Richard III: Mystery solved - but was he that bad?

 

Researchers have confirmed 'beyond reasonable doubt" that a skeleton unearthed in Leicester, England is that of the 15th century English monarch, Richard III.  Born on October 2, 1452, Richard was 32 years old.when he was defeated by the forces of  Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485.  He was the last English king to die in battle and the last of the Plantagenet kings.  His death brought an end to the War of the Roses, an internecine struggle between the Houses of York and Lancaster (the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty).

Richard's skeleton was discovered last September on the first day of a 3-week excavation.  It was uncovered among the ruins of the choir of Greyfriars Church, beneath a social services parking lot.  According to historical records, the slain monarch was buried at the long-gone church.

Richard's skeletal remains were found in good condition, although severe trauma to the skull was evidenced and the feet were missing.  The skeleton also showed abnormal lateral curvature of the spine (Richard was known to be hunchbacked).  The hands were crossed and there was no sign of a coffin or burial shroud.

DNA samples from Canadian-born Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard's, sister, Anne of York, provided further evidence that the skeleton was indeed that of the king.  Michael, a 55-year-old furniture maker who lives in London, recently visited Bosworth Field.  He told The Guardian of London that it was a an uncanny experience.  "Standing in that field and thinking, 500 years ago Richard III died here,   "It very strange," he said, "and stranger still to think there's a tiny bit of my DNA , that was also in Richard."

Ibsen's mother, Joy, who died four years ago, was a British journalist who immigrated to Canada while in her 20s.  In 2005, historian John Ashdown Hill, contacted Joy and informed her that she was a 16th generation niece of Richard's eldest sister.  Joy was disbelieving, but finally agreed to provide a DNA sample.  After her  death, Michael moved to London.  The DNA sample was forgotten until Michael received a call concerning the archaeological excavation in Leicester.  As an ancestor of Richard III, he was asked to be present and to contribute a new sample of DNA.  Ibsen was most happy to comply with the request.

History and literature have not been kind to Richard III whom Shakespeare immortalized in his famous play, The Bard paints a very unflattering portrait of Richard his his oft-quoted historical drams, believed to have been written over a century after the ill-fated monarch's death.  He portrays Richard as a Machiavellian ogre; but was the king really a ruthless tyrant or was he merely the target of Tudor propaganda?  Is it a case of the old cliche that history is written by the victors or was Richard guilty of being a tyrant?  Perhaps it is a combination of both.

During his brief reign, King Richard introduced some important liberal reforms such as the right to bail.  He thought it was unjust  for offenders of minor crimes to be denied their liberty before trial.  In addition, he legislated that English law must be written in English rather than in Latin or Old French. He also relaxed restrictions on books and printing presses and standardized the system of weights and measures.

Yet Richard's accomplishments are overshadowed by one huge blemish on his record, namely the alleged murder of his nephews, the  "princes in the tower."  The princes were Edward V of England and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the only sons of King Edward 1V.  When Edward IV died unexpectedly in 1483, he left his two boys, aged nine and 12, to the care of his brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester, who would later become King Richard III.  Upon his brother's death, Richard was appointed Lord Protector of England, the de facto ruler of the realm.

The two boys were placed in the Tower of London by their uncle, ostensibly to protect them from plots against them and to prepare young Edward for his coronation as king.  The brothers, however, mysteriously disappeared and it was assumed that they were murdered.  When their uncle ascended to the throne, many believed that he was responsible for the murder of  the boys, although the evidence was circumstantial.

Once he had defeated Richard at Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor, who assumed the throne as King Henry VII, accused his deceased adversary of  the "shedding of infants' blood."  In 1502, a courtier named Sir James Tyrrell, allegedly confessed the murder of the two princes.  Some claimed that Tyrrell hired agents to perform the dirty deed for him.  None of this, of course, has been proven.  Nor has there been any concrete evidence that Richard III ordered the murder of his nephews, although he is far from exonerated from any link to that heinous crime.  It is unlikely that it will ever be  known who really killed the princes.

Portrait of the "Princes in the Tower" 

Note: the above portrait, entitled The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483, is the work of English artist John Everett Millais, 1878.


END NOTE

In keeping with archaeological custom, the remains of Richard III will be reinterred at Leicester Cathedral, the nearest consecrated ground.


EDITOR'S UPDATE: September 6, 2013 - It seems that Richard III was infected with large parasitic worms.  Researchers who unearthed the reviled monarch's skeleton beneath a parking lot in central England last year discovered a large number of roundworm eggs in the soil near his pelvis.  In a study published online in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet on September 4, 2013, experts concluded that the eggs came from an infection that the king had had during his life since there were no eggs near the king's skull and only tiny amounts in the soil close to his grave.


- Joanne

Evelyn Dick and the Torso Murder

Aside from Karla Homolka, Evelyn Dick, the "torso murderer" of the 1940s, is perhaps the most notorious woman in Canadian history.  Journalist Paula Todd, however, was able to locate Homolka on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe where the convicted killer resides with her husband (the brother of her long-time prison lawyer) and their three children.  Unlike Homolka, Evelyn Dick's fate is shrouded in mystery.  If she is still alive her whereabouts are unknown to the public and she would be 92 years old.  If deceased, the details of her death are also unknown.

Let's go back to Hamilton, Ontario on March 16, 1946.  On that day, a group of  children discovered a dismembered body laying part way down the side of the Niagara Escarpment (referred to as "The Mountain" by Hamilton residents).  It turned out to be the torso of an adult male whose head, arms and legs were nowhere in sight.  With the help of doctors and a positive identification from a brother-in-law, police were able to identify the remains of 40-year-old John Dick.  His estranged wife, Evelyn, was suspected of involvement in the gruesome murder.

Evelyn Dick was worn in Beamsville, Ontario (near Niagara Falls) on October 13, 1920.  Her parents, Donald and Alexandra MacLean, moved the family to Hamilton where Donald found employment as a streetcar conductor with the Hamilton Street Railway Company.  He later secured an office job with the company and used his position to pilfer from the company.  Young Evelyn enjoyed hosting parties and she had a reputation for spending money lavishly on items such as jewellery and furs.  She always seemed to have a steady supply of cash.

In 1942, Evelyn gave birth to a daughter.  She claimed to be married to a soldier stationed overseas whose last name was `White."  Mr.  White`s existence, however, was never proven.  The baby, Heather White, was mentally disabled and required a great deal of care from her mother and grandparents.  The following summer. Evelyn gave birth to a stillborn child.  Then, on September 5, 1944, her son, Peter David White, came into the world.  It has never been clear who fathered these children.

By June of 1945, Alexandra MacLean had separated from her hard-drinking husband and moved into downtown Hamilton apartment with daughter Evelyn.  Not long after, Evelyn shocked her mother by announcing that she intended to marry someone named John Dick, a streetcar driver for the Hamilton Street Railway, in two weeks` time.  Alexandra was not even aware of the existence of a man by that name in her daughter`s life.

Nevertheless, on October 4, 1945, Evelyn married Dick, a Russian immigrant 14 years her senior.  The marriage was a sham and the couple did not even live together most of the time.  When John disappeared, he was living with his cousin, Alexander Kammerer.  It was Kammerer who reported John missing since March 6, 1946.

Soon after the identification of John Dick's remains, Evelyn was taken to police headquarters for questioning.  She reacted to the news about her husband by declaring, "Don't look at me.  I don't know anything about it."  She then told a tale about a Mafia hitman who had been looking for John. The police did not believe her story because hard evidence proved otherwise.  There were bloodstains on the upholstery of a car Evelyn had borrowed that matched John's blood type and bits of human bones were discovered in the backyard of her home.  On March 19, 1946  three days after the discovery of her husband's torso on Hamilton Mountain, Evelyn Dick was arrested.

Several week later, during the investigation of John Dick's murder, another grisly discovery was made.  The body of Evelyn's baby son, Peter David White, was discovered in an old suitcase enclosed in cement in the attic of her home.  Evelyn then made statements implicating herself, her lover William Bohozuk and her father Donald MacLean in the murders.  The trio all faced murder charges.

In October of 1946, Evelyn Dick's case came before the courts.  The sensational "black widow" murder trial was front page news and scores of people congregated outside the courthouse during the proceedings.  It is interesting to note that  prominent Hamilton lawyer John J. Sullivan, who defended Evelyn during her first trial, would later run unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1950.  After nine days of testimony, however, the jury quickly delivered a guilty verdict.

On January 7, 1947, Evelyn was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of her husband.  Famed lawyer J.J. Robinette appealed her case and won an acquittal for his client on the basis that Evelyn's statements to police were improperly admitted into evidence and that the judge had not provided the jury with proper instruction.  In 1947, Evelyn went on trial for murder again.  This time she was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of her baby son and sentenced to life in the Kingston Prison for Women.  Her father was sentenced to five years for being an accessory to murder.and Bill Bohozuk was acquitted because Evelyn refused to testify at his trial.

In 1958, after serving 11 years in prison, Evelyn Dick was paroled.  Ales Edmison,, a senior member of the National Parole Board, provided her with a new identity because he thought she was entitled to a fresh start.  To this day, Hamiltonians never tire of speculating about what happened to the infamous Mrs. Dick after she was released from the Kingston Penitentiary. According to Jeff Mahoney in his October 17, 2011 article in the Hamilton Spectator, the most accepted version of Evelyn's fate appears to be that she settled in London, Ontario or Kitchener.  Mahoney stresses , however, that her exact location has never been pinpointed although there have been reported sightings of the evasive woman.

According to the late journalist Brian Vallee in his 2001 book, Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick, Evelyn married a well-to-do man who was never learned of her true identity.  She relocated to Western Canada where she was able to elude private detectives and the press in their attempts to track her down. Vallee, who never met Dick, obtained his information from third parties and go-betweens.

In a March 15, 2005 article by Charlie Gillis in Maclean's magazine, Vallee is quoted as saying, "Evelyn had the help of everyone in power keeping her secret."   "These days, he told Maclean's, "police go around advertising when an offender's about to get out of jail."

I  can't help wondering what would have happened if Evelyn Dick had been released from prison in 2013 rather than 1958.  With modern technology and social media, it would be extremely difficult for her to remain hidden from the public eye. She certainly would not have been able to vanish as she did.

END NOTE

* According to Brian Vallee's book, Evelyn Dick's mother, Alexandra MacLean, died on July 7, 1964.  Her father, Donald MacLean, was released from prison in April of 1951.  He died on May 3, 1955 at the age of 77.  Bill Bohozuk died in Hamilton in 1996.


- Joanne

Janis Joplin: The girl who sang the blues

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

Lyrics by Don McLean
From the song American Pie

Don McLean released his American Pie album in 1971, not long after the death of Janis Joplin from an accidental drug overdose on October 4, 1970.  Joplin is widely  thought to be "the girl who sang the blues" in McLean's song.  Perhaps that is why his lyrics are so wistful and melancholy. McLean must have also been influenced by another drug-related death, that of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix just sixteen days earlier.  Sadly, both Joplin and Hendrix were only 27 years old when they passed away.

If Janis Lyn Joplin were alive today, she would be celebrating her 70th birthday.  She was born in Port Arthur, Texas on January 19, 1943.  Her father, Seth Joplin, was an engineer at Texaco and her mother, Dorothy (nee East) was a registrar at a business college.  Janis was the eldest of three Joplin children.  She had a sister named Laura and a brother, Michael.

Janis attended Thomas Jefferson High School where she was bullied and shunned because she suffered from acne and was overweight.  She took solace in the music of blues artists such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.  They inspired her to become a blues singer.

Janis graduated from Jefferson High in 1960.  She then enrolled at the Lumar State College of Technology.  She left Lumar after only one semester to take some secretarial courses at Port Arthur College.  Eager to leave the small Texas oiltown and begin a music career, Joplin moved to Los Angeles in 1961.  She returned home and entered the  University of Texas at Austin in 1962. It was there that she began performing her music on campus and at a local pub.

Still restless, Joplin left for California again in 1963.  This time she settled in San Francisco where she  became part of the Haight-Ashbury scene and began to use amphetamines and heroin.  She appeared so thin and unhealthy that, at the urging of concerned friends, she once again returned to Port Arthur in 1965.  She did not stay there, of course, and went back to San Francisco where the hippie movement was beginning to blossom.

Janis joined the psychedelic acid-rock group Big Brother and the Holding Company which was managed by her friend Chet Helms.  They had their first gig in 1966 and Joplin made her mark as their lead singer.   In June of 1967, the band performed in front of tens of thousands of people at the Monterey Pop Festival.  The Monterey performance gained the group a great deal of recognition after which they released their self-titled debut album in August of 1967, but sales for the album were somewhat disappointing.

In November of 1967, the group signed a contract with Columbia Records  They acquired a new manager too - Albert Grossman.  Grossman was well known as a music entrepreneur and had managed some of the most popular folk and folk rock performers.  His clients included such big names as Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta and Ian and Sylvia.

Big Brother's second album, Cheap Thrills, was released in August of 1968.  It was a smashing success and earned gold record status.  Columbia chose to market Janis as the star attraction and the band's name was changed to Janis Joplin and the Big Brother and the Holding Company. As 1968 drew to a close, however, the 26-year-old Joplin decided to go solo and form her own band.  She embarked on a tour of Europe with her new group, the Kozmic Blues Band.  Janis and the Kozmic Blues Band played London's Albert Hall.  They also performed at a very raucous concert in Frankfurt in the former West Germany.

In August of 1969, Janis Joplin appeared at the Woodstock Music Festival where she sang ten songs:  "Raise Your Hand," "As Good as You've Been to This World," "To Love Somebody," "Summertime," "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," "Kosmic Blues," "Can't Turn You Loose," "Work Me, Lord," "Piece of My Heart" and "Ball and Chain."  In late 1969, she appeared with Tom Jones on his television variety show, This is Tom Jones.  Click on the link below to watch Janis perform the song "Raise Your Hand" with Tom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ib2b4BOZIQ

Tom Jones and Janis Joplin in 1969

At the end of 1969, the Kozmic Blues Band broke up and Janis' drug habit was clearly out of control.  In February of 1970, Janis travelled to Brazil where she tried to kick her heroin addiction. She managed to stay clean for awhile, but resumed her use of drugs upon her return to the United States.  It was about this time that she formed a new band called the Full Tilt Boogie Band.  The Full Tilt Boogie Band was comprised mainly of Canadian musicians and it began touring in May of 1970.

Just months before her death, Janis made two television appearances on The Dick Cavett Show. In the first appearance, on June 25, 1970, she told Cavett that she would be attending her ten-year high school class reunion even though she had been ridiculed by fellow students.  During her second appearance on August 3, 1970, she mentioned her plans to perform at the Festival for Peace to be held at New York's Shea Staudium on August 6, 1970.

Janis Joplin's final public performance was with the Full Tilt Boogie Band at the Harvard Stadium in Boston on August 12, 1970.  She spent the last weeks of her life recording a new album in Los Angeles.  The album was called Pearl and it was produced by Paul A. Rothchild, the producer of The Doors' recordings.  Although Janis died before the album was fully completed, she had recorded enough material to create a long-playing record.

Although Joplin never lived to see its success, Pearl would become the most popular album of her career.  It also contained her biggest hit single, Me and Bobby McGee.  Me and Bobby McGee was written by Kris Kristofferson with whom Janis had had a relationship in the spring of 1970. That song still resonates with me because I can remember my high school classmates singing "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose . . ."

On October 4th, 1970, producer Paul Rothchild became alarmed when Janice did not show up for a recording session.  John Cooke, Full Tilt Boogie's road manager drove to the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood Heights where she was staying.  Cooke noticed that her car, a psychedelically painted Porsche 366 Cabriolet, in the parking lot.  Upon entering her room, he discovered her body on the floor next to her bed.  The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol consumption.

Janis Joplin personified her turbulent era. She was most comfortable with the San Francisco counter-culture and the anti-establishment.  A trail blazer for female rock artists. she exuded raw energy.  Although she was  crude and profane, there was also a tender side to her. Her music was filled with pain and heartbreak but behind that rough exterior was little girl baring her soul to the world through her songs.  She once said: "You can fill your life with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings.  That's what music is to me."  I believe that if Janis Joplin were still with us at the age of 70, she would still be belting out "Piece of My Heart" with that unmistakable raspy voice.  Her soulful sound is not to be forgotten.  It is her legacy.


END NOTES

*  Laura Joplin, Janis' younger sister,  published a book entitled Love, Janis in 1992..  Laura wrote the book after discovering some old letters Janis has written.  The letters sparked her curiosity about her famous sibling and led her to interview Janis' friends and colleagues.

*  In 1995, Janis Joplin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

*  In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine included Pearl in its list of thee 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  Pearl was ranked 122nd.  In case you are wondering why the album was called Pearl, the answer is that Pearl was Janice Joplin's nickname.  She asked people to refer to her by that name.

- Joanne

NHL fans deserve more than a thank you

Now that the NHL lockout has ended, it's time to talk about some compensation for much-maligned hockey fans.  Remember how after the lockout of 2004-2005, a thank you to fans appeared on the ice surface of every NHL arena.  That will not be enough this time.  Much more is needed.  Damien Cox, hockey columnist for the Toronto Star, has written that the fans have been disrespected by both the league and its players.  I wholeheartedly concur with his assessment. Cox is absolutely right that the fans have been unappreciated.and treated shabbily.  It will take a great deal of time and effort to repair the damage that the lockout has done to the image of the league.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has apologized to fans for the lockout.  That's just is good enough.  If the NHL really wants to do more than just pay lip service to the fans, it is time for Bettman and his cohorts to put their money where there mouth is.  Yes, it will cost the billionaire owners some money, but they will not regret it in the long run.  Here is my modest proposal to the National Hockey League.

1. The second home game in every arena in every NHL city should be a fan appreciation day.

2.  On fan appreciation day, all ticket holders should receive 50 per cent off the price of a regular ticket.  Before the puck is dropped for the opening face-off, the captain of the home team should step in front of a microphone and express a thank you to the fans on behalf of all the players on his own team and the other teams in the NHL.

3.  At the end of the season, every every season ticket holder should receive a refund for $113.00, one dollar for each day of the 113-day lockout.

If  the NHL adopted even one of these three simple measures, some much-needed good will would be generated toward the league.  Will any of my suggestions come to pass?  I doubt it.  The owners have lost a great deal of money due to this labour dispute. Since they tend to measure everything in dollars and cents, it's highly unlikely that they would be willing to relinquish any more cash.  For the sake of the fans and the future of the NHL, I hope that the league has something more than thank yous and apologies in mind for the fans.

I am interested to know what the readers of Number 16 think of my suggestions.  I invite you to e-mail me with your opinions.

- Joanne

Are French stars Depardieu and Bardot headed for Russia?

Depardieu

So what's gotten into Gerard Diepardieu?

Is it farewell to France, farewell and adieu?

He's moving to Moscow right out of the blue

And the lovely Bardot, will she follow too?
He says he must leave and he says he'll be fine
But what kind of Frenchman drinks vodka, not wine?
And who trades away all those clear Paris skies
For Putin's support and some dubious ties?

French film star Gerard Depardieu has apparently decided to leave the motherland.  The 64-year-old actor recently obtained Russian citizenship after meeting with President Vladimir Putin.  He has chosen to move away from France as a result of some serious issues with the government of French President Francois Hollande.  Hollande is a socialist but France has been governed by a socialist before - Francois Mitterand from 1981 to 1995.

Depardieu is angry over President Hollande's proposed 75 per cent tax rate for millionaires.  He prefers Russia's flat rate income tax of 13 per cent over the new tax on income over 1 million euros (1.3 million U.S.) that Hollande intends to levy in France. On January 3, 2013, the unhappy Frenchman was was warmly greeted by President Putin at the Russian leader's residence in the Black Sea town of Sochi, where next year's Winter Olympics are to be held.  The two men were shown shaking hands and hugging on the Russian state run television station, Channel One.

It's also worth noting that on January 8th, Depardieu failed to appear in court on drunk driving charges in Paris (He fell off his scooter last November and was charged with impaired driving). The actor's lawyer explained that he was in Montenegro preparing for his latest film in which he will portray disgraced International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Khan.  Instead, according to a report in London's Daily Telegraph, Depardieu met with Montenegro's prime minister, Milo Djukanovic and scouted for property to buy.

At a joint news conference In Montenegro with Prime Minister Djukanovic, Depardieu denied that he was trying to evade French justice and said that he would return to France.  He defended his absence from the Paris court hearing and his decision to receive a Russian passport.  He stated, "I'm not a criminal.  I skidded on my scooter.  I fell asleep.  Even if I eat a salad with too much vinegar, I already have too much alcohol in my blood.""  As for the Russian passport, he declared, "Please don't think that I want to collect passports.  I am a citizen of Europe.  I live in Europe.  My dream is to be a citizen of the world."  First Depardieru will have to deal with the drunk driving charges.  His hearing will now be deferred to a criminal court where he faces the loss of his licence and up to two years in prison.

Bardot

Animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has been threatening to follow in Depardieu's footsteps and seek a Russian passport too.  Althoug Bardot and Depardieu have disagreed in the past over Depardieu's enthusiasm for bullfighting, she supports his lastest actions and claims he is a "victim of extremely unfair persecution."  La Bardot's issue with President Hollande is quite different, though.  The former actress and fashion model is extremely upset over the fate of two sick Asian elephants in a Lyon zoo.  She is calling on Hollande to save the animals from death by lethal injection.

The elephants, Baby and Nepal, were banished from a circus for bad behaviour in 1999.  In 2010, they were diagnosed as TB carriers and are thought to be infected with the human form of tuberculosis.  According to French law, herds of farm animals must be destroyed if they are even suspected of carrying tuberculosis.  The problem is that no clear law exists for wild animals such as elephants.  The French Council of State (Conseil d'Etat), therefore, has agreed to rule on the matter and the animals cannot be killed until the council has rendered  a judgement.  If  it decides that that Baby and Nepal should be put to death, Bardot and her supporters are counting on Hollande to save the elephants.

Meanwhile, a petition has been circulating on the Internet since January 4, 2013 calling on President Holland to intervene rescue the elephants.  It has over 80,000 signatures.  Click on the link below to view the petition.

http://animalonestmal.over-blog.com/article-petition-elephants-baby-et-nepal-du-zoo-de-lyon-euthanasie-car-pinder-refuse-de-les-soigner-113549345.html

Brigitte Bardot has offered to cover the costs of removing the elephants from the wildlife park in Lyon, including their upkeep and veterinary bills.  If the elephants die. the 78-year-old  vows to obtain a Russian passport.  She will leave her seafront villa in Saint Tropez. and move to Russia.even though Russia has an abysmal animal rights record.  Another French film star, Catherine Deneuve, has expressed solidarity with Gerard Depardieu and Bardot.

Although Gerard Deparieu has a right to live where he chooses, it's difficult to fathom why anyone would want to leave democratic France for Putin's Russia, even to avoid taxation.  Depardieu, Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve have all led privileged lives in France and they have indulged in very luxurious lifestyles.  They are not being asked to relinquish all of their wealth and status.  Russia, under former KGB agent Vladimir Putin, is a very autocratic state.  Why don't they talk about giving back something to France in return for what France has given them?  It remains to be seen if either Depardieu or Bardot will ever actually live in Russia on a permanent basis.  Somehow, I doubt it.

- Joanne

2013: The Year Ahead

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

- T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

From the poem Little Gidding             

             
We are five days into a New Year and there is much ahead.  I am not superstitious about the number 13 at all and I am always hopeful that 2013 will be a better year.  It is sometimes undeniably difficult to feel that way but as Henry Beecher Ward wrote:

Every man should be born again on the first day of January.  Start with a fresh page.  Take up one more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances, but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.


WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN 2013

CANADA

Although there will be no federal election until It will be an active year in politics here in Canada. The federal Liberal Party will choose a new leader on April 14, 2013 and the spotlight will be on MPs Justin Trudeau and Marc Garneau.  The Ontario Liberals will replace outgoing Dalton McGuinty and the province will have a new premier.  Their convention will be held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto from January 27-27, 2013. A provincial election is scheduled for British Columbia on May 14, 2013.  Since Quebec and Ontario both have minority governments, there is the possibility that those two provinces could go to the polls this year.  A provincial election is more likely to take place in Ontario, though.

Keep an eye on the aboriginal people's Idle No More movement.  Aboriginal leaders are especially concerned about the Indian Act, the Navigation Act and the Environmental Assessment Act. Theresa Spence, Chief of the Attawapskat First Nation, is on a hunger strike and vows that she will continue it until she sees the results of an outcome of a meeting between aboriginal leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday, January 11, 2013.  Spence and her supporters have camped out on Victoria Island on the Ottawa River near Parliament Hill since December 11, 2012.

ITALY

Italy will hold parliamentary elections on February 24-25, 2013.  Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is to lead a coalition into the election.

In December, disgraced former prime minister, Silivio Berlusconi, 76, announced his engagement to 28-year-old Francesca Pascale.  Pascale is a former shop assistant from Naples and she served as the provincial councillor in Berlesconi's centre-right PDL party until July of 2012.  This will be the flamboyant media tycoon's third marriage.

THE UNITED STATES

U..S. President Barack Obama's second inauguration will take place on January 21st, 2013. According the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution (passed in 1933), the presidential inauguration must take place at noon on January 20th, provided that January 20th does not fall on a Sunday.  This year, January 20th falls on a Sunday so Obama will be sworn in on the 21st.  2013 marks the first time an inauguration day has fallen on the Sabbath since President James Monroe's second  swearing-in in 1821.

President Obama doesn't have to worry about being re-elected anymore.  He should stand up to the gun lobbyists and not be intimidated by the National Rifle Association.  It will be interesting to see how successful he will be in his attempt to ban semi-automatic weapons.

On foreign policy, Obama would be wise to concentrate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is at the core of much of the conflict in the world. Surprisingly, it was not discussed much during the 2102 presidential campaign.  Now that John Kerry is about to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, it will be interesting to see how he approaches the matter.

This year marks two important anniversaries in the American civil rights movement.  Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation 150 ago, on January 1, 1863.  It proclaimed freedom for all slaves in Confederate territory.  The 50th anniversary of the famous civil rights March on Washington on August 28, 1963 will be celebrated this year.

It's hard to believe but November 22, 1963 will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

OVER 500 MURDERS IN CHICAGO IN 2012

There were over 500 murders in the Windy City last year.  According to police, up to 80 per cent of Chicago's murders and shootings are gang-related.  On January 3rd, Chicago Police Chief Gerry McCarthy stated that the "Chicago Police Department takes more guns off the street consistently, year after year, than any department in the country."  He reported that police confiscated more than 7,400 guns, including 300 assault weapons in Chicago in 2012.  Speaking at St. Sabina Church on Chicago's South Side, McCarthy called for five measures to put an end to such gun violence: restriction of of assault weapons; restriction of high capacity magazines; reporting of the loss, theft or transfer of a firearm; good background checks and mandatory minimums to prevent people from possessing illegal firearms.  Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, added his voice to the proceeding when he declared, "You do not need an AK-47  or an Uzi for the streets of Chicago, Joliet, Aurora, Rockford, Decatur or Springfield and everything in between.  And you don't need a high calibre magazine."  Thank goodness for some voices of sanity!

ISRAEL

Parliamentary elections will be held in Israel on January 22.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to maintain power although his Likud Party has recently begun losing ground.


THE UNITED KINGDOM

2012 was such an eventful year in the U.K.  The Queen celebrated her 60th anniversary on the throne. After the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, London hosted the Summer Olympic Games.  This year, the British await the birth of a royal baby who will be third in the line of succession.


WORDS THAT WERE OVERUSED IN 2012 AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED IN 2013

iconic - This word is used so frequently that it has lost its meaning.

have your back - Enough already!

fiscal cliff  -  It's about time for the end of that term.


NOTABLE MILESTONES IN CANADA IN 2012

Canada's population surpassed 35 million in 2012, according to an estimate from Statistics Canada last month.  Back in 1967, our centennial year, the late Bobby Gimby wrote a patriotic song called CA-NA-DA which proclaims, "Now we are twenty million."  The population of this country has increased by about 15 million in 45 years.

CANADA'S FEMALE PREMIERS

For the first time in its history, Canada has five female premiers. These woman are the current leaders of the governing parties in four of its 10 provinces and in one of its three territories..  They are Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland, Pauline Marois of Quebec, Alison Redford of Alberta, Christy Clark of British Columbia and Eva Aariak of Nunavut.

Dunderdale of Newfoundland

Marois of Quebec

Aariak of Nunavut territory

Redford of Alberta

Clark of British Columbia

SPORTS IN 2013

There will be no Olympic Games, no Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup of soccer (football) in 2013.

FOOTBALL

Canadian Football League

The 101st Grey Cup game will be hosted by the city of Regina, Saskatchewan.  It is scheduled to take place on November 24, 2013 at Mosaic Stadium at Talor Field.  Those Saskatchewan fans are the most enthusiastic fans I've ever seen.  They will be be outstanding Grey Cup hosts.

NFL

The 2013 Super Bowl will take place on February 3, 2013.  The game will be played in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome.  (Americans like the word "super"). The event is being billed as Super Bowl XLVII and it will mark the first time championship game has been played at the dome since it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Hockey

As of this writing, there has not been an agreement between the National Hockey League and its players' union.  If the two sides fail to agree to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the season will be cancelled as will the Stanley Cup playoffs.  The New Year's Day outdoor Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs has already been cancelled. It was to have taken place at Michigan, Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships ended today with a gold medal victory for Team USA over Team Sweden.  The final score was 3-1.  Team Canada finished a disappointing fourth and out of the medals.  Team Russia won the bronze medal.

Baseball

The 84th edition of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game will be played at Citi Field in Queen's, New York on July 16, 2013.  It will mark the first time that the New York Mets have hosted an All-Star Game since 1964, their inaugural season at Shea Stadium.

The major league teams to watch in 2013 are the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.  The Blue Jays, they should win a wild card spot, at the very least.  Anything less than post-season play will be a big disappointment considering all the off season improvements GM Alex Anthopoulos has made.

The 2013 World Baseball Classic will be held from March 2, 2013 to March 19, 2013.  The international competition will be hosted by Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and the United States. Japan is the two-time defending champion, having won the previous tournaments in 2006 and 2009.


- Joanne

Piers Morgan versus the gun lobby

I'm not a huge fan of CNN talk show host Piers Morgan.  As a strong advocate of stricter gun control, however, I've been following his battle against the American gun lobby with great interest.  I think Morgan could be much more tactful in his approach and he shouldn't be calling his guests "incredibly stupid."  Nevertheless, I'm pleased that someone is standing up to those misguided Americans who believe it is their constitutional and God-given right to own semi-automatic weapons.

Since the fatal shooting of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Connecticut on December 14th, Morgan has become increasingly passionate and vociferous in his calls for tighter gun control in the United States.  He has confronted staunch opponents of gun control face to face on his show, Piers Morgan Tonight.

The American gun lobby is exceedingly angry that after a string of shooting incidents in the United States, a non-American would have the audacity to suggest that the U.S. is in dire need of some gun control.  Morgan has enraged Tea Party types and the National Rife Association for even suggesting that gun laws should be strengthened and that semi-automatics should be banned. These xenophobic right wingers are especially angry that a foreigner, a non-American,  has expressed a strong opinion on the issue of gun control.

A petition against Piers Morgan was created on December 21st by Kurt N. of Austin, Texas (It's not surprising that Kurt is from the Lone Star State)..  It calls for the deportation of the 47-year-old British journalist on the grounds that he has undermined the Bill of Rights and the rights of American citizens.  Incredibly, over 90,000 people have now signed the petition on the White House website.  Here is what the petition looks like.

As Deborah Orr, a leading columnist for The Guardian in Britain put it, "It's hard to resist cheap jokes about Morgan.  Indeed, many in Britain have said they don't want him back  (Editor's note: There is another petition in Britain calling for Piers Morgan to remain in the United States.)  But it's the people who brush aside any degree of senseless slaughter in defence of their right to bear arms that are the joke."  Morgan himsself does not appear to be distressed or unfazed by the petition.  In fact, he seems to be enjoying all the fuss.  Yesterday on twitter, he wrote the following:

Still only 90,000 Americans have signed the White House petition to deport me.  That leaves 310, 910,00 who presumably want me to stay. 

The gun lobby is extremely wealthy and very powerful.  The National Rifle Association is quite intimidating and relentless in its quest to prevent any softening of gun control laws. It is my firm belief that Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association has blood on his hands.  I cringed when I heard his call for armed guards at schools throughout the United States.  It seems his vision of America is that of the Wild West.  He has no compunction about turning his country into one huge O.K. Corral.  I wonder if the majority of Americans really want the U.S. to become a giant armed camp.  That is certainly not what the authors of the Constitution of the United States intended.  I'm sure they also did not intend for innocent school children to die because of the Second Amendment.

No one has been mentioning the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech in the United States, even for non-Americans such as Piers Morgan.  By the way, what is wrong with non-Americans expressing their opinions on circumstances in America?  They bring a different perspective to debates on  issues such as gun control based on the experience of their own countries.

EDITOR'S UPDATE - January 11, 2013

The man behind the petition to deport Piers Morgan turned out to be Alex Jones, a 38-year-old Texan.  The bombastic Jones is a conservative radio host on 9/11 Truther.  He appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight debate the issue of gun control and had a veritable meltdown.  To view an exchange between Jones and Morgan, click on the link below.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/us/piers-morgan-guns-debate/index.html

- Joanne

Joanne's Journal: December 25, 2012

JOANNE'S JOURNAL
Edition No. 11


Quote of the Day







And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.  

- Luke 2:7



On this Day

Bogart

One of my favourite actors came into the world on Christmas Day.  Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born on December 25, 1899 in New York City.  He was the son of a Manhattan surgeon, Dr. Belmont DeForest Bogart and Maud Humphrey, a commercial illustrator.  From his first great success as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), Bogie went on to become a film icon.  His unforgettable performance as Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942) lifted him to the peak of stardom. Bogie died of cancer of the esophagus on January 14, 1957.  He was 57 years old.


THE 1914 WORLD WAR I CHRISTMAS TRUCE

As Christmas of 1914 approached, World War I had been raging for four months.  On the Western Front, the soldiers from Germany, France and Britain were shivering in their muddy trenches. Many had expected to be home with their families by Christmas.  They had no idea the conflict was going to drag on until 1918.

On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV, called for a temporary cessation of  hostilities in celebration of the Christmas season.  His plea to prevent "the suicide of Europe," however, was ignored.  Somehow, though, an unofficial truce did break out between the warring parties that Christmas.  According to Stanley Weintraub, author of Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, "The troops had been fighting since August 1914.  It was  now December, the cold rains and some snow had come and the trenches were full of mud and water.  Nobody wanted to fight."

Unbelievably, the soldiers laid down their weapons.  On Christmas Eve, many German soldiers put up Christmas trees adorned with candles.  The two sides actually exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols.  In several places, games of soccer (football) were organized, although they tended not to be formal matches.

Soldiers kicking soccer ball around.

The truce couldn't last, of course, although in some places it held until Boxing Day, and in some areas a few days more.


ROMNEY'S SON ADMITS THAT MITT DID NOT REALLY WANT TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY

Mitt Romney did not really want to be president of the United States.  That's not idle speculation.  It's a candid admission from a member of the defeated Republican candidate's own family.  In an interview published on December 23rd, Romney's eldest son, Tagg, told the Boston Globe that his father "had no desire" to run for the presidency again after his the failure of his 2008 bid to become the Republican nominee.  Tagg Romney stated that Mitt "wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life."  It was Tagg and his mother, Ann, who coaxed the reluctant politician to change his mind.  The younger Romney went on to say that if his father "had found someone else to take his place . . . he would have been ecstatic to step aside."

Sports 

Baseball

On paper, the Toronto Blue Jays appear to be the best team in the American League East.  As a Blue Jays fan, I admit my bias.  Still, Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos is the talk of the baseball world.  He has really set tongues wagging with his wheeling and dealing during the off season so far.  I find it difficult to restrain my enthusiasm for what A.A. has achieved.  Many things could go wrong and there's always the possibility of a string of injuries.  Whatever the outcome of the 2013, no one can fault Anthopoulos for not trying.  He deserves A+ for effort.  He's given it his best shot and he's going for all the marbles now.  The 2013 season should be fun and it is filled with promise.  I can't wait to see R.A. Dickey throw his knucleballs.  Nevertheless, I will try to temper my enthusiasm with caution.


Horse Racing in Ontario

The media here in Ontario pay scant attention to horse racing in this province and elsewhere.  I once asked a Toronto Star reporter why horse racing received such little coverage in the Star, the largest paper in Canada.  He replied that there wasn't enough interest to warrant more coverage.  How, I thought to myself, does the public become interested in a sport  if it is practically ignored by the press and people are given very little information about it?  It's the old chicken/egg conundrum.

Due to the indifference and apathy of the media (combined with the actions of the Ontario government), the horse racing industry is in dire straits.  It is an industry that employs and estimated 60,000 people in the province.  Now that Dalton McGuinty has resigned, I urge the next premier of Ontario to reverse the government's decision to end the Slots at the Track Program on March 31st, 2013.

Horses may have to be destroyed.  Where are the voices of the animal rights advocates in support of these beautiful creatures?


Basketball

The Toronto Raptors should seriously consider trading Adrea Bargnani.  The Italian seems quite unhappy and he just doesn't seem to be fitting in well.   Perhaps a trade would be beneficial to him and the Raptors.

- Joanne

Lament for a White Christmas!

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go,
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

- From the song "Let it Snow"
Created by lyricist Sammy Cahn and the composer Jule Styne in 1945.

As I write this, it is December 20th, less than a week before Christmas.  I live in Toronto, the most populous city in the so-called Great White North.  We have not had a snowfall of any significance so far, only a few light flurries.  I know!  I know!  Many of you will say we have been fortunate not have had to shovel the white stuff or drive in a snow storm.  For me, however, it just doesn't seem right.  It doesn't seem natural.  I have never celebrated Christmas in a place with a warm or tropical climate.  To me, Christmas is associated with the start of the winter season - and that means snow!  Those of you who live in the Southern Hemisphere (Hello all you Aussies out there!) feel differently, of course, and I completely understand.  You live in a different climate with a different culture and different Yuletide traditions.

There are many Canadians who prefer to spend the holiday season in Florida.  I'm just not one of them.  I'm not dreaming of a green Christmas or a wet Christmas.  I'm only dreaming of a white Christmas.  When its Christmastime, I want to be in hockey country.  Ooops!  We don't even have the Toronto Maple Leafs to disappoint us again this year - not with that disgusting NHL lockout dragging on.  Alas, there is no snow in Canada's largest hub and no Leaf games to cause us endless frustration.

The definition of a "white" Christmas varies from country to country.  In some countries, it simply means that the ground is covered with snow.  Here in Canada, the definition is more precise.  Environment Canada, a government agency, officially defines a "white" Christmas as one in which there is at least two centimetres (O.79 inches) on the morning of December 25th at 7:00 a.m.  In the United States, the official definition of a "white" Christmas is even stricter.  There must be a snow depth of at least 2.5 centimetres (one inch) at 7:00 a.m. local time on Christmas morning.  In the United Kingdom, according to the British Met Office (the U.K.'s national weather service) and British bookies, snow has to be observed falling (even if it is a small amount and even if it melts before it hits the ground) in the 24 hours of December 25th.  Northern Scotland is the most likely place to see a white Christmas in the U.K.

With milder winters due to climate change, Christmas in Canada and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, is becoming less snowy as the years pass. Environment Canada issues a white Christmas probability forecast every year based on historical records and climate data it has kept since 1955.  According to the agency's statistics, the chances of a white Christmas have been continually dropping.   As winters become milder due to climate change, it is no surprise that Christmas has become less snowy through the years.  The chances of a white Christmas in Toronto this year are very low.  We haven't had one in this city since 2008.

The reality is that this year, only about 25 per cent of the Canadian populace will be waking up to a winter wonderland on Christmas Day,  mostly residents of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the sparsely populated northern regions. According to Environment Canada, there's a 100 per cent chance of  snow in Goose Bay, Iqaluit, White Horse and Yellowknife.

We have this reputation We are known as the Cold White North.  But I don't think we're as cold and white as we once were.  Our reputation is being undermined.  Winter is not . . .what it used to be.  It was more of a done deal.  It was more of a guarantee.

- David Phillips
Environment Canada's senior climatologist

Here are the facts, according to Environment Canada.  In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, on average there was an 80 per cent chance of having snowfall on Christmas Day.  The odds of this happening now have plummeted to 65 per cent.in the last twenty odd years.  Our current government, headed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is not concerned about the environment and does not take climate change seriously.  His government has been relentless in relaxing environmental regulations.  Perhaps if there were no snow in Calgary in the winter, he'd have a better understanding of what's been happening.  It is highly unlikely there won't be any snow on Christmas Day this year in Toronto, the city of Mr. Harper's birth.

Although I'm a Canadian, I'm starting to understand how Irving Berlin felt when he wrote "White Christmas" amid the palm trees of balmy California back in the 1940s.   I'm not pining for a terrible snowstorm.  I'm just feeling wistful for treetops that glisten and sleigh bells in the snow.  I'll leave the last word to Environment Canada's David Phillips.

It's one of the things where we're seen united as Canadians, in wanting it to be a white Christmas.  We want it on that day to put us in the mood.  It's almost like (having) turkey and toys.  It's just part of the feeling at Christmastime.

- Joanne

Robert L. May and the History of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is never mentioned in Clement C. Moore's famous poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas (better known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas).  Moore's Yuletide tale was first published in 1823.  Prior to its publication, St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, had never been associated with reindeer and a sleigh full of gifts.  Moore's poem specifically lists the number of reindeer and their names.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his courses they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

"Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Coment! On, Cupid!
On, Donner and Bltzen!


So, where did the notion of a ninth reindeer with a red nose originate, if not from Clement C. Moore's verses?  Well, the fact is that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer did not come into the picture until more than a century after the publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas.  Rudolph was the creation of Robert Lewis.May (1905-1976), a Jewish American from New Rochelle, New York.  He was the son of Milton May, a lumber merchant.  Bob had a brother, Richard and two sisters, Evelyn and Margaret.  Evelyn is the grandmother of economist Steven D. Levitt, the author of Freakonomics.  Margaret married songwriter Johnny Marks in 1947..

Robert L. May

As a child, Bob May was diminutive, shy and nonathletic.  He was bullied and called names because he just didn't fit in.  Despite his difficult childhood, young Bob graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1926.  When the Great Depression struck in 1929, the May family lost a great deal of wealth.  They could not afford to send their younger daughter, Margaret, to college.  Margaret, therefore, took a job as a sales clerk at Macy's department store.

During the 1930s, Bob found employment as an in-house advertising copywriter for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward Company, the second largest retailer in the United States at the time (second only to Sears).  Every year, Montgomery Ward did a Christmas promotion, purchasing products such as colouring books to give away to its customers.  Since this was a very costly endeavour, the company decided to develop its own product for the 1939 holiday season.  Bob May, who was known for writing ditties and catchy jingles was called upon to compose a story that the company could print and publish itself.

In his 1975 article for the Gettysburg Times, "Rudolph Created in a Time of Sadness," Bob wrote that it all began on a cold January morning in 1939 when he was summoned to his supervisor's office.  He was then asked to create a Christmas promotion for children.  Since it was to be a cheerful holiday booklet for shoppers, Bob's boss suggested "an animal story" with "a main character like Ferdinand the Bull."

The project came at a hellish time for Bob.  His his wife, Evelyn, was ill with cancer and he was spending much of  his paltry salary on treatments for her.  As Evelyn lay dying in their small Chicago apartment, her 34-year-old husband went to work on his assignment.  Falling back on his childhood memories of being a misfit, he created a misfit character - a reindeer with a shiny red nose who dreamed of pulling Santa's sleigh..  He chose a reindeer because his daughter, 4-year-old Barbara, was enchanted by the deer at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.  Searching for a name that was an alliteration of "red," he considered monikers such as "Rollo" and "Reginald" before deciding on "Rudolph."  In the style of Clement C. Moore's classic poem, Bob May composed his Rudolph tale in rhyming couplets.

In July of 1939, Evelyn passed away.  After his wife's death, Bob's boss told him that he did not have to fully complete his project.  It would suffice for him to just hand in the work he had already done.  Bob, however, insisted on continuing his assignment. because as he wrote in in his 1975 article, "I needed Rudolph more than ever.  Gradually, I buried myself in the writing."

Robert L. May finished the draft of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in late August of 1939.  He then read his story to Barbara and her grandparents (May's in-laws).  "In their eyes," he wrote, " I could see that the story accomplished what I had hoped."

When Montgomery Ward printed Bob's story, the response from the public was overwhelmingly positive..  More than two million copies were distributed during the Christmas season of 1939.  A shortage of paper, due to the outbreak of World War II, prevented even more copies from being printed.  Nevertheless, the little book about the re-nosed reindeer was indeed a popular success.

Robert May could not make any profit from his Rudolph book because the copyright was owned by his employer.  He desperately needed money to pay off the medical bills incurred by his deceased wife. In 1947, however, Montgomery Ward agreed to transfer the rights to him.  This freed Bob to make a spoken record of his Rudolph poem.  Yet Bob still had difficulty finding a publisher for his tale of the outcast reindeer.  Publishers thought the market for Rudolph was already saturated due to the millions of free booklets that had already been distributed.  Finally, Harry Elbaum, the operator of a small New York publishing house, decided to take a chance on Bob's story.  He printed 100,00 copies and they sold rapidly.

Robert L. May with Rudolph

Bob Mary married for a second time in 1941.  His second wife was Virginia Newton, a fellow employee at Ward's and a devout Catholic.  Due to the success of the spoken record and  the book, Bob became prosperous enough to move his family to the affluent Chicago suburb of Evanston. During the 1950s and 1960s, he put up a huge Rudolph statue on the front lawn of his Evanston home at Christmastime.

In the late 1940s, Bob May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, composed  a song loosely  based on the book.  Several big-name singers were asked to record the song and turned it down.  Then, cowboy star Gene Autry  recorded the tune in 1949.  Autry wasn't particularly impressed with "Rudolph" but at the behest of his wife, he recorded it as a B-side to a single record.  In the decades that followed, it sold millions of copies and inspired an animated 1964 television special produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass.  The special was narrated by Burl Ives who also voiced the songs in it.  Johnny Marks provided the musical score.

Johnny Marks

Bob May quit his copyrighting job in 1951 and spent several years managing his Rudolph creation before returning to Montgomery Ward in 1958.  He worked there until his retirement in 1971.  That same year, Bob's second wife, Virginia passed away.and he later wed Virginia's sister.  Robert L. May died on August 10, 1976 at the age of 71.


END NOTE

The Montgomery Ward department store chain has been defunct since 2001.  During the 1990s, it fell victim to low-cost pricing from Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart.  It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1997.  After emerging from bankruptcy protection in 1998, it closed 250 retail locations   The remaining outlets were renovated and the company was renamed simply "Wards."  These actions, however, did not succeed in saving the business.  On December 28, 2000, after disappointing Christmas sales, the company, founded in 1872, announced that it would shut down its remaining outlets and that its employees would be laid off.


Rudolph Trivia

WHO WERE RUDOLPH'S PARENTS?

Rudolph's parents are not named in the Robert L. May's 1939 version of the story.  They were not Santa's reindeer and they lived in a different village, not the North Pole.  In May's tale, Santa comes upon Rudolph while delivering Christmas presents to Rudolph's house on a foggy Christmas Eve.  He is concerned about the worsening weather and, noticing Rudolph's glowing nose, he enlists his help to ensure the safe deliverance of the children's gifts.  In the popular Johnny Marks song, however, Rudolph definitely lives among Santa's reindeer.  Although his parents are not identified, we are told that "all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names" and that "they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games."

In the 1964 Rankin/Bass television special, Donner is portrayed to as Rudolph's father.  Rudolph's mother is not deemed worthy of her own name and is only referred to as Mrs. Donner.  As for Donner, he is presented as a macho jock type.  He coaches the young bucks and supervises them in their reindeer games wearing a whistle around his neck.  When Rudolph runs away, Mrs. Donner helps her husband search for their son, even though Coach Donner does not want her to assist him.

Mrs. Donner from 1964 animated special

- Joanne

Hey, Justin Trudeau, about your gun registry comments . . .

Mr. Justin Trudeau
Member of Parliament for Papineau

Dear Justin:

I must say I was a little taken aback when I read that you had described the long-gun registry as a "failed policy," especially since you voted against its abolition in the House of Commons.  Although you later attempted to clarify what your remarks, your stand on gun control is still not crystal clear. Unfortunately, your clarification sounded a bit like damage control to me.  The truth is I am extremely disappointed in your comments.  As an advocate of strict gun control, I had hoped that you would stand squarely and unequivocally with those who want to preserve restrictive gun control laws in Canada.

When you used the term "failed policy," most people immediately interpreted that to mean you opposed the policy and that you are pleased that it "failed."  Canadians should not have to wait for a clarification.  If you are to become the Prime Minister of Canada, you will need to communicate more effectively. What really disappointed me, however, is that you described gun ownership as "part of the culture of Canada."  You went on to say that you "do not feel that there's a huge contradiction between keeping our cities safe from gun violence and gangs, and allowing this important facet of Canadian identity which is having a gun."

Maybe I'm missing something, Justin, but since when has owning a gun been an "important facet of Canadian identity?"  I've always thought our stringent gun control laws are a source of Canadian pride, something that differentiated us from the large number of gun-toting, gun-loving Americans.  We don't have a National Rifle Association here and we don't have millions of people devoted to a constitutional amendment guaranteeing them the right to bear arms.

What has gotten into you, Monsieur Trudeau?  Are you under some kind of spell?  Will you next say that guns don't kill people, people kill people?  Have you been possessed by the spirit of Charlton Heston?  Is this the same Justin Trudeau who just last year, on the anniversary of the tragic shooting of 14 women at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, told The Globe and Mail that the Conservatives "have tried to separate the gun registry from the issue of violence against woman in a way that is not just unethical, but also completely counter to factual evidence."  You then declared, "The gun registry saves lives.  They are eliminating it."

Perhaps you are practising political pragmatism.  The Liberal Party needs support in rural areas and in Western Canada, especially Alberta.  Could that be the reason for your remarks?  Now, don't get me wrong.  It's not that I think the concerns of Western Canadians and rural voters should be ignored or that their views merit little consideration.  I just think that hunters and people who live in rural areas should be willing  to accept some red tape and some delays before they obtain permission to possess a firearm.

What's so terrible about filling out some forms and undergoing some background checks before acquiring a weapon?  It's those measures that prevent guns from falling into the hands of violent and mentally unbalanced individuals.  If hunters and country folk are truly law-abiding, why should it bother them so much to wait.a bit.  They don't complain about having to pass a road test in order to drive a car, do they?  They wouldn't want an incompetent or dangerous driver behind the wheel of a car, would they?  Furthermore, urban dwellers are not the only victims of gun violence. Citizens in small towns and rural areas must also be protected from the abuse of firearms.

Canada's police chiefs supported the long-gun registry as a  key tool in policing and no one can describe them as "bleeding heart liberals."  Now that the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has destroyed the long-gun registry, it is setting its sights on further weakening gun control.  In their usual insidious manner, the Conservatives are relaxing gun control legislation. They are doing it in a piecemeal fashion in the hope that not too many Canadians will notice and protest.  Slowly and steadily, they have been turning Canada into a different country from the one I know and love.  They continue to remove environmental regulations and now they are taking aim at gun control (pun intended). The abolition of the long-gun registry is not the end of it - not by a long shot.

Yesterday, on the 23rd anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, the Toronto Star reported that the federal Conservatives are considering loosening firearm restrictions.  According to the Star, "the proposed changes include getting rid of the 'prohibited' category and reclassifying weapons such as certain handguns and assault weapons as 'restricted only, and extending the duration of owner licences from five to 10 years - a move the RCMP warns would strip away an important safety check."  How is this supportive of hunters and rural dwellers, I'd like to know?  How many more gun tragedies need to happen?

The Tories must be laughing with glee right now, Justin, because you've given them plenty of ammunition (pun intended).to use against you.  I'm sure they are already planning some vicious attack ads if you should become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.  It's a safe bet that they will be rerunning your remarks on gun control over and over again.  I can already hear the background voices on their negatives ads: "Justin Trudeau voted against eliminating the long-gun registry.  Now he's calling it a failed policy . . ."

Regards,

Joanne Madden