tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83916962108886584482024-03-05T13:34:02.034-08:00The Happiness Detective Once every millennium or so I, Enid-Raye Adams, write in this blog.
Also, I took a drama class in high school.
And in conclusion, I enjoy a snack.
That is all. Be careful out there.
And if you can, be happy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-18747298421133632872017-05-24T07:43:00.000-07:002017-05-24T07:43:22.609-07:00Chris Cornell <div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I'm surprised by how deeply I've been affected by Chris Cornell's death on Thursday. I didn't follow Soundgarden's career. I knew some of their songs, obviously, and I liked them but I wasn't an avid, die-hard fan.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When it came to the exquisite musical artistry that was Chris Cornell, I came late to the party. I arrived five years ago. Whitney Houston had just died. There was a benefit of some sort and on stage was Chris Cornell - this grunge rocker holding his guitar, his curly hair hanging in his face. Here was a man much older and more seasoned than the strapping young rockstar we knew from the '90s. After a few songs, he leaned into the microphone to chat with the audience while he set up his instrument. He began to strum his guitar and he launched into one of the most astonishing renditions of "I Will Always Love You" that I have ever heard. It was extraordinary, his range. I can barely listen to it now without choking up.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
What struck me back then as I listened to him sing was the soul of both the performer and the moment. From a genre perspective, Chris Cornell and Whitney Houston seemed worlds apart. There was a kind of unfathomable beauty in his singing for her. But it wasn't just beautiful because he was a grunge rocker paying tribute to a gospel, pop artist diva. It was beautiful because he was one addict paying reverence and respect to another.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I don't think I understood that part of the beauty back then. I wouldn't understand it until years later when my Dad, who was a highly skilled musician and a long suffering addict, died alone in his sleep, deeply entrenched in the isolation that consistently accompanied him and his disease.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I had been out of contact with my Dad for the eight years that preceded his death. I didn't understand addiction. I wouldn't learn, until it was too late, that it was possible to strike a balance between safeguarding my own wellness while still letting my Dad know that he was loved. I didn't know that option was available until my Dad died and the knowledge that had previously eluded me came rushing in to every part of my psyche in the form of an undeniable wisdom that sometimes only comes to us the hard way.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When I think back to the performance Chris Cornell gave five years ago, I feel like he was foreshadowing a moment in time that would come to pass for my Dad and me. I didn't know this at the time, of course, but looking back from my vantage point now, I see that Chris Cornell not only sang his heart out for another musician who had for years been descending into the deep dark lows of her own addiction. I can see looking back that with every note he sang that night, he was telling her with grace, power and compassion that he could see her through the disease.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It's beyond heartbreaking that the world lost him. But I dearly hope we have not lost what he could see.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
There is so much about suicide we don't know. But there's a lot we can learn. I hope we learn it quickly and with grace. There are many who pay the price when we learn the hard way; those who die by suicide and those left behind.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Before Chris Cornell sang that night for Whitney Houston, he apologized to the audience.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
He said, "I just learned this so when I mess it up, forgive me."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
To all those we didn't understand until it was too late, please forgive us.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-top: 6px;">
We're just learning too. </div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: San Francisco, -apple-system, system-ui, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: San Francisco, -apple-system, system-ui, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCY5lF7KV84" target="_blank">"I Will Always Love You"</a></span></span><div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-top: 6px;">
Much love,</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "San Francisco", -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.24px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-49922792660803449782016-04-01T08:17:00.000-07:002016-05-09T17:12:14.943-07:00Addiction<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4087" style="background-color: white; font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29824">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29824">
<span id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29825">So this guy walks into a bar. Orders a shot. Slams it back. Orders another one. Slams that one back. Keeps drinking until the bartender cuts him off. He goes home and </span>repeatedly drinks himself into oblivion. He passes out, wakes, lashes out in drunken stupors, loses job after job, loses his family and everything he holds dear then spends the rest of his life alone until he dies of natural causes by himself at the age of 61 in a small cluttered bedroom in the tiny apartment he shares with a roommate nobody knows. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29826">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29827" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29828">
This is the least funny joke I have ever told. It's not funny cause it's true. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29829">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29830" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29831">
My Dad died last Saturday. He was an alcoholic. I had ended my relationship with him eight years ago in a conversation without malice on my part. My last words to him then were spoken with love and grace. I had reached my own rock bottom with his addiction and in order to preserve my emotional wellness, I needed to sever all ties with him. I felt at peace in doing so. And I knew this day would come. But I had no idea it would rock me to my core. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29832">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29833" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29834">
Garry Law was technically my Step-Dad but because I grew up having had no contact with my absentee biological father, I knew Garry only as my Dad. He married my Mom when they were both very young. They had my brother when my Mother was twenty years old, my Dad was twenty-one, and I was a toddler. They divorced not long afterward and my Dad moved to Alberta to be with another woman. He went through that marriage in short order and before I was a teenager he married my Step-Mom, Sue, who remains in my life to this day. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29835">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29836" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29837">
<span id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29838">My Dad was a musician all his adult life. In the '80s, when I was a kid, he belonged to an Edmonton band called Darkroom. They </span>released a single called Pressure. It never took off but I thought it was the best song ever written. As a kid, I told all my friends about it. I showed them pictures of the band and pointed out my Dad who was adorned in tight leather pants, his eyes smudged with black liner. Stylistically, he was the Ewan McGregor of the Edmonton music scene. I never missed an opportunity to nonchalantly point out to my friends that my Dad was a "rock and roll star". I tried to be a cool character when describing him to my friends but my preteen attempts at fashionable aloofness failed, my massive pride in him poorly concealed, simmering just below the surface. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29839">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29840" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29841">
I might not have fully understood his issues as a kid. I loved him so much. But looking back through time and space through the lens of my life now, I can see how early things went off the rails back then. My earliest memories are ones of violence. My Dad was shockingly physical with my Mom and I witnessed that as a very small person. Witnessing those kinds of outbursts as a tiny being colors the way you view the world as you grow up into it. To this day, there is a small part of me that expects to be smacked around and, as a grown woman, I can become quickly filled with rage at the injustice, toward the act itself and my expectation of it. I think my parents' divorce was a blessing because it gave my Mom a chance to hold her ground in safety as they fought long distance over the phone. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29842">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29843" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29844">
After my Mom died, nearly sixteen years ago, my Dad apologized to me for those early assaults. And he meant it. He had made peace with my Mom in later years and he very much wished he had done things differently as a young man. And while I cannot rewrite history here (the truth is my Mom did all the heavy lifting), my Dad loved my brother and me dearly. He brought us out to Edmonton for visits, introduced us to his second wife, her family and the culinary delights of the Spanish rice he made for us which we gobbled up while watching Family Ties on TV. There was talk for a time of having us go and live with him for a while. The pressures of being an impoverished single parent were wearing so thoroughly on my Mom that she needed a break to mourn through the agonies of her life in order to get herself back on solid footing again. But that was not to be. We did not go live with my Dad and his new wife. They divorced and for a time, it seemed, my Dad dropped off the face of the earth. When we finally heard from him again, it was with the news that he had married someone else. A lady named Sue. I was eleven. My brother was eight. We hadn't been invited to the wedding. My Dad thought we would be too angry with him for having disappeared, I guess. So he waited until after the wedding to introduce us to his new bride. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29845">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29846" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29847">
I could tell right from the minute I laid eyes on her, that this one was a keeper. She was so profoundly kind, loving and even keeled. Even as a kid, I could see that she would be very good for my Dad. And for a long time, I think they were happy together. I remember them being a constant presence in my and my brother's life, even from two provinces away. There were no more disappearing acts. There were trips out west, phone calls and letters, fatherly embraces of consolation - in person - when my boyfriend broke my heart as a teenager. My Dad was at my high school graduation and partied with me at the dry grad and the boozed filled festivities that followed. I even lived with my Dad and Step-Mom during my first year in college in Calgary when their son, my little brother, was just over a year old. I saw them regularly after the birth of my baby sister when my second semester was wrapping up. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29848">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29849" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29850">
We were a family. A big, messy, motley convoluted crew with lots of parents and siblings. Once, after my Mom and younger sister moved to Calgary from Manitoba, we all enjoyed a Christmas together which was weird and wonderful at the same time. There were camping trips and fishing trips and backyard BBQs. My Dad was a cook by trade. He worked in the kitchen of the local juvenile penitentiary for years. His culinary skills extended to his own kitchen and I watched him whip up some of the most delicious dishes I had ever tasted. There were times my Mom enjoyed the remnants of his feasts when I was sent home with leftovers for her and my sister from the dinners at my Dad and Sue's table.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29851">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29852" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29853">
It's hard to remember exactly when the drinking took hold. My Dad could always hold his own with a bottle of whiskey. But his spiral began at some point in the late '90s. At least, that's when I noticed it. I would be over for dinner and remember thinking it strange that as soon as he got home from work, he would slam back a couple shots of whiskey before he started cooking. I rarely drank in my 20s. The thought of drinking alcohol straight like that seemed to me like pouring turpentine down your throat. Since it wasn't my thing, I chalked his shot consumption up to the equivalent of maybe having a cocktail after work. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29854">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29855" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29856">
But his battle with the bottle soon began to wreak havoc. The abuses my Dad suffered as a child became demons for him as an adult and he drank to keep them at bay. He proceeded down a precarious path upon which he drank his life away. He was charged with a DUI (or more), fell into drunken comas, lost job after job, neglected his children and sent his family into financial ruin. It was agonizing watching him destroy his marriage to a woman who deserved only the best in life. He stole money, failed to pay child support and disappeared relentlessly on all of us. Sometimes, we didn't know if he was dead or alive. There were many, many times we tried to reach out. I've lost track of the amount of conversations I've had with my Dad about his drinking, his sadness, his failures, his low opinion of himself and my belief that if he went to AA and counseling that he could get better and save his family. But he could not right himself. And, with the exception of a single family member, one by one, we all ended contact with him.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29857">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29858" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29859">
A few years before my last conversation with my Dad, in an attempt to connect with him, I decided I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. It was his instrument and I thought it was the perfect way to bond with him. It was so much fun shopping with my Dad for that guitar. He seemed sober then. And proud of me too, I think. Up until then, my Dad's musical influence played out only in the world of my imagination. I was the rock star in my mind that I thought my Dad was when I was a kid. When I clean the kitchen, it is not uncommon to tuck my iPod nano into my apron, like a badass, and blast into my ear the deliciously strident tones of Axl Rose. I am Slash playing the shit out of the guitar solo in November Rain to a stadium filled with thousands. Sometimes (read: most times) when I drive my super-fly base model Toyota Corolla, I crank Led Zeppelin and at 5:35 into Stairway to Heaven, when Jimmy Page is about to take off, I step into his place on my imaginary stage in my tight leather pants and I think of my Dad as I wow the crowd with my musical stylings. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29861">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29862">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29863" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29864">
In real life, I took lessons for maybe half a year and learned the beginnings of some of my favorite songs but before too long, my enthusiasm for playing lessened as did my Dad's brief spurts with sobriety. I can't remember a single chord I learned back then. Not even music with all its infinite, melodious power could keep my Dad and me together. Like a kid bored with a new instrument, I relegated the thing in its case somewhere to the back of my closet where it has remained ever since with its broken strings, covered in a blanket of dust. </div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29865">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29866" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29867">
For me, the final straw came when my first son was a few months old. My Dad had just hit a spectacular low of squandering a windfall on booze, engaging in theft and abandonment. As a result, he missed the birth of my first child entirely. I knew I didn't want for my son the rocky road I had travelled with my father. When he finally did call, with as much love and kindness as I could muster, I told him I couldn't do this anymore; that I wished him well but that our relationship was over. And I never spoke to him again.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29869">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29870" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29871">
When my Mom died, we were all there at her bedside, including my Dad who was getting sober that very week after yet another drunken coma from a few days before. Alongside all of us, he held her hand before she passed. He white knuckled his way through her death and made dinner for my friends that weekend when they came to console me. He even poured out the mickey of vodka he had stashed in his jacket pocket in the parking lot on the way into the funeral. He was determined to be there for us and he tried his very best to give all his kids his sobriety at a time when we were falling apart and needed it most.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29873">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29874" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29875">
But when my Dad died, no one was there for him. He was alone, surrounded by his pictures, his vinyl and the dust that blanketed the evidence of a life that passed him by. If I could go back and change it, I would. I would find a way to protect my sanity in the face of his alcoholism and tell him that he was loved. I didn't know until the day he died that was even an option. I thought it was all or nothing. I used to think I understood addiction. But it turns out I don't understand it all. I used to think, well, he did X, Y and Z, he'll never change and now I must do 1, 2 and 3 - plunking in a permanent consequence to this sad sequence as if my relationship with my Dad was some sort of mathematical equation. But there's no math that adds up to a world in which I let my father die alone. I denied him the sacred ending he rightly deserved in spite of his misery. At the time of this writing, I haven't even told a single friend that he died. Not because I'm ashamed of my father. But because of the remorse I feel at not picking up the phone at least one more time to say, "I love you Dad."</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29876">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29877" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29878">
<span id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29879">My Dad did so many things wrong. But my greatest failing was that I couldn't see the man through the disease. They became intertwined for me. I bore him no ill will but my will, nevertheless, was impenetrable. </span>I was so certain about my choice to cut my Dad out of my life. But I can tell you my absolutes bring me very little comfort today. Conversely, in spite of all the heartache he caused, he was unwavering in his love for us. When they charged his cell phone after he died, they didn't find a picture of an empty bottle of vodka as his screensaver. They found a picture of his family instead. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29880">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29881" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29882">
If you have an addict in your life and you can exercise your boundaries while sending a note of love, I encourage you to do so. I didn't do that for my father and that contributed to a reality where he had no one to hold his hand and ease him sacredly through his exit from this life. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29883">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29884">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29885" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29886">
Now I am left with the confusion and comfort of serendipities. Three days after he died, I auditioned for a character in a movie - a therapist - who tells her adult patient to end all contact with her father. She actually says, "Your father will never change." The day after that, I auditioned for a character who consoles another character on the death of a family member, offering compassion and sympathies in the face of strange circumstances. But perhaps the most poignant serendipity since Saturday came the day after my Dad's death. Bryce and I had been lazy in our grocery shopping and had nothing planned for dinner that night. My husband is a much better cook than me and has made many a meal in our time together. Out of the blue that day, he suggested he make beef stroganoff. He killed it, as per usual. The smell wafted through the house and we were all salivating by the time it was served. It's worth noting that he has never made this dish for me, not once in our ten years together. I was looking forward to it, immensely. As we sat down and I tasted my first delicious mouthful, a memory came flooding back to me and it stilled the energy of the room. It was of the first meal my Dad and Sue made for me after they were married. Beef stroganoff. I put my fork down. I couldn't eat for a while. It felt like my Dad was somehow there with me. And it brought me a measure of peace. I may be uncertain about so much regarding my Dad's disease. But I do know that in that moment, for the first time in a long time, I pulled out a chair and I set a place for my father at my table. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29887">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29888">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29889" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29890">
<span id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29891">In a few hours, I'll board a plane and go to Calgary to be with my family. We'll assist each other through our remorse, each of us swimming in a sea of our own regrets and we will pull together to figure out what comes next. In all the confusion and complicated feelings, what we know for certain is that one of the things our Dad did right was that, many years ago, he brought this remarkable family together. And together, we will journey to his favorite fishing spot, scatter his ashes and release his agony from this world. In spite of my own failing, that's one thing I know I can do right.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29892">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29893" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29894">
<span id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29895">When I get back, I think I'll dust off the guitar I bought with my Dad all those years ago and learn to play again. See if I can bring the best part of him back to life. </span>The first song I (sort of) learned back then was probably a bit of a clichéd choice for new students but I don't care. I loved it. I still do. It's a song that reminds me so much of my Dad right now; Of his demons, his struggles, his anguish and my hope that all of those things have somehow been liberated from this earth with his passing. To me, it's a song that speaks to light and letting go. And when I hear it, I am filled with hope. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29896">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29897" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29898">
I hope more than anything that my Dad knows I loved him. And that wherever he is, he's free. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29900">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29901" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29902">
Xo,</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29902">
Enid-Raye Adams,</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29902">
The Happiness Detective </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29903">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29904" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29905">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29906">
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29907">
Take these broken wings and learn to fly. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29908">
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29909">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29910" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29911">
Blackbird singing in the dead of night. </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29912">
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29913">
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29914">
<br clear="none" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29915" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29916">
Blackbird fly.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29917">
Blackbird fly.</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6107163387yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459517140682_29918">
Into the light of the dark black night..."</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4146" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4150">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4168">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4181" style="font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4181" style="font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJOo2uYAQVpSlDc3ktFJMjigkfMUv6XxjAQFUrqY3fJEM0ECoDXWrcTxHv9P6bTVAh8qay5nLc_NalNKKeV8xdxBpYwmRW1whTx5kh07zum4i3pE-renoq0d9i3ptNVoWvw4hy2I73f-s/s1600/My+Guitar.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJOo2uYAQVpSlDc3ktFJMjigkfMUv6XxjAQFUrqY3fJEM0ECoDXWrcTxHv9P6bTVAh8qay5nLc_NalNKKeV8xdxBpYwmRW1whTx5kh07zum4i3pE-renoq0d9i3ptNVoWvw4hy2I73f-s/s320/My+Guitar.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4181" style="font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1087325880yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1459490590077_4181" style="font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-51531257415171638922016-03-15T12:11:00.001-07:002016-03-16T07:21:34.843-07:00No OneNow more than ever, it seems the good in life is being overshadowed by the loudest among us. I am continually shocked by the growing, rageful influence of the world's loudest carnival barkers. Their noise can be deafening; their message a sucker punch to the rest of us seeking a better life for our children and for future generations. Sometimes, in my attempt to salve the wound caused by those who would send us back in time with their hateful rhetoric, I seek humour to offset the negativity of our current circumstances. Other times, I am moved by good old fashioned sentimentality; by the power of a beautiful piece of music.<br />
<br />
This song by Alicia Keys is originally about romantic love. But to me it also speaks to another kind of love - the love we seek for ourselves as individuals through our connection to the greater collective. This connection keeps the beat of our drum moving us forward to a time when we will love ourselves so much that we won't seek to fill the void with hatred and violence. We will treat our brothers and sisters in this beautiful human family as equals.<br />
<br />
This song reminds me that even though the world might be telling us one story, we can effect great change by reflecting back another. Whether we wear our hearts on our sleeves or a powerful message on a dress calling for the removal of a hateful flag; whether we share a meal with the homeless among us or welcome displaced refugees to our shores; whether we insist upon equal pay for equal work or demand answers on behalf of countless indigenous women who should never have gone missing - this song reminds me not to be overwhelmed. It reminds me to know what I know right down to my Ukrainian bones: That when we work together and allow our choices to be motivated from a place of love, no one can stop us.<br />
<br />
No one.<br />
<br />
My friends, join the chorus and dance to the beat of the glorious <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHNHiaEnsgY" target="_blank">Ms. Keys</a>.<br />
<br />
Yours in the quest for bliss,<br />
<br />
Enid-Raye Adams<br />
The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-58330755774581469442015-11-23T12:35:00.001-08:002015-11-26T10:40:03.062-08:00Open Letter To Prime Minister Justin Trudeau re: TPP<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Dear Mr. Prime Minister,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Like many Canadians, I have been encouraged by the inclusive
tone you've set as Prime Minister; the cabinet you put together comprised
equally of highly qualified women and men; the call for a national inquiry for
the 1200 + missing and murdered indigenous women; the accessibility you've
reinstated to scientists as well as accessibility for us to your government in
order that we may enjoy an open discourse as citizens of this country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I've lost track of the amount of times I've applauded your
inspirational sentiments since the election. I high-fived you from Vancouver
when you held a press conference in the National Press Gallery Theatre, which
hadn’t been used by the previous government since 2009. I was incredibly heartened that you insisted we would continue with the plan to welcome 25,000 Syrian
refugees in the face of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. I've burst
into tears either from unmitigated joy or sheer relief that my country is
finally back after having been lost to a strangely dark time in our recent
history. I am filled with hope for this country, for my children and for the
new direction we are at long last taking. Based on what you’ve communicated to
Canadians, you have a regard for all this country’s citizens regardless of
their level of financial wealth and, indeed, you seem to want to help make life
better for everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">So I'm sitting here, Mr. Prime Minister, scratching my head as
to why in the world you would agree to promote the TPP. Entrepreneurs,
politicians and environmentalists alike say this is a very bad deal for Canada.
They say it’s NAFTA on steroids. It reads as a manifesto for corporate control,
allowing corporations the ability to sue us – by tribunal in secret – if we set
policies that prevent them from making more money. The TPP holds us accountable
to the standards of other countries, also represented in the deal, and will
prevent us from enjoying and improving our quality of life here in Canada. If
that quality of life interferes in any way with corporations’ ability to make
top dollar, corporations will sue us to the point that we will stop trying to
improve life in this country altogether.
It may destroy many of the things you said you wanted to achieve for Canadians
during your campaign and since taking office. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Any goal you set at the end of this month in Paris to address
climate change? Forget about it. If that goal prevents a corporation from
making money, we'll be sued for trying to achieve it. Try to raise the minimum wage for low income earners or take any much needed action to strengthen this country's Universal Health Care system? Forget
about it. We'll be sued for that too. (Under the terms of NAFTA, Canada is
currently being sued by American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly for $500
million because our courts invalidated two of their patents. If these are the
kinds of lawsuits we can expect under NAFTA, I shudder to think what awaits us
under the TPP.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Prime Minister, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate
corporations. There are some good ones out there and I get to decide which of
them to support as a consumer. I just don’t believe any given corporation should
be able to dictate to me every single aspect of my life, my children’s lives
and the lives of future generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">As a parent to two little boys, my biggest concern is how the
TPP will interfere with my children’s access to a quality education. There's
been a huge push all over the world by big business to change the face of
public education as we know it. It's happening right now in British Columbia,
where I live. I have watched for years as the provincial government has starved
the school system of necessary funding, slowly but surely paving the road to
privatizing education. In 2014, as part of that process, Premier Christie Clark
announced B.C. would reformat public education to encourage children from
kindergarten to grade 12 to work in the liquefied natural gas industry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">You read that right, Mr. Prime Minister: The provincial
government is changing the school system to get kids to work in the LNG. Can you believe that??<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">To me, public education isn’t about training children to become
workers. It’s about educating students to become citizens. It’s also one of the
last great equalizers we have left in the world. As a former teacher (and a very good one from
what I hear), I'm sure you can appreciate that, when properly funded, a quality
education gives all of us an equal start in life, regardless of our socio
economic backgrounds. But if you continue to promote the TPP as you told Japan
you would, you will be opening the door even wider to corporate involvement in
our school system. If we ever were to have a provincial government properly fund the school system, we’d be
sued by corporations for doing so. Corporations will have a stronger influence on
setting curriculum to suit their own interests and education will suffer as a result. If
parents can't get a quality education for their children in public schools,
they'll be forced to pay for it privately. And I assure you, Mr. Prime
Minister, that is a cost most families simply can't afford. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Like all families, my husband and I want to give our kids every
possible opportunity in life. We're trying to figure out how to put them
through university in a province with a grotesquely underfunded public school
system, in a city where it costs $2 million to buy an average house we’ll never be able to afford
while also trying to set aside enough money for retirement. (This just in: I'll
be working until I'm 80.) We've got a lot on our plates, Mr. Prime Minister. If
you sign this trade agreement, you won't be helping the middle class or low-income
earners. In fact, you'll be making it much more
expensive for all of us who aren’t millionaires. You will be selling our
children's education to the highest bidder in a deal that is designed to
benefit big business at the expense of the human beings in this country who
need you to advocate on their behalf, rather than on behalf of the TPP.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">This deal sucks Mr. Prime Minister. Say no to it. I don't want
big business to decide what my children are taught in school. I want educators
to do that. I want my children to have all options available to them, not just
the ones that benefit certain CEOs and shareholders in one particular industry.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I want my children to grow up to be as proud of Canada as I am.
I don't want them to look back to this agreement as the moment they stopped
living in a country and started living in a corporation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Enid-Raye Adams<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";">Mom, Actor,</span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "helvetica";"> </span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "times new roman";">Concerned
Citizen</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-41333008656974438402015-10-20T16:45:00.000-07:002015-10-20T16:45:25.989-07:00Canada's Son<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Pierre Elliot Trudeau died three and a half months after my Mom died. In those early times, I remember being immersed in a grief that was desperate and lonely, filled with a kind of anguish I couldn't describe if I tried.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I was alone in my apartment, watching on TV as <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=21751825648" href="https://www.facebook.com/JustinPJTrudeau" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">J</a>ustin Trudeau gave the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p4NUJMPAjQ&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">eulogy</a> at his father's funeral. As I listened to him deliver a beautiful, heartfelt and at times genuinely funny speech, I remember feeling comforted and less alone. I remember feeling connected to others who were experiencing, across the country, what I was going through as an individual. I remember feeling my grief lift somewhat and in its place there appeared the understanding of a simple truth that impacted me then and which has stayed with me until this day: We all matter. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
My Mom wasn't a Prime Minister. She wasn't a statesman, nor was she renowned the world over. She was a single Mom who worked two or three jobs at any given time to put food on the table for her three kids. She did everything she could to give us a better life than the one she had. One with Christmases and magic; theatre and poetry; hockey and dance lessons; art and community. No one outside our family or our circle of friends knew her name. But in my eyes, she was a giant and she was every bit as powerful to me as Pierre Trudeau was to his son. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I remember sometime in the 80s, years before she died, there was a terrible hurricane in Jamaica. People lost their lives, their loved ones and their homes. My sister is Jamaican and my Mom wanted to do something to help the people who shared my sister's heritage. So she organized a donation drop off at a huge warehouse that wasn't being used at the time. She got the space for free so that the people of Portage la Prairie, where I grew up, could come and donate clothing items and blankets that would then be packed up and shipped off to those in need. She wanted the people of Jamaica to know that the people of Canada had their backs. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
My Mom didn't proselytize to me about this. She didn't get on her soapbox and do it for the attention or the credit. She just went on about her business as a single parent, raising her kids, working her jobs while, somehow finding the time to help people in another part of the world that she had never even met. She did it to let those people know that they mattered too. And in doing so, she quietly taught me by example the power held in a simple act of kindness.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
In the first couple months after she died, I remember feeling so angry that no one in Vancouver knew her name. This woman who was so important to me. The woman in whose eyes I could see my home. She had so little, yet she was so generous to others. How could no one know her name? Or who she was? Or that I could barely stomach the thought of eating or laughing or experiencing joy in a world without her in it?</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The sting of those unanswered questions lessened over time as a result of a variety of different things, most of which had to do with the love and kindness extended to me by others. (Some I had never even met.) Justin Trudeau's eulogy for his Dad was also a bit of a turning point for me. I remember resonating specifically with the words he spoke about his father reminding us all what we're capable of. And that, in his absence, it would be up to us now to realize and fulfill that potential. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I don't know what it was about those particular words over and above any other of the wise words I had heard in those early months after my Mom died. Perhaps it was the moment of national mourning which had tapped into my singular experience of loss. But there was something about those words he spoke. A magic. A grace. A kindness. Hearing those words helped pull the deep, heavy curtain back from the darkness of my grief. And I began to feel a tiny bit of joy again.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
A week or so after Justin Trudeau delivered that eulogy, I met him on the street in my neighbourhood in Vancouver. He was still a teacher back then and he was out for a walk on a cloudy Sunday morning with friends. I stopped and introduced myself. I explained that my Mom had just died. I extended my condolences to him on the loss of his father. And I thanked him for the beautiful words he shared in the midst of his grief which had somehow managed to lift me a little out of my own.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
We spoke briefly. He was genuine and kind and he thanked me very much before we each went our separate ways.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Last night, as Prime Minister Elect of our country, he gave another speech and I can't help but feel that he has lifted the curtain back again, this time on a collective darkness that has lingered too long over the hearts of Canadians. There is a fear that has been lifted; a division struck down; a seeming indifference by the previous government toward the people of this country which feels to be dissolving and in its place I feel rising up a regard for this country's citizens that I haven't felt in a good long while. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I know there is work to be done. And I know we may not agree on policy. But today I feel that we're back in this together. And that with respect, kindness and compassion we will indeed find our way back to the sunny side of the street.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Welcome home Canada. It's good to have you back. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Xo,<br />
<div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Enid-Raye Adams</span></div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-9114772065455689342015-09-21T23:50:00.001-07:002015-09-22T00:01:31.411-07:00Is Nothing Sacred?<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Well folks, I'm feeling the deep feels today. My kids are both in school full time. I'm keenly aware of the passage of time. I'm resonating intensely with the life experiences of friends I know and those in this world I have never met. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I'm a wee bit, as they say, open.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
This morning, I walked by a Terry Fox poster in my boys' school and I could not stop the goose bumps, the awe and the emotion that bubbled up as I read and re-read all the details of Terry's journey. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When I was a kid, my brother and I thought if we chanted "Honk your horn for Terry Fox!" at the cars that drove by that FOR CERTAIN all those who honked their horn would help Terry get better so he could complete his Marathon of Hope, finish his run across Canada and find a cure for cancer. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Tonight, 35 years later, my two little boys sit in a bathtub together and chant back and forth:</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
"When I say Terry, you say - "<br />
"FOX!"<br />
"Terry..."<br />
"FOX!"<br />
"Terry..."<br />
"FOX!"</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
They do this for a young man who ran and lived decades before they ever came to know life. Their cheers for my childhood hero lift my spirits and fill me with hope that the truly good and decent among us will continue to be celebrated long after their time on this planet has passed. And that this, in turn, will inspire countless others to allow their own goodness and decency to be the cream that rises to the top.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It is reprehensible to me that the Conservative Party has politicized and campaigned at the expense of my childhood hero in <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/tory-campaign-mistake-angers-terry-foxs-family-there-is-no-place-in-the-fight-against-cancer-for-politics" target="_blank">this way</a>. I know I shouldn't be surprised. But, to me, this really is a new low.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Shame on you, Conservative Party.<br />
Shame on your lack of integrity.<br />
Shame on your deceitful standard operating procedure.<br />
And shame on your disregard for the sanctity of a legend.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Terry Fox persevered and accomplished what is illogical and impossible. He deserved better than this. As did his family. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
October 19th cannot come soon enough for me. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
In the meantime, feel free to donate to a great cause in honour of one of the most extraordinary Canadians of all time: <a href="http://www.terryfox.org/" target="_blank">Terry Fox Foundation</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Thank you Terry, for everything.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Xo</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Your pal,</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-18378604375528127212015-09-05T05:49:00.000-07:002015-09-06T10:15:01.520-07:00The Boy On The Beach... (Resetting Our Political Compass)I didn't look at the picture for very long. I only saw it by accident, actually, in the morning as I was checking my email before I left the house for a busy day filled with errands and work. I thought the little guy was having a nap on the beach, that's how briefly I looked.<br />
<br />
Later in the day, I came to understand what had really happened. I began to sense something was awry when I was at the bank and looked up at the news on TV to see the image of the boy again and Stephen Harper explaining that we needed a stronger military presence. It was noisy in the bank and I didn't hear everything that was said. I just remember looking from the news on the TV over at my two little boys who were gobbling up their salty popcorn treats, sitting on their chairs waiting patiently for me to finish my banking. It was later when I got home, that I would learn the details of how someone else's little boy on the other side of the world came to be on that beach, not napping after all.<br />
<br />
Details came out describing the attempts of Canadian relatives to bring the little boy and his immediate and extended family to this country. Depending on what you read in the news, those attempts were either deemed insufficient, incomplete or not received at all by Citizenship and Immigration. Or perhaps, like attempts by many other refugees, they were thwarted by a tedious and stingy bureaucracy acting out of alignment with the immigration goals set by the very same Prime Minister who called for further military action instead of keeping his promise to open Canada's doors to those displaced by the ravages of war. As I read these details, I could feel myself shutting down again the same way I did when those impossibly small grade one students were shot to death in their classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. The inhumanity of it all left me feeling hollow and numb.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it's hard to think things will ever get better than this.<br />
But if that were true then what is the point? What in the world are we doing here if not, as I've said many times before, to work together to move our collective human story forward?<br />
<br />
I'm not religious. I don't believe there's a God in the sky acting as a father figure blessing some while disparaging others. I defer to science for the most part. But I also hold a space in my heart for the possibility of things not yet proven. And in this way, I believe there is something that exists which is greater than us all - the connection that binds us as one human family. I believe in the love we feel for one another that cannot be quantified or measured but which lives and breathes inexplicably through us all in moments of great empathy for those we've never even met. It is profound and mystical. To me, it has no name yet it brings me indescribable comfort and peace. It leaves me feeling humbled and in awe that I get to be a part of something so magnificent. It makes me feel hopeful that we can recalibrate and set our course anew, through these choppy waters and into clear sailing.<br />
<br />
It is my hope that we allow this powerful connection we have to one another, here and abroad, to inform our voting choices as we head toward the federal election next month. It is my hope that we reset our compass and reconsider how we want to exist in this life, both as Canadians and as citizens of the world.<br />
<br />
That little boy wasn't napping.<br />
<br />
It is my sincere hope that the rest of us wake up.<br />
<br />
Your pal,<br />
<br />
The Happiness DetectiveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-34287758275488184552015-08-27T10:09:00.000-07:002015-08-28T23:19:59.988-07:00Alice Adams... Saying Goodbye<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Thirteen years ago, this summer, I adopted a little kitten who had been orphaned and left covered in mud and fleas by a BFI bin somewhere near Commercial Drive. She was only a few weeks old when she was found. VOKRA rescued her and put her in a foster home where she, tiny tot that she was, lived with another cat and a huge doberman pinscher for a couple weeks. That's where I met her. I loved her instantly.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Right from the very start, Alice was attuned to me. She was small enough to sit on a Mad Gab box and was easily lost in the huge expanse of my double sized bed. Every day, she curled up on all fours on the bath mat for a little alone time by herself but, at bedtime, she would claw her way up the bed and snuggle in between my arm and my body while I read. We would both fall asleep like that. When she was little, I would wake up many times through the night to the sound of her purring loudly in my ear. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I got her and my other cat, Johnny, two years after my Mom died. Johnny was mostly standoffish but Alice was my emotional compass in a way. In those early years, if I was hit by a sudden wave of grief over the loss of my Mom, I would tuck in for a nap to sleep away the sadness and Alice would stop what she was doing, jump up on the bed and snuggle right into me, comforting me with her kisses and motor-like purring. This never changed over the years. If I was sick or sad or had a migraine, she would find me and snuggle me to help me feel better. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Alice was loving but she was also territorial. When Bryce first moved in, she was PISSED. She would scowl at him, thinking "Who the hell is this asshole sleeping on my side of the bed??" But in very short order, Bryce won her over and the two of them became thick as thieves. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Then came the babies. When our first son was born and would cry to be fed, Alice would chase after us as we were preparing to feed him and bite our heels non-stop until we picked him up and fed him already. When our second son was born and too many people came to visit, she would pee in a plant to advise us when it was time to send them home. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
As the boys got older, she became their cat too and took part (somewhat lazily/reluctantly/irritably) in their dress up games of swashbuckling pirates or 'who can get Alice to wear this hat the longest'. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
But before I had kids, Alice was my baby. I admit with no small measure of sheepishness that I was THAT cat lady who packed my young felines into a cat carrier to take them on an airplane to Winnipeg for the weekend (or just across town in the middle of the week to have dinner at my friend's place). After I had kids, as many parents with pets that pre-date their children's arrival will tell you, things changed. Alice took her new place at the foot of the bed rather than between our pillows at the top. She fell further down the list of priorities with my growing list of responsibilities that required my focus and attention. She scratched EVERY wall surface she could get her paws on for no good reason that we could ever decipher. (Other than maybe she wanted our attention.)</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
A couple times - once in our small suite when I felt overwhelmed in the parenting of a toddler and an infant, or years later when Alice was pooing all over the place and I didn't know why - I considered finding her a new home. I wondered if maybe a nice grandma or grandpa somewhere could give her a more attentive space and make her the apple of their eye. But on those two occasions, when I actually took steps to inquire about placing her somewhere else, I cried both times and couldn't pursue it any further. I imagined how awful she would feel if she wasn't in "her" home with her own family and the hectic pace that came with us. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Then, over time, something lovely happened. Somehow, things calmed down around my place and Alice became the apple of my eye again. She became my baby once more. And this is how she remained for the rest of her life: My Beautiful Little Sweetheart. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Tonight, after consulting with a new vet, a specialist and the original vet that did her x-rays, it became clear that Alice had terminal cancer after all. And so, we had to let her go. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It's astonishing how painful it is to lose her; how quickly the last thirteen years seem to have passed; and, even though there are four people who still live here, how empty the house feels without her in it. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
In many ways, I became an adult with Alice Adams by my side. I weathered the stormy early years of grieving my Mom, became a Mom myself, got married and, in a variety of different ways, I (mostly) grew up - all with this adorable fur ball along for the ride. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It is amazing to me how lovingly ingrained in my life experience Alice has become. I'm not sure I had any idea it would be this way that moment thirteen years ago when I first laid eyes on her as she darted fearlessly underneath and between the statuesque legs of the doberman pinscher who towered above her. To me, she has been more than a pet. She has been my family.<br />
It's hard to believe she's gone.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
But for all the anguish we feel tonight as we take her blue blankie off the bed because she is no longer here to sleep on it, or as we clean her food tray and empty her litter box one last time, I am very much aware that the pain is proportional to the love. Not just the love we felt for her over the years but the monumental and unconditional love she felt for us.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
So before I lay me down to sleep:<br />
Alice Adams, my sweet, I thank you for everything. For your love, your snuggles, your companionship and your patience - not only in waiting for me to rediscover you as my fur ball baby in the throws of newly parenting my human babies but also in these last few days as we made daily (sometimes several times daily) calls to vets and specialists to see if there was anything we could possibly do to give you a few more healthy years with us. In true Alice Adams fashion, when it was time to say good bye before the stressful ride to the vet, you gave me one last curly cue snuggle on your blankie, along with the ever present purring that has accompanied me like the sweetest music these last thirteen years.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
To some, this may seem overly sentimental. But I appreciate the opportunity to share this post all the same. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Pets are our babies. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
Tonight, my oldest baby is traveling light.<br />
Xo</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
Your pal,</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bmmlkkqJc85g04Ef903ehvKWRZAcUvppSmS9f3Ig9OOviUX1x91-x_l5OptNJNhyphenhyphen9VUol7Clk0xmHDHFtnw_UzbFrye1PAlLUWt03biKw96NSXP3pksBEhg5gT6vbEPSXWcMTMlOKlo/s1600/Kitty+Alice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bmmlkkqJc85g04Ef903ehvKWRZAcUvppSmS9f3Ig9OOviUX1x91-x_l5OptNJNhyphenhyphen9VUol7Clk0xmHDHFtnw_UzbFrye1PAlLUWt03biKw96NSXP3pksBEhg5gT6vbEPSXWcMTMlOKlo/s320/Kitty+Alice.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Alice in her new home.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQxkO3Bxo3CV2aBqv9ywYCmY0xQtCBpeN9B30w5wQkjvg2XsgIH3hrxCHDei0zfvENpNUYGihw1NuTWoo8Pn8EZMnu0aOVREWO6lMOeNCWkpG6VW4Z8Mctlk_B4vVtPB4-CMsR5AXRlo/s1600/Alice+Mad+Gab.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQxkO3Bxo3CV2aBqv9ywYCmY0xQtCBpeN9B30w5wQkjvg2XsgIH3hrxCHDei0zfvENpNUYGihw1NuTWoo8Pn8EZMnu0aOVREWO6lMOeNCWkpG6VW4Z8Mctlk_B4vVtPB4-CMsR5AXRlo/s320/Alice+Mad+Gab.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaller than a bread box.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6THq4G_FRyGSw6qTtlZ_T64y7z0erAQNo2GyGOSpAOLEwt6o-zx2m_INR5YRYyP1Lm9qBuEusItJbrSyVs2e20iKsjZTCzsV-gtjrnPFX6qTOUfl8S9Q0EPIijXiuk72NGBQURTrEes/s1600/Baby+Alice+Bed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6THq4G_FRyGSw6qTtlZ_T64y7z0erAQNo2GyGOSpAOLEwt6o-zx2m_INR5YRYyP1Lm9qBuEusItJbrSyVs2e20iKsjZTCzsV-gtjrnPFX6qTOUfl8S9Q0EPIijXiuk72NGBQURTrEes/s320/Baby+Alice+Bed.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby on a bed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumKfWJgFu06z79ZbLU8nKQZj6rnDYTxSnRN0JlH0bYZycSHsh99ge0iVJ2wqix0DynRc_DK82ainDyIwJQnYPxAoGrVbglBuzl5Aqamt1-urrKRhETV_KYc9Ll7UGgWgb-scNzD-dunk/s1600/Alice%2527s+Last+Day+Bed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumKfWJgFu06z79ZbLU8nKQZj6rnDYTxSnRN0JlH0bYZycSHsh99ge0iVJ2wqix0DynRc_DK82ainDyIwJQnYPxAoGrVbglBuzl5Aqamt1-urrKRhETV_KYc9Ll7UGgWgb-scNzD-dunk/s320/Alice%2527s+Last+Day+Bed.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big girl on her blankie.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltvnCpbtASYrXmbV4WjP_ix2raivDMoFg0wboBHGEVM-GLGp4621IhkBf7sypn8hucarLVkYQnrGjyZq5TMoY76RTTARszgXmYXfaeQf8cPyhgW5BXV1wsRhPwzlB-FbF0ojUg3bOm5U/s1600/johnny+and+alice+travel.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltvnCpbtASYrXmbV4WjP_ix2raivDMoFg0wboBHGEVM-GLGp4621IhkBf7sypn8hucarLVkYQnrGjyZq5TMoY76RTTARszgXmYXfaeQf8cPyhgW5BXV1wsRhPwzlB-FbF0ojUg3bOm5U/s320/johnny+and+alice+travel.bmp" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, yes I drove my cats across town to dinner at a friend's place. SUCK IT.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-6qvDL2pHBJZAzcjoGmTGaJz-toR3xROS2ZD-weid1F-qw8VAtnPkCOINdDtSk46wkV4-LRaPAViJG9l1yt0wtfZlWViAnZ0LMO-CX5FK7tUOS0dabmsWBwM8tb9wD9nqabK8sIGhyphenhyphenjM/s1600/The+Snugglers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-6qvDL2pHBJZAzcjoGmTGaJz-toR3xROS2ZD-weid1F-qw8VAtnPkCOINdDtSk46wkV4-LRaPAViJG9l1yt0wtfZlWViAnZ0LMO-CX5FK7tUOS0dabmsWBwM8tb9wD9nqabK8sIGhyphenhyphenjM/s320/The+Snugglers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice and Johnny forever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4NKTcLoYZR4KQhDjy8a-itUN08H7q3yWKb_xmoxp366ASWMbhBET-Vij4YdPE3PNq57ltRxP-GiQGvBI3IB6YZEbXqIq_XcjMqGoBoGkfxwKyUPogKsooIx2vw3ovg66LTWlk3SPPG0/s1600/Alice+lounges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4NKTcLoYZR4KQhDjy8a-itUN08H7q3yWKb_xmoxp366ASWMbhBET-Vij4YdPE3PNq57ltRxP-GiQGvBI3IB6YZEbXqIq_XcjMqGoBoGkfxwKyUPogKsooIx2vw3ovg66LTWlk3SPPG0/s320/Alice+lounges.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">After Johnny died, Alice become very depressed. It wasn't until Bryce's dad, Ted</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, came to stay with us that she began to feel better. She curled up beside him in this position and remained that way for most of his visit.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG5TkRFDUq6U7M-NoRYsfingtEPkLYbXMK5rOf6ZzaYstlTvpMLY9cfHrIGJNFhlj1nVp0tG9B8t4-JD-QVtjhBi79CHw4IvIDAZwNOIjMmggsd8ri54LNZIRtdlBr2bWhMFCWR-E7RI/s1600/Yet+another+snuggle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG5TkRFDUq6U7M-NoRYsfingtEPkLYbXMK5rOf6ZzaYstlTvpMLY9cfHrIGJNFhlj1nVp0tG9B8t4-JD-QVtjhBi79CHw4IvIDAZwNOIjMmggsd8ri54LNZIRtdlBr2bWhMFCWR-E7RI/s320/Yet+another+snuggle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Always in my arms.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWGKN6ddxCmpLtBDP1wMhdTk1sxJXQ8OeVbamlA4yi0KDe2yeQuHPKAU8tThhyLKtFg2pzrp3oK1RF0Nk91Rs6p2xvY0QmImie2Y742bHsTMs3VgO506TZUMnVPkVex0-UJD-q8AAqCo/s1600/Alice+kisses+Mama.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWGKN6ddxCmpLtBDP1wMhdTk1sxJXQ8OeVbamlA4yi0KDe2yeQuHPKAU8tThhyLKtFg2pzrp3oK1RF0Nk91Rs6p2xvY0QmImie2Y742bHsTMs3VgO506TZUMnVPkVex0-UJD-q8AAqCo/s320/Alice+kisses+Mama.png" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kisses.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRI5rUGfJWwCZmMvUrwLF6TBphp6sGnMZVQ6_SiCQMDS_UcZqyVuzG30ruJRn1cE4rcK1AGRwGIcbP78JoLm-S28eON7Tsx09lscBZa0sttimjk_-vKg1uFHATS6hLsLmpc1ZzhOI8iY/s1600/Alice+snuggles+BnE.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRI5rUGfJWwCZmMvUrwLF6TBphp6sGnMZVQ6_SiCQMDS_UcZqyVuzG30ruJRn1cE4rcK1AGRwGIcbP78JoLm-S28eON7Tsx09lscBZa0sttimjk_-vKg1uFHATS6hLsLmpc1ZzhOI8iY/s320/Alice+snuggles+BnE.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yet another snuggle. (Also Bryce's shit eating grin cracks me up.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iFtbFhhSZi13bmVd0ZBQAuMCbEfUezudVzk__vL1mq9uGZB8qLvzwCjvF-nEH9G9ma3cNaPMFkZGB44OYFw8mHK75zD5CwiV0PJHZtN2NNHFxbMEe2y478etX6RJ7e9KQ33tQnUuXQU/s1600/Alice+snuggles+B%2527s+feet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iFtbFhhSZi13bmVd0ZBQAuMCbEfUezudVzk__vL1mq9uGZB8qLvzwCjvF-nEH9G9ma3cNaPMFkZGB44OYFw8mHK75zD5CwiV0PJHZtN2NNHFxbMEe2y478etX6RJ7e9KQ33tQnUuXQU/s320/Alice+snuggles+B%2527s+feet.png" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thick as thieves.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9oAv1KDECdO7I2Wr9ZeZp0wx5ovPLjcBseJs3vf7o2NOk4EAkpIKB746KDhAkXnkM7IPISe9lj9k4jFOggLv4CVXT9Ua5XWFKuXHeLhIP1XIeqpZp_ZCSOEpFGZZG5yHZFF4Ib26dyQ/s1600/Pirate+Alice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9oAv1KDECdO7I2Wr9ZeZp0wx5ovPLjcBseJs3vf7o2NOk4EAkpIKB746KDhAkXnkM7IPISe9lj9k4jFOggLv4CVXT9Ua5XWFKuXHeLhIP1XIeqpZp_ZCSOEpFGZZG5yHZFF4Ib26dyQ/s320/Pirate+Alice.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aye matey!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAu-q5XrVxExppNwoNxjHClQVsK_Hgi-7xSgmJBPeNDt4A9CwT_xVA2dRv83Fc6WRCBMyBl-e3O8PXl-3blxDh6kECwRITBHVTBby41zJ3mnm7ySqPKNuLry8meKKUsEGE_ewo3Iuy_k/s1600/Alice+cowboy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAu-q5XrVxExppNwoNxjHClQVsK_Hgi-7xSgmJBPeNDt4A9CwT_xVA2dRv83Fc6WRCBMyBl-e3O8PXl-3blxDh6kECwRITBHVTBby41zJ3mnm7ySqPKNuLry8meKKUsEGE_ewo3Iuy_k/s320/Alice+cowboy.png" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cowboy Cat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHRcBXDyU9di6NHEBUjhnEoL129DA2nxE8H5tE5XR1w36LiIaN0W9GdJwvSiqGTQdUg23JXqZgPHZ9DuA_7_sMEe-5Zp2843oVIolVQ3rSU5BtRdDcd_yCo64F5IhFzQGSUSdw0wQneg/s1600/Alice+and+Max.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHRcBXDyU9di6NHEBUjhnEoL129DA2nxE8H5tE5XR1w36LiIaN0W9GdJwvSiqGTQdUg23JXqZgPHZ9DuA_7_sMEe-5Zp2843oVIolVQ3rSU5BtRdDcd_yCo64F5IhFzQGSUSdw0wQneg/s320/Alice+and+Max.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A boy and his cat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdUewwU9XsJ5C8rkd2SXCqQv8GesFIdFiz4I3jynMBDnBnWba2zEsrNY3gR6SeLEkE4qw7idw_4b1JRlNxphBxv0UhMGZJt4qh-mk5Z9gjGuTl9AcRgu_UO4rKRo7lYRcND-oB63XQo9Y/s1600/Alice+Christmas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdUewwU9XsJ5C8rkd2SXCqQv8GesFIdFiz4I3jynMBDnBnWba2zEsrNY3gR6SeLEkE4qw7idw_4b1JRlNxphBxv0UhMGZJt4qh-mk5Z9gjGuTl9AcRgu_UO4rKRo7lYRcND-oB63XQo9Y/s320/Alice+Christmas.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Alice whispers her Christmas list in Zach's ear. He promises to deliver it to Santa.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBLFRcspnVkDwPn3MpU1P9JWBA5N5ECdhb9v6_70-FhmLcNcD-NM2om8fU5UhwpDxC0HXljBcWfI0lB4rn73COiqZklJRiYeBdQ8G6OY8JdEtcN9N7_2bJA6L1_Bgq_Y5LuXPePRNluU/s1600/Santa+Alice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBLFRcspnVkDwPn3MpU1P9JWBA5N5ECdhb9v6_70-FhmLcNcD-NM2om8fU5UhwpDxC0HXljBcWfI0lB4rn73COiqZklJRiYeBdQ8G6OY8JdEtcN9N7_2bJA6L1_Bgq_Y5LuXPePRNluU/s320/Santa+Alice.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Le. Sigh.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvXfeOp21XqEb_BaWydl0oiW5C0jEkzZHfsWRJ1QMC2TlgkOOF3r5XzDXExhdyXPuRZ6daxk-L6Hn6abiqVJBYKGcnk7E_v2p6h1LkVUiQBM6pfRvo0OAxq8BqbZLhSOkEp-WMGEP2Bc/s1600/Alice+the+queen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvXfeOp21XqEb_BaWydl0oiW5C0jEkzZHfsWRJ1QMC2TlgkOOF3r5XzDXExhdyXPuRZ6daxk-L6Hn6abiqVJBYKGcnk7E_v2p6h1LkVUiQBM6pfRvo0OAxq8BqbZLhSOkEp-WMGEP2Bc/s320/Alice+the+queen.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Queen of Sheba.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_zvQ-o9jb0SLEjvYO-1_ULMDLIUQri9W1NQ6Y2wy9W65tIfrMrk5avswYOKwORJ2q3xSo7Tz3sQddvVXtopYOkx_mh4QjpJX-nGi0brY580Niv59dyFhNHPKNZplIVunqzV4KeCrelI/s1600/Alice+Adams+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_zvQ-o9jb0SLEjvYO-1_ULMDLIUQri9W1NQ6Y2wy9W65tIfrMrk5avswYOKwORJ2q3xSo7Tz3sQddvVXtopYOkx_mh4QjpJX-nGi0brY580Niv59dyFhNHPKNZplIVunqzV4KeCrelI/s320/Alice+Adams+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunny days.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHkacDIOATWQ2MvVjUYHvzxfEufdUwfi-e-XxJIWLGIK2A2V4H3qYXMYCKbsjguedrFaBH2-S3TjjQKQMONersfFGisfsJt4WxJ9qbawng_LI7IYpgDhXTtn9NHbxhhrBn3iPWJDq8H7w/s1600/Alice+Kiss+Last+Day.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHkacDIOATWQ2MvVjUYHvzxfEufdUwfi-e-XxJIWLGIK2A2V4H3qYXMYCKbsjguedrFaBH2-S3TjjQKQMONersfFGisfsJt4WxJ9qbawng_LI7IYpgDhXTtn9NHbxhhrBn3iPWJDq8H7w/s320/Alice+Kiss+Last+Day.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One last kiss...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZHYiI1NPl6osm-EpADiFjv88BH3O3DPvaLtBN1SmnlEJ0D3_aSW0AHnFBcomlv6DS8M7xPCFQ3XRoSwT-KC_rYwfMcXt_xo2vTTbACUuVSGCTyiysFQdyj1gOcUAu0rBnY5IZeWKLcE/s1600/Alice+Curly+Cue+Last+Day.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZHYiI1NPl6osm-EpADiFjv88BH3O3DPvaLtBN1SmnlEJ0D3_aSW0AHnFBcomlv6DS8M7xPCFQ3XRoSwT-KC_rYwfMcXt_xo2vTTbACUuVSGCTyiysFQdyj1gOcUAu0rBnY5IZeWKLcE/s320/Alice+Curly+Cue+Last+Day.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One last curly cue...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPN-vAxqwEMCgYvqD7wk5EsnaVkwYaeL2m2xbAdtgn_Wc08wGlaNNuu2VwG8Em3v64DSApFLhPDFoJSniW7U1xufm1u7D8kk0tMdC08DfoR1brsz7h184re0Uijv9lsKnJRIHW7yRba0/s1600/Alice+travels+light.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPN-vAxqwEMCgYvqD7wk5EsnaVkwYaeL2m2xbAdtgn_Wc08wGlaNNuu2VwG8Em3v64DSApFLhPDFoJSniW7U1xufm1u7D8kk0tMdC08DfoR1brsz7h184re0Uijv9lsKnJRIHW7yRba0/s320/Alice+travels+light.png" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice Adams... Traveling light.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-27911844771559443562015-08-12T19:59:00.000-07:002015-08-13T06:06:31.222-07:00And Now A Word About WomenI've had conversations with some of my male friends and colleagues lately about how we treat women, how we speak about women and rape culture overall. Conversations about looking at things from the perspective of the female demographic which is continuously targeted by a societal programming that ultimately debases, minimizes and disregards women.<br />
<br />
I'm so grateful for the thoughtfulness and care these wonderful guys have extended me in these conversations. These men are treasures. They're willing to see things from a point of view that may not be their own inherently by virtue of having had an entirely different life experience in the world. Their open hearts and minds lend a much needed empathy to the kinds of conversations we need to be having in order to move our beautiful collective human story forward.<br />
<br />
I'd like to see those wonderful men continue to speak up on this subject because, for me, there is no room in our human story to tolerate or excuse lyrics like this:<br />
<br />
“Ain’t no one safe from, non-believers there ain’t none<br />
I even make the bitches I rape cum.”<br />
- Eminem, in Dr. Dre's Medicine Man.<br />
<br />
Yes, I get there may be merit to what Dr. Dre is trying to say with the rest of the song but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the specific lyrics Eminem contributed and how they pertain to the insidious culture of rape that has too long informed the way women are treated in the world.<br />
<br />
According to Eminem, women are (still) bitches and he can make them cum by raping them. Lyrically speaking, he seems to take pride in the ability to inflict horrific sexual violence upon women who, according to him, will no doubt climax as a result of his maniacal prowess.<br />
<br />
I know this is a song and not his admission. But this isn't the first time he's written material like this about women and rape. And the jury's been in on this for a good long while: WORDS MATTER. If we know words have impact, is this really how we want to be describing women and rape? Those who have suffered through this kind of violence will tell you it's not the sexy experience Eminem portrays it to be.<br />
<br />
When I consider recent events, I feel unsettled, friends. I really do. I sit here and wonder why it took forty women to come forward before we were willing to disbelieve one man who said they were all lying. I wonder why a beloved Canadian radio host assaulted and harassed a multitude of women over the years, all while people knew or were advised about it and yet nothing was done to stop him sooner. Bill Cosby, Jian Ghomeshi... The list of manipulative, violent perpetrators goes on. Is it any wonder these individuals got away with their sexual violence for so long when, as a society, we have allowed lyrics and programming that minimize women and rape to become so commonplace? Can we not see how these specific examples of verbal degradation contribute to the overall minimization of women and their bodies?<br />
<br />
I know Eminem has got a huge following. I know this is an uncomfortable topic and I know people don't want to talk about it. I suspect some of you reading this will likely roll your eyes at my words and tell me to relax and not take it so seriously. But until those 200 Nigerian school girls from Chibok who were abducted and likely raped as child brides are rescued and returned to their families; until the Vancouver woman in Strathcona grows back the finger she lost a few months ago when she was brutally raped and attacked in her home at knifepoint in the middle of the day; until women can take charge of their own reproductive health in America without interference from fossilized government representatives and have it covered by health insurance as easily and freely as viagra is made available to men; until First Nations women in this country who have gone missing at an alarming rate are given the reverence and protection they deserve; until women are paid the same as men for doing the same work; until the importance of the female sexual experience is commonly acknowledged as equal to and not less than the sexual experience of men; until magazines stop telling me why I'll never be enough for my husband or how I can make myself more beautiful to keep him, I will go ahead and write them anyway:<br />
<br />
WHEN IT COMES TO HOW WE SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN, IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE DAMN CONVERSATION.<br />
<br />
I implore you, don't give Eminem the last word. Don't help him send us back in time. Speak up.<br />
<br />
Let's move our human story forward where it belongs.<br />
<br />
<br />
Your Pal,<br />
<br />
The Happiness Detective<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-10156432373972553712015-08-10T21:24:00.000-07:002015-08-10T21:24:01.257-07:00Feast On ThisI grew up in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba - also known as the Strawberry Capital of Canada. (Well, in my day it was the Strawberry Capital of Canada. Now it's known for potatoes.)<br />
<br />
Back in the day, our fine city of 13,000 or so held the beloved annual Strawberry Festival. People came from all over town and the surrounding countryside to revel in the merriment the festival had to offer. There was a giant bowl (the kind you could fit several grown men inside) filled with ice cream and that ice cream was topped with gallons upon gallons of our town's nationally renowned freshly sliced strawberries. (I ate my weight in that dessert every single year and I'm not afraid to admit it here and now.)<br />
<br />
The Strawberry Festival was my hometown's annual highlight. In addition to the headlining "big get" concerts of said festival (April Wine, I'm talking to you), every year the festival would hold a pageant to crown the STRAWBERRY QUEEN. The social status this title bestowed was steeped in reverence. Friends, this competition was without parallel (unless you were from our sister city, Brandon, Florida in the United States for that is where shit also got real).<br />
Contestants would parade around the stage with their hair standing four or five inches off the top of their heads and showcase their unique abilities for all to see.<br />
<br />
I didn't ever compete in the pageant as I was a short, plump half Ukrainian girl from the other side of the tracks. No friends, this pageant was strictly for the esteemed young ladies of Koko Platz, their sisterhood and their not yet out of the closet brethren who sported more than a passing resemblance to any guest actor on the hit television sensation, Miami Vice. I was but a mere spectator sporting a substantial overbite and a second (make that a third) helping of strawberry doused ice cream.<br />
<br />
Competition got a little more fierce years later with the arrival of a new subdivision in Portage la Prairie dubbed "Mellenville" which saw many entrants compete with their high sprayed hair and their soft peach polo shirts with the collars sticking straight up. (Years later, as I recalled all this to my gay obstetrician on the west coast in my third trimester, he outright dismissed these girls as "those Mellenville bitches" in an effort to comfort me when it was clear I would be tipping the scales with a 52 lb weight gain.) (Note: my baby was born 5 lbs, 15 oz.)<br />
<br />
This pageant was cut throat. Those Mellenville bitches were relentless in their pursuit of the Strawberry Crown. One year, a girl played the flute. Inevitably, every single year, one contestant would (horrifically) sing a rendition of Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All or the uptempo Sussudio by Phil Collins. I would lumber out in the crowd, bloated and gassy silently mouthing the words as they sang, all the while dreaming that one day, I too, could take the Strawberry Stage and butcher the high notes.<br />
<br />
Alas friends, I never did go on to be crowned Strawberry Queen. I did a Sears commercial. But tonight at the dinner table, thanks to the magic of Songza, I performed an impromptu lip sync of Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings, complete with hand motions, eye gestures and everything. My children begged me to stop and my husband wished I had chosen a song with more saxophone. But tonight for a brief moment over a parmesan encrusted white fish with brown rice and peas, I grasped the shining strawberry star I never could reach in my youth.<br />
<br />
Suck on that Mellenville Bitches.<br />
<br />
Then feast on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iAzMRKFX3c" target="_blank">this</a>.<br />
<br />
Your Pal,<br />
<br />
The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-48322776470810237932015-06-28T14:13:00.001-07:002015-06-28T14:13:25.505-07:00The Reminder Of Days Gone ByJust discovered that Facebook has this thing where it tells you what you posted five years ago. Well it seems five years ago today, I ran a 5k for the very first time and I posted the photo below of my elder son and me celebrating the accomplishment.<br />
<br />
What I did not share in the caption was that I was also in the throws of some gut wrenching postpartum depression. My second child was five months old. At the time, I couldn't walk from the living room to the kitchen without absolutely losing it, gasping for breath between sudden strangled sobs. I remember crawling to the bathroom (so my kids wouldn't see me) and crying on the side of the tub until I could regain my composure. I was depressed. I felt like a failure across the board. I wasn't suicidal but I was definitely looking at bridges differently. Although I didn't have a plan in place, I remember thinking many times (far more than I care to admit) that my beautiful family would be so much better off without me.<br />
<br />
And yet somehow in the middle of all of this - with Bryce and our children cheering me on, with my wonderful sister in law, Christine, by my side and with 30 lbs of extra weight on my joints - somehow I managed to run 5 kilometres without stopping.<br />
<br />
I did it for my Mom. I did it for my sons. And most especially, without yet knowing it, I did it with a quiet yet persistent hope that life would somehow get better for me.<br />
<br />
And what's more, I forgot about the gravity of it all until this moment. I forgot that I achieved this accomplishment in the midst of my depression. And I forgot that back then, nearly every time I laced up to train, I looked at bridges in a way I never would today.<br />
<br />
Friends, sometimes we forget where we've been. Sometimes we forget how we've persevered or even that we've persevered. The years roll by and we move on to the next challenge, the next victory, the next thing. But today I am reminded that, sometimes, it's good and beautiful and lovely and sweet to look back to your darkest hours with the deepest of reverence and the utmost of respect; to breathe all the way into your bones and to celebrate all you have done.<br />
<br />
Wherever you are in your life right now, take some time today to send your younger self (the self that brought you to this moment) some much deserved unconditional love. The kind you were born to receive inherently. The kind of love I wish for you today. <br />
<br />
This photo feels like it was taken a lifetime ago, back when I first began to read Dr. Suess to my brand new baby, as I did to his brother before him.<br />
<br />
Oh the places you will go, little boy. The places you will go...<br />
<br />
Thank you for joining me in my quest for bliss.<br />
If you're reading this, you are loved.<br />
<br />
Your pal,<br />
The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />
PS. Postpartum is a beast. I went to my doctor and together we determined the best course of treatment for me was counselling. I encourage anyone dealing with postpartum to reach out to family, friends and especially the medical/therapeutic community to seek help. It happens to many more women than you may know. No one needs to suffer in silence anymore. Xo<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rU2WzamnoB1L9XaNxVxWuPfyyppOCWUglcNNL3QKL2Cx7A6WK-Y_SYfKeo5m4xEVbIjYb6pYp7yKNPY2x0hnMkmqHXzNLIPpZRQSZk3G-FQ6lnNKkaxw2py4DqILcWgVSBrspwu1d5Y/s1600/The+Places+You+Will+Go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rU2WzamnoB1L9XaNxVxWuPfyyppOCWUglcNNL3QKL2Cx7A6WK-Y_SYfKeo5m4xEVbIjYb6pYp7yKNPY2x0hnMkmqHXzNLIPpZRQSZk3G-FQ6lnNKkaxw2py4DqILcWgVSBrspwu1d5Y/s320/The+Places+You+Will+Go.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enid-Raye Adams celebrating with son in 2010. Running through Postpartum depression. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-82667887104326894082015-05-31T15:16:00.000-07:002015-05-31T15:16:23.279-07:00Trav'lin' Light...<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">When I listen to Ella Fitzgerald, I am transported back to a day in my early 20s when I walked in to a record shop on 17th Avenue in Calgary on a sunny Sunday morning. They were playing one of her songbook albums. I had never heard her (or of her) before. Instantly, I fell in love with her voice and the feeling of ease and grace in her every note. I felt enveloped in elegance. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">To this day, Sunday mornings at my place are music filled mornings. I listen to Ella Fitzgerald frequently. For some reason, today her rendition of "</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nq1nGgoR0g" style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" target="_blank">This Time The Dream's On Me</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">" has struck me anew. Listening to her music this morning, I am taken right back to that time in my 20s, when I was just starting out. The possibility. The whole world and the life that lay ahead for me. There were many dark times then and more that followed. I just can't seem to remember them as thoroughly as I once did. Suddenly, I feel so fond of the young lady I was back then. And I feel a profound appreciation for who I am right now and the life I have today.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It's true friends, I don't have a series or own a home in Vancouver but I cannot (nor want to) shake this impermeable feeling that all is well just exactly as it is. It's an emotional, deeply calming, beautiful feeling. I wish it for every single one of you.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">If you're reading this, you are loved.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Today, I'm <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGLzwFRwIY" target="_blank">Trav'lin' Light</a>... </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Your pal, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Happiness Detective</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-43069448553271702032015-04-30T11:26:00.000-07:002015-04-30T11:27:09.053-07:00Let's Move This Story Forward<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
The B.C. Court of Appeal is scheduled to release its decision today on the Class Size and Composition issue. I truly hope today's ruling benefits students and society overall. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
This is about more than just education. This is also about worth. And how we distribute our resources when it comes to the common good. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Public education has taken a real beating in B.C. at the hands of this provincial government. It needs to be properly funded. Public education is one of the last great equalizers we have left in the world. And when we treat each other as equals, we get down to the business of doing what we're here to do with our time on the planet, which is to work together to move our collective human story forward.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
We all play a part in that story. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I hope today's ruling is in favor of a well educated populace. It's time to turn the page and move forward. We've been on this chapter long enough.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="http://www.theprovince.com/touch/story.html?id=11015146&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">http://www.theprovince.com/touch/story.html?id=11015146&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Staying hopeful,</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-45290194977063375072015-04-04T16:29:00.000-07:002015-04-05T00:22:42.164-07:00Open Letter: A Long, Stinky Rabbit Hole<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">(From
My Facebook Page)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hello
Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'd
like to share some thoughts about the Liquefied Natural Gas Industry in this
province and how it relates to public education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now,
before your eyes glaze over and you hide this post (and others from me) from your
newsfeed, I ask you to reconsider. I know this is boring as shit. And I've gone
on about it at length previously. (At parties, at premieres, at playgrounds,
over coffee...)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
issue appears to be a long, stinky rabbit hole - entirely overwhelming once you
start to look at it. (The government is counting on this so you DON'T look at
it.) But the good news is, this rabbit hole is not all that deep. And it's
worth the trip down to have a good look at something troubling going on right
now in public education. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here's
a recap:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">1)
The government is reformatting the public education system to attract foreign
investment for the Liquefied Natural Gas industry. This is outlined in the B.C.
Skills For Jobs Blueprint, announced by the Education Ministry last spring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">2)
LNG requires fracking. "Fracking natural gas is worse for climate change
than burning coal." - Marc Lee, Senior Economist, CCPA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">3)
The government has removed environmental studies from public education. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Education Minister Peter Fassbender doesn't want to, AND I QUOTE,
"overload the curriculum".)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">4)
LNG isn't meeting predicted profits. Initial projections by the Liberal
government were $1.25 billion by 2012-13. In fact, they only made $144 million.
Also known as 11% of what they predicted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">5)
The government says it can't afford to pay for class size and composition
language to be restored to the collective bargaining agreement with the B.C. Teachers Union. (Public Education loses approximately $333 million annually as a result of
this illegal removal of the language.) Yet the government can afford to
redirect $3 billion over the next decade to the LNG, in spite of poor returns?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">6)
Teachers, economists and environmentalists are urging caution in this
government's LNG agenda. The government refuses to concede.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">7)
Conclusion: Our children will pay the price.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here's
a deeper look: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last
spring, Liberal MLA, Rich Coleman, Minister of Natural Gas Development said,
"Since releasing the LNG strategy two years ago, we have taken concrete
action to give companies certainty when making their final investment
decisions..." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
he means by that is that the government is reformatting public education to
attract investors to a singular industry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Please
read that again: The government is reformatting public education to
attract investors to a singular industry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>"Look at everything we're
doing for you! We're changing education to train workers so you will get a
return on your investment!"</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is an obvious conflict for students
which will lead to an increasingly diminished education system. Also, many
parents will be forced to consider private schools they can't afford so that
their children will get the well rounded education the government doesn't want
to provide.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. Coleman went on to say, "By working with industry, we've created a
Blueprint that will create a seamless path from school to the workplace for our
young people, provide long-term, well-paying jobs for all our communities and
deliver a skilled workforce for B.C.'s growing LNG sector." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here's
the thing, friends. Education isn't about training children to become workers.
It's about educating students to become citizens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">There's
an important distinction there which involves critical thinking and autonomy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Critical
thinking won't be a skill students develop properly in school, particularly
given that the Liberal Government has removed environmental studies from the
curriculum. After all, the government doesn't want anyone questioning the
profoundly unsafe ramifications of fracking in British Columbia. How can students
look at an issue critically from all sides if they don't have all the
information?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (Sidebar: In terms of environmental impact, Marc Lee also says
that if the LNG goes ahead in this province, "It will be the equivalent of
adding 24 million to 60 million cars to the world’s roads.")<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Autonomy
will be severely diminished by reformatting education to include a substantial
focus on one industry. The government masks this agenda as promoting trades.
However, there are so many trades facilities in schools across the province in
disrepair right now; trades programs that are underfunded. If this government
truly wanted to advocate on behalf of trades, why not invest in existing
facilities and programs that badly need it? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Also, this Blueprint actually works AGAINST those genuinely wanting to work in trades. As someone pointed out to me recently, if a huge portion of the students in this province are "encouraged" to pursue a career in trades, it will glut the market. There will be far more people looking for jobs than there will be jobs available. Jobs will be scarce and low paying. And as outlined in the Blueprint, there is a plan in place to attract out of province and out of country workers, further adding to the number of people looking for work and further driving down the pay. This is hugely beneficial for corporations but not so much for students. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
would be pleased as punch if either of my boys went into trades, if that was
their choice. But informed choice doesn't result from systemic manipulation.
Autonomy only works when you have a chance to exercise it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
you are in Vancouver, I ask you to join me at 12pm on Sunday, April 12th at the
Vancouver Art Gallery. As concerned parents, we are gathering to advocate
for a return of funding to public education. I will be speaking at the
event. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> * Please note: The rally is not about the LNG. It's about
education funding. I wrote this post to provide a sense of why I feel we need
to speak up and insist on change.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rally group's name on Facebook is Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE) - Vancouver & British Columbia. Check them out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
school strike is long over. But the issues that deplete public education in this
province remain. Our government is not onside. I don't have the money to send
my kids to private school to get the kind of education I had in public school
growing up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our
kids deserve better than this. Please join me at the rally. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let's keep
this conversation going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Enid-Raye
Adams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Articles
on this issue:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="http://www.theprovince.com/health/Five+most+demand+jobs+British+Columbia/10697856/story.html" target="_blank">A million jobs are expected to open up in B.C.</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="http://www.straight.com/news/617826/fracking-fuels-bc-governments-liquefied-natural-gas-gambit" target="_blank">Fracking fuels the B.C. government's liquefied natural gas gambit</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/10/Enviro-Ed-Not-Taught/" target="_blank">Enviro Ed 'Won't Be Taught' in New Curriculum, Teachers Say</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="http://www.southasianpost.com/article/5858-blueprint-lng-jobs.html" target="_blank">Blueprint for LNG jobs</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Your pal,</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-45984139964964393452014-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:002014-10-22T13:50:42.552-07:00Lay Off Renée's FaceYou know, I understand there is a discussion to be had about beauty and unrealistic standards and expectations that we, as women, constantly have shoved down our throats by all manner of outlets; media, society, etc.<br />
<br />
A friend's therapist once told her, "It's impossible to live in a blue world and not be stained blue."<br />
We all deal with body issues in one form or another. And a discussion about accepting ourselves as inherently worthy people who are inherently beautiful on our own terms would be so much more productive than shaming a woman who made a decision to alter her facial features and then dared to show herself publicly afterward.<br />
<br />
I am honestly not saddened by Renée Zellweger's new face. It's HER face. From my vantage point, the onslaught of judgement and mocking she's being subjected to is part of the problem, not the solution.<br />
<br />
As an actor, I would make a different choice facially. I need to have access to dark circles and wrinkles etc to tell the kind of stories I want to tell. But that doesn't put me on some sort of self righteous high horse. Believe me, there are other ways I might alter my physical form to suit my own personal aesthetic. And at this age, I no longer give a hot shit what anyone else thinks of my choices. (For the most part. Being stained blue and all...)<br />
<br />
Still, to me it would be so much better if we used our energy to insist upon equal pay for equal work rather than using it to ridicule women based on their appearances.<br />
<br />
I had the pleasure of meeting Renée years ago when she was shooting a movie here. Because I did something to help her out in the tiniest of ways, she went out and bought me two different types of coffee because she wasn't sure which I would like best. So she wanted me to have both.<br />
She couldn't have been lovelier. Kindness, to me, is a thing of beauty.<br />
<br />
We all get to have our preferences. But when it comes to women, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. Beauty exists in a woman whether anyone else beholds it correctly or not.<br />
<br />
If you're reading this, you are loved. And more fucking beautiful than you know.<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Your #1 Fan,</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Happiness Detective</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">AKA, Enid-Raye Adams</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-60210607963297074602014-09-17T14:58:00.000-07:002014-10-02T18:24:18.881-07:00Not Such A Winner After All... UPDATED<br />
I have debated with myself whether or not I should post my thoughts about this deal prior to the vote. I don't want in any way to disrespect the efforts required to secure it. Nor do I want to put added pressure on teachers who must now bear the weight of a decision that affects so many in this province who have been waiting so long for a conclusion to it all.<br />
<br />
To be sure, I want this strike to end. I want my son back in school. I want teachers to start earning an income again. However, this deal is unworthy of everything teachers have been fighting for. I don't think the BCTF could have negotiated a better deal because the government has no intention of properly funding public education in this province. It's likely the best that could have been hammered out. But not a winner. Not to me. The salary increase is much less than the rate of inflation. (In the big picture, this point alone shows the Liberal Government will continue to widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor in this province. How can anyone keep up with the cost of living if their salary doesn't keep up with the rate of inflation?) Grievances awarded to teachers in court for Christy Clark's illegal and unconstitutional assault on education over the last twelve years would have likely been near the $3 billion mark. This deal offers teachers approximately $108 million for grievances instead and ensures they forfeit their right to pursue a larger settlement in court. So should teachers vote yes, it shows how much they continue to give up in order to get back to work and get students back in classrooms.<br />
<br />
As a parent, one part of the agreement that particularly concerns me is the "right to reopen" clause. As I understand it, if the verdict in the appeal that takes place next month is upheld, it's likely that the government will then appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Should that court uphold the original ruling against the government/for the teachers, it means the teachers can at that point negotiate the pre-2002 language back into the contract. It's negotiating what was already won that concerns me. It feels somewhat like sending teachers back to square one in the Class Size and Composition battle because they would be negotiating getting language into a contract that should legally be in there anyway. Moreover, they'd be negotiating with a government who is constantly negotiating in bad faith. I have a hard time believing this government will ever negotiate in good faith. Particularly given the provincially endorsed Cisco drafted Education Plan which specifically states the Liberal Government's plan to decategorize special needs in the interest of what they call "equalization" among students. This would obliterate the Class Size and Composition issue entirely. And it will continue to negatively impact students daily at school as a result.<br />
<br />
Hopefully one day, the education system will be funded the way it needs to be. That day is not today, unfortunately. Not based on this deal. This doesn't feel like a win for education. Not based on the amount of money that will be allotted to each student in a national average comparison. I continue to take my hat off to teachers in this struggle. And I continue to draw attention to the unconscionable conduct of the premier of this province.<br />
<br />
Premier Clark made it clear in yesterday's press conference that she intends to pursue the appeal in the court case involving Class Size and Composition and ultimately against the "world class education system" she suddenly professes to champion in BC. She said she wants to heal the dysfunctional relationship between teachers and the government. She smiled when she said that pursuing the court case is a matter of disagreeing on some things while still working together to build a better relationship overall. But this isn't just a small thing. Class Size and Composition is a major factor in whether or not education suffers or thrives. To suggest CS&C is your main priority while you continue to fight against it in court is like claiming you want to rebuild your marriage after an infidelity while you continue to cheat on your spouse.<br />
<br />
I want to be clear: I am in no way encouraging teachers to vote either way. I trust teachers to make that call for themselves. To me, there is no winner here. And I think teachers, students and education in this province deserved a win.<br />
<br />
Christy Clark, yesterday you delivered a great performance. What a shame you wouldn't deliver on public education.<br />
<br />
Enid-Raye Adams<br />
AKA, The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-71540850179516992592014-09-16T07:54:00.000-07:002014-09-16T07:54:39.647-07:00Ladies And Gentleman, Do We Have A Winner?<br />
I genuinely hope this tentative deal is one that works best for teachers and students. Educators in this province really took a hit for us.<br />
<br />
If you are a teacher and you're reading this, please know how much my family appreciates your sacrifice and your commitment to education.<br />
<br />
Thank you teachers, for waking me up from my apathy. Over the last couple years, I've not been involved in my community the way I need to be as a citizen. You brought an important issue to the forefront of my awareness and showed us all what we can achieve when we stand together and work for the common good. Even though you weren't working for a pay cheque during this strike, you still managed to teach me an incredibly valuable lesson.<br />
<br />
I hope this deal is worthy of you.<br />
<br />
With tremendous gratitude and respect,<br />
<br />
Enid-Raye Adams<br />
AKA, The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/16/tentative-deal-reached-in-b-c-teacher-strike-after-students-miss-more-than-two-weeks-of-classes/" target="_blank">http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/16/tentative-deal-reached-in-b-c-teacher-strike-after-students-miss-more-than-two-weeks-of-classes/</a><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-55178726439928333232014-09-14T19:26:00.000-07:002014-09-14T19:40:41.363-07:00Three Questions For Christy... <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; line-height: 25px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Parents rallied today at the
Vancouver Art Gallery in answer to the Liberal Government's refusal to enter
binding arbitration as a way to finally end the four months-long teachers'
strike. </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't believe the CBC nonsense
about it being violent and anti-union. It was fantastic. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rally was pro-teachers,
pro-education and pro-getting students back into classrooms. Approximately 2000
people joined together to speak up for our kids and the future of education in
this province.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The organizer, Catherine, was
kind enough to allow me a few moments on stage to ask three important questions
of Christy Clark. Questions the media is just not asking. My being up
there was totally unplanned and my comments were impromptu but I remember these
questions clearly because I have been wanting answers to them. So have my
friends. So have teachers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here they are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: #141823;">1)</span></b><span style="color: #141823;"> Christy
Clark and Peter Fassbender, if you wanted a negotiated agreement and kids back
in class as you say you do, why did you wait until the very end of summer to
get back to the bargaining table with teachers?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: #141823;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: #141823;">2)</span></b><span style="color: #141823;"> You keep
talking about affordability. Why is it okay for teachers in other provinces to
make as much as $20 000 a year more and admittedly work less than teachers in
British Columbia? Other public sector employees in this province have received
2%-3.2% salary increases (7.6% for your deputy ministers), yet B.C. teachers
are fighting just to get 1.6%. That's not the affordability zone. That's the
inequality zone.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: #141823;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: #141823;">3)</span></b><span style="color: #141823;"> Can you
rule out that you are unilaterally setting the stage for a voucher system to
privatize education in this province? (But really rule it out. Not HST rule it out.)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also spoke about hovering
around the poverty line for the first ten years of my childhood. But in the
public school system, I was treated as an equal. And I was given the same
opportunities as everyone else in spite of my socio economic background. I said
that this current strike isn't just about education. It's also about worth. Our
children are one of society's best resources and I challenged Christy Clark to
start valuing them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I may have said some other
things but by then I realized I was standing in front of 2000 people with
Grizelda hair and not a stitch of make-up on. What I won't do for my kids...
Hope the pink pants made up for it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the end, I think I said that
our kids and our teachers deserved better. And I genuinely believe that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thanks again to everyone who
organized and attended. What an incredible turn out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Public
education is a right. But being a part of this community is a privilege.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #141823;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #141823;">Yours truly,</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #141823;">Enid-Raye Adams</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #141823;">AKA, The Happiness Detective</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iO1J5rNTUvGyk0KOfC7LEkT_X14WAiVFXzdja28Qr3sC5IqYTQgJIs2VUhEluSt-uhX83dtXhRBaibS5QdTCRnL6DRFEk5SiW5kJ_kYbYLhZI8se6-QRTYJ74_2KuIQBMh59N5Wvdag/s1600/Rally+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iO1J5rNTUvGyk0KOfC7LEkT_X14WAiVFXzdja28Qr3sC5IqYTQgJIs2VUhEluSt-uhX83dtXhRBaibS5QdTCRnL6DRFEk5SiW5kJ_kYbYLhZI8se6-QRTYJ74_2KuIQBMh59N5Wvdag/s1600/Rally+1.png" height="448" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking at the rally in Vancouver.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3TFjxOWvZ4jc5lChBZci-4b3OgkYCsMfz7Mf1CBFPQuIdz7qvy3-IOE_RAX4ZWNEXMqjuS5zhWOEeVduShyASGGzYamvmcki8upBOuUDtVuoIxpJwIWSBQsvwETs7uRteN076P2TkAc/s1600/Rally+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3TFjxOWvZ4jc5lChBZci-4b3OgkYCsMfz7Mf1CBFPQuIdz7qvy3-IOE_RAX4ZWNEXMqjuS5zhWOEeVduShyASGGzYamvmcki8upBOuUDtVuoIxpJwIWSBQsvwETs7uRteN076P2TkAc/s1600/Rally+2.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2000 parents, students and teachers attend rally.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-55281779808128647382014-09-08T09:28:00.000-07:002014-09-08T09:32:10.979-07:00Bad Gas<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Oh the deep, dark rabbit hole that is this provincial Liberal Government...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
How did I miss this announcement in April? It appears Christy Clark wants to reconfigure the education system to prepare a generation of students to become employees for the Liquified Natural Gas industry she is currently building.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
I must admit, sometimes the state of the world overwhelms the shit out of me. In the last couple years, for the first time in my adult life, I've had to bury my hea<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">d in the sand to keep from being swallowed up by it all.</span><br />
<br />
I've missed an awful lot going on in my own backyard.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Many of you probably know about this new education plan. But it's news to me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Directly from Education Minister Fassbender regarding the future of this province: "Poets are still welcome in British Columbia's plan to re-tool the education system from Kindergarten to post-secondary institutions, but more welders would be nice."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Give the articles below a read when you can. The new education plan is clearly related to the Cisco drafted education case study previously released. But last April's education announcement spells out Clark's Machiavellian agenda quite clearly. And it's ugly.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">There are obvious concerns about investing in the LNG industry (another fossil fuel) that will release "millions of tonnes of harmful greenhouse gas emissions into the sky" (CP). But catching children early to entice them to want to work in this industry and then changing the entire education system to train them to do so is deeply unsettling to me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I am in support of presenting a wide variety of employment options for school age children, trades included. But I don't want my seven year old to be a cog in the government's LNG assembly line training program. I don't want him to receive a corporate driven education which trains him to work in one industry. I want him to change his mind a million times a school year about what he wants to be when he grows up. Because he's seven. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In this new plan, particularly if Christy Clark announces a voucher system to privatize education in this province, children in public school will be trained to fit the corporate worker bee bill while private school students will receive the education that prepares them for a wider variety of choices in life. All kids in this province should be educated to access those options. Not just the families who can afford to pay for it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">How did I miss this? If you have too, please read this and circulate. Widely.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">First this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-to-refocus-education-training-plan-to-fill-1m-jobs-1.2626661" target="_blank">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-to-refocus-education-training-plan-to-fill-1m-jobs-1.2626661</a></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Then this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/12/christy-clark-bc-lng_n_4263566.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/12/christy-clark-bc-lng_n_4263566.html</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Yours truly,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Enid-Raye Adams</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">AKA, The Happiness Detective</span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-23607889082547786582014-09-07T09:44:00.000-07:002014-09-07T10:14:15.523-07:00Mark Your Calendar...I just read a superbly written letter from Naomi Lazarus to Christy Clark. Please see below.<br />
<br />
It seems September 23rd is the rumored date for an introduction to private education in this province. I've heard this date mentioned a few times in the last week. It could be why Christy Clark is unwilling to consider any option the BCTF presents. Why would she when she's so close to the big reveal?<br />
<br />
This strike has been tough on many in this province.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine on Facebook is asking that we stay focused on solutions. My first solution, always, in a democracy is to use my voice to speak up for those I feel have been treated unfairly. I've spoken up on behalf of my son, who has missed his first week of school. I have spoken up on behalf of other families and on behalf of teachers across this province. Many of us have spoken up. But the Premier is not listening.<br />
<br />
Premier Clark and her government just rejected an offer from the BCTF to settle this nearly four month long strike via binding arbitration. Clark's Education Minister, Peter Fassbender, called it "another empty effort" by the union to give us all "false hope".<br />
<br />
Now, I understand some people have mixed feelings about the teachers' union. But from my point of view, the union and its teachers are the only parties in this dispute who are willing to negotiate. They're the only ones moving. Christy Clark has not offered any new money or any new solutions. She has not moved a single step in the direction of solving this problem. Not once. Because she doesn't want to. She wants to privatize the school system. It's seems incredibly clear that this is her agenda. And it appears that September 23rd could be the date that agenda is made public.<br />
<br />
As I've said previously, I am entirely opposed to a voucher system. It will undo many families, financially, as they struggle to provide the best education they can afford. And it will leave the poorest families among us, who couldn't even begin to consider shopping around for that education, to settle for substandard underfunded schooling for their children.<br />
<br />
I am entirely in support of a thriving, properly funded public education for all. Because the kid who goes to school hungry deserves the same access to a great education as the kid who is well fed. Given that British Columbia has the highest child poverty rate in Canada, you can believe teachers in this province educate a lot of hungry kids. We need to put our focus back on feeding them - not on stripping away the last remaining nutrients in their schooling. <br />
<br />
So I will continue to speak up. I will continue to celebrate those I know who can afford to send their children to private school and I will also continue to point out what many of us are saying repeatedly: Most families in this province cannot shoulder that financial burden. We need a well educated populace. All children in this province deserve access to a great education regardless of their socioeconomic status. And it affects us all if they don't get it. <br />
<br />
So here's my solution: If the Liberals don't get back to the table; if they do indeed release plans for a voucher system instead, then it's time for a recall. Christy Clark's riding is Westside-Kelowna. According to the Recall and Initiative Act, 18 months must pass from voting day before a recall application can be made. Only a registered voter in her riding can begin this process.<br />
<br />
The government is not working for us. They're not even listening. And we cannot be ignored for another three years. So we need to make some changes.<br />
<br />
If you're a parent affected by this strike, mark down September 23rd on your calendar. And if you're a registered voter in Westside-Kelowna, get out your pen and flip ahead to November 17th, 2014.<br />
<br />
Write down RECALL.<br />
<br />
It's time for Christy Clark to go.<br />
<br />
Yours Truly,<br />
Enid-Raye Adams<br />
AKA, The Happiness Detective<br />
<br />
<br />
Letter to Christy Clark from Naomi Lazarus:<br />
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
To Christy Clark,</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
This is another futile attempt at communication with your office. So far I've received form letters that say nothing of import, and a woman who answers your phone only to tell me to write more emails that result in form letters that say nothing of import.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
There's a rumour going around that you plan on introducing a three tiered education plan on September 23rd, with more of an emphasis on private education.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
I think this shows a profound disconnect with the lives of the vast majority of people in BC. The percentage of British Columbians who can afford private schools for their children is vanishingly small.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
More relevantly, we, as taxpayers and voters rely on you, our government, to provide us with essential services.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
One of the things I think politicians (particularly right wing politicians; and, no, the name of your party does not fool me) forget, when prioritizing the budget in terms of education, is that absolutely every aspect of our society, our economy and our way of life is built upon the education of children. There is no service more essential.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
Making education lower quality, and harder to access (which is what privatization would inexorably do) threatens our economy, our democracy and the quality of life of every person who lives in this province.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
You ran on the platform of "Families First". You have cut funding to every single public service that the families of BC rely on, from healthcare to legal aid, family courts, domestic violence support, special needs assessment and support, autism support, support for single mothers and aboriginal parents, and, of course, education.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
My family pays around $2000 a year less in income tax, thanks to you. Do you imagine that $2000 can possibly cover the range of services you have cut? I assure you, it cannot. And my family doesn't need legal services, domestic violence relief or special education for my child. We're low-maintenance, healthy, stable, middle class people. For those families dealing with autism, violence, poverty and children's special needs, your poor decisions with our budget have cost them painfully. Take back my $2000 and use it to pay for the services every family needs.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
You have twice been found guilty of trampling the rights of the teachers. You are, without really any subtlety, trying to break their union. You made a big mistake, and, instead of fixing it, you have doubled down and made it worse. You have put Families Last.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
If this rumour is true, if you are planning to take even more money out of public education, if you are trying to privatize education, if you are declaring war on the poor and middle class families of this province, I promise there will be a recall in November.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
You lied to the people of this province and you have betrayed our trust. You do not deserve your lofty position and will be removed from it.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
Do your job. Raise high income and corporate taxes, give the teachers the pathetically small amount they are asking for, and serve your province. Or we, the voters, will replace you with someone who will.</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
Sincerely,<br />
Naomi Lazarus<br />
Vancouver</div>
<div style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em;">
ps Please do not bother responding to this letter unless you actually have something to say.</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-37365897708814809462014-09-04T19:54:00.002-07:002014-09-04T19:59:13.854-07:00The Benefit Of Fact Over Fiction<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Here's a little perspective on the benefits issue in the teachers strike:</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
Christy Clark keeps saying the teachers are asking for $125 million in benefits. I think it's important to be accurate here. The teachers have asked for an increase in medical and dental benefits which, in order to cover all 40,000 members, works out to about $11 million.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
$11 million is not $125 million.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
And as an FYI, teachers last received an increase in medical and dental coverage in 1993. So that's 21 years since their last increase in extended coverage. Do you think medical and dental costs have gone up since then? I think the teachers are due.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
The remaining $114 million of the $125 million in the proposed benefits package we keep hearing about would cover Cupe workers for special needs children, prep time for teachers, teacher librarians and resource teachers for special education and ESL students. So the remaining $114 million doesn't cover things like 'unlimited massage' as Christy Clark likes to call it in the press.<br />
To me the $114 million actually benefits the students in our classrooms who deserve a good education in the public school system.<br />
(FYI, prep days are not 'days off' either. The last time the teachers received a prep time increase was in 1994. Again, I think they're due.)</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
Unfortunately, Christy Clark will lie in the press and spin facts until they're fiction as she dismantles the public school system in this province (which is what she's been doing since 2002) for one reason: She is setting the stage for a voucher system for private schooling in this province.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
I have friends and colleagues who have their children in private school. And I genuinely celebrate their financial ability to school their children in this way. But MOST people in this province cannot shoulder these costs. As a forward thinking society, we all benefit when all children (and future leaders) in this province get access to the best education we, as a people, can provide them. Let's not allow Christy Clark to turn this into a class system, further widening the gap between the wealthy and those doing their best to provide for their families who may not have the income to pay for a great education.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
The provincial government is legally bound to provide that great education. The Liberals have operated ILLEGALLY in providing for education for 12 years. This was the verdict of two courts. But Christy Clark doesn't care what the courts say. She will keep going until she destroys public education in this province once and for all. Don't let her. Keep calling your MLAs. Write letters to the editor.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
And, if you can, come down to a huge rally in support of our public teachers this Friday, September 5th at 5pm at Canada Place.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
Don't let Christy Clark and the Liberals get away with this. Let's make our voices heard. If we speak consistently in tandem with the legal system, she will have no choice but to listen.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Yours Truly,</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Enid-Raye Adams</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 6px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
AKA, The Happiness Detective</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-63986143232220063302014-09-02T08:40:00.000-07:002014-09-02T08:53:38.661-07:00The School Strike, Christy Clark And The Power Of A Good JokeShould you get frustrated during this strike (and you will) give <a href="http://bcndpcaucus.ca/news/b-c-liberals-lead-negotiator-admitted-plan-was-to-provoke-a-full-scale-strike-keep-children-home-from-school/" target="_blank">this</a> a read and remember what the Liberal agenda has been all along. They wanted this strike. They want to change the legislation and they don't care how it affects B.C. families.<br />
<br />
Remember when Christy Clark ran with the mandate, "Families First"? Well, from my family's perspective, that was a lie.<br />
<br />
My seven year-old son thrives in the public school system. He loves it. In the two years or so leading up to kindergarten, we were concerned he might have been on the spectrum. He wasn't making eye contact with us. He couldn't maintain focus. It seemed he wasn't listening to us and couldn't repeat back to us what we had just said. (He had a hearing test which he passed.) He couldn't hold a pencil correctly. We were worried.<br />
<br />
But then he started kindergarten and my boy blossomed. He had two teachers through the year due to mat leave. They both noticed the things that concerned us and not only helped him to overcome those challenges in school but also gave us ideas to use at home to help him as well.<br />
<br />
When my boy started school, he couldn't hold a pencil. Now our dining room wall is filled with his glorious artwork. When my boy started school, he couldn't make eye contact, either frequently or for long periods of time. He couldn't remember what you had just said. By the end of the year, as a five year-old, he was doing stand up comedy for an audience of 80 people at a benefit where he began with a physical comedy bit and ended with a joke he crafted ON THE SPOT which killed and had people laughing harder than anytime I ever did stand up myself. <br />
<br />
In that moment, my worries about my son faded and they were replaced with a quietly humble yet ferocious, extraordinary pride.<br />
<br />
His grade one teacher fostered in him his love for math and science and reading. Before my son went to school, we worried about his development. Now, I'll walk by his room to find him snuggled in to bed reading stories to his younger brother.<br />
This is what my son has learned in only two years. If the public education system is properly funded imagine what my boy could become?<br />
<br />
I love you Zachary Wyatt. I love you Maxwell George (starting Kindergarten next year). Your education is important to me and to your Dad. We believe in you and we will do everything we can to ensure the system that is in place is supported for your highest good.<br />
What you will give back to your community and this province as a result, I have no doubt, will continue to blow our minds.<br />
<br />
To his teachers: Thank you for everything you have done to help my son realize his talents, skills and interests. What you have given us is invaluable. Unlike our premier, you have actually put our family (and countless other families) first. You do so now at the risk of financial peril to your own families.<br />
And for this, you have my continued support in this provoked strike.<br />
<br />
Christy Clark, you are misrepresenting the people of British Columbia. Should you and the Liberal government continue to disrespect and economically devastate the families of this province by digging your heels in in your grotesque battle against public education in this province, I will be calling for your resignation.<br />
<br />
The mark of a great leader is to admit when they have made a mistake. The mark of a mediocre, self-interested politician is to rail against the people he or she represents, at all costs, while claiming it is in the best interests of those against whom he or she rails.<br />
<br />
I know there is greatness in my sons. They are worthy of a world class investment in public education. And they need you to evolve on the subject. You can be proud that your investment in them is one that will reap many returns.<br />
<br />
It's true, you can't afford to pay the teachers what they're worth. But you can pay them what they're asking. You can honor class size and composition. You can be a part of helping to move this great collective human story of ours forward. Or you can attempt to set it back.<br />
<br />
Choose well Premier Clark. The future of the children in this province depends on it.<br />
<br />
Enid-Raye Adams<br />
<br />
AKA, The Happiness DetectiveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-86746189745525883662014-06-15T16:46:00.000-07:002014-06-15T16:46:27.421-07:00Father's Day - The New Normal<br />
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
What author, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=322155257809771" href="http://www.cherylstrayed.com/" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Cheryl Strayed</a>, says about her husband as a father to their kids resonates with me through and through:</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>"It amazes me how my children get to take for granted what both my husband and I missed as kids--a dad whose unconditional love is ever-present, whose guidance and sacrifice and faith is in the air they breathe. This experience our children have is foreign to us and together we often marvel over it. Witnessing the way Brian fathers our children is transformation in action and it's brought about a healing in each of us that happened long after we both believed our father wounds were healed. Pondering this today, I thought of this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Kve6i3PAM" target="_blank">talk</a> he gave last year about his father and grandfather and why he does the work he does--beautiful work that's deeply connected to the ugliest parts of his life and our world. Darkness to light. Happy Father's Day to my dear sweet Brian--whose grit and grace I'm grateful for each day--and to all of you good men who became the great fathers you didn't have yourselves."</i></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
I've said a version of these words to Bryce Norman over the years. To see him parent our boys actively every day, as a strong, loving presence in their lives is to heal the wounds I developed as a child that resulted when my father made the choice, from my infancy, not to be a part of my life.<br />Every day, those wounds seem to diminish and heal away. They don't mean as much as they once did. I've come a long way in letting those old hurts go on my own. And Bryce Norman is my reward.<br />As a fatherless daughter, it is beyond magnificent to me that my new normal is a life in which my Zachary and Maxwell have a Dad who stayed.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
It's no secret that I was raised by a glorious woman who did the job of both parents. I've written about my Mom endlessly on this blog. In the minutes before she died, my Step-Mom, Sue, held my mother's hand and promised to take over that job. And she has. Beautifully.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
To all the Moms out there doing both jobs, Happy Father's Day. </div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
And to the Dads that stay and do the work, you are a treasure beyond description.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Yours in the quest for bliss,</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The Happiness Detective<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-42384257141554010122014-05-25T15:48:00.000-07:002014-05-25T15:48:34.743-07:00Here We Go Again...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">So.</span><br />
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
The family of Elliot Rodger called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos that Rodger had been posting "regarding suicide and the killing of people".<br />
The police go to his home but decide not to search his apartment?!<br />
They found him to be "perfectly polite, kind and a wonderful human"?</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
Are you kidding me?</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
I guess he had the last laugh when he drafted a 141-page document detailing "how he narrowly missed being found out when the officers knocked on his door" before expressing "relief that his apartment wasn't searched because they would have found his weapons and his writings."</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
The officers determined he didn't need to be locked up for mental health reasons. But some psychopaths are charming and persuasive. In fact, isn't that a fairly common standard operating procedure for them?<br />
If this man's own family was concerned enough BASED ON VIDEO EVIDENCE that they called the police because he was a danger to himself and society, wouldn't that be cause enough to search his home?</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
Is there any point in even discussing this issue anymore? This type of mass violence is now commonplace. But there is no common sense in place to prevent it.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
To those who regularly stand in the way of drafting laws to help prevent these kinds of sickening attacks, consider this:</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
"Chris (last victim shot) was a really great kid," Michaels-Martinez's father said at a news conference where he choked back tears and eventually collapsed to his knees in agony. "Ask anyone who knew him. His death has left our family lost and broken."</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
How many more mothers and fathers need to collapse to their knees in the wake of this kind of horrifying loss before laws start to change?</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
When those twenty beautiful, innocent school children were slaughtered by a deranged gunman in Newtown, I was heartbroken.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
Now I'm just disgusted.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
There has to be a way to turn this around...</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/7-dead-7-injured-drive-shooting-student-enclave-111723538.html" target="_blank">https://ca.news.yahoo.com/7-dead-7-injured-drive-shooting-student-enclave-111723538.html</a></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
Yours truly,</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
The Happiness Detective</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8391696210888658448.post-3626301595738772452014-05-11T00:41:00.000-07:002014-05-11T00:45:03.357-07:00Mother's Day... One Of The Good Ones<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My Mom died 14 years ago next month.</span><br />
<div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
I don't feel sadness anymore on Mother's Day. Wistful maybe. I'm incredibly touched by all the photos people share online of their mothers - All so beautiful, young and spry. Or elegant, aged and spirited. Yet all the more beautiful for the markings of time.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
I think often what my Mom's life would have been like had she lived. The joy my children would bring her. The crush she would have on my husband. The coffee dates they might have. I i<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">magine he would take her hand and guide her out the door of a coffee shop on Granville Island. "Oh Di," he might say before teasing her that he would beat her in a lasagna making contest. I imagine how much she would adore her son-in-law and how proud she would be to have "one of the good ones" as part of her expanding family tree.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I imagine the quiet moments I might have just looking at her from across the room, if she were still here. I imagine her kindness, her generosity and her unstoppable, infectious (some say hyena-like) laugh.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I imagine how soft her hair might feel if I were to run my fingers through it, should she lay her head on my lap in order that she might "rest" her eyes for just a few minutes the way she did endlessly when I was a kid.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I think how much joy it would bring me to take care of her, to look out for her. To experience the simple pleasure of walking down the street with her in my neighborhood, proudly introducing her to people passing by.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Most of all, I think how much I love her. And how much I would love to thank her for the wonderful job she did being my Mom. Especially now knowing, deep in my often exhausted Ukrainian bones, what the job of being a Mother entails.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I sometimes think it's a rip off that she didn't get to see all this; the way we turned out, the fruits of her labor. But mostly, I let my mind wander all over the maps of my imagination - an imagination she encouraged and cultivated when I was little. I think of the love she had for me that is real and true and I think of the love, respect and admiration I continue to have for her. And when my mind wanders back to this moment where I am, I feel great comfort.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Because when it comes to Moms, I had one of the good ones.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I love you Mom. You are like no other.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGT0rSp6m9SRE9rSWXzqT_yvye-RxXKiFSuisIcOCelaYkESo2E2qWEgrIcPnfHEzHvxrgNB29tyOGaay0oxP9apEFelK92NJugdt_5CR-PFo-TLeTyK4pJZdKDJi-267O1YzuksnHFKk/s1600/Picture+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGT0rSp6m9SRE9rSWXzqT_yvye-RxXKiFSuisIcOCelaYkESo2E2qWEgrIcPnfHEzHvxrgNB29tyOGaay0oxP9apEFelK92NJugdt_5CR-PFo-TLeTyK4pJZdKDJi-267O1YzuksnHFKk/s1600/Picture+10.png" height="320" width="170" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Happy Mother's Day everyone. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">If you're reading this, you are loved.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Your pal,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Happiness Detective</span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0