This Friday at 7 PM the Maritime Museum will be hosting a live art show in honour of an enslaved black woman named Anarcha whose body was experimented upon in the 1800’s in order to find a treatment for obstetric fistula. We speak with Habiba Cooper Diallo, the driving force behind the event that features poet and historian Afua Cooper, Dartmouth painter Kim Cain, and spoken word artist Kilah Rolle.
I went home mad after listening to Black Lucasville and Upper Hammonds Plains residents talk about racist police behaviour in my neck of the woods. Shame on the politicians who feign surprise and can’t come up with anything better than an analysis that will go on forever.
Meet Sophia (not her real name), who lives with a painful illness, raises a son who lives with developmental disabilities, and does all that on a $156 monthly personal allowance, after rent and power bills are paid, and an arrears to Community Services is dealt with. Please let that sink in. $156 per month. At the bottom of the story we tell you what you can do to help change this.
A third party review, released today by the NSTU, calls into question the research methods, analysis and results of the Glaze report. The authors of the review conclude: “The high-stakes associated with these recommendations amount to a massive reform of the educational system. Before proceeding, the methods and data should be made public so that an independent stakeholder can reanalyze the data to ensure the findings are valid and reliable.”
Budget pressures force public libraries in Cumberland County to reduce hours. Expect more announcements like this as the government is slowly squeezing public libraries in rural Nova Scotia, just to save a couple of pennies, really. To quote the Cumberland County deputy chief librarian Chantelle Taylor, ““We offer this precious little jewel of a service, it does pretty good with the little money it gets, and nobody seems to recognize this fantastic thing.”
Reeny Smith is a singer / songwriter from Preston, only 25 years old, and incredibly talented. You can see Smith, joined by other excellent songwriters live at the Gottingen Street Library this Thursday. Don’t miss it. It’s free!!!
Gottingen Street, one of Halifax main thoroughfares, used to extend into the far North End. But in 1981 Halifax Council voted that the northern segment of Gottingen Street, beyond the Young Street intersection, now be called Novalea Drive. The reasons behind that decision were tainted by racism and prejudice, and a survey of residents’ opinions conducted by the City purposely excluded most residents who lived along the street. Maybe it’s time to make things right again.
News release: “Support staff in schools across Nova Scotia are concerned that restructuring school boards will create unstable labour relations, much like what we’ve seen happen to our health care system,” says Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia. “They feel this will also negatively impact quality of education for students.”
News release by Alton Gas water protectors: “Sipekne’katik/Fort Ellis — Alton Gas has posted signs outside the Treaty Camp at the Shubenacadie River naming water protectors on site as trespassers and criminals. Grassroots Mi’kmaq water protectors have been holding down a protection camp at the Shubenacadie River for nine months to prevent Alton Gas from dumping thousands of tons of salt brine into the sacred river every day. They are outraged by Alton Gas’ bully tactics and intent to resume work on the project without allowing Sipekne’katik to complete its community consultation process.”
Asking teachers and others who work in the school system directly what it is that works in today’s schools and what needs fixing, now there is a novel idea. Members of Educators for Social Justice (ESJ) are doing exactly that. We talk with Pamela Rogers, a member of ESJ, about the questions, the responses so far, and why it is so important to add an undiluted teachers’ voice to the current discussions.