I’m going over a town council meeting video to write a news story about it as a favor to my dad, the editor of a weekly newspaper. Every time I do this I am in awe again of all the ethical implications that get dealt with on a regular basis
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politics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: The true reason I haven’t been involved in political activism for a while: not time shortage but fear of being wrong.
Life is complicated. I look back at so many things I used to believe and I don’t hold those beliefs anymore. The knowledge of how my beliefs have changed makes me a bit more hesitant to express my beliefs. What if I say something now, and then look back at
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Making a difference
Sometimes I feel helpless in the face of all the problems of the world. Then I remind myself there’s lots I can do to make a difference. I can: write a letter to the editor to try to change others thoughts on an issue and to let those who share
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Nellie McClung and the challenge of history
Up until a few weeks ago, if I was asked my impression of Nellie McClung I probably would have said “oh, she was that suffragette, right? The one people say was racist and supported eugenics?” I started reading about Nellie McClung this past few weeks. I’ll still a newcomer to
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Optimism vs Hope
I’m thinking about the difference between optimism and hope. One can be optimistic because one believes things will go well. In some cases optimism is good and natural. However optimism can also be due to a lack of information about the potential problems or because one deliberately rejects the facts that
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: yep, I’m going to write about the Duggar scandal.
I’m writing about the Duggar family because I think what the situation is a good one for shining light on the different ways people interpret things. The Duggar family need to decide how they will handle it, and they will decide that but everyone else who hears about the case
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos politics » Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Reasons to NOT Support Operation Christmas Child
Google informs me that there are already people and schools taking advantage of back-to-school sales to gather supplies for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. While I think it is great to try to give extra joy to others, I want to write to urge people not to support this program. Why? Let
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: writing letters to politicians
My days seem a strange mix of tobogganing with the kids, cooking, reading to them, helping them with schoolwork and trying every day to understand the world around me and how I can be an influence in it. I feel very muddled. I haven’t been reading any books the past week
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: my thoughts on Paved With Good Intentions: Canada’s development NGOs from idealism to imperialism
I’m getting ready to return the book Paved With Good Intentions: Canada’s development NGOs from idealism to imperialism by Kikolas Barry-Shaw and Dru Oja Jay back to the friend who lent it to me, but I want to make a few notes about ideas I found interesting. I know a different friend who
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Relational bullying, aggression and being nice
Before I wrote the post on bullying (almost a month ago) I had borrowed from the library two books about bullying, but then because life got busy, I didn’t start reading them until a few days ago. Now I’m partly through both books. One makes me feel very uncomfortable, and
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: responsibility, the ability to accept criticism and pit bulls.
I’ve written about some of the questions around bullying, and whether individuals need to grow thicker skins or be treated gentler, and about boundaries and people’s different abilities to accept criticism. In all of these there are questions of what is normal acceptable behavior, what to do when different people’s behaviors cross those lines (is
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Day to day life and looking at the larger issues too
This weekend I took one son to beaver camp. Then later at home we set up our Christmas tree and sang Christmas carols. This morning the boys did some schoolwork and then played lego. My daughter took an early nap. Then with all the children occupied, I turn my attention to
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: safety, efficiency, cost of human lives and work
My children watched part of Back to the Future III a few days ago and afterwards expressed surprise at the amount of walking on train tracks that happens in the show. “Isn’t that dangerous?” they asked and I fumbled to explain how the absolute risk wasn’t that high but that
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Tales From a Child of the Enemy
With Remembrance Day (and Veteran’s Day) coming up tomorrow, I find myself drawn back to a book I picked up a couple of years ago. It is a book of poetry called Tales from a Child of the Enemyby Ursula Duba. Ursula Duba was born in Germany at the outbreak of World
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Reasons to NOT Support Operation Christmas Child
It is that time of year, where people are talking about getting together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. While I think it is great to try to give extra joy to others, I want to write to urge people not to support this program. Why? Let me count the reasons.
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: A Handful of Ways to Reduce Poverty
As I was becoming involved with my local Coalition Against Poverty, I found myself surfing the webpages of other poverty reduction groups. The Peterborough Poverty Network has a wonderful poster listing 101 Ways to Reduce Poverty. Many of their suggestions are local to Peterborough, but some of them are relevant anywhere. Some
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Complexities of Affirmative Action
When I first heard about the court case in the USA Supreme Court of a Texan who claims that she was denied access to the further education of choice because less qualified minority students were accepted on the basis of race, my first instinct was to think poorly of the
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