Kendall Worth: Pretending New Year’s Eve isn’t even happening
Reporter and First Voice poverty activist Kendall Worth on the many barriers that stop poor people from celebrating New Year’s Eve the way middle and upper class people do.
Month: December 2017
Weekend video: The Scotch Village history project
Scotch Village, in Hants County, has a long history shaped by its original Mi’kmaq inhabitants, Acadians, African Nova Scotians, and Planters’ descendants. In July 2017 people from these communities met to commemorate and celebrate their diverse but intersecting histories.The event makes for a fascinating Weekend Video, and a very appropriate one to ring in the new year. The event was organized by my beloved sister in law Carolyn van Gurp, and it features many inspiring people like Dorene Bernard and Dr. Afua Cooper, to name just a few.
The Nova Scotia Advocate’s most–read stories in 2017, and what a wonderful year it was!
Doubled the readership, published 400 stories, found 50 new writers, received one threatening letter by a lawyer, many more sustainers, and $6,000 in the pockets of freelance journalists. Not a bad year at all. Also, our top-ten stories for the year. All thanks to you, dear readers and sustainers, thank you so very much, and may the new year bring you nothing but joy and victories!
Book review: Joan Baxter’s the Mill – Fifty years of pulp and protest
A review of the Mill, the by now quite famous book by Joan Baxter on Northern Pulp and its predecessors. It’s really good, and you should buy it. Meanwhile, activists need to figure out how to heal the split between community and mill workers which only helps the company.
Kendall Worth: Online dating, poverty, and that special someone
Poverty advocate Kendall Worth relates the happy story of how one one woman escaped social isolation through online dating. However, “online dating is not always safe. It’s not something I would personally want to pursue,” he writes.
News release: Ottawa study of BP’s Environmental Assessment a big disappointment – CPONS
The same people who gave you the Deepwater Horizon disaster now want to drill along the Nova Scotia South Shore. The Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia (CPONS) released its response to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) draft report on BP’s proposed offshore drilling program. “You would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of people along the South Shore who know anything about BP’s plans and their potential impact, let alone that a federal agency has been conducting a study of BP’s environmental assessment over the past year or so.”
Weekend video: North Preston music video camp
Excellent documentary about a bunch of North Preston kids making a music video about their love for the community.
Cafeteria workers at Halifax and Dartmouth Community College campuses join union
Cafeteria workers at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) campuses in Dartmouth and Halifax voted overwhelmingly to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2. Underpaid, overworked and working under unsafe conditions, convincing the workers wasn’t very difficult, says organizer Darius Mirshahi.
My father’s gift, a Christmas memory
This wonderful story by Catherine Banks (and equally wonderful illustration by Kate Phillips) is our thank you to all our readers and friends who struggle to make ends meet but refuse to let poverty define them. Next year we’ll fight for a living wage and decent income assistance benefits even harder, but for now, have a great holidays!
Fun Game for the Holidays– will you be paid or not next week?
Play some Christmas music, heat up the apple cider, and gather round the kitchen table with this Snakes and Ladders-inspired board game to learn whether or not you’ll get extra pay for working during the holidays.