HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Just a little nationalistic wish for everyone to have a great July 1st Canada Day long weekend!

Go, Canada! 

Tomorrow I might add the words for all 4 verses of O Canada (I still remember Des b*tching about that when Dawn D. was in the choir for the opening ceremonies of the Pan American Games back in the last century!). He certainly wasn't alone in thinking that this had been something invented for the spectacle. However, the words are very old ... even if we don't learn about them in school anymore.

Now, I am wondering: are there 4 verses in French, too? I'll have to check and see.

Well, I was able to find the words for all 4 verses of O Canada, predictably enough, from a wonderful page entitled
National Anthem: O Canada = Hymne national du Canada, on the Government of Canada site.

There is a wealth of other material there, all of it easily accessible via the wonderfully detailed index of links on the left. Now this is our tax dollar spent well. Thank you to the government web designers for making such a great resource for all of us ... especially for the students. You couldn't have made it any more convenient for them to find (although I do wonder why Google did bring this great page up higher in the results hierarchy).

The link to the English version of the page is

     Canadian Heritage – Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion – National Anthem: O Canada
     URL <http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_e.cfm>


and the address for the French rendition of the page is


     Patrimoine canadien – Cérémonial et promotion des symboles canadiens – National Anthem: O Canada
     URL <http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_f.cfm>

Each page provides the full history of both the text and music — including notation of the differences between the versions (demonstrated through literal translation of the first verses of each language rendition, which constitute the respective official version of that national anthem — as well as the sheet music, free MP3 downloads, information on the ceremonial aspects of the anthem, and clearance for use of the anthem (it is public domain as noted).   

Now, although I realise this is repetitive, here are the texts for the four stanzas of the English version, as currently combined ...

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

... et en suite, les quatre strophes en français [and next, the four verses in French], which have demonstrated much greater continuity and consistency over the years:

O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

Sous l'oeil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant,
Le Canadien grandit en espérant,
Il est né d'une race fière,
Béni fut son berceau;
Le ciel a marqué sa carrière
Dans ce monde nouveau.

Toujours guidé par Sa lumière,
Il gardera l'honneur de son drapeau,
Il gardera l'honneur de son drapeau.

De son patron, précurseur du vrai Dieu,
Il porte au front l'auréole de feu;
Ennemi de la tyrannie,
Mais plein de loyauté,
Il veut garder dans l'harmonie
Sa fière liberté.
Et par l'effort de son génie,
Sur notre Sol asseoir la vérité,
Sur notre Sol asseoir la vérité!

Amour sacré du trône et de l'autel
Remplis nos coeurs de ton souffle immortel.
Parmi les races étrangères
Notre guide est la foi;
Sachons être un peuple de frères,
Sous le joug de la loi;
Et répétons comme nos pères
Le cri vainqueur: «Pour le Christ et le Roi»
Le cri vainqueur: «Pour le Christ et le Roi».

(In French thus, there is essentially no change to the original poem penned by Adolphe-Basile Routhier in 1880. The first couplet was proclaimed the official French version of the national anthem in 1980.)

The history of the first stanza in English is rather complicated and this bears some attention: written by Stanley Weir in 1908, it was altered by G.V. Thompson in 1970, and modified again slightly pursuant to the National Anthem Act in 1980 by the change of the third line in the first verse to "God keep our land"; originally, it was — as most in my age cohort or older remember — "The True North strong and free"; the original version is not, however, familiar to most Canadians, who mistake the 1970 version to be the original!).

The original version is thus (N.B. the difference, highlighted here in red):

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada!
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!


Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada! etc.

Given the increasing religiosity expressed in the succeeding verses, in both languages (admittedly, the French starts out more that way), it is no wonder that the increasingly secular state has not endorsed them as official and thus that most Canadians remain ignorant of them. I cannot remember even once being taught that the original poems had more than one verse.

And what a surprise it was to find that there were more stanzas out there! I have always felt it a shame that the second verse, in particular — celebrating the natural beauty of the land — is not more widely known. It seems especially appropriate nowadays, with our heightened environmental awareness.



The only reason I came to know about any of this at all was, weirdly enough, because of a little red Gideon's New Testament ♦ Psalms, [and] Proverbs pocket Bible.

These were distributed at my school, Margaret Park Elementary, March 13, 1975, in my Grade IV year (illegally? it isn't very clear if there was actual adequate permission obtained, but I am grateful nonetheless) gave another version, the ultimate source of which I have so far been unable to confirm.

In any case, the 3-stave text presented in the little red Gideon's NT/PP (p.xxix) is as follows:

O Canada! Our home, our native land,
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free;
And stand on guard O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

Chorus:
    O Canada! Glorious and free!
    We stand on guard, we stand on guard for thee.
    O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North strong and free!

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast thro' the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our Fatherland [,] our Motherland!
Our True North, strong and free!

(Although I realise that this version must date from an earlier era, the jingoism in that final couplet is both striking and jarring: it would be very interesting to know who penned it and when. It seems so unCanadian!)

And there we have it.

Happy Canada Day!
Joyeux fête national à tous!




To end, two more personal notes ...

I remember, as a boy, being told by my parents to be proud to be Canadian. I also remember that reading the anthem in that little red book was the first time I ever did. Part of the power of music, I believe.

And as my friends from Massey may remember, music is one of the few things that actually silences me. ;-D I fondly remember having never missed a chance to be at the musicology table.

I listened with such quiet and concentration to Roxanne Carlisle's wonderful stories — of gathering folk music, ethnomusicology in Africa and Asia, graduate life at Columbia, living with Bela Bartok, etc., etc. — that I also remember being questioned as to whether I was paying attention, since, as all know, it is my wont to show interest by joining in (Parents, be careful what you train your children to do!).

"I have nothing to add," I replied, "and this is what I'm like when I'm enraptured."

God bless, Roxanne (wherever she is now) and all the musically talented people of our societies. I cannot imagine a world without them.

As Pride Month Continues:2 Pamphlets for Queer Youth and You

Discovering once again the limitations of dear old FirstClass Embanet — of course, after having first spent 3+ hours formatting the full text of my marketing proposal report in the mail editor only to find that it doesn't like full formatting and has a definite size restriction — I thrilled to discover that I couldn't actually include the pamphlets (at any size) even though I referenced them specifically in the paper.

A few days later it hit me that I could use the blog to finish that off, and offer something of potential use to others as well. With everything else doing, it took me more than a few days to find the time to upload these.

While I was wrong about the possibility of embedding DOC or PDF files (thanks for that info, Gail, I just assumed it was my ignorance) — and I can't afford to host them anywhere else for the time being — I can forward the Word file version of these to anyone interested.

I created the original versions of these back in 2000 while working as volunteer Library Coordinator at the Rainbow Resource Centre, and followed up on them with substantial reformatting for a library school assignment.

The text itself, as is noted, is from OutProud and is re-used and modified under the terms given when that text was first downloaded and adapted. Under current copyright laws, those conditions remain in force. Any further alterations should thus be sure to give the original source and allow further permission to continue modification.

(Saying all that now, I wonder if I might be able to upload the DOC files to Creative Commons? If so, I'll modify this post to let interested folks know.)

In the meantime, here are the reduced-size images of the 2 pamphlets in question. They are still legible ... with a little effort.

The first is a list of websites of potential interest to queer youth, officially entitled Some Cool Sites for Queer Youth (also given the deliberately exaggerated and silly title — ad usum vulgum — of Chillin' Cyberspotz 4 Rad Boiz and Kewl Grrlz!!):

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The second, geared more to younger queer teens, is an exhortation to safe surfing, entitled: Watching Out For Yourself In Online Relationships: Some Tips for LesBiGay Teens:

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Bargain Buy at Dollarama Now

Just a real quick note to let you know that if you have a few extra dollars to spend, various of the Dollarama franchises have copies of the Time for Kids Almanac 2006.

Yes, it may be a year late, but for $1.13, it is worth it to satisfy the trivia fans. Perfect for elementary and middle school audiences.

Check it out while supplies last!

Pesky Paleogeographic Problem: On Comets, and Dinos and Extinctions (oh my!)

Does this image look at all familiar to you?



How about this one?



No, these are not images of the newest extra-solar planets. We're probably about a decade or two away from imaging our newly discovered neighbour in Gliese this well.

If they're not terribly familiar, don't be too hard on yourself. There's a good reason.

Not nearly enough textbooks — or any books for young people for that matter — show proper images of what the Earth actually looked like according to our best science when the dinosaurs lived (or earlier).

One book I consulted at Elwick Library while subbing recently for Hilary March, implied — through omission, actually — that North America was the same then as now. (It had a very misleading passage on dinosaurs being located in Texas, neglecting to mention that 'Texas' was actually coastline and underwater at that point.)

As the substitute teacher I was talking with about this agreed, all this becomes very confusing when you try to explain to children where things like the KT impact actually took place. That's the Cretaceous (K) Tertiary (T) impact, where a large object (let's not argue over what for the time being) struck the Earth and caused an extinction level event (ELE), ending the reign of the dinosaurs (and 90+% of all life on Earth).

It's all very nice that there are lovely interpretative illustrations in most children's books showing fleeing or frightened or frying dinosaurs. (Of course, my sympathies are with the mammals.) It's just that it doesn't help to let children develop a notion that they won't be disabused of until they take a university course in paleontology or geology in 10 or more years time (if ever).

In the meantime, would it kill publishers to include an actual image from a real science text? I remember quite well that my history textbooks used to have reproductions of historic paintings and photographs of famous historical sites. And colour printing has come a long way in those 20+ years.

Next year, when you are providing resources to classes working on dinosaur projects, or Earth history, do remind your patrons that the Earth was changing right along with the life living on it.

The images above and many other marvellous recreations, the work of a real scientist, Prof. Christopher R. Scotese, can be found at

     Earth History: The Paleomap Project
       URL <http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm>

And if you want to find a fantastic video to show off — something that will make the kids think you totally rock and the teachers think you really know your stuff — check out these two animations.

The first — what I was originally looking for but couldn't find when first writing this post — is on GoogleVideo, a quite scientific animation, created and uploaded by Radek Michalik of the Science Institute, Columbia College, Chicago.

It is one of very few that actually tries to show a timeline of the impact and its consequences. If you watch very closely, you'll also see that it respects the true paleogeography of the era: when it pans over the 'Yucatan' area (point of impact), it shows it as it was, underwater, along with the middle sea of North America.



KT Asteroid Impact [Animation]
URL <http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1226636845358052872>

The second — the one I was able to find when first writing this post — is a YouTube video uploaded by Art Techuk (and purportedly from NASA) which offers some incredible animations of the ELE that took out the dinosaurs 65 mya and what we might do to prevent a similar catastrophe:



     Earth Impact [Animation]
       URL <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXDRJtL3d8>

While I think these are the two best, with a little exploration on GoogleVideo and YouTube, you'll find a half dozen more, each with something interesting to offer. (There are many truly amateur videos by kids that show that creativity, imagination and the inspiration of this subject matter are all alive and well.)

Good digging!


(revised June 6, 2007)

That Ten Thousand Villages is an excellent source for books on multi-cultural topics (especially the Third World/Developing World countries), environmental consciousness (ecology and Earth Day) and human rights (children's rights included). Check it out.

They will even arrange a discount and they do accept P/O's. (The closest store to our division located across from the River East Health Care Centre off Henderson Hwy.)

Good news for GCCI! East and West Come Together At Last

As some in Seven Oaks might have missed the front page article from The Times (Thursday, May 17, 2007), — especially if you don't live in the division — I thought I could archive an image of the article here.

(If I remember correctly, the publishing group has given a waiver for non-commercial reproduction directly related to school business. It can't get more related than this.)





I was so happy for the staff and students when I read this. I bumped into Principal Medwick outside the G.C. Staples just before the long weekend and he looked like he was still floating on air (of course, the long weekend probably helped with that, too).

It'll be great for the students to have all that extra space. And a real cafeteria.

And I couldn't help thinking that that would no doubt be welcome news for Glory Boyce, given the kids' terrible habits of grinding food into the carpet and hiding refuse on the shelves (or do they only do that to subs, Glory?).

Anyway, congratulations to G.C.C.I.

Stet fortuna domum!

Happy Pride Month to All & Antihomophobia All Year Long!

Given that it is, — no, check that, was, — the opening weekend of Winnipeg's Pride Week festivities this past weekend — "Pride" for those of you unclear is the annual celebration of being alive for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirited and otherwise queer folk and their friends and supporters — I should probably honour the occasion with something appropriately queer-positive here.

It's not like I got out this weekend and had any fun. The computer made sure of that.

(Oh, who am I kidding anyway?! Anyone who knows me knows I'm basically agoraphobic, terrified of crowds, hate parades and can't stand loud parties. Only the desperation to flight fueled by fighting for the last 72+ hours with this obstinate silicon beastie would make braving Pride celebrations seem something desirable. Well, that and the prospect to see a few old friends and visit the book tent and see the tchotchelekhs on display this year. And that funny word is Yiddish, BTW, not gay code for anything untoward).

Anyway, back to the queer-positive thing.

Since I was fighting away earlier with the computer just trying to submit my late marketing assignment — promoting library services for queer youth at a slightly fictionalised and idealised version of the Rainbow Resource Centre Library — I had it in mind that I should probably include something in the blog (besides the eye candy in the header image) that would help out some queer youth.

Of course, all of this is really due to our instructor Gail Shackleton's endorsement of FaceBook. (Thanks for that introduction, Gail: I am now completely addicted, although I understand there's a FaceBook Group for FaceBook Addiction called FaceBook Anonymous ... will have to look into that.) In any case, I spent several of the increasingly few hours this monstrous computer cooperated in the past week poking about FaceBook (not in the FB sense mind you), seeing who's out there.

And lo and behold I came across the profile of a handsome young lad (no smarmy thoughts, please) by the name of Jonny Sopotiuk — who even had a guest appearance on our local Breakfast Television show, though he did seem a tad bleary-eyed, as I would have been if I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. to be there (a detail noted from his FB status, BTW) — and young Jonny had just been hired as the Youth Liaison summer student for the Rainbow Resource Centre! (His "dream job" selon his FB profile. Congrats, Jonny! If you like it, may it last forever!)

And this reminded me of my years there as volunteer library coordinator. And the youth I had worked with and enjoyed helping then, as well as the queer youth I encounter in Seven Oaks schools these days.

So inspired by this circuitous path of logic (let's pretend), I dug up a sheet that I had prepared for a presentation way back in Red River College days, something that I had hoped would help inspire my classmates then towards a little more sensitivity and tolerance. Here's hoping this may help some of you ... and thus some of the queer youth who are in the libraries around you, whether you know it or not.

Since I haven't figured out how to link a PDF or DOC file yet (if that is possible; probably it is), I'll just have to rely on good-fashioned typing to relate


WHAT YOU CAN DO ...

As an individual straight person, there are lots of things you can do to demonstrate your opposition to homophobia, heterosexism and other discrimination against queer people.
You don't have to be an activist or in-your-face confrontationalist to help change the world.

Here are 10 simple things you can do
to fight hatred everyday:
1. Make no assumptions about a person's sexuality or sexual orientation.


2. Have something gay-related and queer positive visible in your office or workspace.
A "Straight But Not Narrow" postcard from PFLAG is ideal!
A fridgie magnet like the one to the right works great on a file cabinet or metal door or window casement


3. Validate others' feelings about their sexual identity.
Something as simple as thanking someone who has just come out to you for sharing who they are and trusting you has an enormous impact on self-esteem

4. Respect people's confidences. (Outing is outlawed!)

5. Challenge homophobia — immediately, sincerely, consistently.
You don't have to put yourself at risk or try to cause a scene,
but bigots, like bugs, can only keep buzzing when no one stands up to swat them!


6. Educate yourself! Read a book on queer life!
Try starting with a biography of someone you admire who you just
found out is queer.
Or, if you are a cinema fan, try a film: there are hundreds now. Many straight librarians are lucky enough to have access to a fantastic book, actually written for queer youth, but of relevance to anyone who works with them or supports them in their struggles. It is called Free Your Mind. Check to see if it is in your collection and add at least a part of it to your summer reading list!

7. Learn about and refer others to community organisations or groups.
One straight librarian in the U.S. even put bookmarks with contact information for her community's queer youth group in books in her public library! (God bless the ALA!) In after session discussion at the Manitoba Library Association Conference back in 2000, our then CLA president remarked that she thought this was an excellent practice, in keeping with the best policies on intellectual freedom that the CLA consistently tries to promote and support!

8. Confront heterosexism in others and in yourself: start by being sensitive to your own language-use.
Words do hurt and can make people feel excluded, even if you don't mean to.

9. Encourage adoption and enforcement of anti-discrimination policies explicitly including sexual orientation in schools and other group environments.
Make it clear that you don't want your kids or their friends to be victimised by any form of intolerance.

10. Be a role model of acceptance by being visibily supportive.
(Hey, this one is easy! If you try to do any of the above, you've already got it down!)



Okay. PSA done. Stepping off the soapbox now. Go in peace.
Pax vobiscum. Barukhechem ba-bayim, barukhechem ba-tzetekhem.

Inaugural blog-gerel!

Well, better late than never I suppose.

Truly, if anybody from class actually does read this — which ain't all that likely now, this being so late and all — I really am wondering if I am the only person whose computer really hates him in the world.

And don't even get me started on FirstClass. For another course, we're told we can't submit things as attachments, fine, but that we can format to our little hearts content within the context of a message. But wait! Not too much.

How much is too much? Well, let's say I think the limit must be somewhere before 3 hours worth of reformatting!!!

(We won't even talk about the number of computer crashes this weekend, or the hours spent typing and retyping. I think I'm going to cry.)

Yes, that's how long I spent fighting to get the formatting from my original RTF saved document into an e-mail that should have been able to be sent to an instructor's Embanet mailbox.

Alas, not.

Even with reduction, it wouldn't work. (BTW: did anyone else find that FirstClass tries to upload and attach the original image even if you only tried to insert a reduced-size version in an e-mail message?)

But, hey, I don't feel too bad. Not only were the online manual instructions wrong (verified with technical support: thanks, Samir!) but even technical support had trouble getting the blasted thing into the Submissions folder.

And now, class, for a little Latin lesson before I devolve and decline completely:

Stephanus odet abacum modernum suum in aeternum.

Bonus marks to anyone who can translate that or otherwise gets it empathically.

A gift certificate to your choice of the Keg or the Olive Garden (or whatever you have out your way that you might like) if you did it or think you could have without a dictionary at 3:00 a.m.!

.
.
.

<panting from near heart attack>

I thought I just lost this. Darn anti-virus shield, anti-pop-up thing .... <grumble, grumble>