The Government’s call in 1916!
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Military Service in World War One- Looking into the Past
Posted in history and literature
Tagged archives, Canadian, National Service, Primary Documents, World War One
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November 3, 1916 (exploring the past, and great gran’s journal)
(Excerpt of great gran’s journal)
November 3, 1916
This is my birthday. I hate to tell but I am fifty-three. Marjorie (my gran-her daughter), the darling little girlie gave me a perfectly lovely blouse for which she sent to Toronto. It is a lovely fine voile one all embroidered and trimmed with lace. She also gave me the Windsor magazine and a box of finger chocolates. Then when I came home (to 317- from teaching) at 4 o’clock I found a letter from Lou, one from Tiny (cousin) and one from Bee awaiting me, also a box with two beautiful hand stitched pillow cases from cousin Bee and a beautiful blue tie from darling Kathleen. Bee seems better from her letter and has just won a bridge prize of a hot water jug. Tiny writes that she expects to come here on a visit three weeks from yesterday. She will also go to visit Bee in Ottawa.
Next Tuesday is election day in U.S. Lou is for Wilson of course. Neither candidate for the Presidency seems to be tacking any notice of the fact that 6 Americans lost their lives when the Marina was torpedoed the other day. The French have captured Fort Vaux from the Germans another of the Verdun forts. It is said also that there is civil war in Greece between the Royalist Party the Venizelos party. The Rumanians are succeeding in Transylvania and are pursuing the routed Bavarians. It is reported that the whole Canadian army is to be overhauled and re organized.
The Germans are torpedoing more and more ships, Norwegian, Grecian, British etc.
The Deutschland has made a second trip out to America. She is berthed at New London. She is to take back Canadian nickel again. Why doesn’t a British cruiser account for her? It is a very mild fall, no English mail since Guy’s (her son in WWI) field post card.
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Exploring the past- what happened on this date…many years ago?
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Posted in Art, history and literature, Thoughts
Tagged art, family history, history, stamps, war tax, World War One
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Halloween
I hear something in the wind this time of year. It as though an instinctual urge for… change… takes hold. It is in the falling leaves, in the crisp air, in the colour of the season- it is a longing for more a desire for a journey. It is a call.
Halloween is my favourite time of year-possibly because I am a drama person, and this is the one season that it is socially acceptable to imagine- for one night of the year- that you can be anyone. Children can be their favourite superhero, men and women can be a ‘naughty’ character they would never dare to show in polite company.
Halloween night is also a night of interaction- a chance encounter with your neighbour. Conviviality, community, laughter, children, dreams, magic and imagination.
There is another spiritual aspect of this season- the fact that it is the crossroads between the living and the dead- the point at which you might chance upon the spirits of loves departed. There is a feeling anything can happen. My family made a pact on how to communicate with each other: the flicker of the candle light was my gran, the rocking of the chair was my great gran, the moving of paper was my mother, my uncle was a knock at the door.
In short- this season pulls on my instinctual urge to journey away, to connect with the past, to play, and to know my neighbours better, and to connect with the child inside- what a gift!
Happy Halloween !
Dream, share, connect and live!
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Human Rights vs. Money
We had a debate in history class yesterday. What is the most important event of the 1920s? Based on student input, the choices were: women’s rights (vote and persons case), forced enrollment of Native children in residential schools, the Great Depression (or at least the stock market crash), and the Spanish flu.
Students had fifteen minutes to develop their argument and counter arguments. It turned into an amazing investigation into what we see as important within our society in general.
The basis for each argument ran in this way:
Residential schools- it is a truly Canadian issue (and we are studying Canadian history); it was the closest example of the Canadian government’s attempt to exterminate a culture; the atrocities committed against these helpless children is a scar on Canadian identity; it is an issue that is still relevant today (families are still trying to cope with the impact that this government mandated action had on their identity and socialization skills).
Spanish Flu: It killed more people than World War One; H1 N1 is a strain of this-still part of present health issue; society is devastated by the loss of life.
Women’s rights: they were part of the workforce and therefore deserved the vote; women in power could bring about changes for the public good.
The Great Depression- It was felt around the world; majority of the population was effected; the other events presented only effected some people; money makes a society progress; women are involved in a society anyway- their right’s, while important, were not the biggest event in the 1920s.
In the end, I found myself more drawn to the argument of the group (a majority of the class) for the Great Depression- but I really didn’t want to be. I am instinctively drawn to the importance of women’s rights and the horror of the residential schools. Why? Possibly because they are issues of character and equality-something that wasn’t even brought up in class(until I talked about it).
It brought up the fact that money speaks louder than human rights.
What is interesting is that a majority of the students have reached this conclusion themselves- I certainly don’t think I have swayed their opinion. What is also interesting is that the students who debated on the side of human rights and equality really did not have the language to explain why they felt that their particular issue was the most important- they just felt it was, Interesting.
I would really like to explore this more.
Brushed With Mystery 