated the voice-over.
Air Canada’s was subtle, and reflected the fact that many talented athletes are from immigrant families, who left their home country at some sacrifice in order to provide opportunities for their children, and now have their child on a high-level Canadian team.
“It takes one dream to make another,” ran the script.
Scotiabank’s was practical, “Finding and Funding Olympians.” Sobeys went family-style, featuring parents of both genders slipping supportive notes into the lunch boxes of their children. That one was, of course, “Feeding the Dream.”
These corporate ads showed an admirable, nonracist, non-sexist quality. In that way they reflected the best of Canadian attitudes today, especially among the younger generations. They were patriotic without being over-the-top, and humble in spirit. All that is, except the Bet Rivers one which was silly, badly produced, and guilty of encouraging gambling, a theme unsuitable for the Games.
If I’ve read the national mood rightly, these Games provided models of harmony even when striving to defeat one’s opponent, and civility at all times. The political landscape in the United States is much more hopeful. Candidate Trump is flailing madly, and there are fewer offensive “F- Trudeau” trucks here.
Maybe sports competition, well managed, and largely volunteer, will show us the way.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 17, 2024 >LINK<
The gender-equal, 2024 Summer Olympic Games have held many of us in thrall for two weeks, thanks to the beauty of the setting, the panache of the French in organizing, and the excellence of the athletes.
One man who was demonstrating for peace in downtown Peterborough beside me on Hiroshima Day August 6, when asked if he had watched a lot of Olympics, said, “See these square eyes!” Two hundred and six countries, plus a refugee team, 9,000 athletes, 9 million live spectators.
“The very best games in the world’s most beautiful city,” said Bruce Arthur in the Toronto Star.
A hand-off ceremony to Los Angeles for 2028, moving from the sublime and the elegant to the everyday - American-style - featured Tom Cruise on a motorbike lighting up the double OO’s in the “HOLLYWOOD” sign in the hills of California to morph into the Olympic rings.
The global games are expensive to stage. Many countries decline to bid for them at all for this reason. Setting a budget for the games depends heavily on national, state and city governmental funding.
Media organizations send hundreds of sports journalists and producers to cover them. Reliable, experienced and friendly host Scott Russell, headed the CBC’s wall-to wall coverage. He was ably assisted by Devin Heroux, who elicited some heartfelt interviews from Canadian winners and losers, and by the iconoclastic snowboarder Craig McMorrow, who always had something fresh to add. Andie Petrillo provided valuable information.
I scrutinized the large company's ads and found many to like. In these days of shrinking journalism, jobs in communications departments are filled with talented “message” people who have a pulse on society.
I’m not a Bell customer, but I liked the Bell one, which is clever and contemporary: kids choosing up teams. It had a strong message of inclusion. “The new kid” was one choice, “Mr. Yang” (an elderly Asian-Canadian), was another, and a Para-Olympian was a third. It had a sense of humor, always a welcome quality in an ad. Christine Sinclair, the great soccer player, played along and was shown uttering “At last,” as she was picked at the end, by a 10-year-old captain for her team.
“Canada is a team we all play for,” stated the voice-over.
Air Canada’s was subtle, and reflected the fact that many talented athletes are from immigrant families, who left their home country at some sacrifice in order to provide opportunities for their children, and now have their child on a high-level Canadian team.
“It takes one dream to make another,” ran the script.
Scotiabank’s was practical, “Finding and Funding Olympians.” Sobeys went family-style, featuring parents of both genders slipping supportive notes into the lunch boxes of their children. That one was, of course, “Feeding the Dream.”
These corporate ads showed an admirable, nonracist, non-sexist quality. In that way they reflected the best of Canadian attitudes today, especially among the younger generations. They were patriotic without being over-the-top, and humble in spirit. All that is, except the Bet Rivers one which was silly, badly produced, and guilty of encouraging gambling, a theme unsuitable for the Games.
If I’ve read the national mood rightly, these Games provided models of harmony even when striving to defeat one’s opponent, and civility at all times. The political landscape in the United States is much more hopeful. Candidate Trump is flailing madly, and there are fewer offensive “F- Trudeau” trucks here.
Maybe sports competition, well managed, and largely volunteer, will show us the way.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 17, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
Not many summer evenings are left to catch this riveting play about Spain in the 1930's.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
August 10, 2024
Jim Watts: Girl Reporter
Not many summer evenings are left to catch this riveting play about Spain in the 1930's, which has such a strong echo in today’s political situation.
But just enough time - it closes August 24. It is the second of two plays in 4th Line’s summer season, entitled “Jim Watts: Girl Reporter.”
Once again, hearing and seeing stories told via a theatre experience, stories with relevance to our region and to our country, in a charming, modest, outdoor setting on a real farm near Millbrook, rings with authenticity and then encourages comparison and reflection.
Perhaps the experience out there on Zion Line is similar in a way to standing in the open pit of the Globe Theatre in London, England, in the 16th century, listening to Shakespeare’s lines recreating people’s sufferings in major conflicts.
It marks 4th Line Theatre’s 32nd year of enlightening us at reasonable prices, and in a casual atmosphere. It continues the honorable tradition of evoking pride and enthusiasm in our Canadian past, along with teaching some really necessary facts we should know.
A few months ago, I only knew the word “fascism” vaguely, from studying history: the likes of Hitler and Mussolini and a few modern examples of strongmen leaders grinding their unhappy people into submission.
But then “Trumpism” entered the United States of all places, seeping in to the 200-year-old democracy once held up for all the world to admire.
The popularity of the vile, rich buffoon whose behavior and speech is offensive and corrupting, has left us gasping, but awake. The world has a new use for the word “fascist.”
Enter the arts to assist us in our awakening: a five-year-old play written by Beverley Cooper, that seems to have been prophetic. Brought to 4th Line Theatre by the gifted Kim Blackwell, in her 30th year with the company, it is a triumph. With a huge cast of 30 actors, professional and volunteer, a revolving stage, and a few careful props we are transported to the year 1936 in Madrid, where the young democratically-elected government has been attacked by fascist military officers led by General Francisco Franco.
In the next three years of civil war, some 300,000 deaths occurred. In spite of volunteers from all over the world converging on Spain to help the Republicans, Franco’s forces won. He ruled as a brutal dictator until his death in 1975. When I was walking on the pilgrimage route in northern Spain in 2017, I came upon many roadside shrines honoring the Spanish freedom-fighters who had died.
It is hardly known that Canada lost 400 soldiers in the conflict, the Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade, part of an international force.
Yet the more we know about early signs of fascism, the better we will be able to detect and defeat it. Among the journalists sending stories back to Canada was a remarkable young woman from a well-to-do family, Myrtle Eugenia Watts, posing as a man, Jim Watts. She was young and idealistic and wants to make a difference in the world.
Actor Katie Ryerson shines as Jim Watts in the lead role. The cast is strong, the message clear, the direction making clever use of the versatility of the site, all that wooded area and a beat-up vintage truck to boot.
4th Line Theatre enriches a visit there with occasional talks beforehand by actors and playwrights themselves. It even included a session on August 2 with Janette Higgins about her father, Peterburian Jim Higgins (1902-1980), who fought in Spain.
True to its vision, “to develop and present original Canadian works of artistic vision that explore regional history and heritage, resulting in productions that entertain and educate,” 4th Line has fully 12 plays in development, including one on the first Irish settlement in 1825, and another on Millbrook High School.
Take a long bow, 4th Line Theatre.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 10, 2024 >LINK<
But just enough time - it closes August 24. It is the second of two plays in 4th Line’s summer season, entitled “Jim Watts: Girl Reporter.”
Once again, hearing and seeing stories told via a theatre experience, stories with relevance to our region and to our country, in a charming, modest, outdoor setting on a real farm near Millbrook, rings with authenticity and then encourages comparison and reflection.
Perhaps the experience out there on Zion Line is similar in a way to standing in the open pit of the Globe Theatre in London, England, in the 16th century, listening to Shakespeare’s lines recreating people’s sufferings in major conflicts.
It marks 4th Line Theatre’s 32nd year of enlightening us at reasonable prices, and in a casual atmosphere. It continues the honorable tradition of evoking pride and enthusiasm in our Canadian past, along with teaching some really necessary facts we should know.
A few months ago, I only knew the word “fascism” vaguely, from studying history: the likes of Hitler and Mussolini and a few modern examples of strongmen leaders grinding their unhappy people into submission.
But then “Trumpism” entered the United States of all places, seeping in to the 200-year-old democracy once held up for all the world to admire.
The popularity of the vile, rich buffoon whose behavior and speech is offensive and corrupting, has left us gasping, but awake. The world has a new use for the word “fascist.”
Enter the arts to assist us in our awakening: a five-year-old play written by Beverley Cooper, that seems to have been prophetic. Brought to 4th Line Theatre by the gifted Kim Blackwell, in her 30th year with the company, it is a triumph. With a huge cast of 30 actors, professional and volunteer, a revolving stage, and a few careful props we are transported to the year 1936 in Madrid, where the young democratically-elected government has been attacked by fascist military officers led by General Francisco Franco.
In the next three years of civil war, some 300,000 deaths occurred. In spite of volunteers from all over the world converging on Spain to help the Republicans, Franco’s forces won. He ruled as a brutal dictator until his death in 1975. When I was walking on the pilgrimage route in northern Spain in 2017, I came upon many roadside shrines honoring the Spanish freedom-fighters who had died.
It is hardly known that Canada lost 400 soldiers in the conflict, the Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade, part of an international force.
Yet the more we know about early signs of fascism, the better we will be able to detect and defeat it. Among the journalists sending stories back to Canada was a remarkable young woman from a well-to-do family, Myrtle Eugenia Watts, posing as a man, Jim Watts. She was young and idealistic and wants to make a difference in the world.
Actor Katie Ryerson shines as Jim Watts in the lead role. The cast is strong, the message clear, the direction making clever use of the versatility of the site, all that wooded area and a beat-up vintage truck to boot.
4th Line Theatre enriches a visit there with occasional talks beforehand by actors and playwrights themselves. It even included a session on August 2 with Janette Higgins about her father, Peterburian Jim Higgins (1902-1980), who fought in Spain.
True to its vision, “to develop and present original Canadian works of artistic vision that explore regional history and heritage, resulting in productions that entertain and educate,” 4th Line has fully 12 plays in development, including one on the first Irish settlement in 1825, and another on Millbrook High School.
Take a long bow, 4th Line Theatre.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 10, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
The quieter roads and the live music all around make summer very agreeable.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
August 3, 2024
Today, I wax philosophical. Maybe because it’s summertime, when livin’ is a little easier in Peterborough, despite ongoing road disruptions. That long take-down of the hill on Parkhill Road left me confused as to how to get home, more than once this past spring.
Even with the spirit of ease for many, there are harried times for parents with kids out of school, and for the homeless. But for a grandma on a wobbly bike, the quieter roads and the live music all around make summer very agreeable.
The twice-a-week free, downtown musical evenings at Crary Park, with notable groups such as Metric, and the Traill College offerings every second Thursday — which harmoniously featured “I the Mountain” last week, a four-piece band that originally formed when the musicians were students at Trent — fill the air with sweet sounds.
I have yet to fulfill my annual summer ambition: to swim at least once in an Ontario lake. That should come in August when friend Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, former Medical Office of Health in Peterborough for 12 years, comes back from Alberta and visits her cabin in the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. She helped provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw of Edmonton, until the latter was fired by Alberta’s far-right, anti- vaccine Premier.
There has been a lot of good news. For close followers of the geo-political scene, and that means every Canadian I know, there have been many things to celebrate, and things to laugh at.
We progressives had an almost giddy feeling at the sudden news that President Biden had decided to step down at the end of his term, an outcome we had devoutly wished. Then the ensuing outpouring of money and volunteers for the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
My giddiness was deepened by knowing that her father had been a scholar, born in Jamaica, who came to the States to study and met her mother, a scholar from India. So Harris has both Caribbean and East Indian backgrounds.
American outlooks are about to broaden, late but welcome. Perhaps the lowly personal attacks against her will be called out for what they are: misanthropic, sexist and racist.
Did you see the cartoon of Republican candidate JD Vance, with his exact mailing address supplied, and a caption reading “Don’t, whatever you do, mail your used cat litter to this address.” The man is a piece of work, easy to ridicule. Moreover, President Biden has taken my advice, and proposed deep reforms to the Supreme Court.
On top of everything, there have been two weeks of amazement at the achievements and spirit of the world’s young athletes. The 337 people from our country restored our reputation as an honest, sporting nation, a reputation which had been somewhat droned.
The French gave us a marvelous tableau of culture and history, with the parade on water of 6500 athletes from 200 countries on 85 boats travelling six kilometres on the Seine. Included was an Olympic Committee team of 35 refugees from several countries who had qualified to compete.
I am once again pondering the words of the eminent American historian and philosopher Howard Zinn, a democratic socialist professor who wrote A People’s History of the United States in 1980.
“To be hopeful in bad times is not foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember the times and places.....and there are many.....where people behaved magnificently, it gives us the courage to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction."
“The future,” he concluded, "is an infinite succession of presents.”
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 3, 2024 >LINK<
Even with the spirit of ease for many, there are harried times for parents with kids out of school, and for the homeless. But for a grandma on a wobbly bike, the quieter roads and the live music all around make summer very agreeable.
The twice-a-week free, downtown musical evenings at Crary Park, with notable groups such as Metric, and the Traill College offerings every second Thursday — which harmoniously featured “I the Mountain” last week, a four-piece band that originally formed when the musicians were students at Trent — fill the air with sweet sounds.
I have yet to fulfill my annual summer ambition: to swim at least once in an Ontario lake. That should come in August when friend Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, former Medical Office of Health in Peterborough for 12 years, comes back from Alberta and visits her cabin in the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. She helped provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw of Edmonton, until the latter was fired by Alberta’s far-right, anti- vaccine Premier.
There has been a lot of good news. For close followers of the geo-political scene, and that means every Canadian I know, there have been many things to celebrate, and things to laugh at.
We progressives had an almost giddy feeling at the sudden news that President Biden had decided to step down at the end of his term, an outcome we had devoutly wished. Then the ensuing outpouring of money and volunteers for the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
My giddiness was deepened by knowing that her father had been a scholar, born in Jamaica, who came to the States to study and met her mother, a scholar from India. So Harris has both Caribbean and East Indian backgrounds.
American outlooks are about to broaden, late but welcome. Perhaps the lowly personal attacks against her will be called out for what they are: misanthropic, sexist and racist.
Did you see the cartoon of Republican candidate JD Vance, with his exact mailing address supplied, and a caption reading “Don’t, whatever you do, mail your used cat litter to this address.” The man is a piece of work, easy to ridicule. Moreover, President Biden has taken my advice, and proposed deep reforms to the Supreme Court.
On top of everything, there have been two weeks of amazement at the achievements and spirit of the world’s young athletes. The 337 people from our country restored our reputation as an honest, sporting nation, a reputation which had been somewhat droned.
The French gave us a marvelous tableau of culture and history, with the parade on water of 6500 athletes from 200 countries on 85 boats travelling six kilometres on the Seine. Included was an Olympic Committee team of 35 refugees from several countries who had qualified to compete.
I am once again pondering the words of the eminent American historian and philosopher Howard Zinn, a democratic socialist professor who wrote A People’s History of the United States in 1980.
“To be hopeful in bad times is not foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember the times and places.....and there are many.....where people behaved magnificently, it gives us the courage to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction."
“The future,” he concluded, "is an infinite succession of presents.”
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner August 3, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
There are notable differences between practices in the USA and Canada.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
July 27, 2024
The Supreme Court of Canada Building
As America lurches from crisis to crisis and we watch (too much, in many cases) — sometimes horrified, sometimes hopeful — while democracy faces destruction by the creep of fascism, a whole lot of learning is going on. That learning must occur fast in Canada if we are to resist a similar slide.
Let’s look at the recent behaviour of the Supreme Court of the United States. This is the stuff of nightmares. A Yale professor Jason Stanley, said, “Once you have the courts, you can pretty much do what you want.”
MAGA forces led by Donald Trump, appointed three far-right justices to the nine-member court, joining three other judges having at least some of the same views.
To my everlasting embarrassment, five members of the court are of Catholic background — of the right-wing, moral minority, kind. Our dread and fears deepen.
We should know their names. Some of these American judges have been proven corrupt — one has an odd spouse who hangs American flags upside down and campaigns for Trump, one is an anti-choicer with seven children, and two have been accused of abusing women before being confirmed by the U.S. Congress. This court has stripped women of bodily rights, promoted the election of Trump by delaying his sentencing after his many criminal convictions, and then declared that a president in the future will be above the law. All are shocking and harmful judgments.
That’s a lot of damage done by six people.
The six right-leaning members, who may live in infamy, are John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanagh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three remaining members of the court are women from minority communities: Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, who try to limit the excesses. Sotomayor has been known to weep in her office after a decision has come down, and to make public her strong dissenting opinion.
With an equal number of members, our Canadian Supreme Court is, at this point, well beyond manipulation and hyper-partisanship, free of judges who are ideological. But we have to watch for a small signs of creeping authoritarianism and react against them. For example, Premier Doug Ford has said he wants more "freedom to appoint conservative judges."
Our chief justice is Richard Wagner of Quebec. By law, three judges must come from Quebec, three from Ontario, two from Western Canada and one from the Maritimes. The court was created in 1875, and is the final court of appeal in the country. It must both reflect and advance the public good.
Wagner is youthful and a good communicator. He says proudly, “We are the only high court in the world that is both bilingual (English and French), and bi-jural — that is, hearing cases from both the English criminal law and the French civil code.”
The Supreme Court reflects Canada’s diversity. There are five women, and Justice Michelle O’bonsawin is Indigenous. The other women are Justices Suzanne Cote, Andromache Karakatsanis, Sheilah Martin and Mary Moreau. The men on the court are Malcolm Rowe, Nicholas Kasirer and Mahmud Jamal.
How does each get there? When a vacancy on the court happens an advisory council - mostly lawyers - sets to work to find qualified luminaries in the legal profession, and then presents a list of three to the prime minister, who makes the final selection.
A friendly website for the court includes a six-minute video, and makes an effort to link with Canadians. Hundreds of citizens and schoolchildren visit the stately building in Ottawa each year. The two statues on either side of the building represent "Justice" and "Truth." The required age of retirement for a justice is 75. The Supreme Court hears 67 appeals a year, and issues an annual report to parliament.
“We must be impartial and independent,” says Wagner, “and we must protect Canadian's rights and freedoms.”
When I examine the Supreme Court of Canada, I am more than ever convinced Canada is not broken. But our sinews must be strengthened by well-informed and conscientious citizens.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 27, 2024 >LINK<
Let’s look at the recent behaviour of the Supreme Court of the United States. This is the stuff of nightmares. A Yale professor Jason Stanley, said, “Once you have the courts, you can pretty much do what you want.”
MAGA forces led by Donald Trump, appointed three far-right justices to the nine-member court, joining three other judges having at least some of the same views.
To my everlasting embarrassment, five members of the court are of Catholic background — of the right-wing, moral minority, kind. Our dread and fears deepen.
We should know their names. Some of these American judges have been proven corrupt — one has an odd spouse who hangs American flags upside down and campaigns for Trump, one is an anti-choicer with seven children, and two have been accused of abusing women before being confirmed by the U.S. Congress. This court has stripped women of bodily rights, promoted the election of Trump by delaying his sentencing after his many criminal convictions, and then declared that a president in the future will be above the law. All are shocking and harmful judgments.
That’s a lot of damage done by six people.
The six right-leaning members, who may live in infamy, are John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanagh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three remaining members of the court are women from minority communities: Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, who try to limit the excesses. Sotomayor has been known to weep in her office after a decision has come down, and to make public her strong dissenting opinion.
With an equal number of members, our Canadian Supreme Court is, at this point, well beyond manipulation and hyper-partisanship, free of judges who are ideological. But we have to watch for a small signs of creeping authoritarianism and react against them. For example, Premier Doug Ford has said he wants more "freedom to appoint conservative judges."
Our chief justice is Richard Wagner of Quebec. By law, three judges must come from Quebec, three from Ontario, two from Western Canada and one from the Maritimes. The court was created in 1875, and is the final court of appeal in the country. It must both reflect and advance the public good.
Wagner is youthful and a good communicator. He says proudly, “We are the only high court in the world that is both bilingual (English and French), and bi-jural — that is, hearing cases from both the English criminal law and the French civil code.”
The Supreme Court reflects Canada’s diversity. There are five women, and Justice Michelle O’bonsawin is Indigenous. The other women are Justices Suzanne Cote, Andromache Karakatsanis, Sheilah Martin and Mary Moreau. The men on the court are Malcolm Rowe, Nicholas Kasirer and Mahmud Jamal.
How does each get there? When a vacancy on the court happens an advisory council - mostly lawyers - sets to work to find qualified luminaries in the legal profession, and then presents a list of three to the prime minister, who makes the final selection.
A friendly website for the court includes a six-minute video, and makes an effort to link with Canadians. Hundreds of citizens and schoolchildren visit the stately building in Ottawa each year. The two statues on either side of the building represent "Justice" and "Truth." The required age of retirement for a justice is 75. The Supreme Court hears 67 appeals a year, and issues an annual report to parliament.
“We must be impartial and independent,” says Wagner, “and we must protect Canadian's rights and freedoms.”
When I examine the Supreme Court of Canada, I am more than ever convinced Canada is not broken. But our sinews must be strengthened by well-informed and conscientious citizens.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 27, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
July 20, 2024
There are plenty of reasons why we should care about what happens south of the border.
 |  |
Everybody is weighing in on the situation in American politics. Now it’s my turn.
Election day there is November 5. The Republican convention in Milwaukee just crowned Mr. Trump as their candidate, an expected outcome for an unexpected new martyr. Sadly, Trump loyalists have little sense of history or doom, have weak memories, and possess a weird distrust of their own eyes.
Now, if only the Democratic Party would think deeply and come up with a credible, electable candidate. Hastily, please. In time for such a person to be approved at their convention in Chicago, set for August 19 to 21.
Mr. Biden, honorable politician and leader that he has been, is 81 years old, and in decline. It is not a pretty sight to see an older man hang on, and even become the butt of jokes. The justice warrior, Michael Moore of Michigan, says that the family members and Democratic insiders who urge Mr. Biden to stay, given the shape he is in and the likely shape he will be in after three years, are guilty of “elder abuse.” Now that is harsh, but it tends to concentrate the mind.
Witty columnist of the New York Times, Maureen Dowd wrote after the June 27 debate, “It was Mr. Ghastly against Mr. Ghostly.” Famous French-Algerian writer Albert Camus once said, “Be careful when democracy is sick. Fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health.”
American democracy is sick, poisoned by the power of big money and now enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court. Many in the population, sated with misinformation and vulnerable to such a conscienceless man as Donald Trump, make up the last fatal ingredient.
Much evidence points to the conclusion that he is unfit — the January 6, 2021 revolt against the confirmation of the election results, the Trumpian attempts to subvert the election with his calls to state officials, the stacking of the Supreme Court with ideologues, and his constant, whining rhetoric. Americans, and to a lesser extent Canadians, have had to endure this speech and this man, for the past four years - incendiary, aggrieved, insulting and full of lies.
Just for a bracing dose of someone close to him who is not fooled. I follow the abrasive writing of his niece, Mary Trump, on Substack. And for laughter tinged with irony - also necessary in these times - I turn almost nightly to CBS comic Stephen Colbert.
Today, my well-read son Jim, pointed me to a history professor from American University in Washington, Allan Lichtman. This scholar has the enviable record of accurately predicting American elections - nine out of the last 10.
He distrusts polls and pundits, but has a 13-point framework useful for predicting outcomes. He believes the best scenario would be for President Biden to resign the presidency, instructing his delegates and his campaign funds to move to V.P. Kamala Harris, thus preventing Democratic Party division. There would be no new contest for a candidate.
Why should we Canadians care? And hope that Mr. Trump is roundly defeated? Many reasons. We are the U.S.’s closest neighbor and trading partner, and we are culturally tied at the hip. We are a sturdy, non-imperialist democracy, coping with stresses and strains of our own, but much more socially progressive. Trump has no love for us.
We also care for our neighbours, our relatives in the U.S., and American achievements, both intellectual and scientific.
Menacingly, Trump’s think tank the Heritage Foundation, made up of super-wealthy right-wingers, has a policy platform called Project 2025. It would dismantle most forms of the nation-state, and devolve decisions over education, social security and health to each individual state. We know many states are genuinely backward.
It would expel millions of undocumented immigrants, curtail women’s reproductive rights, lead to social unrest or worse, withdraw from NATO, cozy up to dictators, and complete the transformation of America - once the beacon on the hill - into an oppressive, authoritarian regime.
Will the American voter walk, hoodwinked, into this?
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 20, 2024 >LINK<
Election day there is November 5. The Republican convention in Milwaukee just crowned Mr. Trump as their candidate, an expected outcome for an unexpected new martyr. Sadly, Trump loyalists have little sense of history or doom, have weak memories, and possess a weird distrust of their own eyes.
Now, if only the Democratic Party would think deeply and come up with a credible, electable candidate. Hastily, please. In time for such a person to be approved at their convention in Chicago, set for August 19 to 21.
Mr. Biden, honorable politician and leader that he has been, is 81 years old, and in decline. It is not a pretty sight to see an older man hang on, and even become the butt of jokes. The justice warrior, Michael Moore of Michigan, says that the family members and Democratic insiders who urge Mr. Biden to stay, given the shape he is in and the likely shape he will be in after three years, are guilty of “elder abuse.” Now that is harsh, but it tends to concentrate the mind.
Witty columnist of the New York Times, Maureen Dowd wrote after the June 27 debate, “It was Mr. Ghastly against Mr. Ghostly.” Famous French-Algerian writer Albert Camus once said, “Be careful when democracy is sick. Fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health.”
American democracy is sick, poisoned by the power of big money and now enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court. Many in the population, sated with misinformation and vulnerable to such a conscienceless man as Donald Trump, make up the last fatal ingredient.
Much evidence points to the conclusion that he is unfit — the January 6, 2021 revolt against the confirmation of the election results, the Trumpian attempts to subvert the election with his calls to state officials, the stacking of the Supreme Court with ideologues, and his constant, whining rhetoric. Americans, and to a lesser extent Canadians, have had to endure this speech and this man, for the past four years - incendiary, aggrieved, insulting and full of lies.
Just for a bracing dose of someone close to him who is not fooled. I follow the abrasive writing of his niece, Mary Trump, on Substack. And for laughter tinged with irony - also necessary in these times - I turn almost nightly to CBS comic Stephen Colbert.
Today, my well-read son Jim, pointed me to a history professor from American University in Washington, Allan Lichtman. This scholar has the enviable record of accurately predicting American elections - nine out of the last 10.
He distrusts polls and pundits, but has a 13-point framework useful for predicting outcomes. He believes the best scenario would be for President Biden to resign the presidency, instructing his delegates and his campaign funds to move to V.P. Kamala Harris, thus preventing Democratic Party division. There would be no new contest for a candidate.
Why should we Canadians care? And hope that Mr. Trump is roundly defeated? Many reasons. We are the U.S.’s closest neighbor and trading partner, and we are culturally tied at the hip. We are a sturdy, non-imperialist democracy, coping with stresses and strains of our own, but much more socially progressive. Trump has no love for us.
We also care for our neighbours, our relatives in the U.S., and American achievements, both intellectual and scientific.
Menacingly, Trump’s think tank the Heritage Foundation, made up of super-wealthy right-wingers, has a policy platform called Project 2025. It would dismantle most forms of the nation-state, and devolve decisions over education, social security and health to each individual state. We know many states are genuinely backward.
It would expel millions of undocumented immigrants, curtail women’s reproductive rights, lead to social unrest or worse, withdraw from NATO, cozy up to dictators, and complete the transformation of America - once the beacon on the hill - into an oppressive, authoritarian regime.
Will the American voter walk, hoodwinked, into this?
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 20, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
An honour shared with the grassroots people of Peterborough.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
July 13, 2024
When Emily Sauve, the Secretary to Governor General Mary Simon, called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me I had been admitted to the Order of Canada, I had deep emotions.
The first one was immense surprise. I am an ordinary person, a senior, a widow in my late 80's, not an athlete or academic or musician or scientist; but a former teacher with an international outlook who has been blessed by my country in many ways, this latest being the ultimate one.
The second feeling was gratitude. My accident of birth in a northern Ontario town, Kirkland Lake, in this splendid country, to a respected and progressive-thinking couple has been a major blessing. My parents, in their 30's when they met there, had to cope with the religious prejudices of their time - my Catholic relatives behaving the worst! That cured me of any future bias about groups.
I am happy to share this honour with grassroots people in Peterborough. In view of next summer’s celebration of the founding of Peterborough by 2,500 poor and illiterate Irish peasants in 1825, led by a colonial British functionary named Peter Robinson, I did some looking for my roots. They are Celtic on both sides, Scots Presbyterian and Irish Catholic.
But we Burnses and Hoggs arrived later than 1825. It was the 1840s, during the potato famine in Ireland, that my ancestors arrived and got through the sickness sheds at Grosse Isle in the St. Lawrence River, then to be given land in the Ottawa Valley to clear and farm.
The customs officers asked my illiterate ancestors how to pronounce their surname. Because the newcomers couldn’t spell, “Byrnes” became “Burns.” And so it stayed. I asked Mme Sauve to add that name to my “title.”
With joy, I have heard from former students at St. Peter’s and Crestwood, from Jamaican Self-Help participants, from Book Club and the Calendar Girls, from Friday Prayer Group, and the United Way and the YWCA.
Plus, Amnesty International Group 46. A beautiful note came in the mail from the Peterborough Symphony, one from Camp Kawartha, and a creative design from the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Catholic Network for Women’s Equality will do a zoom ritual. A nice message came from a national writer I had once taught at Lakefield College School, Konrad Yakabuski of the Globe and Mail.
I went to hear singer Kathleen Edwards at Market Hall and found that her father, former diplomat Len Edwards, a Saskatchewan boy, is to be inducted at the same time as me.
My young grandchildren are most interested that rock n’ roller Avril Lavigne is in my award “class.” At Fourth Line Theatre this week, managing creative director Kim Blackwell graciously gave me a shout-out before the wonderful performance of “Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes.”
The dental hygienist was enthusiastic, the neighbours warm in acknowledgment. Kerry at Shoppers Drug Mart was aware. Paul Rellinger interviewed me on the radio. Joelle Kovach, who is a gift as a reporter to this city, did a big spread in the Examiner. Of course she is from Timmins.
The most enthusiastic of all were my American friends. They need something, anything, to cheer about these days. They maintain a fascination with all things monarchical and teased me about protocols and curtsies. They said, wryly, in reference to that dreadful Supreme Court ruling declaring Donald Trump above the law. The decision over which dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor wept, “Now we have a king, too.”
We are 83 Canadians named on our national day. The Order was established in 1967, and I join 8,300 others. I hope to live up more fully to its motto: “They desire a better country.” The date of investiture is yet to be announced, so I have time to learn “Good morning, ma’am” in Inuktitut.
But first, there is the Potluck for Activists over 80, at Alan and Linda Slavin’s. That will be a big crowd.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 13, 2024 >LINK<
The first one was immense surprise. I am an ordinary person, a senior, a widow in my late 80's, not an athlete or academic or musician or scientist; but a former teacher with an international outlook who has been blessed by my country in many ways, this latest being the ultimate one.
The second feeling was gratitude. My accident of birth in a northern Ontario town, Kirkland Lake, in this splendid country, to a respected and progressive-thinking couple has been a major blessing. My parents, in their 30's when they met there, had to cope with the religious prejudices of their time - my Catholic relatives behaving the worst! That cured me of any future bias about groups.
I am happy to share this honour with grassroots people in Peterborough. In view of next summer’s celebration of the founding of Peterborough by 2,500 poor and illiterate Irish peasants in 1825, led by a colonial British functionary named Peter Robinson, I did some looking for my roots. They are Celtic on both sides, Scots Presbyterian and Irish Catholic.
But we Burnses and Hoggs arrived later than 1825. It was the 1840s, during the potato famine in Ireland, that my ancestors arrived and got through the sickness sheds at Grosse Isle in the St. Lawrence River, then to be given land in the Ottawa Valley to clear and farm.
The customs officers asked my illiterate ancestors how to pronounce their surname. Because the newcomers couldn’t spell, “Byrnes” became “Burns.” And so it stayed. I asked Mme Sauve to add that name to my “title.”
With joy, I have heard from former students at St. Peter’s and Crestwood, from Jamaican Self-Help participants, from Book Club and the Calendar Girls, from Friday Prayer Group, and the United Way and the YWCA.
Plus, Amnesty International Group 46. A beautiful note came in the mail from the Peterborough Symphony, one from Camp Kawartha, and a creative design from the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Catholic Network for Women’s Equality will do a zoom ritual. A nice message came from a national writer I had once taught at Lakefield College School, Konrad Yakabuski of the Globe and Mail.
I went to hear singer Kathleen Edwards at Market Hall and found that her father, former diplomat Len Edwards, a Saskatchewan boy, is to be inducted at the same time as me.
My young grandchildren are most interested that rock n’ roller Avril Lavigne is in my award “class.” At Fourth Line Theatre this week, managing creative director Kim Blackwell graciously gave me a shout-out before the wonderful performance of “Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes.”
The dental hygienist was enthusiastic, the neighbours warm in acknowledgment. Kerry at Shoppers Drug Mart was aware. Paul Rellinger interviewed me on the radio. Joelle Kovach, who is a gift as a reporter to this city, did a big spread in the Examiner. Of course she is from Timmins.
The most enthusiastic of all were my American friends. They need something, anything, to cheer about these days. They maintain a fascination with all things monarchical and teased me about protocols and curtsies. They said, wryly, in reference to that dreadful Supreme Court ruling declaring Donald Trump above the law. The decision over which dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor wept, “Now we have a king, too.”
We are 83 Canadians named on our national day. The Order was established in 1967, and I join 8,300 others. I hope to live up more fully to its motto: “They desire a better country.” The date of investiture is yet to be announced, so I have time to learn “Good morning, ma’am” in Inuktitut.
But first, there is the Potluck for Activists over 80, at Alan and Linda Slavin’s. That will be a big crowd.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 13, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
The ritual has a historic moral power that bears thinking about.
Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
July 6, 2024
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA - "TODAY'S GREAT CHALLENGES DEMAND GREAT ENGINEERS"
The University of Alberta, Edmonton is set in a huge, sprawling campus with 40,000 students. It also has a sense of humour. The huge dominating structure that is the gymnasium is painted bright yellow. So of course, it is universally known as the “Butterdome.”
When the time came for my eldest grandson to graduate in engineering from U of A, I couldn’t get a ticket for the lengthy ceremony, they were in such high demand. But the second choice, a week later, turned out to be a fascinating and happy one. It was the initiation ceremony welcoming about 50 new engineers, a ceremony conducted by a voluntary group of engineers in this area, which turned out to be a solemn commitment in word and symbol, to ethics and responsibility.
Entitled “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”, (colloquially known as the “iron ring” ceremony), it is an entirely Canadian initiative started by six engineers in Montreal in 1925. Prof H.E.T. Haultain of the University of Toronto had the original idea that new engineers should have an oath or creed, something along the lines of the Hippocratic oath in medicine. He called on the English poet, Rudyard Kipling, who knew Canada well, having travelled across the country on the engineering feat of its time, the CPR Railway, to help design a suitable service.
For more than 100 years, in locations across the country usually close to universities with engineering departments, iron ring ceremonies have involved 550,000 engineers. This one last week in Alberta took place on the eighth floor of an engineering building in Edmonton with wraparound windows looking out on green vistas down toward the river valley.
In an effort to grasp this campus, which is vastly larger but not as picturesque as Trent, I learned the name of the building we’re headed for, called “DICE”. That’s for the “Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering”.
The hour-long ceremony was very moving. It contains a realistic pledge. As my Peterborough friend Rod Williamson, recalling his own iron ring reception said, he has never forgotten the humility of Kipling’s reference to “the natural perversity of inanimate objects”, reminding the engineer that the materials and design with which they work demand respect.
Kipling also wrote of the iron ring, which is placed on the little finger of the working hand: “It is not smoothed off at the edges; it is hand- hammered all around. It has neither beginning nor end, and will cut into a gold ring if worn next to it, thus showing that one had better keep one’s money-getting quite separate. It has been instituted with the simple end of directing the new engineer toward a consciousness of his profession and its significance”.
The groups of volunteers who host iron ring ceremonies are known as “camps”. There are 28 such camps in Canada. The ritual was conducted by an engineer in a kilt, backed up by seven “obligated” engineers, who are called wardens.
It had an almost liturgical feel to it. The program asked that guests refrain from applause or picture-taking. It stressed that engineers have an obligation to the common good, and repeated the phrase, “Your equals or your betters” to describe the desired attitudes toward others.
It was with more humour that afterwards, many photos were taken of newly minted engineers in front of the emblem of the U of A’s department of engineering: a beaver chomping on a tree.
Entirely optional for new graduates and not necessary for practising one’s profession as an engineer, the iron ring ritual nonetheless has a historic moral power that bears thinking about.
One comes away with the feeling that every trade and profession and occupation today might do well to institute a similar end-of- studies promise- taking.
I myself will think of it with confidence when crossing a bridge or taking an elevator.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 6, 2024 >LINK<
When the time came for my eldest grandson to graduate in engineering from U of A, I couldn’t get a ticket for the lengthy ceremony, they were in such high demand. But the second choice, a week later, turned out to be a fascinating and happy one. It was the initiation ceremony welcoming about 50 new engineers, a ceremony conducted by a voluntary group of engineers in this area, which turned out to be a solemn commitment in word and symbol, to ethics and responsibility.
Entitled “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”, (colloquially known as the “iron ring” ceremony), it is an entirely Canadian initiative started by six engineers in Montreal in 1925. Prof H.E.T. Haultain of the University of Toronto had the original idea that new engineers should have an oath or creed, something along the lines of the Hippocratic oath in medicine. He called on the English poet, Rudyard Kipling, who knew Canada well, having travelled across the country on the engineering feat of its time, the CPR Railway, to help design a suitable service.
For more than 100 years, in locations across the country usually close to universities with engineering departments, iron ring ceremonies have involved 550,000 engineers. This one last week in Alberta took place on the eighth floor of an engineering building in Edmonton with wraparound windows looking out on green vistas down toward the river valley.
In an effort to grasp this campus, which is vastly larger but not as picturesque as Trent, I learned the name of the building we’re headed for, called “DICE”. That’s for the “Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering”.
The hour-long ceremony was very moving. It contains a realistic pledge. As my Peterborough friend Rod Williamson, recalling his own iron ring reception said, he has never forgotten the humility of Kipling’s reference to “the natural perversity of inanimate objects”, reminding the engineer that the materials and design with which they work demand respect.
Kipling also wrote of the iron ring, which is placed on the little finger of the working hand: “It is not smoothed off at the edges; it is hand- hammered all around. It has neither beginning nor end, and will cut into a gold ring if worn next to it, thus showing that one had better keep one’s money-getting quite separate. It has been instituted with the simple end of directing the new engineer toward a consciousness of his profession and its significance”.
The groups of volunteers who host iron ring ceremonies are known as “camps”. There are 28 such camps in Canada. The ritual was conducted by an engineer in a kilt, backed up by seven “obligated” engineers, who are called wardens.
It had an almost liturgical feel to it. The program asked that guests refrain from applause or picture-taking. It stressed that engineers have an obligation to the common good, and repeated the phrase, “Your equals or your betters” to describe the desired attitudes toward others.
It was with more humour that afterwards, many photos were taken of newly minted engineers in front of the emblem of the U of A’s department of engineering: a beaver chomping on a tree.
Entirely optional for new graduates and not necessary for practising one’s profession as an engineer, the iron ring ritual nonetheless has a historic moral power that bears thinking about.
One comes away with the feeling that every trade and profession and occupation today might do well to institute a similar end-of- studies promise- taking.
I myself will think of it with confidence when crossing a bridge or taking an elevator.
Rosemary Ganley's column in the Peterborough Examiner July 6, 2024 >LINK<
| Book titles by Rosemary Ganley include "Soundings," "Gleanings," "Positive Community" and "Jamaica Journal." Access the Yellow Dragonfly Press "Books" page >here< for purchasing information. |
