the occasional rant

Don’t mean to rant but….. last night I had supper with a friend who told me that the County (which partially funds the place) would no longer allow organized games of “tug –of-war” at the local historical interest place. You have to wonder why – which brings me to my rant.

 A few nights ago on TVO there was a discussion of the Ontario Government’s attempt to update their sex education programs for elementary schools in Ontario. There had been such a large public outcry about the content, that they were obliged to withdraw the text and start over. One of the panel members on the TVO program was so homophobic  that he would never have been comfortable with any discussion occurring about gender identity for any age group. I think he took some sort of pride that he and others like him had convinced the Ontario Government to change their minds as to what should be taught to our students. He, of course, argued that the vast majority of parents felt the same way.

It is these sort of individuals who make/change public policy. Not because they are right or because they reflect the majority opinion, but because we do provide the opposite point of view. We who may be on the Left (some of us are so far to the left that not only have we fallen off of the fence, but we can’t even see the fence anymore!) have made the assumption that our truths are so self evident that we don’t need to argue our points. We seem to have some difficulty in understanding that the Right are equally as convinced as to their truths and that they are far better organized. We need to become organized! The civil rights movement in the USA used the Black churches to recruit and train activists – who are we going to find activists? How are we mobilizing? We can not sit back and let the Right win by default.

p.s. the need for diversity training particularly in term of gender identity is critical. The current research in terms of bullying and the % of self labelled GLBTQ students who feel at risk in the school system suggest that there is much to be done in education our youth. http://www.ismss.ualberta.ca/documents/people/kriswells/ResearchBriefonSexualMinorityYouthHealthWells2009.pdf  and http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Research+exploring+the+health,+wellness,+and+safety+concerns+of...-a0217847390

Strange process this blogging – particularly as  I have yet to tell anyone that I am doing a blog. Suspect I will have to do it soon. There is the temptation to use the blog for some internal self-examinations and random comments on my life. However I am quite sure that there is a very limited audience for a monologue done in a stream of consciousness style as I gaze at my navel. So I won’t do it (too often)

Went to a great house concert on the weekend with Karen Savoca and Pete Heitzman  . Don’t know if they are common in other parts of the country but there seem to be quite a few in the Peterborough area every year. I have been to three in the past 12-14 months. This particular one was in a great location – a converted schoolhouse with a large room added that held about 35 people (I think). Folks bring their own beverages and there was lot of sweet stuff at the break to munch on. Karen is a great singer song writer – and her partner has a great voice and plays the guitar well. Highly enjoyable.

Sheep fleeces and kilts

It still feels a bit weird to be unemployed for the next 4 months – on the other hand it feel pretty damn fine!

Getting into the swing of things and starting to get a lot of work done. I had bought 4 small fleeces a few weeks ago and have started to wash them. The quality is inconsistent. It is so hard to get fleeces that are clean and are worth spinning. These fleeces are from Icelandic sheep and the wool is unusual. There appears to be two kinds of wool in each fleece – some that is very fine, with a tight crimp and some that is quite long, a bit coarser and with almost no crimp to it at all. It should be interesting.

The owners did a reasonable job of getting rid of the tags, but at least one of the four is full of vegetable matter. I don’t know if it is worth cleaning or not. One was a lovely brown fleece – but most of the fiber is too short to spin. I want to get the fleeces all washed before I go away so that it is not outside in the sun all summer. I definitely do not want to have inside until it is clean. This is a picture of a beautifully coloured (gray) unwashed fleece. I hope it looks as nice when it is washed and carded.

It would be nice to get some of it carded as well before I leave which may be my least favourite part of the process. Want to buy some dye, it is not the cost of the dye that scares me off, it is the cost of shipping it from the States. They charge an outrageous amount.

I have also be working on my 4th kilt. The first one was not that wearable – to heavy and poorly designed, the second one was ok, the third one I wear all of the time in the house, it works well except that it doesn’t “swish” as much as it should. The fabric is too stiff. The fabric I am making my kilt of now is a very light (probably too light) wool. It should hand and “swish” much better. I have also made the pleats about 3.5 inches deep so there is a lot of fabric. Just have the Velcro ( I can’t do button holes) the belt loops and the straps to hand sew on and I will be done.

So the hands are busy…..leaves a lot of time for the brain to be working. Not always a good thing.