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The librarians of the Toronto Public Library, CUPE local 4948, are currently in negotiations with the City. Toronto wants to keep branch libraries open longer, at the expense of paid professional staff. From People Make Libraries Work: Libraries are more than just bricks and mortar. They're the heart and soul of the communities they serve. Our libraries are places where people go to discover, learn and improve, where knowledgeable and skilled staff help their neighbours in so many different ways. Toronto offers the best and busiest free library service in the world, with a wonderful reputation for being community-based and providing innovative services to users. Better libraries mean better service. Better does not mean more open hours with reductions in full-time staff. That's what the Toronto Public Library Board wants to do — stay open to midnight with no professional librarians and many more part-time staff (with few or no benefits), get rid of reference desks and drastica

From the Things I Thought I'd Never See Department, I am depressed and disgusted that Jack Layton and the New Democrats will prop up the Harper Government. At long, long last, the normally spineless Liberals finally decide they're ready to pull the trigger, and the NDP takes the gun out of their hands. "Canadians don't want another election" doesn't play for me. Canadians don't need Stephen Harper as Prime Minister, and need every opportunity to attempt to oust him. For reasons wmtc readers articulated before the last election , I feel strongly that our present government is bad for Canada. I'm not overjoyed at the prospect of an Ignatieff-led government, but at least I'd be hopeful for an improvement. If Jack Layton is trying to prove that his party is not obstructionist, or that the Liberals don't lead them by the nose, he does so at the expense of his party's principles. And since principles are all the NDP has, Layton is a disgrace. It

The spectacle surrounding celebrated filmmaker and convicted rapist Roman Polanski is truly disgusting. Somehow the fact that he committed his crime 30 years ago is supposed to mitigate the fact of the crime itself. In other words, if you can successfully evade justice for long enough, it's as if you didn't commit a crime at all! His victim's opinions are interesting, but irrelevant. Apparently she has healed, and that's as it should be. But this wasn't a civil suit. In a criminal action, the accused is prosecuted by the state. If you drug and rape a 13-year-old girl, and you are actually arrested, prosecuted and convicted, your status as an artist - or anything else - should also be irrelevant. Perhaps we can't blame Polanski for trying to dodge prison, but Debra Winger et al. defending him is unconscionable. And yet again , Whoopi Goldberg shows herself to be a tool for the patriarchy, defending male cruelty: " it wasn't rape-rape ". Listen up,

Without a doubt, the coolest thing I've learned at school so far is RefWorks. RefWorks is an application you can use to create citations and bibliographies, and it's available (free) to all University of Toronto students. It's quite amazing. The RefWorks website describes the software this way: RefWorks -- an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. If you need to manage information for any reason -- whether it be for writing, research or collaboration -- RefWorks is the perfect tool. Wmtc readers who are university professors or more recent graduates probably know all about this, but to me it's an incredible revelation. To understand why I am so enthusiastic, journey back with me to Ye Olden Days, when we typed a little numeral 1 - manually moving the roller on our typewriters to make it superscript. Th

Have you seen Bionic Liberal ? It's a blog not written by Michael Ignatieff. Go. Enjoy. Don't miss the FAQ on the sidebar.

While we were in New Mexico, our dogsitter made this video of Tala. She is howling at Huskies howling on YouTube!

Thousands of Albertans line up for free potatoes Winnipeggers drive around city looking for free stuff In Edmonton, organizers sought to highlight locally grown food. In Winnipeg, the City encouraged a "freecycle" fest, where residents left unused items on the curb for others to grab. Both great ideas, both good causes. But man oh man, is this ever Canadian. Don't get me wrong. People from the US love free stuff, too. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a New Yorker who has never picked up something from the curb to call their own. But the first thing I thought of when I read these stories was my co-worker who, after working all day, drove to three different grocery stores to shop for dinner, because "the peppers are a little less" in one place, and the tomatoes are a little cheaper in the other. Posts like these inevitably draw some defensive comments from readers explaining the joys of frugality. So let me emphasize that I'm not disparaging this tendency

Two letters from the Toronto Star , both answering a disgusting, ignorant letter writer. I am proud to live in a city full of "bleeding hearts" who support U.S. Iraq war resisters. Thankfully, support is widespread across the country. That is because we all watched in horror as George W. Bush launched an illegal war of aggression based on lies – no weapons of mass destruction were ever found. Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed, maimed or sent fleeing as refugees. More than 4,000 U.S. soldiers died in a war that a majority of the world opposed. For us to deport U.S. soldiers of conscience to jail for speaking out against the Iraq war is an affront to freedom of speech we claim to cherish. For Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to continue to ignore two majority motions passed in Parliament is a threat to democracy and Gerard Kennedy's bill seeks to remedy this injustice. This bill tells the world that Canada still does not su

War resister Joshua Key - co-author, with Lawrence Hill , of The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq - is on a speaking tour of 13 western Canadian cities. The excellent writer, thinker and activist Paul S. Graham has posted video of Josh's first talk: Part One , Part Two , and Part Three . I regard The Deserter's Tale as the single best way to learn about Iraq War resisters: why people join the US military, what they find in Iraq, what happens when they try to leave. It's also an excellent read: you won't be able to put it down. Many thanks to Paul for producing these videos and making them available. Paul has also posted the itinerary for Josh's tour .

In light of Bill C-440 in support of US war resisters in Canada , there's a letters-to-the-editor battle raging in several newspapers from BC to St. John's. I've been receiving the letters by email, and let me tell you, the other side is out in full force with mouths foaming. If you support Bill C-440, and believe people who refused to participate in the US invasion and occupation of Iraq should be welcome in Canada, please take a few minutes and write to your local newspaper. Since the right-wing's main talking point amounts to "...but they volunteered," you might want to address that non-issue. One, soldiers volunteer to protect and defend their country, not to invade and kill a civilian population, and not to blindly follow illegal orders. International law recognizes that it is not only a soldier's right to refuse illegal orders, but his or her responsibility. Two, many of the war resisters volunteered, served, and have no legal way to leave the milita

An email about Survivor Corps has been sitting in my inbox for almost a full year. I've wanted to highlight it but somehow never found an occasion to do so. So during a week when I can think of nothing but graduate school and war resisters - everything fighting for space in my frazzled little brain - the old posts in my inbox come to my rescue. (And I to theirs!) Survivor Corps is an organization that helps people heal - helps people make the necessary leap from victim to survivor, so they can begin to heal themselves, and so they can become part of the solution for others who have been through similar traumas. I have no personal experience with Survivor Corps, but the idea of the organization resonates with me. Over years of interviewing people for stories and writing projects, I've come to see that all trauma is related in certain ways. Each person's story is unique, and lived by only that person, but all our stories are related in certain ways. I've listened to sto

If you're in Toronto tonight, please join the War Resisters Support Campaign for a special performance of "The Emergency Monologues". This one-man show is supposed to be funny, dark and very entertaining. Tickets are $20, or $10 with valid student ID. There'll be a cash bar, and all proceeds will go to the War Resisters Support Campaign, for legal and other emergency expenses. * * * * MORGAN JONES PHILLIPS presents: THE EMERGENCY MONOLOGUES : Tales of the bizarre, ridiculous and irksome side of being a paramedic in an unidentified urban city "If you've ever heard a siren in the night and wondered where it was going, The Emergency Monologues is your answer... Fascinating, gruesome, and laugh-out-loud funny." -Chris Earle (Second City) WHEN: Tuesday, September 22, 8:00 p.m. / Doors open 7:00 p.m. WHERE: The Steelworkers Union Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto (parking available) HOW MUCH: $20 or $10.00 with valid student ID WHY: LET THEM STAY!

Ankle. I saw the doctor today about my ankle. (Called on Friday, saw her on Monday. Damn Canadian health care system!) She says an MRI is unnecessary, since it's clearly not a torn ligament or other condition requiring surgery. She'd like me to get an x-ray, just in case there's a hairline fracture, which is an outside possibility. Other than that, she recommends a good brace plus balance exercises - but exercises only after the ankle is strong enough for me to stand on one foot. The physiotherapist I'm seeing for my repetitive stress injuries might be able to recommend a brace. Basement. Nothing. Our landlord is using the basement renovations as an excuse to upgrade the bathroom, and we're waiting for the new fixtures to come in. We'll hit the two-month mark before it does. I asked about a rent rebate, and the longer this goes on, the more convinced I am that we deserve one. Landlord said he would talk to his insurance, and if they pay, he'll pass it to u

From Femin-Ally: Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work! 1. Don't put drugs in people's drinks in order to control their behavior. 2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone! 3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them! 4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited. 5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON'T ASSAULT THEM! 6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room. 7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public. 8. Always be honest with people! Don't pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don't communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to

From today's Toronto Star : Bravo to Gerard Kennedy and Bill Siksay for introducing and seconding Bill C-440, the private member's bill in support of U.S. war resisters in Canada. Those MPs stand on the side of justice, peace and Canadian values. The majority of the Canadian public believes U.S. war resisters should be allowed to stay in Canada. Let's do the Canadian thing and let them stay. Laura Kaminker, Mississauga A generation ago, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared Canada a "refuge from militarism" and welcomed Vietnam War resisters, both volunteers and conscripts alike. Now we have a Prime Minister who admitted the Iraq War was "absolutely an error," but who deports Iraq war resisters to jail against the will of Parliament. The war resisters bill offers a historic opportunity to reaffirm Canadian tradition and democracy, and to keep the Prime Minister to his word. Canadians anxiously await the passage of this bill, which will again make Canad

Fundable is back! Earlier this year, our Fundable campaign for war resister legal defense was so successful that we're trying again. You know the drill. We have 25 days to raise a certain amount of money. If we don't meet the goal by the time the clock runs out, the pledges are wiped out, and the Campaign gets nothing. If we meet our goal, your pledge turns into a donation to the War Resisters Support Campaign. We've set the same modest goal of $2500. Last time we raised about $4800! Who knows what will happen this time. Even if you can't make a pledge, you can still help. You can grab the URL from the Fundable page and circulate it: through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, email lists and your own personal contacts. Donors can pledge as little as $10 - or as much as they like! - and they can use either credit card or PayPal. If the pledge becomes a donation, it is converted to US funds. We have 25 days... starting now! War Resister Legal Defense Fund September 2009

[ redsock guest post ] CBC : Fallen soldier thought Afghan mission 'useless': family Family members of the latest Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan told a Quebec City newspaper that the young soldier considered the mission "a bit useless." Nicolas Couturier, brother of Pte. Jonathan Couturier, told Le Soleil that the 23-year-old soldier had mixed emotions about being in Afghanistan. "That war, he thought it was a bit useless, that they were wasting their time there," he was quoted telling Le Soleil. "He didn't talk about it," Nicolas told the newspaper. "He was positive, but at certain moments, let's just say he was fed up." useless : "not serving ... any purpose ... futile ... of no practical good" A note to the CBC: This 23-year-old soldier did not "fall". He cannot "get up". He was killed . He is dead . And no one will ever touch his hair or call him Dad or be told in his voice that they are l

My biggest challenge in attaining my Master of Information degree will not be keeping up on the assigned reading. My biggest challenge will not be writing cogent critical papers. It will not be class participation, on which I will be graded. These factors are all important, but they are trivial when compared to my most formidable challenge. My biggest challenge? Not eating french fries every day! There are no french fries at home, where I normally spend my days. Driving around Mississauga for appointments and errands, there are no french fries. I'd have to go well out of way to find french fries, and I don't. There are no french fries at work. I would have to seek out fast food restaurants, and I don't, and even if I did, the fries there aren't very good. They are easily avoidable. But these trucks. These chip trucks, or fries trucks, or whatever you want to call them. They sell sizzling hot, salty fries, freshly made from real potatoes. Gravy, cheese, poutine, is freel

This episode of Why I Love The Internet is brought to you by my sprained ankle. Cara, an off-and-on wmtc reader and former librarian - and someone I've never heard from before - sent me this story. She's had serious ankle problems, and these exercises helped her a lot. This article makes a connection between poor balance and ankle injuries. This is very interesting, as I do have balance issues. I'm seeing my doctor on Monday about the ankle, and I will ask about doing these exercises while we go for a diagnosis. See original story for a video of the exercises. How to Fix Bad Ankles By Gretchen Reynolds Ankles provide a rare opportunity to recreate a seminal medical study in the comfort of your own home. Back in the mid-1960s, a physician, wondering why, after one ankle sprain, his patients so often suffered another, asked the affected patients to stand on their injured leg (after it was no longer sore). Almost invariably, they wobbled badly, flailing out with their arms and

This might be well known in both hockey and vegan circles, but since I don't travel in either of those, it was interesting news to me. Georges Laraque, a forward for the Montreal Canadiens, is a vegan. He also practices yoga. Although I'm not a vegetarian (I was for a time, but went back to omnivorous eating after a couple of years), I admire this man embracing his moral and ethical concerns, and his willingness to live them, completely against the grain of his majority culture. In men's sports, that culture is intense. I can't help but wonder if being a person of colour playing hockey - already a tiny minority - figures into the picture at all. Perhaps Laraque has been going his own way his whole life. Or does being Canadian cancel out the black-person-playing-hockey factor? I really appreciate Laraque's reference to puppy mills in his home nation of Quebec. No dairy, no poultry, no fish, no more leather shoes or animal byproducts, Laraque has been on a strict die

I've already mentioned that a long-time wmtc reader, Lisa N, is in the same program as me. She's also going part-time and we're in one class together. In addition to this, on the first day - in a combined introductory lecture for all four core courses - I saw someone else I recognized, but couldn't think of where I knew her from. The following day, she showed up in my "tutorial" section - the discussion and debate class that follows the lecture - and we must have both remembered the connection at the same time. During introductions, we turned to each other - she said, "I know you!" - and I said, "War resisters!" She is the partner of one of our war resisters! In my other tutorial, I identified myself as a "writer, blogger and activist". The professor asked me what activism I was involved with, and after I explained, he said he recognized my name: he's a supporter and has housed a resister! Suddenly I realized why his name was

I'm not really in library school. Not yet, anyway. The Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto calls itself an "iSchool," and claims to be the only such school in Canada. There are other graduate schools for library science, but an iSchool purports to have a broader focus. It's true, but it's also a marketing position. The iSchool offers a PhD program, a Master of Museum Science, and a Master of Information (MI), which is my degree goal. (There are some other programs, like a combined MI/JD, and various other obscure combinations.) Within the Master of Information, there are a few different areas of concentrations, or paths: Library and Information Science, Archives and Records Management, Critical Information Studies, Information Systems and Design and Knowledge Management and Information Management. They've introduced a new core curriculum required for all MI students regardless of path: Knowledge and Information in Society; Representation, Orga

We have a bill! Bill C-440 , a bill in support of US Iraq War resisters, was introduced in the House of Commons today. MP Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale-High Park) introduced the bill, seconded by Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas). This is a private member's bill, and for those of you who, like me, are new to the Canadian political system, private member's bills don't often become law. But some do, and this one might. And regardless of the ultimate outcome, Bill C-440 is a critical tool to help us advocate for basic Canadian values: welcoming good people of conscience who have refused to participate in an unjust war, and seek haven in this country. Bill C-440 gives legal weight to the motion already passed twice in Parliament. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has refused to implement the will of Parliament and has continued to deport, and threaten to deport, war resisters, saying the motions are "non-binding". Passing C-440 will force the minority Conser

This morning in the House of Commons, Gerard Kennedy , Member of Parliament for Parkdale-High Park, will introduce a private member's bill, to be seconded by Bill Siksay , MP for Burnaby-Douglas. The text reads as follows: BILL C-[to come] An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (war resisters) SUMMARY This enactment allows foreign nationals who, based on a sincere moral, political or religious objection, left the armed forces of another country to avoid participating in an armed conflict not sanctioned by the United Nations or refused compulsory military service for that reason, and who are in Canada, to remain in this country through humanitarian and compassionate consideration. Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. Section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1): (1.1) A foreign national in Canada shall be deemed to be

Well, I did it , and lived to tell the tale. The good news is it was easy, a little fun, and mostly no big deal. More good news is I met Lisa, the wmtc reader who is in the same program. She picked me out immediately, and we sat next to each other for the introductory lecture. We had fun! Turns out she's a lot closer to my age than I realized. This is fun, too. The bad news is that as soon as I got into Toronto, I took three steps, and my ankle turned again. It was not nearly as severe as last week in Santa Fe , but bad enough that I had to lean against a building to keep from falling. You can imagine my delight! After a few minutes I was able to walk, and continued walking through the day, including way more stairs than I wanted. (There must be an accessible entrance to the Faculty of Information building. I will ask.) I was worried about it all day. Allan met me for dinner, and by the time we got home, I was in pain. I spent the rest of the night doing the elevation-and-ice thing

Next Tuesday, September 22, come see a special performance of The Emergency Monologues , to benefit the War Resisters Support Campaign . Details here.

James sent me a link to great baseball-related t-shirt, which I passed to Allan . At the T-shirt Hell website , Allan found this wmtc-themed shirt, above. Maybe we should get one for Wendy . I also liked the baby t-shirt " Kickin' Ass & Takin' Naps ". If your computer is prone to freezing up from too much animation, I advise staying clear of T-Shirt Hell.

Did you see this? A Manitoba bike courier found $20,000 sitting on top of ATM . He returned the money. The Assiniboine Credit Union, where the money was to have been deposited, gave the honest messenger a "reward": a $50 gift certificate for Boston Pizza. Thank you for returning $20,000. Take a friend out for dinner on us. I commend Matt Magura for doing the right thing. It would have been easy to do the wrong thing. But the bank should be ashamed of themselves!

CBC: "Layton signals NDP could support Tory EI plan" This must be political posturing. Must be an attempt to not appear to want an election for the sake of election. To differentiate the NDP from the Liberals. To appear to be more concerned with getting things done than with in getting power. So many layers there: posturing in order to not look like you're posturing. The NDP cannot possibly want to be perceived as the party that props up the Harper Government. Hardcore NDP voters will be disgusted, and Liberal/NDP swing voters will vote Liberal. So this must be political posturing. Yet most pundits - including most bloggers - take it at face value.

School starts today! I won't normally have classes on Monday; since I work all weekend, I didn't schedule any classes on Mondays or Fridays. But this week there are a bunch of special workshops and orientations, plus a combined lecture for all incoming iSchool students. The combined lecture is great for me - it means I didn't miss classes while we were in New Mexico, as I originally was going to. So this is a bit of a hell week for me, but it's only one week. Here's a cool bit. A long-time wmtc reader and blog-friend, Lisa, will be my classmate! Lisa, also changing career directions, did a college course to become a library tech. Now she's working at the University of Toronto library and getting her Master's degree to become a librarian. We've never met in person, but soon will. Small, small world. I'm pleased to report that I'm a lot less nervous than I thought I'd be. I'm nervous, for sure. I mean, how could I not be? I'm anxious a

Search string of the day: married indian boy reach canada and once again married to canadian girl for citizenship-canadian govt.help No comment. I mean, what more can one say?

One of the best aspects of blogging is the creation of communities. When I first started blogging, the community that formed around wmtc came as a complete surprise. It amazed me, and I loved it. I still do. Not everyone who reads blogs wants to be part of a community, at least not on every blog they read. Most people read without commenting. But there are those who try to have it both ways - they want to comment without being part of the conversation. These people irritate the hell out of me. The first kind of commenter who wants to comment but not have dialogue is the hit-and-run poster . Most of us, at times, read a blog post, leave a non-controversial comment, and don't return to the post. We forget, we're busy, or it's just not very important to us. No big deal. But many people purposely post controversial or provocative comments, then disappear. They want to have their say - they want everyone to read what they have to say - but they don't want to defend their pos

James sent me this tribute to labour unions, written by Some Canadian Skeptic , in honour of Labour Day. I don't usually note Labour Day, as I was taught that the end-of-summer weekend is the US Congress' appreciation of labour. The real Labour Day is May 1, which of course can't be officially celebrated in the US because of it is a reminder of scaaaaary socialism. This excellent post by steveisgood is worth reading on any day. An excerpt: I hear it all the time: Unions were fine once, but now they're corrupt, all of them! All they do is make business more difficult than it needs to be, and companies are closing because of Unions!" I call epic bullshit. Do your children have to work anymore? Thank a union. Does your workweek cap at 40 hours? Thank a union. Do you get health benefits? Thank a union. Do you get maternity leave? Thank a union. Do you get sick leave? Thank a union. Does your workplace have safety-precautions? Thank a union. Have a weekend? Thank a u

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, with no warning, slapped visa restrictions on people from Mexico and the Czech Republic entering Canada, in an attempt to reduce refugee claims from those countries, they won praise from xenophobic right-wingers who ignorantly believe Canada's refugee system to be too lax or too generous. That's a gimme. Tough talk about refugees and immigrants scores easy points with the Me First crowd. But the Conservatives' visa ploy ran athwart of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and tarnished Canada's reputation in the process. The Conservatives claim the refugee system needs to be changed, and they point to the large backlog of cases as proof. But the backlog is of their own making, a direct result of funding cuts and the failure to replace Immigration and Refugee Board decision-makers when their terms expire. This very good article from Embassy magazine, "Canada's f

During my first year or so in Canada, I was repeatedly mystified by hearing, over and over, how the populace did not want an election. We don't want a Christmas election, we're too busy with the holidays. We don't want a summer election, we're all at the cottage. We don't want a winter election, it's too cold to go out and vote. We don't want another election, we just had one 18 months ago. For the life of me, I could not understand it. I once asked readers what this meant. Were people really so busy with Christmas plans that they couldn't spare a few minutes to vote? Readers told me, no, that wasn't it. It's that their minds are elsewhere. They don't want their family celebrations interrupted. They are out of the country, in warmer climes. They will punish the party that calls an unnecessary election. (If only that had happened in 2008!) They cannot focus on the important issues at hand, can't study their ballots and decide who to vote