Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 104

The airwaves have been buzzing in Quebec about a report detailing how calls for help to Youth Protection Services have gone up dramatically in the ring of suburbs around Montreal. 

Children bear the brunt of stress in the families frequently.  It's ironic that many of the parents have chosen to move there because they think that life in the far suburbs is going to be better.  But how can you have a decent family life when both parents are working to maintain a "good life" and the social services just aren't there?  Better to stay in the city where services have already been set up, and commute times aren't so long.

For most of my life I've lived with either a cat or a dog, and been on good terms with both species. Over all, I must admit I like the sappiness of dogs better than the aloofness of cats, but perhaps that just is evidence of my own deficiencies. But this I find is terrific!

While Mitt Romney ruminates about the 47 per cent who don't pay taxes, The New York Times has a startling story about how life expectancy among less educated  whites has dropped in recent years.  White women with a high school diploma, the group hardest hit,  live five years less on average than they did in 1990.

"The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but researchers offered possible explanations, including a spike in prescription drug overdoses among young whites, higher rates of smoking among less educated white women, rising obesity, and a steady increase in the number of the least educated Americans who lack health insurance, " Sabrina Tavernise writes.

"The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs. By 2008, life expectancy for black women without a high school diploma had surpassed that of white women of the same education level, the study found."


The truly troubling thing about the story is that it is not based on one study, but a handful of them, all of which found greater health problems and higher early mortality among the poor, particularly whites.  The declines  rival those found among Russian men in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, where, please note, the health care system struggled to meet the demand for care.

The story speculates that women are particularly hard hit in the US because they are the parents primarily responsible for children when child care is expensive and hard to find, and the uneducated must frequently settle for poorly-paying jobs with inflexible hours.

Watching how Elin and Emmanuel juggle their schedules to make sure the Jeanne gets good care, I can see what stresses single parents must have in the US where there is nothing like $7 a day, state-approved day care.  And yet folks like Mitt Romney doubt that the value of a safety net and deprecate the 47 per cent who don't pay income taxes (but do of course pay sales tax and, frequently, pay role taxes.)

Who took care of his kids, BTW?  But Anne had a lot of help, and certainly she didn't have to worry about how to pay for it.

Today is the day of the automnal equinox, the end of summer, the beginning of fall.  Here are two pictures taken a couple of days ago which show the billiance tht this season brings.

Thought I might do a little something thought provoking today but didn't get very far when I fond this which says far more effectively what I was intending to say: Go Rick! I wonder what kind of heat the CBC is getting from airing his shows.

CHARNEY, Melvin. On Monday, September 17, 2012. Mourned by his wife Ann, daughter Dara, son-in-law Cameron McKenzie, grandchildren Rachel and Samuel McKenzie, brothers Morris and Israel, and their partners Carrie Gross and Christianne Charette, as well as by numerous friends and colleagues in the world of art and architecture.

Melvin Charney produced an impressive body of work combining art and architecture for more than 40 years. Mr. Charney won a number of competitions including the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Ottawa inaugurated in 1991. He was selected to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale both in Art and Architecture. Mr. Charney received the Prix Borduas from the government of Québec, and was appointed Chevalier of the Ordre National du Québec in 2003 for his outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the growth of Quebec culture. In 2006, he was named Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honour bestowed by the French government for individual contribution to culture. In 2009, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, from McGill University's Faculty of Arts.

Funeral service from Paperman & Sons, 3888 Jean Talon St. West, on Thursday, September 20, at 2:00 p.m. Burial at the Montreal Workers’ Circle Association Cemetery, de la Savane. A private reception will follow the burial at 457 Mount Stephen Ave. in Westmount. And apropos of the illustrration, the picture part of a body of work that includes archiectural monuments, parks, photographs and marvelous drawings.

Just a reminder that NPD Outremont is sponsoring the first in a series of film forums on hot topics tomorrow, Thursday September 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Côte des Neiges Community Centre, 6767 Côte des Neiges Road in Montreal.

Damon Matthews, climatologist from Concordia University, and economist Isabel Galiana will comment after the film with a general discussion to follow.  Should be a thought-provoking evening. 

Admission is free, but contributions will be happily accepted.

So no real post, at least until evening. It's Lee's birthday and I get to help out with Thomas today!!!

 Stomae is a young Belgian/Rwandan singer whose hypnotic song has been running through my head for days.  It seems perfect for the current economic situation.  And perhaps all those (perhaps orchestrated, but who knows?) protests against that stupid anti-Islamic film are motivated by the same frustration about the troubles of life.



English translation of the French words:


So lets dance
So lets dance
So lets dance

He who talks about studying, talks about working
He who talks about working, talks about money
He who talks about money, talks about spending
He who talks about spending, talks about debt
He who talks about debt, talks about the bailiff
And also about being in shit
He who talks about love, talks about children
Says until death death do us part and says divorce
He who talks about his peers, talks about mourning because problems never come alone
He who talks about a crisis, talks about a lot of people, talks about the 3th world hunger
He who talks about being tired, talks about awakening, tired from yesterday
So we party, to forget the problems

So lets dance
So lets dance
So lets dance

And you say this is the last time, because only death is worse
When you think everyone is ok and fine, nothing has happened
Ectasy spells problems or it sounds like the music
It gives you a trip and you put your head in your hands praying for it to end
But it's your body, not the heavens and you stop listening.
Then you scream harder and it won't stop

So lets sing
Lalalalalala, Lalalalalala,
So lets sing
Lalalalalala, Lalalalalala,

So lets sing
And only when it ends, we dance
So lets dance
But wait, there's more

Sounds a bit crude, but as usual Shakrespeare said it, if not first, then most interstingly:

Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough


The speaker is the sprite Aiel, and this photo has nothing to do with cockslips.  The bee seemed to be immobilized when I shot it yesterday morning, inspite of balmy temperatures which are supposed to be health for bees.

Whatever, the lovely wild sunflowers were gorgeous as this hot, dry summer finally comes to a close..