Community Thread (Off Topic)

[ue]

That looks very sweet.

[Trevor3]

I'd love to see the RNC get out on their horses more often in both St.John's (though they have been doing it more often, yes?) and Corner Brook. It's a great touch, makes them more visible and brings them closer to the people at the same time.

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah, there's at least two that go around all day, every day, on horseback. Mostly downtown.

[SignalHillHiker]

Some good news, for a change. I still love our Progressive Conservatives at heart, I just wish Danny would come back to lead them.

NL’s food insecurity dramatically reduced: study

The Newfoundland and Labrador Poverty Reduction Strategy has helped reduce the percentage of people on income support who struggle with affording food by almost 50 per cent.

That’s according to a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto. Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, a nutritional sciences professor, and her colleagues examined the state of food insecurity in Canada between 2007 and 2012. Tarasuk presented their findings at the Sheraton Hotel in St. John’s Saturday morning as part of the Canadian Nutrition Society’s 2014 Conference.

When they tabled their results and looked at the data from 2007 to 2012 for this province, Tarasuk said they were astonished.

“2011 jumped off the page for us,” she said on Saturday.

For that year the percentage of households affected by food insecurity in the province was 10.6 per cent — the lowest rate of food insecurity in Canada. The rate of food insecurity among households on income assistance in Newfoundland and Labrador fell from 60 per cent in 2007 to 34 per cent in 2012 — a period the study says coincides with a number of policy changes launched under the province’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The strategy is described on the provincial government’s website as “a government-wide approach to promoting self-reliance, opportunity, and access to key supports for persons vulnerable to poverty.” It also says the strategy currently includes more than 80 ongoing initiatives to help groups most vulnerable to food insecurity.

Although the period of time studied by Tarasuk and her group also coincides with a period of increasing economic wealth in the province, she says that’s not what caused the decrease in food insecurity. It’s not even about fewer people being on income support, she said.

“It’s about those people being less vulnerable.”

The number of people experiencing food insecurity in this province actually increased slightly from 2011 to 2012 but the percentage was still far less than in other parts of Canada. While 46 per cent of households in Newfoundland and Labrador whose main source of income was income assistance were food insecure in 2012, this rate ranged from 65 per cent in Ontario to 80 per cent in Alberta.

Tarasuk and her colleagues concluded that the extent of food insecurity is far greater than food bank use indicates and because food insecurity changed here so much due to policy, the problem of food insecurity itself is sensitive to policy changes in a way that food bank numbers are not.

“This is huge,” Tarasuk said on Saturday, pointing out that having the numbers fall as they did in this province means that literally thousands of people were less insecure when it came to food.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...ced%3A-study/1

[SignalHillHiker]

Drone flight through the arch.

• Video Link

[SignalHillHiker]

It's been 100 years since one of the most prominent, if unofficial, banishments in Newfoundland's history. It was an official thing to which one could be sentenced for various crimes, but it was rarely handed down by judges officially. However, the government made sure...

N.L. marks 100 years since artist Rockwell Kent suspected of spying

Rockwell Kent, the American painter and writer who famously illustrated “Moby Dick,” was also a German-speaking rogue who so riled his neighbours in Brigus that he was expelled for his own safety.

It was 1914, the First World War was underway and many people thought Kent was a spy.

He had visited Dresden in his youth, spoke German and sang lieder — 19th-century German poetic songs — while poking fun at growing suspicions. His open retaliation included a sign posted on his cottage on a seaside cliff just outside Brigus.

It read: “Private. Chart Room. Wireless Station. Bomb Shop.” Kent, wearing a painted-on Kaiser moustache, posed for a photo in front of it.

Events this past week and later this summer marking the 100th anniversary of his tumultuous, 17-month stay in Newfoundland have revived interest in a story even many local people don’t know.

...

“Americans feel that he was extradited almost. Newfoundlanders were quoting letters from the period that said he had really just been asked to leave.

“But from what I can understand, he was given the tickets for his family to go back to America, he was given a deadline and he was told that the government couldn’t vouch for his safety if he decided to stay.”

Kent, his wife Kathleen, and their four young children left in July 1915 to go back to the U.S.

...

Kent, a lifelong socialist who denied ever being a member of the Communist party, loudly voiced his views even at his own peril, Lewis said. His legal battle in the 1950s when he was refused a passport on suspicion of being a Communist led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling. It declared travel a constitutional right that can’t be stripped without due process.

In an interview at the time, Kent compared the ordeal to a woman who takes a man’s pants to keep him from going out.

“They’ve stolen my pants in taking my passport. And I want my pants back.”

Lewis recounted how Kent first arrived in Newfoundland in 1910 with plans to set up an art school in an empty fish plant in Burin. That fell apart when word came that Kent’s extramarital lover was expecting a child in Boston.

He moved to Brigus in February 1914 in search of a place to immerse himself in his painting. His wife joined him in the spring of that year. They had their fourth child while living in the Brigus house and would have a fifth before divorcing in 1926. Kent would marry, divorce and marry again.

His paintings still hang in galleries ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The 200-year-old Brigus house on four protected hectares is now restored as an artist’s retreat called the Kent Cottage at Landfall overseen by the Landfall Trust charity.

It is a well-loved gathering place for workshops and events. And it now features a new female figurehead over the main entrance. She is a replica of a protective wooden ship’s carving that Kent restored, along with what he called her “bosom of disturbing opulence,” and hung over the cottage doorway.

On June 21, Kent’s birthday, the Landfall Trust and carver Vince Jones will dedicate the new figurehead.

Stone said with a laugh that she can think of one other fitting tribute.

“She deserves to be called Kathleen.”

[SignalHillHiker]

The Guardian's feature on the 7 Deadly Digital Sins includes our own Mary Walsh.

Should be interesting to see. And, of course, I love it when the British casually include us in their things.

• Video Link

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh my God.

Boy faces racism and extreme bullying in Westport

An 11-year-old boy on the Baie Verte Peninsula is the victim of racism and extreme bullying, and his family said they're at their breaking point.

Torrence Collier is the only black kid in the town of Westport, which has a population of a couple hundred people.

The Colliers moved back to Westport from Alberta about a year and a half ago.

The family said soon after the move, the bullying began, along with physical assaults.

"I feel kind of scared," said Torrence Collier. "And I ask myself, 'Why does everybody hate me so much?'"

Heather Collier said her son endures endless slurs and threats at St. Peter's Academy in Westport every day.

She said comments included the N-word, as well as other insults like "rapist."

Torrence Collier said the insults are tough.

"I feel horrible about myself," he said. "And sometimes, I wonder if they're right. If I am all those things that they call me."

Heather Collier said the issue came to a head in March, when she found a handwritten note.

"He had stated in there, that he wanted to die, and he couldn't take the daily bullying any more," she said.

The Colliers said for their son, school is now more like a prison. Torrence Collier is supervised during the entire school day, and uses a separate washroom to avoid attacks.

He has been approved to transfer to a school in nearby Baie Verte in September.

But his mother said she worries that even if they can manage the longer commute, it might not solve the situation.

"Where do we go? How do we stop this?" Heather Collier asked.

"Because even if he does go [to] Copper Ridge School, we still got the concern with the summer."

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District said in a statement that it has held diversity and anti-bullying presentations for all students at St. Peter's Academy.

The school board also said that a director will be sent out to speak with parents in the coming days.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...port-1.2671343

[SteelTown]

^ That's so sad to read.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm speechless. But, in hindsight, not surprised. I know a gay guy from Westport who shared some horror stories. Such a difference from Lanier Phillips' story.

Someone started a Facebook group to show support:

https://www.facebook.com/SupportforTorrence

[Elmira Guy]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh my God.

Boy faces racism and extreme bullying in Westport



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...port-1.2671343

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District said in a statement that it has held diversity and anti-bullying presentations for all students at St. Peter's Academy.

The school board also said that a director will be sent out to speak with parents in the coming days.

This will do absolutely nothing!

[SignalHillHiker]

Shaun Majumder, a Newfoundlander whose father is East Indian, reached out to Torrence:

Dear Torrence Collier of Wesport NL. You are a great kid. You are a cool kid. You have a million talents and can do anything in the world you ever dream of. I mean that. ANYTHING.
You are the only Torrence Collier on this awesome planet, and no one can ever take that away from you. Listen, people can be really mean sometimes. Not just those mean kids in your class... but everywhere. People are mean because one of the only ways they can feel good about themselves is by putting someone down or calling them names. It makes them feel tough. Makes them feel like they are somehow powerful. Its not powerful, its cowardly.
BULLIES AREN'T COOL. Never have and never will be.
Listen when I was living in NL, in both Baie Verte and Burlington, I too looked a little out of place in a tiny outport. My father is E. Indian and Mom was white. So I got a lot of questions asked, but no one was ever as cruel as those kids in your town. But I learned to roll with questions about why I was different. But even if they did say something mean from time to time, it didn't matter, because I knew who I was I would just laugh at them. They were wrong. And so are those kids in your class. You are a great kid. You are a cool kid. Don't let them get you down. Focus on what you LOVE TO DO. Focus on who you are. Let them be who they want to be. You can't ever change that.
BULLY'S ARE COWARDS.
To Torrence's Friends. You guys, the time is now. Step up and tell Torrence how awesome he is. And Torrence you turn around and tell them how awesome you are!
And to the Bullies. If you are really tough... if you are truly powerful, show some serious courage, and give Torrence a hug and say your sorry. That's corageous.
I hope to meet you some day Torrence! I want you to meet my Dogs Jazzy, Freddy and now their best friend India. Come on down to Burlington! All the best, and if you ever need to chat just send me a DM.
Love is way cooler than Fear.
You go Torrence!

Love it!

And schools across the province are reaching out to him with cards, etc. The Facebook group now has more than 10,000 members.

Here's what one elementary in the capital is doing:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada...ID/2464198254/

*****

But, holy shit, that town has issues. Their reaction to the story is becoming the story at least here in Newfoundland. Everyone is thinking... WTF is wrong with these people?



And just to save my sanity... some evidence that they're not all bad:

Lanier Phillips, civil rights pioneer, laid to rest

Lanier Phillips was an 18-year-old mess attendant on the USS Truxtun when it and another ship, the USS Pollux, ran aground in southern Newfoundland in February 1942 after a navigational error.

The disaster saw 203 sailors lose their lives. Another 186 — including Phillips — survived. Residents of the small Newfoundland towns of Lawn and St. Lawrence pulled them up sheer cliffs to safety.

Phillips marvelled at how he was treated by his rescuers — exactly the same as the white survivors.

"They changed my way of thinking and it erased all of the hatred within me," Phillips told CBC News in February.

Phillips said his experience in St. Lawrence was life-altering. He went on to become the first African-American sonar technician in the U.S. Navy, and became active in the civil rights movement — inspired by Martin Luther King and his personal experiences in Newfoundland.

"Because of that tragedy, I joined up with Dr. King," Phillips said in a recent interview before his death. "I just had to join up with Dr. King and that's because of the change they did for me in St. Lawrence."

Phillips was there for the seminal events of the U.S. civil rights movement in 1965, including the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...rest-1.1218991

[SignalHillHiker]

A great point from The Independent.

Speaking from my own perspective as a man, it is uncomfortable to feel as though I am being lumped into such a broad category, but at the same time I feel that #notallmen (the Twitter hashtag for the discursive intervention) has been important in jarring my thinking about the pervasiveness of violence against women in our society. And indeed, as the blogger elledeeve at Bitchtopia suggested, women recognize it is true that not all men are violent towards women. However, the vital takeaway of #notallmen (at least as I understand it) is that when men use such phrases it closes off the discussion exactly at the point from which it should depart, i.e. the underlying systemic nature of patriarchy and violence against women.

As uncomfortable as it may be, white-Canadian society needs to take a long look in the mirror and try to understand the way racism is, like the example of violence against women, conditioned by an underlying structural context. It is not surprising that on the heels of #notallmen that the hashtag #notallwhitepeople has similarly come to prominence in social media. It is not enough to simply condemn the speech and actions of individuals or to express moral outrage about particular incidents like that experienced by Torrence Collier.

Without serious consideration of the systemic racism inherent in white-Canadian society, apparently isolated cases of overt racism will surely persist.

http://theindependent.ca/2014/06/12/....sQlOmyBv.dpuf

[SignalHillHiker]

Newfoundland's Emma Peckford is a finalist in an Ottawa music competition:

Hi friends! The time has finally come for me to announce some very big news. As many of you know, I entered a competition called She's the One in April. This competition is a nation wide search for emerging female artists aged 13 to 19. There were 10 finalists picked out of many, many talented young girls... and I am completely blown away to say that I am one of them! I will be travelling to Ottawa next month to perform at the Ottawa RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest for the finals. I am so honoured to have this incredible opportunity, and I thank each and everyone of you for the support

• Video Link

And, on a similar note, the Newfound Talent search is on again:



Eligibility details: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=...&id=e47828d058

[SignalHillHiker]

One of my favourite coworkers at our Montreal office just sent me this.





The only consolation: she forgot Nova Scotia existed. She thought Halifax was Newfoundland and St. John's was New Brunswick.

[Architype]

Here is a nice tourist piece on St. John's. Nicely done, but see how many inappropriate captions and erroneous facts you can find. The "Royal University Hospital" is really nice too, I wonder which part of St.John's it is in?

http://canadaalive.wordpress.com/201...-newfoundland/

Founded by John Cabot (hence the namesake) in 1497 as a small fishing stop-over, it grew into a full scale colony by the beginning of the 16th Century. In 1583 it was captured by the British and renamed “Elizabeth I” before it was conquered by the Dutch in 1665, and then by the French in 1689, by the British again and once again by the French. After the 7 Year’s War and the Treaty of Paris, St John’s was permanently ceded to the British, who turned it into a fortified naval base.

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Architype

Here is a nice tourist piece on St. John's. Nicely done, but see how many inappropriate captions and erroneous facts you can find. The "Royal University Hospital" is really nice too, I wonder which part of St.John's it is in?

http://canadaalive.wordpress.com/201...-newfoundland/

"Memorial University is the only school in the world that offers a PhD Brewmeister program!"

???

[SignalHillHiker]

Is it an Alternate Reality website? :Haha:

[Marty_Mcfly]

There's so much wrong with that article...I can't.....did this person even visit the city?

[J_Murphy]

http://www.harbourage.ca/

Hey Rosetta
Matt Mays
Elliott Brood
Repartee