Friday is Lethbridge's Sisters in Spirit Vigil. It is a chance to remember our missing and murdered Indigenous communities. It is a chance to tell our sisters that they are loved and important. It is a chance to tell the government that the rates of violence being perpetrated against these sisters is unacceptable, and that the work being done to protect and save them is not enough. It is a chance to demand more, for and with, our Indigenous sisters.
Tonight (Tuesday) is the monthly letter writing campaign with Amnesty International chapter. I have to work so I am going to write a letter now and mail it myself. If you can do that same - please check out Amnesty's information to make it simple to have your voice heard.
Thank you to the community organizers who continue to struggle for justice and celebrate the value of Indigenous women.
I came home from a pretty long day today, and you know what I wanted? Chocolate Cake. I never want cake. I want fries and chips and bread and other salty goodness, but I never want cake. (Well except today clearly)
So I scrounged around cookbooks and found my super easy cake recipe I found in Belize, where I made more chocolate cake than I have in the rest of my life with the AMAZING local chocolate. And 40 minutes later - cake!
It's a vegan recipe, not because I went vegan in Belize but because I didn't always have eggs or milk and stores weren't always open when I was craving a local, sweet treat, so I found a milk/egg-less recipe to enjoy. I don't like icing so I also have a glaze recipe I put on this.
Anyway, I just finished the piece of cake I was craving but I have a whole rest of the pan leftover. Good thing I have girlfriends to pawn baking off to!
Yummy Cake!
Here's the easy recipe! Enjoy!
Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
1+1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa, unsweetened - ideally from Belize if you've got it hanging around ;)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup veg oil
1 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt with a fork, mix it well.
Add water, vanilla, oil and vinegar. Blend well with a fork.
Bake at 350 for 30 min
Cool as long as you can stand.Today, that lasted approximately 3 minutes. If you're going to put glaze on it, do wait until it cools or the glaze will just get super liquidy and melt off the cake rather than stay on top with it's deliciousness.
Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine (butter if you're not vegan - I'm a real-butter-all-the-time kind of gal)
2 tbsp plain almond milk/soy milk/cow milk
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp vanilla
Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring to prevent burning. Let it cool slightly before pouring over cake. If it hardens too much, just heat it back to liquid.
I read somewhere once that burning chocolate is considered a sin in some cultures. I would concur.
I tried knitting once - it was ... less than successful. However, when this event came up, I was there! What event, you ask?
A motion was introduced in February that, if accepted, wold call a committee to discuss whether fetuses should be included in the Criminal Codes definition of human being - which is the trying-to-be-sneaky way of saying "let's discuss if abortion is murder."
Ok. seriously PCs? The abortion debate was closed in 1988 and we've been doing just fine for the last 24 years.
So some awesome women decided to make sure their MPS knew that they were quite happy having rights to decide what to do with their own bodies, thank you very much. Some groups are doing this in this States too, where in many places women are REALLY having their health and rights challenged and even stripped away by politicians who don't even HAVE uteri! So the idea is, we'll make one for them so they'll have their own uteri to legislate and they can leave ours alone. Anyway, we got together, and at this great Womanspace event we knit/crocheted/sewed uteri to send to MPs who said they would be supporting the motion.
Hey - it's my uterus!
I loved the event - it was a creative way to resist a motion I don't agree with, it was a great space with positive energy, and plus, how often do you get to sew a uterus! What a fun project!
Apparently the news loved the event too! We were covered by a local media group CJOC FM, the Winnipeg Free Press and even the Globe & Mail! We're famous! [Update! Our local newspaper, the Lethbridge Herald ran the story from the G&M with a photo of my little uterus! She's famous!] [ANOTHER update! We're in the CBC! Good thing my uterus isn't camera shy!]
We're excited for round two tomorrow night, August 14th. It will be at a local watering hole, the Owl at 6:30 and we'll even show you how to do it! Like I said, my knitting skills leave a little to be desired and I still have a pretty pink uterus to be gifted to my MP. :) Check out the deets on Facebook and see you there!
And remember - Women's health and rights are not up for debate! Make sure your MP knows you feel that way, even if you don't get to knit them a present.
There has been a big "Anti-Wildrose" push on Facebook lately. While I am glad people are seeing the danger this party represents for an equitable society in Alberta, I'm not really a fan of the campaign. When I go to vote, I don't want to vote AGAINST somebody, I want to vote FOR somebody. And I'm very glad that in this round of elections I have a great option.
I voted for Shannon Phillips in the advanced polls because she's even more than just an alternative to the Wildrose. While she IS an absolutely fantastic and totally winnable candidate for Lethbridge West as an alternative to the Wildrose, Shannon and the Alberta NDP have a lot more to offer than just that.
Here are some of my reasons:
1) She's a rockstar. I met Shannon at the beginning of my university career when she led a media workshop for LPIRG. I was super impressed at how articulate, intelligent and all around savvy she was. She has continued to live up to that fantastic first impression.
2) She knows what she's talking about. Shannon is no new comer to politics and it shows. She's young but not naive, she gives her colleagues run for their money - anyone who has been to any of the forums this election knows what I mean. She calls out the other candidates with hard facts and with the experience she already has under her belt.
3) She has a great platform. Again I reiterate, in elections, I don't like to vote against someone, I want to vote FOR someone who will stand up for what I believe in and for what I want in my province. Shannon and the Alberta NDP will do that. They're plans for environmental sustainability, education, health care, resource management and Indigenous relations all reflect the values I hold myself.
4) Have I mentioned she's a rockstar?
5) She has the energy this city needs in a representative. Lethbridge is an exciting, growing city with a lot to offer, and Shannon knows how to represent that. You can see it in her campaign so far - she has been non stop. She's been talking to people in person, on their doorsteps, at their favourite events showing her support for US as Lethbians, not just asking us for OUR support.
Basically Shannon is just one of the most intelligent and articulate and high energy women I've met and I am so glad she's a candidate in my riding and that I get the privilege to vote FOR a great candidate like her rather than thinking I have to vote AGAINST someone else.
If you're interested in finding out more about Shannon's campaign, check out her website or her facebook page.
Polls are open tomorrow from 9am to 8pm. Find your polling station here and go exercise your right to vote!
Alright - so I'm a little slow out of the gate, but I wanted to share a couple Federal-Budget 101 pages I saw and found pretty useful in explaining the recently revealed budget. Click the picture to see the full page.
Above is the first page of an infographic from the Globe and Mail, and it has a few more graphics that explain a lot. For example, in the "departmental cuts" section we can see something that really freaked me out. Health care and national defense spending got a similar cut - just over 5% each. BUT. Health care's budget lost $309.9 million, while defense lost over a BILLION. With a B! Meaning - provinces get a little over 5.4 billion to pay for doctors and hospitals while the army gets almost 20 billion dolllars, more than three and a half times more... Excellent.
What I was disappointed not to see in the G&M highlights was how the budget affects Indigenous communities in Canada.
The Huffington Post was also on the ball and added pictures to their interpretation of the budget as well - click the picture to see their highlights, which do include the budget changes for Aboriginal education.
Among some of the high profile cuts/gains you may or may not have heard about
Yes, they're getting rid of the penny. Costs more than one cent to make it, so they've scrapped it. My sister is not pleased.
Katimavik is cut. As someone who believes firmly in getting youth involved in their communities, and providing opportunities for them to learn through travel, I am not impressed. Shows the Conservatives don't place a value on all the service these youth provide to their communities. And since communities program funding is also getting cut left right and center, not sure where the organizations that get help from Katimavik volunteers are going to get all those hours from. While I don't know the specifics of how Katimavik's money is being spent, I'mm sure they deserve at least a review of their expenditures, rather than being cut all together. I'm not opposed to more efficiency in these kinds of programs, I encourage it, but they weren't even given a chance to do so.
CBC lost 10% of their funding. Not as bad as some had feared but not good.
The Community Access Program (CAP or C@P) which provides free or low cost internet to Canadians through community centres, libraries and other access points has been cut abruptly, cutting off low income Canadians from things like job posting, tax information and forms and basic things like email. Only 54% of homes with an income of $30,000 or less have access to internet, yet the funding was still cut.
Canada is going to stop policing nutrition claims on food labels. Better start learning what all those ingredients really mean and stop believing claims of "low sodium, high fiber, low fat, organic..." (but really, those really should never have been our guiding lights when purchasing food.)
Canada's budget for development assistance was cut drastically as well. An amount equal to CIDA's "basic education budget, immunization budget and the funding to fight tuberculosis" has been cut - a change from 2010, when the government capped the spending. Was that supposed to ease the people around the world into not expecting more help from the privileged nation of Canada? Well, now the cuts have come, a detriment not just to our reputation but to our ability to fight the causes and consequences of extreme poverty around the world.
And finally, in the gains column - a new national park in Toronto. Maybe next time the G20 comes to town, they won't have to build a fake lake...
While The Meliorist buzz this week will about the brave and fantastic decision of Kelti and the Meliorist staff to pull the TLFs to draw attention to the overt bullying for which it has become a platform, I also noticed another article. This one, Why I hate volunteering,caught my eye. No one gets to argue against volunteerism without a rebuttle from me. So here it is.
Why I love volunteering
Okay, maybe love is too weak a word, but apparently it’s a strong enough feeling to bother writing about it, so here we go. Full disclosure, I was the president of the Rotaract Club last year, and I’m not at your throat but I am at the defence of volunteers and volunteerism.
Our volunteer-sceptic had good points and points that represent misguided resentment. Yes, scholarships and graduate programs do need to consider work experience, financial situations and other extenuating circumstances more often (though that is why they also have financial need scholarships). But here’s the kicker – they’re not just looking for people who help others, this is often a way of making sure the applicants have received some of the benefits of volunteerism and community involvement. Namely, experience with new perspectives and communities, a feel for the bigger picture, and an understanding that progress in any field requires a group effort that no, there isn’t always money to pay for.
And I’m not sure if anyone has ever talked to volunteers in Rotaract or any of the other incredible clubs, volunteer organizations and non-profits around Lethbridge, but they do not represent this exclusively financially flush, elite group described. They are people who go to school full time, work full time jobs, raise younger siblings, have fended for themselves since their teens, and suck up massive debt loads. They give up their tv time, their dinner time and their sleep because they understand that this world needs every extra hand it can get, and they just want to do their part to make someone else’s life easier.
I’m someone who has volunteered for most of my life and someone who has coordinated and organized volunteers, even the kind that don’t necessarily want to be there. In my experience, yes of course you want volunteers who genuinely want to be there but isn’t having an hour-counting volunteer better than having no one to walk the dogs, sell the tickets, set the tables or put up the posters? And in a shameless plug for Rotaract, even people who sign up for hours, end up realizing how awesome an experience it is to be part of something bigger and better than yourself. And in case people are worried about the kids, folks in nursing homes, and rescued animals at the hands of these reluctant volunteers – don’t worry, people need a vulnerable sector police check and to pass probationary time with non-profits before they get to have that kind of incredible experience.
I’m glad our anti-volunteerism volunteer has a supportive family and does have the time to write articles for the student newspaper and volunteer occasionally. But I really hope that she realizes that if we left the volunteerism to the Carnegies and Bill Gates of the world, there would be seniors without visitors, there would be schools without readers, there would be refugee students without tutors, there would be homeless people unfed and unrecognized, there would Meliorists unpublished. Most of all, communities would be impoverished by the absence of the incredible, resilient volunteers I know who eat KD to feed their bodies and volunteer to feed their souls.
Not sure if they make better ingredients than things like chickpeas, local honey, fresh limes, ripe tomatoes and garlic - I can't imagine they do.
I made this recipe with a mix of a bunch of salads I had seen online, and this is definitely a winner. Make it your own and enjoy! Mix up the ratios to make it look as delicious as you want. Here is what I put in mine
Salad:
2 cups chickpeas (or 1 can) 2 cups black beans (or 1 can)
1 cucumber, diced however you like (I cut circles then quarter them)
2-3 tomatoes, into medium sized chunks
1 carrot, peeled and cut the same as you do with the cucumbers
1 1/2 cup corn kernels (or 1 can)
1/2 bunch cilantro, diced
Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (the juice of about 2 medium limes)
1.5 tbsp of honey
1 clove of garlic, diced
Mix and enjoy! Makes a great contribution to a potluck, or a great school lunch. Even a small serving is filling but not heavy, and it tastes so fresh!
I only decided to blog because I have been in love with a few great ones for a while now - mostly food blogs. I love reading about people's creativity, and how they fit things like exercise and cooking delicious food and crafting beautiful things into their regular lives. People got some serious talents ....
So in honour of all the time that will be wasted during this final exam and final assignment season, here are some sites to at least get you off facebook ....
________________FOOD_______________
(Neverhome)maker is one of my go-to's, ... great photos of great food. A lot of my favourite recipes are from them, including the around the world black bean burgers (which are so good I don't let people put ketchup on them) and sweet potato ravioli. They are both really active and their running and recovery strategies are good to read about. Right now they're also running another blog about their newest adventure - their new baby!
I have since bought 2 of this awesome cook's cookbooks - and will probably get her Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook later. Lots of flavour, lots of zest - the ppk is seriously a haven for vegan cooks and bakers. You can search recipes by ingredient or course, and there's a recipe to suit any craving! Some are kind of complicated but I just avoid those and stick to ingredients I have already! So fun.
A family decided to only eat REAL food (nothing really processed, refined, etc. Whole foods and awesome body and soul friendly food only!) for 100 days, which astounds me. They have two young kids and I'm impressed by their effort to make themselves and their family as healthy as they can be! Lots of great recipes and tips, and you can sign up for mini pledges to help yourself eat better!
____________HAPPINESS_____________
Lots of lovely motivational articles and whatnot. Sometimes you need a jumpstart, and you'll find it here!
(Her title is off to the side of her header, I do realize that it doesn't look centered...) Apart from this lady's awesome name (yes, apparently her actual name IS Gala Darling) and killer style, she has an amazing "Radical Self Love" project and you get good energy just from LOOKING at her site. Enjoy, then look at this list and go out and buy yourself some sequinned knickers
_____________DIY___________
This lovely lady posts about all sorts of crazy cool crafts and diy stuff she makes - including the instructions to what will become glasses for my new kitchen - this post about how to easily cut beer bottles using yarn, nail polish remover and a lighter!
also
This site is overflowing with crazy cute ideas for everything. If you like DIY, good luck passing exams this year because you won't be able to get off this blog after you see things like the sewing kit in a jar (I might be biased by my irrational love for all things in the mason jar genre) and the coffee filter pom poms.
Sort of DIY, sort of everything that was ever fabulous that was placed on the internet. I just didn't know where else to categorize it. I only discovered this one two days ago and oh dear. My girlfriends have already been the victim of too much inspiration in the form of incessant emails with links to great stuff.
_____Daily News and "News"______
I don't usually go the day without checking these sites for new headlines or interesting articles:
A feminist supplier of gossipy type headlines but also has lots of interesting articles including "Sisterhood is Easier in the Winter: Short Skirts Magically Turn Women into B*tches"
I don't need to explain this one right?
This one has a really left, Canadian perspective on Canadian news. I really enjoy their Book Lounge!
________Real Life_________
I also love to surf the blogs of friends and local (well, Lethbridge local) blogs!
My friendChris has a great blog where he blogs about daily life stuff and also about the great books he reads! This man is one of the most well read people I know, I would highly suggest taking his book recommendations.
Lethbian Lovehooks me up with all sorts of great stuff (or kind of weird) stuff that Lethbridge has going on! From his About section:
"Lethbian Love features the people and things that I find interesting or great about Lethbridge, Alberta. But sometimes it's also Lethbian Loathe because, well, the whole Deathbridge thing. Anyway, in case you were wondering,Lethbians are those of us who are native to or residing in Lethbridge."
Lethbridge Veg : Vegetarian Living, gardening and urban foraging in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It has been really interesting to read, and makes me want to make my own veg garden for my new apartment in the Bridge! Cool to read about people doing great things right in your town.
Allison and Kathleen are a couple of the lovely new friends I have made here - who also appreciates how much fun cooking together is!
Kathleen and I bake bread and cakes a lot, and Al and I decided to make a big group dinner last week. They live with 3 guys as well, all volunteers with Jesuit Volunteers International, so they take turns making dinner for everyone, it was really fun to take part! Who doesn't love eating with a table full of friends?
Here is the delicious curry recipe we created, after abandoning all the recipes we had been reading.
Al & K's Cilantro Coconut Curry
Ingredients:
Cilantro Mix:
Approx 11/2 cups coconut milk
1 small bunch of cilantro (if you also happen to be in PG: $1 worth)
Juice of one lime
1 clove of garlic
1" chopped fresh ginger root
Main Dish:
Olive oil to saute
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot
3 medium tomatos
2 diced bell peppers (we used green)
1 can chickpeas
3 tsp curry powder
1 tsp tumeric
salt to taste
1 cup coconut ilk
Brown or white rice (1/2 cup dry per person)
How to do it:
Chop and add all "Cilantro Mix" ingredients to a blender and blend until it smells like heaven. (Leave out the cilantro if you are Alix or Jessica ;) Set aside.
Add 1 cup of coconut milk and stir to mix the colour and awesome flavours. Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes. Start by adding half of the blended mix, taste and more if desired. Let the flavours mix until it gets even more delicious.
Serve over brown or white rice. It was great with the brown rice, but an alternative is to make jasmine, basmati or plain white rice and mix it with the rest of the cilantro mix to make coconut rice, also yummy!
It was my Dad's birthday yesterday, and he was my entry in my gratitude journal - and I decided he more than deserved a public display of appreciation and love. So although this entry won't share any cool recipes or art projects (those will come soon - I have a whole list to post about), hopefully this one will make you think about how much you love YOUR Papa, or Mama, or Grandma, or whomever! Make sure they know it.
My Dad
I don't even know where to start with how awesome my Dad is. Since it just passed, I guess I'll start with his birthday. Yet again I gave him no gift because he's one of those people who is literally impossible to buy for. His response for my queries about what he wants for his birthday/ Christmas/ Father's Day: "Nothing." Never in my life has he asked for any single thing. And always seems happy with his gift of running magazines, socks and Canadian Tire gift cards. It's one of those things that shows me how easy going, grateful and content my father is. Although I anticipate many more years of my sister and I brainstorming for an awesome gift for my Dad that will rarely go beyond baking him rhubarb pie, getting him something running related, or Quality Street chocolates for Christmas, I also anticipate many more years of my Dad making us feel like it was the perfect gift. A trait to be admired to say the least.
It's one of his many traits that I admire. Not the least of which is his incredible work ethic that I hope that I live up to even a little bit. He works shift work, 12 hour shifts for 3 days and then 3 nights, and then on his days off fixes the yard, builds a deck for his daughter's latest whim, mows lawns, repairs house stuff, shovels his and his neighbours' driveways and sidewalks ... the man gets it done!
Or he goes on a family trip to Newfoundland and cuts a forest's
worth of wood for our Grandparents for the winter
Another thing I hope I have inherited from my Dad is his lifelong love of running and just plain old moving. This is the guy who will be the "90 year old completes marathon" headline. A lifelong runner, my Dad has organized the local running club and marathon so much that the running community in my town was a huge part of my youth. Driving around in the big cube van, placing or picking up pylons for whatever race happened to be going on that weekend is one of my great memories (Anyone who wonders where my dedication to volunteering comes from - he and my mom showed me that it's just a normal part of life, and it stuck). And he doesn't just organize. He's a great runner and put people half his age to shame (like me for sure! I always end up bailing halfway through our runs when I am home!). An avid runner and, recently, cyclist - my Dad completed a Half Ironman (he did the full Ironman when I was 5, kudos to my mama for letting him train while she covered with the work it takes to raise a 4 year old and a 2 year old) this past summer. Are you kidding me?! This man rocks! He is an inspiration and has my sister and I running too - he got me through my first half marathon a couple years ago, I definitely couldn't have (and wouldn't have thought to) gotten through it without him. He coached my track team at school, taught me how to run hills and how to keep running once you get to the top, gets me out on the snowiest days to run, and has infected me with the idea that running in the rainiest, muddiest, snowiest, coldest conditions is what it really means to be a runner.
Dad & I at a soccer game in Mexico
And it's not just running - a good Irishman loves his soccer and my Dad is no exception. He taught me how to pass and shoot and run and defend and how to love the game. He's always on the sidelines for support, even when it's for the team I'm coaching and I'm not even playing! So much of my life is shaped by what my Dad has shown me how to do.
But what my Dad (and my wonderful Mother) has really shown me how to do, is how to be a good person. My Dad is generous, hard working, caring, funny, and easy going. He always volunteers to help the community, always supports my sister, Mother and I in whatever crazy scheme we have thought up, and reminds me that no matter what happens, the most main thing is "not to panic."
So, to my Dad : Thank you, I love you, and happy birthday.
A prayer/blessing/wish for you and your kitchens on this weekend of food, family and friends:
May this kitchen be so filled with peace
That all who eat food prepared here receive peace
May this kitchen be so filled with happiness
That all who eat food prepared here receive happiness
May this kitchen be so filled with good will
That working here is a joy
Bless this kitchen
Bless all work work here
Bless the food that is prepared here
May this kitchen and the work done here be a blessing to all who live.
From May All Be Fed by John Robbins
Happy Thanksgiving everyone - remember to carry this feeling of gratitude for your friends, family, health and food with you throughout the year. We are blessed to have delicious, healthy food to nourish us and to share with people we love and who love us. Enjoy it today, and enjoy it every day <3
Because there is a very powerful force just starting to come your way: GIRLS!
When I was young, my sister and I had these great posters in our playroom - they said
Playing like a girl doesn't mean what it used to
A girl's place... is anywhere she wants to be
I grew up with, and maintain, the staunch belief that being female should not and will not hold me back or prevent me from doing any single thing I want to do. I could be a teacher, a contractor, a mother, a doctor, an physicist, a ballerina. I could play any single sport I wanted to ... for goodness sake I did karate and synchronized swimming in the same season, for years. I still get incensed when I hear "female athlete" - she's an athlete, period. Whatever I wanted to do, as long as I was a hard worker, honest and stuck to it - I could do it. I have female and male role models and friends who taught me and continue to prove to me that there are no opportunities that can be dictated by whatever genitalia you happen to have. I have found this, in my world, to be true. I was one of the lucky few in this world.
Around the world girls of all ages continue to be held back from school, from gainful and meaningful employment, continue to be oppressed through sexual violence, disproportionate levels of poverty and hunger, and through plain old discrimination. But it's starting to change. The wave is catching and people are working hard to make this world better for everyone, by making it better for girls ... it's
THE GIRL EFFECT!
Today marks the beginning of this year's Girl Effect Blogging Campaign! If you're a blogger, please participate and spread the word about The Girl Effect.
What is this 'Girl Effect' you ask? Basically it's this. Right now, girls around the world are just starting to become the powerhouses they should have the opportunity to be. They're just starting to have equal opportunities, just starting to become educated, to have fair, paying jobs and just starting to show the world what they're made of. And as a result, family sizes are getting smaller, allowing more children to go to school, allowing parents to have more food and water security for their children and themselves, allowing communities to become more prosperous and increase the quality of living, allowing countries to run more effectively and fairly... you get the idea.
Here's what happens:
Ps, for you Girl Effect veterans, and people who like THAT video, they have lots of new videos, check em out.
I hear lots of you saying, what, and forget about the boys? NO. The point is to forget no one. Create institutions, traditions and rules that recognize the rights of all humans, not just those typically favoured.
Support organizations that address the issues that keep girls off the fast track. For example, microfinance organizations that give loans to women (and men) with business plans so they can have their own financial independence and provide for their families rather than depend on a man or parents. Like a love of my life: Kiva. Or organizations that address the ridiculous price girls and women pay for society's neglect of their basic health - death during childbirth (this is 2011, get with the program - that shouldn't be happening) or the fact that many girls around the world have to miss a week of school every month when they menstruate. No wonder they don't get ahead.
As an educator, obviously I want to see more girls in school around the world, and in higher levels of school. I have been blessed to be able to work with and support great organizations that believe in this goal too, such as Roots & Wings International in Guatemala and Malawi Girls on the Move. I believe if we can remove the barriers children around the world face when coming to school, the world will be a better place. Both girls and boys face a lot of issues such as the distances they must travel to school, the supplies they must bring (water, food, not to mention books, pencils and uniforms), the easily preventable illnesses such as worms and diarrhea that make them fall behind... so many. The thing is girls face all that PLUS a second rate standing in the eyes of many societies and families. In many places they become brides and mothers at ages when girls in Canada are still celebrating birthdays with single digit candles on their cakes. In others, they become the only mother their siblings will know when parents are taken by HIV/AIDS. Or maybe they're simply left behind when parents can't afford to send all the kids to school. Whatever the case may be, we have to help countries, including our own - get girls into schools, staying in schools and succeeding in schools.
Girls are powerful, strong and deserve to have their rights taken seriously. Boys are powerful, strong and deserve to have their rights taken seriously. All we're asking for is that we make sure to pay attention to ALL people so that we can all work together to not just survive, but thrive.
And just in case I haven't convinced you let, I'll let these girls give it a shot. Here is the first graduating class of the first school built by Malawi Girls on the Move (which the University of Lethbridge Rotaract Club is so grateful to have been a part of!) performing a song they wrote, on their graduation day.
One thing I ADORE about traveling (among other things) is meeting other travelers. In my apartment building, 3 Japanese volunteers live upstairs. I have been hanging out with one of them, and the other night we went out for a drumming/open mic style evening at a local bar. She brought her guitar and harmonica and I brought my excited-ness to hear her play them!
Gomi & her project
She also brought her art project. She has been here for a year already and will be here another year, and she is making this great project. She has a big blank shirt she embroidered with the question "What do you need to live?" (in English and in Japanese). She asks people to write down their answer and then embroiders that onto the shirt later.
First of all, I love the idea of having an art project for a trip. Am brainstorming about what I could do.
Second, I love her question. It's the kind of question you should be able to answer right away. The answer is whatever pops into your head first. There is no smart or silly response, it just is.
Another person's answer:
Real Food. Sharing the Love.
Active Connection with the Divine Spirit
Before I tell you mine, what is your answer?
[An interesting thing she mentioned is that when she asks travelers, she gets answers like love, hope, God, peace...and when she asks, most locals say things like food, shelter, water. An interesting point about how privileged I and We are to be able to travel, to look for good experiences, rather than worrying about basic needs.]
Mine?
To be in Awe.
There are so many great and wonderful people, things and ideas in the world. I like to feel the power of them, to feel blessed to experience something, to be in those moments where you are just amazed at how the world works or what it looks like and what it can create! Sunrises, sunsets, great friends, good food, warm breezes, giant mountains, expansive oceans, never ending forests, huge skies... I soak that stuff up!
My true love in reading lies with non fiction. On pretty much any subject. I usually just read one book and that leads me to another and another, or I find one sitting next to it at the library or so on. I love reading non fiction because people are so smart and being able to expand your knowledge in an area is so simple with books! I just love how much knowledge there is in the world, I just want to read about all of it! Some highlights from this summer -
Freakonomics/Super Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner : I started off my summer with these, and what a hoot! These guys have the most interesting minds to even think about putting these stats together! It’s one of those books that gives you tidbits of information that you can pull out later and sound either really interesting or kind of weird. Super Freakonomics = Super Fun. Check ‘em out! (At least see the movie, I heard it’s decent)
More than Good Intentions by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel. Freakonomics was created by someone who is a behavioural economist, and that area of study sounded really interesting. When I looked it up on the library database, this title popped up. With a subtitle like How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty, I was obviously hooked. It is exactly what aid needs – a scientific study of the efficiency and areas of need of projects, programs and ideas. It presents real solutions that have been tested, and ACTUALLY tested, as in, against controls and everything. Most interesting for me and many I know – the section on microcredit. Clever people putting their smarts to very good use.
Another behavioural econ book – Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
So behavioural economics was one topic of interest for me this summer, another was food. In the last year or so I have become a serious foodie. So I read and recommend:
Hundred Mile Diet by Alisa Smith & J. B. MacKinnon. A very honest and real portrayal of this couple’s year of eating only food that was grown within a hundred miles of their Vancouver home. Definitely won’t be joining that extreme diet anytime soon but it did make me more aware while I was grocery shopping which is always good!
Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto The Promises and Perils of the BioTech Harvets by Peter Pringle Another book to film whose on screen version I need to see! But the book was fascinating, all about the pros and cons, benefits and dangers of genetically modified food, a very relevant topic for our GMO eating selves! (yes, you eat GMOs. All the time, I guarantee it.) I liked this book because it’s an easy bandwagon to jump on and so “No genetically modified foods at all! Evil!” but he doesn’t. He presents good balanced information, and it’s enlightening on the topic of how our food is grown and regulated in general!
More Food books: Food Matters: Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman (and now I have the accompanying How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by the same author! Thanks Sean!), Pandora’s Picnic Basket: The Potential and Hazards of Genetically Modified Foods by Alan McHughen
I also got into reading about Feminism this summer:
Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards .
Favourite book of the summer. Hands down.
When I read, I know it’s a good book when I am writing things down, because I’m so inspired. I filled up 3 pages with this book. And had to reorganize them all later because I was so full of energy and ideas from this book. If you are a feminist activist, read it. It’s geared toward beginners in the area, but I think it would be a great read for anyone. They discuss their opinion on things I debate in my own head: the spirit of competition rather than support among activists, feeling like you can’t work on a project because you aren’t perfect in that area (ie – pro-fair labour practices but you probably still buy stuff from sweat shops sometimes), or the struggle many people, and particularly women, face about marriage or partnerships, children or no children, career or stay at home.. I could rave about this book forever. Got it from the library but will be getting my own copy. And don’t be scared of the “feminist” title, I’m sure you would be inspired whether you identify as a feminist or not.
Other feminist books: To Hell With It: Loving and Loathing Your Inner Housewife by Caitlin Flanagan (Definitely not in my top books of the summer because the author with two young children is writing for other mothers, I was not her audience for sure. Probably better if I was). No Turning Back: The history of Feminism and the future of women by Estelle Friedman
Finally, in no category whatsoever:
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Fun book – lots of good ideas, lots of insights into how we can foster our own happiness and that of others, and some honest reflection on how trying to be happy all the time can be really hard!
That was as short of a post as I could write - just too many great books! Happy reading!
Now this post about my adventures through the pages this summer won’t be nearly as good as the incredible lit blog my brilliant friend Chris writes (that you should all check out here) but I’ll do my best to share some of my favourite reads over the past few months!
Ok first off, I read a surprisingly large list of fiction this summer, large being relative to the little I do usually. Not much for fiction usually, but I guess summer days are perfect for finding yourself in another world right?
Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende. This woman mesmerized me with her TED talk, so I had to pick up her novels when I was at the used book store. She did not disappoint. A nice mix of history with her portrayal of the gold rush in California, personal relationships, and lives lived with limits – stories of a Chinese man captured and brought to America and the main character a woman who leads an interesting childhood only to make her young adulthood just as fascinating. Unlike any book I have read lately!
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Have you read these yet? No? Do it. Seriously, everyone needs some young adult fiction in their lives and this is the one you need right now. Haven’t read the next two yet but will be getting on it soon. Devoured the action packed pages in a day. It's fast, fun, smart, and just a plain old good read. Also got my teacher heart excited with ideas about cool assignments students could do related to the book –anyone else? No? Ok… on to the next then…
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Re-read this one again this summer, it’s my second favourite book (after To Kill A Mockingbird). A novel written by someone who must be a poet, it reads so beautifully. It’s also real-life kind of fiction which is my favourite. It portrays life during apartheid in South Africa. Quote - 'Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. After a very long time of people recommending Vonnegut for me, I finally took it out of the library and was not disappointed. Satirical look at the Western (particularly American) way of life, Vonnegut basically explains life and the day to day workings of people as if the reader is from outer space and has never heard of America. For example “Viet Nam was a country where America was trying to make people stop being communists by dropping bombs on them". Great for anyone who enjoys a good laugh at the typical western lifestyle.
Other fiction that I enjoyed but won’t get into: The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.
This post was originally massive, so I'm doing in two parts, ending Part I here. Next post will be all my non fiction!
Today is my last full day in Canada before I take off for Belize until January - so I had to harvest the last of my garden, even though some of the carrots could have used a little more time.
Either way, it all turned out great! I had fun gardening, it was definitely a confidence booster about my gardening abilities. The last time I gardened, Kelsi and I were maybe 12 and we tried to plant flowers in a dead patch of ground next to my play house, but it was completely shaded by a) the play house and b) all the trees around it. It didn't seem to occur to us that sunflowers wouldn't grow without sun! So that was less than successful so I was a bit hesitant this year but wanted to try anyway.
And it worked out! Here's what I got (along with lots of pretty flowers all throughout the summer, including these white and purple ones that I will definitely plant again. They bloomed 4 times between May and August!)
Tomatoes!
These were ready first because I bought them already growing from the greenhouse in town. They were delicious but unfortunately I wasted a lot because I didn't get around to making salsa in time. Definitely worth buying already growing since I'm new to the gardening thing and they were pretty easy to keep alive. Just lots and lots of water since it's a big plant. Anyone have experience with those hanging ones from the TV? I wonder if those are good too..
Sunflowers!
I only grew two, one in each pot, and they are beautiful! Next time I would love to plant a ton of these in the ground all along a fence. Just need to get my own yard...
Sunflowers are my favourite flower in the world and it made me so happy to see these bloom.
Onions!
Onions are probably one of my top 3 favourite vegetables I'd say - most things I cook have onions in them. And these were such a treat! I grew 3 per pot, which seemed to be the limit. They were so tasty in a curry I made, and then on nachos! Not going to lie, I definitely was eating some raw while I was cooking, they were that good.
Carrots!
These are just mini because I planted them in a short, long type container, so I got the mini versions. And they were just yummy! One of my favourite memories of my childhood is eating carrot's out of Kelsi's dad's garden. Pull out the carrot, wash it off with the hose, and chow down - best way to eat a carrot. Still tastes faintly like earth but always crisp and awesome. YUM! I pulled these right before we took off to drive to Edmonton, so they made a great car snack.
Things that didn't work:
-Squash. I tried to grow two butternut squash plants, but they shriveled in the crazy heat we had in June. We didn't get rain for about a month and it was just too hot for them. Their poor little leaves curled in and died. Will try again next time and remember to shade them a little sometimes!
-Jalepeno. Ha ha, this was a long shot anyway. One tiny jalepeno plant - needed more attention than I gave it.
Dreams for future gardening adventures - Bigger! I figure for the amount of work watering an extra dozen plants, I will definitely be making a bigger garden next time. Obviously it depends on my home,yard, balcony situation but this is the dream section right?
- Squash, potatoes and zucchini. More veggies are always a good thing!
- More wildflowers. I have a dream of a yard full of wild, local grasses and flowers - one day...
- Greenhouse so I can start plants while it's still cold in this canadian spring
So all in all, great experiences with gardening this year! Looking forward to trying it again soon!
As the "happiest time of the year..." back to school commercials start to pop up on tv again (didn't we just leave?!) it's time for me to get ready to go back to class too - but in a totally different role this semester! This time I'm the teacher! For the next four months I get to hang out with a group of elementary school students in Punta Gorda, Belize!
I've done a total of about 10 weeks of teaching so far, grade 5 English and Math (the latter of which I had to pretend didn't almost kill me when I was in grade 5) and grade 7,8,11 Social Studies. But this time I get to start with the students, I get to be there with them until Christmas, in our own classroom, and do it my way the whole time. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. Seriously.
I have really enjoyed my two practicum semesters so far, but when you're there for such a short time you don't get to connect as much with the students as you would like. Don't get me wrong, some days, that last period (a double, 80 minute period might I add) of Japanese history with 13 year olds felt like it would never end. But overall, in and out in 6 weeks was fast, and just really doesn't give you a chance to see the students grow and learn the way you know they can and will.
And the way they grow is the reason I want to work with youth. I do want to teach, although not necessarily right after grad, but mostly I just want to be part of the education and growth of youth. Yes, "Youth are the Future" and all that jazz, but really - I love young people because most of them are so open to learning, to being good people and good friends. I love the opportunity that being an educator presents. An educator, and they come in many a form, can be there to show students the good in the world, to show them what great strides are already being made in medicine, social services, poverty reduction, conflict resolution... They get to show students what they get to be a part of!
This does mean that we must take on the great responsibility of providing balanced presentations of facts that include the injustices of the world. They need to learn about things like poverty in their communities and around the world, they need to learn that children their own age are sold by their families to work as slaves and that governments and corporations aren't always looking out for the greatest needs in society.They need to learn that the world is full of kindness and joy but also of hardship, cruelty and pain. Thankfully though, students also get to learn that they can do something about the bad parts, right now.
I was blessed to have great teachers, parents, mentors and school and community leaders, who were creative, joyful, and socially conscious. They showed me how I can learn new things all the time just by reading a new book, talking to people, figuring it out on my own... They opened my eyes to the hard parts of life - poverty, neglect, inequality. And they showed me how to be compassionate and how to take action.
So teachers (read: school teachers, parents, coaches, youth group leaders, and everyone else who influences youth) make a heck of a lot of difference. I hope to be one of those ones who makes a POSITIVE difference. Looking forward to getting another chance this September.
To close - here are two links.
The first is a link to my travel blog where I will share my adventures from Punta Gorda!
I was originally going to blog about the lovely dinner party my friend Jessica and I hosted in celebration of the Solstice, and it still kind of will be. But the biggest thing I learned during the prep was this:
MASON JARS ARE AMAZING!
More on that in a second. First - Dinner Party. Sharing good food with good friends is definitely one of my favourite things to do. This night was no exception.
My family helped me set the house up and set the table. My mom has fantastic colourful dishes so we set a happy, beautiful summer dinner party table. Lots of colours, flowers and sarongs/shawls on the chairs in case we got cold, and to add a punch of colour.
Some menu highlights included fresh pea soup with cream, vegetable kebabs with homemade bbq sauce, my fresh garden tomatoes and quinoa cooked in vegetable broth.
The serious highlight though? Dessert. Pies in mason jars.
Rewind about a week, my mom and I were reorganizing the kitchen. We were redoing the spice and bulk cupboard and decided to use mason jars (various sizes) to hold spices, bulk lentils, nutritional yeast, etc. We stocked up on all sorts of sizes, and between those, some washed out old pasta sauce jars, and some labels, the cupboard is now super functional. Pies (apple pies and cherry pies) in mason jars. So begins my love affair with mason jars.
After that, mason jars were everywhere! I saw browsing a diy site I love, ReadyMade, and saw this fun article: 10 things to do with Mason Jars Besides Store Stuff. Seriously?! Awesome! People are so creative! I followed the link for individual pie-in-a-jar and found this fantastic, happy, colourful blog! And had to rock the pie.
Here's how I did it: (see their original post here) 1. Make pasty. I used their basic pie crust recipe. 2. Use the outer ring of the lid to cut tops for your pies. I cut one for the top, and one for the inside bottom of the jar. You could also top with a crumble, or a lattice top. 3. Roll out the rest of your dough flat on a lightly floured surface. Cut long strips and work it onto the inside of the jar, pressing it flat against the jar so the entire inside is covered. It doesn't have to look nice, just be covered. 4. Fill with your favourite pie filling. Here's my apple pie recipe, no idea where I got it but it's the one I always use.
4 cups sliced apples (Green, Granny Smith apples, peeled) *I cut the apples into smaller chunks since the pies will be smaller,
but for big pie I leave them in slices.
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp cold water
Combine apples, cinnamon, flour, sugar and water. Fill pre-arranged pastry.
5. Cut a hole of some sort (I used a butterfly cookie cutter to make a summer-themed vent!) in the tops
Step 6, Notice the butterflies
6. Place the tops onto the pies, and join the pastry together (squish it together with fingers or a fork). Just make sure all the pie is inside, not going over the top edge.
7. Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Everyone asked if the glass would explode in the heat, but these jars are made to be boiled for canning, so it's all good. The blog suggested placing them in a cold oven, allowing them to heat up slowly. Makes sense to me so that's what I did.
Step 8
8. Enjoy!!
Alternate Step 7: Freeze them to enjoy the next time you crave pie! Simply put the lid on the jar and put it in your freezer. Handy tip: Using the inner, flat part of the lid as the stencil, I cut a circle of paper out to put in the lid for instructions.Write the instructions and type of pie on your label so anyone who wants it can use it! (Instructions: Remove lid, allow pie to come to room temperature, place in cold oven and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes). So baking them from frozen requires a bit of forethought since they need to thaw and bake for an hour, but what's a couple hours of wait when you can have fresh delicious apple pie in a jar!
Easy as pie!
Next on my list of mason jar adventure wishlist -> As a friend suggested : savory pies! Pot Pies, Shepherd's pie (There's a veganomicon recipe I've been waiting to try!), macaroni - my sister made this and it rocked! The possibilities are endless! And this Magnetic Spice Rack looks so great! One day when I have a great kitchen of my own, it's going to be so organized and full of jars.
Friday is Lethbridge's Sisters in Spirit Vigil. It is a chance to remember our missing and murdered Indigenous communities. It is a chance to tell our sisters that they are loved and important. It is a chance to tell the government that the rates of violence being perpetrated against these sisters is unacceptable, and that the work being done to protect and save them is not enough. It is a chance to demand more, for and with, our Indigenous sisters.
