Happy little girl that she is, Jeanne has faced the world with a smile since she was tiny. She has not been phased or frightened by much…until she started to walk with facility. Then within a couple of weeks she manifested behavior which can only be rooted in some reflex
Continue readingAuthor: Mary Soderstrom
Recreating Eden: Another Defeat in the Information Wars? Alain Saulnier Gets the Ax at Radio Canada
This story is not likely to get much play in English Canada, but it ought to. Alain Saulnier, the head of information services (radio, TV, internet) at Radio Canada, was let go yesterday. No reason was given, but, according to Le Devoir, it’s highly likely that political pressure from the
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Extra Billing: Thousands of Dollars Paid by Patients at Montreal Private Clinic
Extra-billing and kick-backs to doctors in Quebec have been in the news these last couple of days. First the Quebec College of Physicians charged that at least two cardiologists have been accepting “envelopes of cash” to push patients up the waiting list for surgery. Equally as bad, the College alleges
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Identikits and Imagination: How Do You Imagine Emma Bovary and Mr. Rochester?
The Atlantic has an interesting feature about using Identikits, those visual aids used by police to figure out who might have done it, to draw portraits of characters from fiction. Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre and Emma Bovary from Madame Bovary are two, who come out looking like nothing I
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Let’s Not Do a Europe: Krugman’s Lessons for Ontario
As usual, Paul Krugman is worth reading to day. He once again points out just how counter-productive austerity measures have been in keeping Europe afloat. What he says should be taken seriously by the government of Ontario which is, so we’re told, faced with some terrible choices in order to
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: The Way to Recover from What Ails You
Gastroenteritis has attacked, and a number of family members are writhing away. Won’t last, of course, but it would be a lot nicer to rest in the sun in a nice park than to huddle under covers on a late winter day. This picture was taken a couple of years
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Gastroenteritis and Other Trials…
Jeanne had a stomach flu earlier in the week, but seems to be better. Her mother, however, came down with it shortly after the two of them arrived to spend a couple of days with us. Much unpleasantness, although nothing serious. The upshot is that I’ve spent much time today
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Social Change through Music: El Sistema and a Film That Meryl Streep Didn’t Win an Oscar For
The New York Times has a fine story today about classical music bringing social change in Venezuale: “Fighting Poverty, Armed with Violins.” El Sistema, an innovative way of making music matter change kids lives, was the subject of a conference at McGill last year, too. The idea is nothing new,
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Prince Justin the Flake Says What I’ve Been Thinking: Canada Is Becoming Something I Don’t Recognize
If there are two words that I use with scorn, they are “flake” and “princess.” In my mind they sum up a panoply of selfish, unhelpful characteristics. The latter I tend to use for women who have an exagerated sense of entitlement just because they’ve always been someone’s darling. The
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a Few Random Acts of Kindness
The photo isn’t new–I used it two years ago, but I still like it a lot. As for the holiday, well, it’s problematic. Just another opportunity to sell something? For man, certainly. The Globe and Mail starts out its editorial decrying that: “What a grotesque farce is Valentine’s Day… it
Continue readingRecreating Eden: The Great Gatsby Tonight: A Story for Our Time, although It’s Unlikely That Jay Gatz Would Do As Well Today
It’s book discussion week, which kicks off with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby tonight in Pierrefonds. I had kept rereading the book to the last since the three others are weighty, lengthy tomes that I wanted to make sure I finished in time to think about. So what a
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Spring Day in Le Jardin des Tuileries.
The days are getting longer, no question about it. Which means that I’ve begun thinking of what fun it would be to go travelling. Probably nothing will materialize this spring, but I can’t help returning to the pictures taken the last time we were in Paris. Something to dream about….
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Another One of Jeanne’s Favourite Videos: Feist for Kids Outdraws Feist for Grownups
Jeanne’s around today which makes life exciting. Here is her current video favourite–and at not quite 18 months she recognizes “4” in a number of contexts: And here’s a music video of Feist singing the original song. Please note that the first video has received more than 19 MILLION hits
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Guess Whose Appointment Won’t be Renewed: Kevin Page Contradicts Harper with the Facts about Funding Pensions
Don’t have much time today to go into this in detail because I’m involved in setting up an interesting conversation about jobs and the economy, “Working in Canada Today: A Real Challenge.” As I wrote yesterday Tom Mulcair will talk about his economic plans after a couple of union reps
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Babies in the House of Commons: Why Not?
There has been much chat this morning about a young MP from the South Shore of Montreal who brought her three month old baby into the House yesterday. She says she’d been recalled suddenly for a vote, and couldn’t find her husband who ordinarily is there to take care of
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Final Steps toward an Electronic Rights Defence Committiee Settlement
I should have posted this link last week: ERDC notices to members of its class action. After nearly 16 years, the Electronic Rights Defence Committee case against The Gazette is winding up. The case was against five legal entities, all charged with being implicated in uncompensated, unauthorized electronic publications of
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Update on "Working in Canada: A Real Challenge"–More Input from Embattled Workers
Last week I posted about the the informal end-of the-day reception coming up on Thursday and organized by the NPD Association of Outremont. on “Working in Canada Today: A Real Challenge.” Now we’re expecting to have a representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada (UFCA) who’ll talk
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Cyberflanage, Or the Delights and Dangers of Lateral Thinking
The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday by Evgeny Morozov about what he thinks is a missed opportunity in the Internet Age: the way it allowed us to poke around, looking for gems of ideas or perceptions. He compares it to the very Parisian idea of flanage, which
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Snowy Day in a Canadian Suburb
There is something to be said for the trees and gardens of post-World War II suburbs. On a winter afternoon the setting is peaceful. This was taken in Don Mills, one of Canada’s first such developments, which still maintains many of the best points of suburban living. There aren’t sidewalks
Continue readingRecreating Eden: As Harper Picks Away at Canadian Values, Krugman Suggests What May Be Ahead
If I seem to be spending too much time on this Canadian and Quebec blog talking about the US, it’s because I’m afraid that Stephen Harper and his friends slowly pushing us in the direction of the US right wing vision of what a country should be to its citizens.
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