centre of the universe - the dreaming: Happy Snow Day!

02/28/2007: "Happy Snow Day!" Gah.
Stupid snow.
It's beautiful, of course, covering all the brown muck with non-brown muck...but my soul is pining for green. An art gallery up the road just moved, and they gave us all their plants, which is helping, but I'm so achingly tired of the cold snow sun, and the harsh glint of it off of ice crystals. There is an ice dam in our eaves, so we're getting some moisture damage on our ceiling, and I don't know how to clear ice dams other than to just get up there on a rickety ladder with a hair dryer and try to melt the damned thing (pardon the pun). I was going through photos last night of our summertime last year, and it bloody near brought me to tears. It's as if I can't see the beauty any longer in the skeletal trees, the thick down of snow on our yard and roof, and I'm missing the fun of following the animal tracks in my yard (cat, raccoon, squirrel, and deer) with the kids.

The whole province is in an uproar about the government employee who was charged with assault after sexually harassing nine members of his staff, because the government decided to pay him out nearly three years' severance pay rather than let him go to court with charges against said government of defamation of character and wrongful dismissal. There is just so much wrong with this situation, I don't even know where to start. The nine women involved, all together, received about a third of what he has received, in their court case against him, so not only were they violated, but their aggressor has made money off of their assaults. This, if nothing else, will make me vote against our current government in the next hellection.

That being said, the midwifery stuff is going ahead, with Saskatchewan moving towards including the services of a midwife under the SK Health plan, as well as establishing a midwifery college here. Currently, it is a four year program through nursing, I believe, with a focus on midwifery. I can hardly wait. I realise I have at least another 40 years to become a midwife, but even having to wait to get accepted to a program is going to drive me nuts. Not...strong...on the 'patience' thing. Anyhow, kudos to SK Government for FINALLY moving ahead with this initiative. More on that here

Remember to ask at your kids' schools what they're doing for Freedom to Read (EVERYTHING) week, and I'd also encourage you to contact your local media about it, because I have seen nothing at all in my local media about it. In today's paper, actually, there was an article about how some parents want some books removed from Scholastic's book order forms (that come home with your kids every month or so) because they are ...ummm... how did the article put it now... something about sexual stuff and not being age appropriate... right. They say it's too sexy. How does this fit in to Freedom to Read (EVERYTHING) week? The books are being offered for sale in a catalogue that is delivered to school children (most of whom, I would argue, know exactly what this product is *anyway*, and probably see more 'sexy' stuff on the beer commercials they watch, but let's try to stick to the point). The books aren't being pulled from library shelves (yet); they're not being pulled from stores (yet); but is this the thin edge of the wedge? It seems the issue isn't necessarily the libraries or stores having them, but the advertising of them in flyers that all school children receive. Then again, if you read the article a different way, it seems only a few short hops to "and once they've been removed from Scholastic's catalogues, shouldn't we try to also remove them from school libraries and classrooms?" Is it a marketing issue? Is it a censorship issue? What is the difference (or is there a difference) between an advertisement and a book?

"Freedom to Read Week" "Ending of the week"

2 Comments

chad , on Thursday, 1st March:

“There’s something to offend everyone in my library.”

Heh

Those were the shirts up on offer last night at my friendly neighbourhood library.

haunting_love , on Friday, 2nd March:

Now the scholastic thing just ticks me off to no end. Unfortunately Freedom to Read week at our school was over before I got the chance to read this post.

If you don't want your kids reading the books, don't order them. Don't push this on other parents who may be ok with the content of the books and the catalogues. Why should I not even have knowledge that such a book is out there just because you don't want your kids to read them?

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Ok...I feel better now.

distractions