Here is another aspect of the unfolding fascist power grab we are seeing globally in 2020 – along with sweeping powers for governments, suspension of all constitutional rights and freedoms, mass indefinite detainment, global surveillance, and accelerated economic warfare by the 0.1% elite against the 99.9%: fully digital currencies that
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Things Are Good: Being Weird is Great for Community
It’s OK to be weird, if anything it’s good that you’re weird. The old adage to “just be yourself” rings true and you should embrace it by embracing other people who are being true to themselves (remember that being weird doesn’t mean you get to be a jerk). We know
Continue readingPostArctica: Readings of Gordon Matta-Clark
Very hot afternoon. There were some readings of the artist Gordon Matta-Clark‘s notes and letters on the lawn of the Canadian Centre for Architecture today. Really interesting despite the heat.
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: How Caregivers Are Changing the Whole World
April 2nd is National Caregiver Day in Canada. To celebrate all of us and the work we do, I am sharing an article that I co-wrote with Dr. Zachary White whom you’ll know from his wonderful blog, The Unprepared Caregiver. This piece was published by Open Democracy’s Transformation E-Magazine. You
Continue readingThings Are Good: An Inspiring Vision for the Future of Canada Post
Canada Post is changing and the workers at the company want to see it grow to be more than just package delivery. They’ve looked at other postal services around the world for inspiration and see a very green, community-focussed future. A simple improvement is postal banking which is popular around
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Community Built Around Ending Homelessness
A community sprouted up outside of Austin, Texas with the goal of bringing people together to help end homelessness. Community First! Village started from a Texan developer trying to help his local community and has now grown into a fully functioning small town. Anyone is welcome to join as long
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Extra Time and IEP Designations
We administered the literacy test yesterday with one new twist that most teachers weren’t privy to until the previous evening: There would be no specific accommodations for students with IEPs (Individual Educational Programs) that call for extra time. Instead, we would allow extra time for anyone that needs it. This
Continue readingThings Are Good: Safer Cities Stem from Active Communities
In the 1990s former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani popularized the broken window theory which is a zero tolerance approach to getting rid of crime. At first it proved successful and the approach spread, only later was it revealed that other factors were at work. Today, the solution to fighting
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On UW’s Mental Health Recommendations
After another suicide on the campus of the University of Waterloo, the university compiled 36 recommendations to try to alleviate the mental health crisis and held (and taped) a forum as well. It really says something about our lives that one of the recommendations is about the process of communicating suicides to
Continue readingPostArctica: Charles Moore – Civil Rights Photographer
Charles Lee Moore (March 9, 1931 – March 11, 2010) was an American photographer most famous for his photographs documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps the most famous of his photos is the one he managed to get of Martin Luther King Jr.’s arrest for loitering on September 3, 1958. It is this photo that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Monbiot’s Out of the Wreckage
The book cover says the book “provides the hope and clarity required to change the world.” Well, he certainly tries. He’s got a plan of action that’s possible, but I didn’t get the requisite hope necessary to be spurred to action. It’s a bit of an overview of many ideas
Continue readingPostArctica: The Future
The Future deserves a better explanation than the one we are currently offering
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Shame, Honour, and Vulnerability
I was forwarded this 47 minute podcast with Brené Brown on 1A, and some of the ideas she has are remarkably similar to Timothy Snyder’s views in On Tyranny (e.g. connect with others in real life, speak truth to bullshit), so I bought her newest book, Braving the Wilderness. I was sorrily
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Capitalism Is Not the Only Choice
Capitalism in its current form enriches mostly privileged men and sidelines marginalized groups such as people of colour, immigrants and women. We need the courage to imagine and create new solidarity economies that prioritize people and the planet over profit. The post Capitalism Is Not the Only Choice appeared first
Continue readingPostArctica: That 9/11 Picture
People who worked at Open City at the time might recall Vladimir doing a lot of work with this image, yea, it was iconic, too real, way out there…because it is us barenaked with everything reduced to the pure moments before death, a trajectory of beauty and crippling fear, a
Continue readingPostArctica: Grimskunk at Verdun Art
Yesterday was the now annual event on Wellington street called Verdun Art organized by Nadia Gagnon of Maltehops. And it was nothing less than an awesome day of music on the street. There were 5 musical groups and the Girardin family and friends put on a drumming concert from their
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Community, Again
I just read local author Paul Born’s Deepening Community. In places, it’s very close to what I’ve written about in terms of ensuring that we’re kind to one another at the very end. He doesn’t skirt around the issue that we’re in dire straights and that we can choose how
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: CELEBRATIONS CAN HEAL YOUR WEARY SOUL
–> For caregivers who are exhausted and lonely, the idea of creating a home celebration can be outlandish. Often, we think, “what is there to celebrate? I’m too tired to take on a project that isn’t absolutely necessary!” But celebrations can heal. And they don’t have to be big or
Continue readingPostArctica: Bags from Columbia
Walking down a pleasant street in the north plateau the other evening and I run into this entrepreneur. Excellent quality handmade goods made in Columbia. Check them out on Facebook here!
Continue readingPostArctica: Waiting
Every season presents a new set of circumstances, a new type of song.
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