Postcard Winner

I won the postcard competition submitted in August. It had to be a 250-500 word story relevant to a picture of a bicycle leaning against a shed. Mine is entitled "Inhale, and God Approaches." It will be printed in the September issue of NOWW Newsletter.
:-)

Higher Education

I'll be very interested to see this movie:
"The Lottery is a 2010 documentary film about the controversy surrounding public and charter schools in the United States, directed by Madeleine Sackler. The film was produced by Blake Ashman-Kipervaser, James Lawler, and Madeleine Sackler. The cinematographer was Wolfgang Held (Brüno, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Children Underground)." Wikipedia

If you look at the PISA scores, Canada is usually in the top five, definitely in the top ten. Yet, we constantly devalue our teachers and our education system by paying huge sums of money to import speakers, books,and techniques from the United States. Their scores are below the top ten, sometimes in the twenties.

The last time I attended a speech by an American education guru, hundreds of teachers were in attendance. The speaker talked about how we need to avoid cut and paste and paper and pencil activities with children as though they were the backbone of our teaching styles. I was offended and disappointed. Perhaps twenty or thirty years ago his speech would have been relevant for the majority of Canadian teachers.

Canadians need to get over this inferiority complex. Why we assume the United States are the leaders in education and feel driven to follow them down whatever path they choose, whether it has turned out well for them or not, is a mystery to me.

I truly hope we are doing much better for our poor students than offering them a chance for higher education through a lottery. I know students here get horrendously in debt in university and, with the job market as it is, may face difficulties paying it off. I wish we had free secondary education for everyone with the ability to succeed.

Unfortunately, we are still having difficulty getting some students to finish high school although the dropout rates have decreased steadily from 1990. Oddly, looking at statistics on the net, the Americans are quite similar, around 85 percent completing highschool, yet they are calling it a crises and we aren't.

All I know is, many, many teachers are working beyond their capactity to fill unreasonable demands, an overburdened curriculum, tremendously increased paperwork, and downloaded workload. I have always believed that class size and teacher support make the biggest difference in grade school and everything else is built on that.

Writing Has Eaten Up Summer

I finally polished and repolished my YA fantasy romance enough to start sending it out. So far, no bites. Noble Romance is looking at the query and sample chapters at the moment. I know most agents and publishers do not want multiple submissions, but really, when it takes months to get a response, the material can become dated. It's even worse with short stories. It takes longer to get a response than to write the story!

I bought a new bike and plan to actually get out there and enjoy what is left of the summer. I've spent way too much time indoors writing. Once the composing starts, though, it is impossible to postpone working on it until the snow flies.

I finished my university correspondence course from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. It was four terms of five months each with an essay each month. That's time I'll have for writing now.

I've neglected my gardens the last few weeks and the weeds are now dominating. Because it has been such an unusually hot spring and summer, everything has flowered early. I have only one perennial left to flower!

NOWW Writing Contest

And The Winners Are:

May 15, in NOWW's (Northern Ontario Writers Workshop) yearly contest, I placed third in memoir, judged by Anne Coleman, and third in children's, judged by Gordon Korman. What a thrill to have these fine writers comment so positively on my work. I've been super-charged ever since, writing up a storm. Funny, how one incident of positive feedback can be so encouraging. A Buddhist shouldn't need external motivation. Oh, well.

Buddhist Joke - Hide-and-seek

I love when I find Buddhist jokes.

http://www.funnytimes.com/cartoons.php?cotw_id=20080430

A cartoon of a man sitting in meditation reads: Transcendental Hide-and-seek. Count down from sixty and then try to find yourself.

McCanada

I went to a children's Christmas concert that was being held in a local highschool and saw four banners advertising such things as cars and subsandwiches. However, I felt that the placement of these McDonald's flags was inappropriate. I feel it cheapens what our flag stands for and the people who have died beneath it.

What do you think?

Microwave Popcorn

Here's another reason to avoid microwave popcorcn. The following is from Nycosh Newsline. We already knew it is far more fattening than air popped or stove popped popcorn, that the fats are bad for our heart, that there's far too much salt, that is is ridiculously expensive, that many have added chemicals, that the fumes are bad for you, and that it has excessive packaging. Now we also know that by purchasing this garbage we are supporting a business that creates a dangerous environment for workers.

I know, they shouldn't work there, but in today's marketplace people will take any job they can get. Let's make sure these type of jobs aren't available by not buyint microwaveable popcorn.

Perils of butter flavorings, diacetyl substitutes, Posted by Celeste Monforton, The Pump Handle, 1/5/10

The sentinel cases of the debilitating lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans were among workers at a microwave popcorn facility. It wasn’t too long before NIOSH researchers suspected the illnesses were related to workers’ exposure to the butter flavoring agent used in the plant. The compounds are typically a mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOC), many of which can irritate severely the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. Diacetyl, a 4-carbon alpha-diketone, was one of the VOCs identified in the microwave popcorn plant environment. Diacetyl has come to serve as the catch-all name for the butter-flavoring agents, although NIOSH researchers noted:

“the vapors emitted from butter flavoring are a complex mixture that produces necrosis that cannot be explained by the known toxicological properties of any of its components.” (Hubbs, et al. 2002)

Although popcorn makers began selling still buttery-flavored product labeled “no diacetyl,” Sphere’s Andrew Schneider has been investigating whether a ‘no diacetyl’ claim translates into less health risk to exposed workers and consumers. His sources have consistently said “No.” Now, so does NIOSH Director John Howard.


In a December 23 letter to new OSHA chief David Michaels, the NIOSH Director wrote:

“…starter distillate [which eventually creates diacetyl], acetoin, and 2,3 pentanedione exemplify the lack of evidence demonstrating the workplace safety of potential substitutes for diacetyl; and document some evidence that potential substitutes are also respiratory hazards.”

Not that OSHA’s health scientists really need this official word from NIOSH that compounds of this nature can damage the respiratory system, but it does create an opportunity for OSHA’s new leadership: engaging actively in inter-agency policy discussions to improve the Toxic Substances Control Act. Few could benefit more than workers from a law that improves OSHA’s statutory authority to prevent harm from exposure to chemicals, encourages safer alternatives, and enhances right-to-know.

http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/perils-of-butter-flavorings-diacetyl-substitutes/