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Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012
I am a housewife! In the last municipal election (or was it the one before? When you get old, you lose track of the timing of events), I was assigned to cover the campaign in a series of columns. In a piece introducing the candidates, I referred to Cindy Jefferies as a “housewife.” At the time, she was indeed “at home” and I was grasping at the old paradigm of defining people by their work and careers. Well, all heck and dang-nation ensued. How dare I? Of course, the critics were right. It’s not right to characterize people by their careers -- alGREG though it is much easier now NEIMAN to refer to Cindy Jefferies as a city councillor who I happen to very much admire. Karma has a way of being
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circular, and I can no longer define myself by an active career. By my own previous definition, I am now a “housewife.” My wife Joyce brings home the bacon, and I fry it up and serve it when she gets home. I cook, I clean, I put up jam and pickles. I do the “small” shopping, since Joyce does not fully trust me to do the “big” shopping myself. It’s her money, after all, and I can be distractible. She also insists on doing the laundry, despite my protests that as a former professional photographer, I know to separate black and white clothes into one pile, and colour clothes into another. I keep a list of things that need to be done, in case I forget and have an afternoon nap. But most days now, the home is my responsibility. Keeping house does indeed fill your days. I find that although I am on my feet and moving around far more now than when I was “working,” I have less time for real exercise. At least I used to ride my bike to work. So I am grateful to the Primary Care Network for their ongoing Trek program. Which reminds me: I need to get my Wikki Walk-
ers team registered. Better put that on the list. You should join, too. Go to http://stepsout.com/rdpcn/ and sign up for a virtual hike of the Rocky Mountains. This week, our church’s ladies Bible study group met at our house. Apparently, there’s a rotation. So the house (well, the main floor and bathrooms anyway) were clean. There was a nicely-appointed fruit and cheese tray, and a dessert. There was be coffee, tea -- even homemade beer, if anyone asked for it. I looked forward to the accomplishment of doing it right. A self-grade: dusting was a bit insufficient, I forgot to put fresh towels in the main bathroom, and I messed up the alternate dessert: almond butter squares. But the rest was good. Make it a B, and leave room for improvement. From now on, if I’m asked to fill out some survey form or other, and there’s a box where you list your occupation, I’m writing in “housewife.” After all, anyone could just say “blogger.” Greg Neiman is a former editor of the Advocate. Follow his blog at readersadvocate.blogspot.ca, or email greg.neiman.blog.gmailcom
Know your economic options BY BRUCE STEWART ADVOCATE NEWS SERVICES TORONTO — Job market woes, yet another national bailout discussion, trade figures, it’s all enough to drive the ordinary person up the wall. Some people are taking action. They’re using a manageable amount of volunteer time, a little bit of cash, and making things happen in their communities. Best of all, their ideas are quite transportable. “Steal from the best”, as they say. In the heart of Toronto’s Beach community, a small group of parents had an idea for their school. Why not use its flat roof to mount some solar panels, generate a little power, and help the school offset the costs of electricity? The Province of Ontario didn’t set out to make it difficult, but it did take a lot of work to make this happen. They had to form a not-for-profit society, with rigorous rules about who could join it. They had to get a licence as a power producer. It took four years to navigate the paperwork jungle. But that was also enough time to raise the money necessary to start the project, through little things that could be done on nights and weekends. They now have a licence to distribute power, and Kew Beach Public School gets first call on the power generated (in exchange for providing their roof for the installation). The best part of the story? The way they’re set up, they can now grow. They plan to keep moving from school to school, slowly growing community power generation. Everything is kept small enough to be
done on a shoestring. At the last meeting of the East End Sustainability Network, it sounded like it won’t take much generation to start letting the system grow off the payments they receive for providing electricity to the grid. Another project in New Zealand looks at producing a bit of local food. Epuni Primary School has 110 students, in a valley near Wellington, the country’s capital. New Zealand’s country primary schools provide school lunch to students. At the same time, curriculum elements include learning about plants, farm cycles and the like. A few parents got involved. A corner of the school yard was turned into a small garden that the children could tend. Another corner was the recipient of a number of fruit trees paid for by fund-raising. Classes spend time weeding, pollinating, harvesting, and the like. Teachers are communicating the required curriculum elements while everyone’s working. Meanwhile, on Wednesdays, two parents started soup-making in the school’s kitchen, using the vegetables from the garden. Students take turns leaning how to prepare food and cook it. The school now grows enough to nearly feed itself, and as the project continues they anticipate having a surplus. The intention is not to sell it, but to give it to the families of the students. This is an example of what New Zealanders call asset-based community development: using the skills and resources of people in a community to create new capabilities outside the cash economy. Just what you might expect from a country where the largest “corporation” — a major international player
in dairy products, Fonterra - is not your typical organization but a member-owned co-operative. Down in South Island, where the Christchurch earthquakes hit, an asset-based community development effort to share building skills in Lyttelton (originally aimed at building community facilities) was able to swing into reconstruction and repair efforts well in advance of commercial or government solutions. The Seattle area in the United States has picked up on the notion of asset-based community development as well, and communities in its region are forming various volunteer bodies to share skills, build, and offset high food and energy costs. Canadians haven’t been sitting around waiting for someone else to it do for them, either. Prince Edward Island has seen the use of crowdfunding - the two main sites are KickStarter.com and Indiegogo. com - to do a number of local projects. All across the country, there are projects to share skills, do local building, offset the cost of services, feed people, and more. In a time of economic worry, knowing you’ve got options is important. Some advisors to students looking at university are now routinely saying “graduate with your degree - and with a skill”. All of this recognizes that when times are uncertain, it’s good to have choices. In a country built by neighbours pulling together to help each other, turning back to those roots can make our communities thrive even if the headlines are grim. Troy Media Columnist Bruce Stewart is a nationally syndicated columnist and management consultant living in Toronto.
U.S. foreign policy won’t change under Romney There was never going to be a big debate on US foreign policy at the Democratic National Convention. It will be whatever Barack Obama say it should be, and besides, the delegates in Charlotte weren’t interested. It’s the economy, stupid, and two months before the election nobody wants to get sidetracked into discussing a peripheral issue like American foreign policy. The only people who really care about that at the moment are foreigners and the US military – and even they are not following the election with bated breath, because few of them believe that a change of president could fundamentally change the way the US relates to the rest of the world. Although the Republicans do their best to paint GWYNNE Obama as a wild-eyed radiDYER cal who is dismantling America’s defences, he has actually been painfully orthodox in his foreign policy. He loves Israel to bits, he did not shut down the Afghan war (or Guantanamo), he uses drones to kill US enemies (and sometimes, anybody else who is nearby), and he tamely signs off on a $700 billion defence budget. How can Mitt Romney top that? He could say he loves Israel even more. In fact, he does say that, promising to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But that is purely gesture politics, since almost no other countries do, and in practice Obama gives Israel almost everything it wants already. He could pledge to spend even more on “defence” than Obama, but the United States is already pouring 4.7 percent of its Gross Domestic Product down that rathole. Obama has planned cuts over the next several years that would bring it down to about 4 percent – and Romney has promised not to let it fall below 4 percent. Not a huge difference there. Romney does his best to disguise that fact by declaring that he would reverse certain of Obama’s decisions. US ground forces, for example, would re-
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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER Published at 2950 Bremner Avenue, Red Deer, Alberta, T4R 1M9 by The Red Deer Advocate Ltd. Canadian Publications Agreement #336602 Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation Fred Gorman Publisher John Stewart Managing editor Gord Derouin Advertising manager Al Fradette Press/mailroom manager
main at their current level under a Romney adminis- forces to the Gulf “to send a message to Iran,” but he tration, rather than being reduced by 100,000 people. didn’t threaten to attack Iran, or endorse an Israeli But changing only that and nothing else would put attack on Iran. And he can always move them back $25 billion a year back onto the defence budget. How again if he gets bored. do you do that without raising taxes? He said he would appoint a Middle East czar to The Republican candidate faces a constraint oversee US support for the evolving Arab transitions. none of his recent predeThat’s one more governcessors had: a party that ment job, but Romney really cares about the has even less idea than deficit. In the past three Obama about where he decades, it has been Rewants those transitions to publican presidents who end up. Besides, the Unitran up the bills – Ronald ed States has almost no Reagan never balanced leverage on this issue. a budget, and the BushHe will review the Cheney team declared Obama administration’s that “deficits don’t matplanned withdrawal from ter” – while the subseAfghanistan. Not necesquent Democratic adminsarily change it; just reistrations tried to curb view it. out-of-control spending. He will also review Romney doesn’t have Obama’s global misFile photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS sile defence strategy. that option: the Tea Party wing of his party actually Republican presidential candidate, former He might like to change means what it says about Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during that – Republicans have both taxes and deficits. loved the concept ever So what’s left for him? a victory rally, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, at Union since Ronald Reagan’s Well, he could promise to Terminal in Cincinnati. “Star Wars” dreams – but kill even more of Amerhe hasn’t got the kind of ica’s enemies than Obama, but he can’t get around money he would need for a more ambitious policy. the fact that it’s Obama who nailed Osama bin LadHe will increase the government’s focus on cyberen, and Obama who is playing fast and loose with in- security. Ho-hum. ternational law by using drones to carry out remoteHe will raise the rate of US Navy shipbuilding. So control assassinations of hostile foreigners. far as budget constraints permit, which is not very So Romney says very little about foreign policy far at all. because there is little he can say. The closest he And he will launch an economic opportunity inihas come to specific policy changes was an “action tiative in Latin America. As long as it doesn’t cost plan” he laid out during the Republican primaries much money. last year, to be accomplished within a hundred days It’s not surprising that the rest of the world doesn’t of taking office. It was an entirely credible promise, care much about the US election. Most foreigners, on because none of it really involves a policy change at both the right and the left, are more comfortable all. with Obama than Romney, but US foreign policy will He promised to “re-assure traditional allies that stay the same whoever wins. They might not like all America will fulfill its global commitments.” A cou- of it, but they’re used to it. ple of phone calls, and that’s done. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose arHe declared that he would move more military ticles are published in 45 countries.
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