Joanne Bealy: Hard lessons on race
Poet and writer Joanne Bealy went to the Kent Monkman talk at the Central Library, and learned some hard lessons about white privilege and complicity, not just from Monkman but especially from two Black women.
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Freedom 60: A thank you letter to Adsum for Women and Children
“I had just turned 60 and I knew I had to make some drastic changes in my life, if not I felt certain I would not have a life, or my mind would be so completely gone, that I would not have been any good to myself or anyone else. I should have been looking forward to retirement and a relaxed future but instead I was sleeping with my phone under my bed clothes ready to dial 911.” Devorah Rivkah writes about the life-changing powers of Adsum for Women and Children.
There but for the grace of God … Aron Spidle tells Nova Scotia MLAs about a broken social assistance system
In September several MLAs from all three parties attended a screening of My Week on Welfare at the auditorium of the Nova Scotia Art Gallery in downtown Halifax. This is what Aron Spidle, who is featured in the documentary, told the MLAs. “When a friend asks me to do something with them, the first thing that occurs to me is to ‘how can I get out of this gracefully?’ because most of the time I cannot afford it.”
Scott Domenie: Where were you radicalized? – On diversity among activists
Scott Domenie: “Maybe instead of asking each other where or when we had our moment of radicalization, we should be asking – ourselves and others – what brought us to where we are now. … By listening to our answers, we just might learn to better appreciate the diversity and similarities in our journeys.”
Shout out for the women, a poem by Peggie Graham
Delighted to present this wonderful poem by South Shore poet Peggie Graham, written for a One Billion Rising event in Lunenburg on International Women’s Day, and now one of the poems selected for our one-poem-a-month poetry competition.
Not worth the risk: Mahone Bay’s public panel on offshore drilling
Cory Levander writes about Wednesday’s panel in Mahone Bay about offshore oil exploration. Not worth the risk, was the consensus, ““You can’t eat oil. You can’t eat drilling mud… But you can eat lobster.”
To sing or not to sing? On honouring the Queen of Soul and Halifax’s racial discord
Evelyn C. White reports on the Big Sing event this past Tuesday at Gus’ Pub in honour of Aretha Franklin. Sadly, only a handful of people of colour attended. On the upside, The Big Sing is making efforts to increase the diversity of the pop-up choir.
Grandson gets new arm at local public library
A South Shore man built a prosthetic arm for his grandson Charlie, who was born with a limb difference. How, you ask? He used the 3D-printer at the South Shore Public Library in Bridgewater, and built the arm for less than $25 in materials! Another reason why we love public libraries. Story by Understorey Magazine editor Katherine J. Barrett.
Missing meds, a poem by Anna Quon
We are delighted and proud to feature this poem by Mad woman Anna Quon as part of our monthly poem series.
Community meeting considers what’s next after the Burnside prison protest
Last Saturday, one day before the non-violent protest at Burnside prison was set to end, nearly two dozen community members gathered for a workshop to reflect on the protest and to discuss strategies to keep its momentum going. Yazan Khader reports.