I signed a book out from the library yesterday entitled "100Canadian Heroines-famous and forgotten faces"It is written by Merna Forster and it chronicles the lives and achievements of early Canadian women who were the pioneers of their day. Many became outstanding in their fields but, in spite of being women, they struggled against tremendous odds to eventually gain the respect of their peers. Some never overcame the odds but instead put a crack in the glass ceiling that would eventually lead other women to success. Not all of them are happy stories, but what comes through is the strength they had to go against the expectations of society and live their lives as they deemed fit. We, as women, have so much to be grateful to these early pioneers.
One of my favorite heroines is Nellie McClung. I have one of her books from 1918 that chronicle the adventures of Pte. Simmons who attempted to escape three times from a German POW camp during WW1. The third time was a charm and it is actually provides a fascinating read into the feelings of the public from that time era. It is her other activities that make her so inspiring. Feminist, politician, prohibitionist, lecturer, writer and one of the "Famous Five"- she LIVED her life.
As I read these stories over and over, I feel that I have the opportunity to change my life around and live it the way I WANT to instead of just going with the rivers' flow. I have options.
There are so many threads whirling in my head right now. I catch a thread and try to pull my thoughts together. There are just so many of them that it is exciting to try to envision the end result.
One of the threads I have managed to pull on involves a long held dream of mine to boost the tourist attraction of my little town, Thessalon. Nestled on the Huron Shore, we have nothing to inspire highway travellers to take the turnoff into our little town. There is no historical point of interest to entice people, we have little to offer in the way of dining, only ONE store of any merit (the rest are just overpriced average), a beautiful underused marina and a lovely beach that gets little use. The motel on the outskirts of town is overpriced and run by people that are just plain 'eccentric'. Their reputation is an embarrassment to the townspeople who wish they would just sell it already. Looking at old pictures from the towns' beginnings, Thessalon was busier and had more stores at the start of the 1900's than from the year 2000. Fires destroyed much of Main Street and the proprietors just gave up rather than rebuild. It's such a shame, because we have such a beautiful little town. It is just so much easier to drive to the Soo for supplies and a lot cheaper too. What could we possibly offer?
It has long been a dream of mine to start up either a museum or a festival of sorts, perhaps even both. The only problem was trying to figure out what. We have some amazing artists here in Algoma. The Group of Seven spent a lot of time painting in this area. Instead of focusing on pioneers, perhaps we could focus on the here and now. The first Canadian woman in space, Roberta Bondar, is from Algoma. Sheila Currie is a watercolor artist who has made several expeditions to the Arctic and taught in Africa. I was privileged to be a part of her campaign to start a school in Ghana. Perhaps we could start a living history. There is a lot to think about. I could even apply for a Trillium Grant or some other government grant to start this up. This is just one of the long threads I have been able to start unravelling.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
My Thoughts on the Inauguration
Today, the whole world watched as Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. His campaign promised "Change" and promoted chants of "Yes, we can". Now I hear him say "I think we can". I have agonized over the writing of this post and gone back to it many times to try and edit it. I worried too much about offending anybody who might read it but then I realized that I wasn't being true to myself and my feelings if I allowed anybody else's opinion to sway what I wrote.
As our neighbours to the south celebrate this day . . . I truly wish them well. It just seems like overkill.
The whole world has watched this spectacle and is waiting for a miracle. The merchandising of Obama has reached astronomical proportions and the media comments on his least little move. Look - here's a picture of Barack taking off his shirt. Well, he did promise "change" throughout his campaign. I just didn't think he was going to change his clothes in front of us. I thought that most people already knew how to take their shirts off. And as for puppies . . . why is the world so obsessed with what kind of dog is going to be in the White House? Perhaps the concern might arise from the worry that maybe Rover could possibly lift his leg against Lincoln's bed or chew some priceless antique. I find it all so confusing but I digress.
The whole world has been watching this election. Eight years of George W. Bush has left a bitter taste in people's mouths. It seems to be his destiny to go down in U.S.
history as the worst president ever. American politics tends to be more closely scrutinized because of the ripples it leaves on the rest of the world. Americans are in the worst shape their country has ever been in and right now they are pinning all their hopes on one man - Obama. He appeared from nowhere and yet his ingenious use of the internet and his by now famous blackberry catapulted him into super stardom. He won the endorsements of well known and well connected people, not the least being Oprah. The black community rallied around him as being their champion and saviour. He appealed to the average Joe and a lot of the funds in his campaign war chest was filled by the little people. This election cost over a BILLION dollars. Obama outspent all his rivals by at least 2-1.
I am simply amazed at the election process. First, the candidates in each party have to spend months campaigning within their own party to get nominated and they have to go state by state to be elected to their party. Then, the whole thing starts all over again with the parties squaring off against each other. It drags on forever. This election drew more first time voters and ended up with more people voting than ever before. People lined up for hours to cast their vote. The media was in a frenzy and it was fairly obvious that the media chose Obama. I believe that there was a lot more going on behind the scenes than we will know for quite awhile. It will eventually come out but for now - Obama is president. Even the events leading up to the Inaugural seemed to take forever.
The crowds were overwhelming. The cameras and the media all focused on the black community. If in doubt- point the camera at a black person. My daughter and I live on opposite sides of Canada and yet we were on the computer together sending messages back and forth to each other as we watched the Inaugural. Her attitude mimics mine - as Canadians we tend to take a rather dim view of politicians - and we spent most of our time joking about the whole thing. She shared a rather amusing story of her brother in law who jumped in his vehicle and headed off towards Seattle to be a part of the Inaugural celebration. He wanted to see this historic event for himself. I asked her if he knew he was heading in the wrong direction but she just put an evil faced little smiley on her post.
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