Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Maria Klucznik, Maryse Leclair, Annie St. Arneault, Maud Haviernick, Michèle Richard, Maryse Laganière, Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier and Annie Turcotte.
sent this lovely remembrance...
Henry grew up in one of the south suburbs of Chicago, reared by a loving father and free-spirit mother, both now deceased. His "question authority" attitude was one of the guidelights for his friends in high school, and brought him to sanctuary in Quebec. When I last saw him at a memorial for his mother, he himself lit up when talking about beloved Wendy and children. He said his falling in love with Wendy, and in turn with each of the children, were completely unpredicted wonders in his life. His memory and example will be fondly cherished. J. Longley
have now been winterized. I wondered how these ergonomically stupid, aesthetically putrid benches were going to work in the winter, what with the snow + all. I somehow thought they'd be carted away, with further expense, + tucked away until next summer. I was so wrong. Instead, they got four little striped Danger! Danger! bedsteads to protect our threatened knee caps.
Oh my + these ridiculous slabs are parked in the smack dab in the middle of the Plateau which houses the greatest number of artists in ALL of Canada. Artists who would have appreciated a shot at designing actually cool + functional benches for their neighbourhood. Hopefully with Project Montreal now in power in the Plateau, things will change...?
Oh + re: the Project Montreal. They're talking a lot of making new green spaces. Super idea, especially if that includes green spaces for people who walk their dogs 365 days a year. And hey, how about some garbage cans? How is the urban forest supposed to stay clean without garbage cans?
My husband, who works in Calgary on what is slowing becoming a hit show on CBC called not If This is Sunday It Must Be Heartland, but just Heartland, Sunday night at 7:00, sent me this picture today. Hmmm. Go Als Go...?! (Everything I know about football, which is miniscule, I learned from Friday Night Lights.)
+9 to +6
"Canadian forces are actually suffering the most. They're mostly deployed in the southern Kandahar, which adjoins the province of Helmand, where the bulk of British troops are posted. Both are Taliban strongholds.
And, if wounded soldiers are factored in, a shocking picture emerges."
"This is probably why the Canadian government is not releasing its figures for wounded soldiers (It took a leak to the Canadian Press news agencyto get the figures). (Important: these figures include all wounded, not just seriously wounded. The Canadian figures for 2009 are estimates. As ever you can check my figures and sources in this Google spreadsheet.) "
All this + much more at the amazing Information is Beautiful site.
But now I know + the Kolinsky sable brushes are no longer on my Xmas list. Instead, I learn Robert Simmons "White Sables" are a good synthetic substitution, Santa.
The PQ under the leadership of Pauline Marois (who I believe is still trying to sell her 8 million dollar castle, I mean, chateau) is again making noises about limiting access to English CEGEPs. (CEGEPs are where most kids in Quebec go to after high school + before university + most of them are French institutions.) Many Quebec kids (16-18 year olds!) who have not learned English even though they were born ,
smack dab in the middle of North America leap at the opportunity to learn + master English at the CEGEP level, visions of Harvard or MIT or SFU or U of T dancing in their heads. This the PQ would once again, like to put an end to. Anglo kids, on the most part, unless they have a certificate of eligibility must attend French language elementary + high schools according to Bill 101 or they can go to a private school in the language of their choice if their parents can afford it. Quebec has the highest percentage of students attending private schools in Canada, perhaps even in North America. Maybe the world?!
These children of Bill 101 (the Anglos, the immigrants) have the opportunity of attending the Sorbonne or locally McGill after CEGEP, if their grades are up to snuff. As do the Francophone kids who pick up enough English at the few English campus CEGEPS in Quebec. Until or unless the PQ has their way.
Will the PQ seriously continue promoting restrictions on what language a sixteen to eighteen year old can STUDY in or is this just hot air? Is it even constitutionally legal in Canada?
It almost makes my head explode to think of this swarm of pensioned to the gills adults sitting around devising new ways to restrict the opportunities of young adults just embarking into this exceedingly difficult world!
Anecdotally...most everyone I know knows a friend whose kid knows the son or daughter of a hard-nosed PQ member or leader + the story is always similiar. That PQ member/leader's kid or grandkid is so no accent in either language bilingual it would make your head spin...+ is off to some swanky university in London or Boston, etc. + how did that happen? Because the separatist's kid went to school in Ontario...or in Vermont...or in New England, bypassing that local proletarian CEGEP thingie altogether.
Is it true? I wish some gung-ho investigative reporter or doctoral student would do their dissertation on the education history of the PQ leaders children in the last 25 years. That would make a dang good read, in either official Canadian language.