Making Movies: DIY Guide

Here is a infographic about making movies on a small budget.  It provides you with tips on how to make films using technology and a do-it-yourself attitude.  I hope that you find it informative, useful and interesting.

- Joanne


DIYMovies by PowerTool World.

Quotes for an August Day

We're heading toward the end of August.  The Rio Olympics are over and the days are getting shorter. Every time I turn on the television or listen to the radio, I am reminded that summer will soon be coming to an end.  The "back to school" commercials are endless and relentless.  Yet, I try to ignore them.  My goal is to savour what's left of the summer.  I intend to taste every last drop of the season.  

I'd be lying if I denied that it's sad and bittersweet to see the summer fade away.  However, it's a reflection of the cycle of  life.  Summer will return in all its glory.  It's not even over yet, so why rush it?  After all, we officially have almost a month remaining.  The fall equinox does not occur until September 22, 2016.  Not only that, but there are some beautiful autumn days ahead.

Forget about the rampant consumerism of the "Back to School" ads.  In order to add to your enjoyment of the rest of the summer, Number 16 presents some thoughtful and engaging quotes on the month of August and the final days of the season:



“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”

Martin   Photo Source: Archiepelacon offical photo album.

-  George R.R. Martin (1948 - ), American novelist and short story writer



"At these times, the things that troubled her seemed far away and unimportant: All that mattered was the hum of the bees and the chirp of the birdsong, the way the sun gleamed on the edge of a blue wildflower, the distant beat and the clink of grazing goats."

- Alison Croggin (1962 -), South African-born Australian playwright, poet and novelist.
From: The Gift (published in the United States as The Naming, 2003, Candlewick Press)



"Throughout August, with almost sadistic joy, I watched summer slowly die.  I over-played the records of my favorite host-weather artists in an attempt to reach full saturation.  On the first day of September I put those records away for months.

August is a funeral.  I already know the end of the story.

August, the summer's last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor."

-  Henry Rollins (1961 - ) - American musician, actor, television and radio host
From Summer Be Gone!, LA Weekly, September 6, 2012



"What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."

- John Steinbeck (1902-1968), American author
From Travels with Charley: In Search of America



"Woodstock happened in August 1969, long before the Internet and mobile phones made it possible to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere. It was a time when we weren't able to witness world events or the horrors of war live on 24-hour news channels."

Richie Havens in 1974

- Richie Havens (1941-2013) ], American singer/songwriter and guitarist
From Haven's  refection on the Woodstock Festival, Special to CNN, 2009



"Youth is in a grand flush, like the hot days of ending summer; and pleasant dreams thrall your spirit. like the smoky atmosphere that bathes the landscape of an August day."

- Donald G. Mitchell , pen name: Ik Marvel (1822-1908), American writer
From Dream Life,: A Fable of the Seasons [1851]

"August has passed, and yet summer continues by force to grow days,  They sprout secretly between the chapters of the years., covertly included between its pages."

- Joanathan Safran Foer (1977 - ), American novelist
From Tree of Codes [2010]


- Joanne

Here's to Tony Bennett on his 90th birthday!

I'm not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don't follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that's badly written. In the 1920s and '30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. 

- Tony Bennett
Winston-Salem Journal, September 5, 2010, "Tony Bennett says a key to his continued success is being true to the audience", by Tim Clodfelteer


…his voice is still a technical marvel, and no one else on Earth can make a lyric written eight decades ago sound as natural as a conversation at a coffee shop.

- New York Magazine


Happy Birthday to Tony Bennett, the ageless crooner, who turns 90 years young today.  Tony was born Anthony (Antonio) Dominick Benedetto in Astoria, Queens. New York on August 3, 1926.  His parents, John Benedetto, a grocer, and Anna, a seamstress, were Italian-Americans.  John was an immigrant from southern Italy, while Anna was born in the United States to parents who had just immigrated from Calabria.

The Benedetto family, including Tony's older brother John Jr. and his older sister  Mary, struggled through The Great Depression.  John Sr. became too ill to work and he died when Tony was just ten years old.  Despite the hardships, young Tony found joy in music.  Growing up, he listened to artists such as Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Al Jolson and such jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong.

Tony attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan where he honed his musical and painting skills.  However, he dropped out to help support his family by taking various menial, low-paying jobs.  His goal, however, was to launch a singing career.  To that end, he competed in New York City amateur night contests and performed at a nightclub in New Jersey.

In 1944, Tony Benedetto was drafted into the United States Army.  He served overseas in World War II and remained in Germany as part of the occupying force.  Upon returning to America in 1946, he studied at the American Theatre Wing, a New York-based organization devoted to excellence and education in the theatrical arts.  In 1949, the great Pearl Bailey invited the young singer to open for her in Greenwich Village.  After seeing the show, Bob Hope asked Benedetto to tour with him.

In 1950, Tony recorded a demo of a song called "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and producer Mitch Miller signed him him to the Columbia Records label.  Tony's first big hit was "Because of You," produced by Miller with an orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith.  He followed the success of "Because of You" with a pop version of country singer Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart."  In 1953, Tony had another big hit with "Rags to Riches."  As he reaches his 90th birthday, this remarkable music legend is still going strong.

What I admire about Tony Bennett is that he has managed to stay true to his music and to his audience.  He is a man who was born in the "Jazz Age" of F. Scott Fitzgerald.(Young people were dancing the Charleston when Tony was born).  Yet he still remains relevant in the 21st century and the "Digital Age.".  He performs duets with Lady Gaga, a woman 60 years younger than he, but continues to sing songs that are suited to his style.  He doesn't try to dress ridiculously young or to cultivate a cooler image. Tony's not phony.  He seems comfortable in his own skin.  He hasn't dyed his hair platinum blond or tattooed his arms just to appeal to a younger demographic.  Not only that, but Tony has a good sense of humour too.  He once stated: “I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.”

Tony Bennett is all about his music and mainly his music.  That's why he's received 19 Grammy Awards (including a 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award).  That's why he'll continue to sing his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," at the age of 90 and beyond.  By the way, Tony released "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." as a single in 1962.  He first sang the song in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

It appears that Tony Bennett has discovered the fountain of youth.  The man simply refuses to slow down.  He has a full fall tour schedule and he will be performing in Detroit next week.  Oh yes, according to an AFP story, he has declared himself in good health and "ready for a new collaboration - with Beyonce if she's interested."  He told NBC's Today show that his doctors "keep telling me, "There's not a thing wrong with you. Just keep going at it.'" Not bad for a nonagenarian, eh?


END NOTES

* Tony Bennett's 2007 autobiography is entitled The Good Life.

* Tony is an accomplished artist and signs his paintings with his real name, Anthony Benedetto.

* It was Bob Hope who suggested that Tony change his name from "Benedetto" to "Bennett."

* Tony Bennett  has been married three times and divorced twice.  On February 12, 1952, he wed Ohio art student Patricia Beech in a ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.  The marriage produced two sons, D'Andrea (Danny, born 1954) and Daegal (Dae, born 1955).  In 1971, he married American actress Sandra Grant.  The couple had two daughters, Joanna Bennett and Antonia Bennett (born April 7, 1974).  Antonia, now 42, is a singer.  On June 21, 2007, Tony married Susan Crow, a much younger former school teacher, in a private civil ceremony in New York City.

Tony and Susan Crow in 2008 

                                                                        Photo Attribution:

  originally posted to Flickr as Tony Bennett and wife, Susan Crow

* With Cheek to Cheek, his 2014 collaboration with Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett became the oldest artist to have a Number One album on the U.S. sales chart.  He was then 88.

* Fellow Italian-American singer, Frank Sinatra, was a great admirer of Tony Bennett.  In a 1965 Life magazine interview, Sinatra said the following: "For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.  He excites me when I watch him.  He moves me.  He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."

* NBC will broadcast a special tribute to Tony Bennett. The two-hour program, entitled Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best is Yet to Come, will air on December 20, 2016, just in time for the holiday season.  Guests will include Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Elton John, Aretha Franklin and Lady Gaga. Tony, of course, will perform some of his hit songs.


- Joanne

Marvel Comics versus DC: The Great Interior Design Face Off

Here is a fun infograph about Marvel Comics versus DC interior decorating.  I hope you enjoy it a great deal.  Try to guess the winner.

- Joanne



Marvel vs DC - The Great Interior Design Face Off by Terrys Fabrics.

Trump and Terrorism

When I heard the news about the Bastille Day attack in Nice, France.  I felt like screaming "NOT AGAIN!  OH NO, NOT AGAIN!  A truck rammed into a crowd of revellers celebrating France's national holiday on the city's famed Promenade des Anglais Blvd.  At least 84 innocent people were killed in the attack.and hundreds were injured.  Police fatally shot the driver of the truck, 31-year-old  Mohamed Bouhlel, a Nice resident,   Bouhlel, a delivery driver and small-time criminal, was originally from Tunisia (He could just have easily been French-born), and has never been the subject of a terrorist investigation.  As of this writing, the motivation for the attack is unclear and it has not yet been determined if the attacker acted alone or in conjunction with a terrorist organization.

2016 has been a tumultuous year so far and there appears to be no abating.  It feels as if this is the summer of our discontent. The world news is dominated by stories of terrorism, racial unrest and an unsettling presidential campaign in the United States. The Republican convention begins on July 18th.  It is being held in Cleveland, Ohio.  The presumptive Republican nominee for president is a bombastic real estate billionaire by the name of Donald Trump.  Trump is a polarizing figure and he is also very dangerous.  Nothing I can say, however, will do much to change the minds of his most ardent supporters.  Despite his tycoon status and his luxurious lifestyle, "The Donald" is considered "one of us," not one of the "Washington elite."  Many older, blue collar white males have found a champion in the blustery New York tycoon.  He expresses their fears and their misconceptions. What he says may be racist, misogynistic and patently untrue, but he speaks their language.  They perceive themselves as being oppressed and marginalized. They feel their concerns are not being addressed. They anger needs an outlet. so they blame immigrants, women, blacks, Latinos and Muslims for their predicament.

Trump

Immigrants can't win with Trump supporters.  If they are gainfully employed, they are accused of taking jobs away from "real Americans."  If they don't have a job, they are described as lazy welfare bums.  Trump advocates don't blame the real culprits. They don't blame Wall Street moguls who caused a painful, debilitating recession in 2008. They don't blame American financial institutions.

This is not to say that the alienation and frustration of a significant number of Americans should be cavalierly dismissed.  Yes, of course their concerns and fears should be properly addressed. However, Donald Trump's solutions are faulty and divisive.  What Mr. Trump fails to understand is that true leadership is all about building bridges, not walls.

Donald Trump is a master of playing to the fears of his constituency, especially to their legitimate fear of terrorism.  His followers are of the mistaken belief that Trump will make America safer, that he will protect them from terrorists. Nothing can be further from the truth.  In fact, Trump is the terrorists' presidential candidate of choice. Extremists hope that he will win the election because he intends to build walls (literally and figuratively).  Trump's policies will convince young Muslims (native-born or immigrant) that they are not welcome in the United States.  Terrorist leaders will use Trump's rhetoric and his actions to recruit and radicalize Islamic youth. They will tell them that they will always be rejected by Western society and that only ISIS or Al-Qaeda will truly accept them.  They will give them a feeling of belonging, a common cause.

That is why a Trump victory in November will most certainly lead to an increase in recruits to extreme terrorist organizations.  It is these recruits who actually execute terrorist acts.  Many are disillusioned home-grown radicals.  It is they who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their cause. Extremist leaders simply provide propaganda and encouragement.  If Donald Trump ever occupies the Oval Office, terrorist leaders will have plenty of fodder for propaganda purposes.


- Joanne

A Tribute to E.B. White

E.B. White

''E. B. White was a great essayist, a supreme stylist. His literary style was as pure as any in our language. It was singular, colloquial, clear, unforced, thoroughly American and utterly beautiful. Because of his quiet influence, several generations of this country's writers write better than they might have done. He never wrote a mean or careless sentence. He was impervious to literary, intellectual and political fashion. He was ageless, and his writing was timeless"  

- William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker from 1952 until 1987

E.B. White's literary achievements were incredibly diverse.  Herbert Mitgang, in his New York Tines obituary for the great writer, stated that "Mr. White's writing was appreciated by generations of readers of every age,"  Not only was E.B. White the author of such beloved children's classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet and the Swan," but he published over 17 books of prose, poetry and sketches.  His adult books include One Man's Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White, and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White.  He also revised and expanded The Elements of Style, William Strrunk Jr.'s influential guidebook for American English usage.

Elwyn Brooks White was born 117 years ago today (July 11, 1899) in Mount Vernon, New York.  He was the youngest child of Samuel Tilly White, the president of a piano company, and Jessie Hart White, the daughter of Scottish-American artist William Hart.  Samuel and Jessie had moved their family from Brooklyn to Mount Vernon because as E.B. put it,  ''Mount Vernon sounded tonier.''

In 1921, E.B. White graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  White, who was editor of his school's newspaper, The Cornell Sun, decided to pursue a career in journalism.  After graduation, he worked as a reporter for the United Press and the Seattle Times.  In 1927, he joined the staff of The New Yorker and was a contributor to the magazine for almost six decades.  He was best known for his essays and "Notes and Comments" pieces.

When cartoonist and author James Thurber came to The New Yorker, also in 1927, the two shared an office and played an integral and distinctive role at the magazine.  Thurber described his colleague as a private man who shunned publicity.  In his profile of E.B. White in Credos and Curios, Thurber wrote about how during their time at The New Yorker, White would slip away to a nearby restaurant to avoid a visitor he didn't want to see.  E.B., he said, "avoided the interviewer, the photographer, the microphone, the rostrum, the literary tea, and the Stork Club (a prestigious, upscale Manhattan nightclub from 1929 to 1965)."

At The New Yorker, White and Thurber were packed into small quarters with, according to White, "just room enough for two men and two typewriters."  Still, they managed to collaborate on The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" section.  In 1929, the duo co-wrote a takeoff on psychology titled Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do, a book that featured Thurber's cartoons.  Thurber, however, left The New Yorker in the mid-1930s.

In 1929, E.B. White married Katharine Sergeant Angell, who served as fiction editor for The New Yorker from 1925 to 1960. They met in 1926 at the magazine.  E.B. recalled the moment of their first meeting in a 1980 interview with Nan Robertson for The New York Times.  He had already submitted "two or three short things" to The New Yorker, a then-fledgling publication.  "She came striding out into the reception room where I was waiting.  'Are you Elwyn Brooks White," she said, and I said, 'I am.'  She had a lot of black hair and was very beautiful."

According to White, their love affair was "stormy."  "She was a divorced woman," he told Robertson, "but a conscientious mother with two children."  "I was six years younger than she. We finally went off and got married one day."  Years after the wedding, he wrote: "I soon realized I had made no mistake in my choice of a wife. I was helping her pack an overnight bag one afternoon when she said, 'Put in some tooth twine.' I knew then that a girl who called dental floss tooth twine was the girl for me."

Katharine

Katharine and E.B, had a son, Joel White (born 1930), who became a prominent U.S. naval architect and boat builder.  E.B. was also stepfather to Roger Angell (born September 19, 1920),and Nancy Angell Stableford (December 7, 1916 - August 3, 1996), Katharine's children from her first marriage to Ernest Angell, the President of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1950 to 1969.

In 1933, E.B. White and his wife purchased a spacious old farmhouse in Maine.  They lived there almost steadily from 1938 on. It became White's refuge, the placed where he enjoyed the privacy and serenity he had always sought.

While living on that farm in Maine, E.B. White was inspired to write his great children's classics Chartlotte's Web and Stuart Little.  He told American photographer Jill Krementz, “I like animals and it would be odd if I failed to write about them. Animals are a weakness with me. When I got a place in the country I was quite sure animals would appear, and they did.”

E.B. thought up the idea for Charlotte's Web after observing a spider at his farm. “I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm.

In 1959, Macmillan and Company commissioned E.B. White to modernize and revise William Strunk's English style manual The Elements of Style.  Strunk, who had been White's English professor at Cornell University, originally composed the manual in 1918.  The following year, Strunk's guidebook, was privately published for in-house use at Cornell.  It was then republished by Harcourt Press in 1920.  The original version  was a slim book containing eight "elementary rules of usage," ten "elementary principles of composition," "a few natters of form," 49 "words and expressions commonly misused" and a list of 57 "words often misspelled."

E.B. White's update of The Elements of Style was highly successful and it became know informally as "Strunk & White." Professor Strunk and his his student were both advocates of concise writing. Strunk's recommendation was to "omit needless words."  White, for his part, described the professor's little book as a "summation for the case for cleanliness, accuracy and brevity" in the use of English.

In 1961, Katharine White developed a rare and debilitating skin disease.  Cortisone treatments affected her appearance and caused her bones to disintegrate.  Toward the end of her life, she suffered five congestive heart failures.  She passed away in 1977.

E.B. White died on October 1, 1985 at his home in North Brookin, Maine, where he had lived for almost half a century.  He was 86 years old at the time of his death and had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.  William Shawn, onetime editor of The New Yorker, said of White:  "His connections with nature were intimate and ardent. He loved his farm, his farm animals, his neighbors, his family and words."


END NOTES

* In 1963, President John F. Kennedy presented E.B. White with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  In 1971, White received the National Medal for Literature,

* E,B, White never liked his given name, Elwyn.  He said, "My mother just hung it on me because she'd run out of names.  I was her sixth child."  In college, he acquired the nickname "Andy," after Andrew D. White, the first president of Cornell University.  It was customary at Cornell to bestow that moniker on students with the last name of White.

* E.B. White and Katharine were married for 48 years, until her death on July 20, 1977 at the age of 84.  It was difficult for White to adjust to life without her.  In 1978, when Onward and Upward in the Garden, based on Katharine's New Yorker writings, was published, he wrote in the introduction: ''Life without Katharine is no good for me.''

* Joel White died of lung cancer on December 5, 1997 at his home in Brooklin, Maine.  He was 66 years old at the time of his passing.  His obituary in the The New York Times stated that he was "one of the country's foremost designers of wooden boats."

* E.B. and his stepson , Roger Angell, were very close.  Angell now 95 years old, is an accomplished writer, essayist and baseball writer.  He was the chief fiction editor of The New Yorker for many years and a regular contributor to the magazine.  In its February 14, 2005 issue, The New Yorker published an article by Roger Angell about his renowned stepfather.  It is simply titled "Andy" and here are its opening lines:

Lately I have been missing my stepfather, Andy White, who keeps excusing himself while he steps out of the room to get something from his study or heads out the back kitchen door, on his way to the barn again. He’ll be right back. I can hear the sound of that gray door—the steps there lead down into the fragrant connecting woodshed—as the lift-latch clicks shut. E. B. White died in 1985—twenty years ago, come October—and by “missing” I don’t mean yearning for him so much as not being able to keep hold of him for a bit of conversation or even a tone of voice.

Roger Angell

* Roger Angell's older sister, the late Nancy Angell Stableford was a biology teacher.


- Joanne

Companies in Film: Where Would You Work?

Here is an infographic about companies in film.  I hope you find it interesting and fun.

- Joanne



Where in the World (of Movies) should you work? by Euroffice.

Why Canada is Special

This is an imperfect world and no country is without it's blemishes.  Canada is no exception. However, today is not the day to dwell on Canada's shortcomings.  There will always be a time and a place for that, as there should be.  Today is a day to celebrate all that is special about this great land of ours.  I am proud to be a Canadian, but I try to express my pride without being smug.  I am patriotic, but I try to avoid jingoism.

On this Canada Day, let me provide you with some images that represent the essence of this country. Let me describe the indomitable spirit of some remarkable Canadians.  Let's reflect on Canada's accomplishments.


Canada is the National Dream, the Last Spike and Pierre Berton.

Canada is the Fathers of Confederation and Sir John A.

It is Nellie McClung and The Famous Five.

Canada is the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.  It is the Bluenose at Lunenburg.

It is The Rock, Bytown, Cowtown, The Big Smoke and Spud Island.

Canada is L.M. Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.  It is P.E.I. potatoes.

Canada is Expo 67 in Montreal. It is Pearson's peacekeepers.

Canada is road hockey and pickup hockey and outdoor skating rinks.

Canada is a lacrosse stick.

It is farms and factories and big city lights.  It is downtown museums and restaurants.  It is shops and malls, theatres and vast concert halls.  It is churches and synagogues and mosques.

It is snowy days in January, summer nights in July and autumn leaves in October.

It is Yorkville in Toronto and Gastown in Vancouver.

Canada is two founding nations.  It is people of many lands and many tongues and many colours.

Canada is diversity.

Canada is Cape Breton Island.and the Cabot Trail.

It is the Covered Bridge in Harland, New Brunswick.  It is the Magnetic Falls

Canada is Six Nations, Acadians and Metis.

It is Signal Hill and Cape Spear.  It is the wooden homes of Newfoundland.  It is down East hospitality. It is a sleepy Maritime fishing village.  It Halifax harbour and Pier 21.

Canada is the joie de vivre of Montreal.

It is skyscrapers in Toronto.  It is Oktoberfest in Kitchener.

Canada is the passion of Tommy Douglas and the dedication of Joey Smallwood.

It is Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights and Trudeau's Charter.

Canada is tulips in the spring in Ottawa.  It is Parliament Hill and the Peace Tower.  It is a stroll along Sparks Street.  It is skating on the Rideau Canal.

Canada is a a space nation.  It is the home of Marc Garneau, Roberta Bondar, Chris Hadfield and the Canadarm.

Canada is maple syrup in Quebec.  It is nickel in Sudbury and steel in Hamilton.

Canada is butter tarts and McIntosh apples and BeaverTails.  Canada is poutine and peameal bacon.

Canada is St.Catherine Street in Montreal and Yonge Street in Toronto.

It is a drive along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Canada is picturesque Niagara-on-the-Lake and historic Queenston Heights.  It is lush Niagara vineyards.  It is the Maid of the Mist and Niagara Falls.

Canada is Winnipeg's Golden Boy.

It is a sunset on the Prairies.  It is a wheat field in rural Saskatchewan.  It is a curling rink in Saskatoon.  It is Rider Pride.

It is the pristine beauty of Lake Louise in Alberta..  It is the Jasper hot springs and the Icefields Parkway.

Canada is the poetry of Pauline Johnson.  It is the Yukon Gold Rush.  It is "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

Canada is Henderson and Cournoyer celebrating a winning goal.

It is the Rocket's red eyes and Bobby Hulls's slapshot.

It is Banting and Best's insulin.

It is Alexander Graham Bell's phone call.

It is Marshall McLuhan's Global Village.

It is Naismith's basketball, the Expos of Montreal and the Blue Jays of Toronto.

Canada is the CN Tower and the streetcars of Toronto.  It is Greektown on The Danforth and Chinatown and Little Italy.

It is Emily Carr's paintings of native peoples..  It is the Group of Seven's landscapes and the wildlife of Robert Bateman.

Canada is the fruit of Okanagan Valley and the legend of Ogopogo.

Canada is Stephen Leacock's Mariposa tales.

Ir is W.P. Kinsella'a baseball yarns.  It is Margaret Atwood's novels and Alice Murnro's short stories.  It is Mordecai Richler's St. Urbain Street.

It is Glenn Gould's piano and Ashley MacIsasc' fiddle. It is Oscar Peterson's jazz and Karen Kain's ballet.

Canada is the Bonhomme and the Quebec Winter Carnival.  It is the St. Lawrence River and the Plains of Abraham and the Chateau Frontenac.

Canada is the Grey Cup, the C.N.E., the Calgary Stampede and the Queen's Plate.  It is Northern Dancer.  It is Foster Hewitt's "He Shoots, He Scores" and Danny Gallivan's "canonizing" slap shot.

It is the CBC and the National Film Board.  It is universal health care.

Canada is Stompin' Tom Connors and "The Good Old Hockey Game.  It is Rush and Shania Twain and The Tragically Hip..  It is Winnipeg's Guess Who, Nova Scotia's Anne Murray, Quebec's Celine Dion and Ontario's Gordon Lightfoot.  It is the voice of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young and Michael Buble.

Canada is Terry Fox on a mission to conquer cancer, doggedly running along the highway on one leg.

Canada is the Arctic.  It is the Inuit of Labrador and Nunavut.  It is the Inukshuk.  It is Farley Mowat, the midnight sun and the northern lights.

Canada is the puffin and and the polar bear.  It is the plaintive call of the loon.

It is Hudson Bay and kayaks and canoes.

Canada is the Banff National Park.  It is the Rocky Mountains.  It is Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island.  It is a totem pole.  It is the forests of British Columbia.

Canada is urban and suburban and rural.  It is tractors and snowshoes and snowmobiles.  It is SkyTains and gleaming glass towers.

Canada is coast to coast and sea to sea.

Canada is home.

Editor's Note:  I couldn't include everything.  I am sure some people will say I've left out some things.  However. it's impossible to please everyone.



- Joanne

U.K. Referendum Disaster

The result of yesterday's referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union was both disturbing and disappointing.  It does not bode well for world harmony.  It is a victory for the xenophobic, anti-immigration forces - at least for now.  It's quite sickening to see how United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) LEADER Nigel Farage and his ilk are celebrating.

This is a time of sombre reflection for those of us who want to build bridges, not walls.. What went wrong?  Well, I've been following the referendum news from my perch here in Canada and it seems that the REMAIN side was complacent and ill-prepared.  They didn't expect to be defeated.  They didn't think it would happen, but it did.  REMAIN won 48.1 percent of the vote, while LEAVE THE EU won 51.9 percent.

The REMAIN forces had the advantage of the economic argument for staying in the European Union..  The UK is far better off economically within the EU   .  However, that argument alone wasn't enough to win the referendum.  Perhaps the pro-EU forces should have campaigned harder and more passionately.  Unfortunately, there will be a price to pay for taking victory for granted and the cost of such negligence will be high.  It's tragic because the stakes were too high for such complacency.

The repercussions of yesterday's referendum are many.  The deep divisions within the UK have been exposed.  Scotland, Northern Ireland and the London area voted strongly to remain in the EU.  The majority of dissenting votes came from outside of London and in Wales.

Without Britain, the European Union could fall apart.  Other countries could decide to leave the EU too.  Of course, the 28-nation bloc is not perfect, but why not reform it rather then tear it asunder.
At the moment, the dream of a united Europe is in tatters.  This saddens me deeply.  I worry about a domino effect.  I'm also concerned about the uncertainty and instability that the referendum result has caused.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has taken responsibility for his part in the debacle.  He has resigned, as he should have.  For the sake of Britain and the rest of the world, Cameron's successor must show strong leadership during this crisis and its aftermath.  The referendum result is bad news economically and politically.  Nevertheless, world-wide opposition to xenophobia and anti-immigration policies must continue.  It is vital that the new British Prime Minister fight for those values with passion and vigour.

After yesterday's events, it's more important than ever that the xenophobic Donald Trump does not win the presidency of the United States.  The world can ill-afford such a disaster.


- Joanne

The Mysterious Death of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great may have conquered much of the ancient world, but he was not successful in living a long life.  In fact, he was only 32 years old when he died.  Death was the one thing, it seems, that he could not conquer with his military prowess.

Alexander III, was a Greek king of Macedon.  He was born in Pella, the affluent capital of the kingdom.  While a teenager, Alexander was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle.  He ascended the throne in 336 B.C. when his  father, Philip II, was assassinated by his chief bodyguard, a young Macedonian noble named Paunsanias of Orestes.  The assassination occurred at a wedding ceremony in Aegae, the old capital of Macedonia.

After his father's death, Alexander built one of the largest armies in the ancient world and created a huge empire that stretched from Greece to northwestern India.  He spread Greek culture and many places bore his name, the most famous being the city of Alexandria, Egypt.  It all came to an end, however, with his shocking and unexpected passing.

The exact cause of Alexander the Great's death remains unknown, although it has been the subject of scholarly debate for centuries.  His demise has been attributed to poison, malaria, typhoid fever, alcoholic liver disease and a variety of other disorders.  The circumstances surrounding his death have also been the subject of much debate and speculation.  There is no agreement as to whether Alexander died of disease or whether he was secretly murdered.  The only undisputed facts are that he died in early June of 323 B.C. at the palace of King Nebuchadnezzer II in Babylon after experiencing an illness for days.

In May of 323 B.C. Alexander arrived in Babylon, an important city in ancient Mesopotamia, near present-day Baghdad,  After 13 years of military campaigning and building an empire, he decided to take some time to rest and plan his next conquest.  While in Babylon, he attended a dinner party at the home of his friend, Medius of Larisa.  There was a great deal of drinking late into the night.  After complaining that he did not feel well, the warrior king fell asleep with a high fever.

Below is a brief excerpt from an account Alexander's "ten day" illness.  It was written by Arrian, a Greek historian, about 350 years after Alexander's death.  Arrian's account is based on the Royal Diaries, journals of Alexander's campaigns, written by contemporaries of the prominent military leader.

A few days later he (Alexander) had performed the divine sacrifices (those prescribed for good fortune and others suggested by the priests) and was drinking far into the night with some friends. He is said to have distributed sacrificial victims and wine to the army by detachments and companies. Some state that he wanted to leave the drinking-party and go to bed, but then Medius met him, the most trusty of his Companions, and asked him to a party, for he promised that it would be a good one.

Day 1
The Royal Diaries tell us that he drank and caroused with Medius. Later he rose, had a bath and slept. He then returned to have dinner with Medius and again drank far into the night. Leaving the drinking, he bathed, after which he had a little to eat and went to sleep there. The fever was already on him.

Another account of Alexander the Great's death, written by Greek historian Diodorus Siculus during the 1st century B.C., states that the Macedonian king was struck with pain after imbibing a large bowl of unmixed wine as a tribute to the Greek god Hercules.  According to Diodorus, Alexander "shrieked as if smitten by a violent blow." after drinking from the cup.

. . . and finally, filling a huge beaker, downed it at a gulp. Instantly He shrieked aloud as if smitten by a violent blow and was conducted by his Friends, who led him by the hand back to his apartments. His chamberlains put him to bed and attended him closely, but the pain increased and the physicians were summoned. No one was able to do anything helpful and Alexander continued in great discomfort and acute suffering. When he, at length, despaired of life, he took off his ring and handed it to Perdiccas. His Friends asked: “To whom do you leave the kingdom?” and he replied: “To the strongest.” He added, and these were his last words, that all of his leading Friends would stage a vast contest in honour of his funeral. This was how he died after a reign of twelve years and seven months. He accomplished greater deeds than any, not only of the kings who had lived before him but also of those who were to come later down to our time.

There are several accounts of Alexander the Great's death and some mention the theory that he met with foul play such as arsenic poisoning.

In 2014, Dr. Leo Schep, a toxicologist from New Zealand's National Poisons Centre, released the results of his research into Alexander's death.  Dr. Schep's research shows that Alexander may have been killed by toxic wine made from an innocuous-looking plant.  Schep contends that it was most likely Veratrum album, a poisonous plant from the lily family, also called white or false hellebore.  He contends that his theory would be compatible with Diodorus' account of Alexander's death.

Veratrum album was used by the ancient Greeks as part of an herbal treatment to induce vomiting. According to Dr. Schep, that would account for the long period it took for Alexander to die, the toxicologist  rules out arsenic as death would have occurred sooner.  Despite his findings, however, Schep does not claim to have completely solved the mystery of Alexander's death.  He is quoted in The Independent, a British online paper, as saying that, "We'll never know, really."  He admits that his theory and the actual cause of Alexander's death, can never be conclusively proven.

Alexander the Great died undefeated in battle.  After his sudden death, there was no immediate successor.  His empire, therefore, was divided among four of his generals (known as the "diadochi" (successors). This led to a series of civil wars and the empire eventually fell apart.


END NOTES

* Due to some descriptions of Alexander the Great in ancient documents,  there is reason to believe that he had a medical condition called heterochromia of the eye (eyes of different colour).  British scholar Peter Green surmised that Alexander had one blue eye and one brown eye.

* In 327 B.C., Alexander married Roxane, the daughter of a Persian nobleman. Roxane was from Bactria, a province of the Persian empire located in modern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Alexander met her when he conquered Bactria between 329-327 B.C.  Roxane was pregnant at the time of Alexander's death  Their child, a son, became Alexander IV.

Here is how the Greek historian Plutarch describes the meeting and marriage of Alexander the Great and Roxane:

As for his marriage with Roxana, whose youthfulness and beauty had charmed him at a drinking entertainment, where he first happened to see her taking part in a dance, it was indeed a love affair, yet it seemed at the same time to be conducive to the object he had in hand. For it gratified the conquered people to see him choose a wife from among themselves


Below is a 1756 painting of Alexander and Roxane by Italian Baroque artist Pietro Rotari.

Alexander IV and his mother, Roxane, were killed circa 310 B.C. by Cassander, one of the four generals (diadochi) who had succeeded Alexander.  A peace treaty had been signed stipulating that young Alexander would be sole ruler of the empire when he came of age in 305 B.C.  However, Cassander became king of Macedon that year instead.


- Joanne

Tom Longboat: Canadian champion, Aboriginal hero

Though most young Canadians have never heard of Tom Longboat, in the early 20th century he was one of the most famous athletes in the western world.

- Historica Canada


Thomas Charles Longboat, one of the greatest athletes to wear the Maple Leaf, was born at the Six Nations Reserve in Ohsweken, Ontario (near Brantford), His birth date has been disputed, but it is generally thought to be June 4, 1887 (Some sources, including The Canadian Encyclopedia), state that he was born on July 4, 1887, while others cite June 4, 1886).  If the June 4th, 1887 date is correct, then the celebrated long distance runner came into this world 129 years ago today.  He was a member of the Onondaga people, one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois.  His native name was Cogwagee, which means "Everything."

Tom Longboat was the second of three children and his father died when he was five years old.  At about 12 years of age, he was enrolled at the Mohawk Institute Residential School, where he was pressured to relinquish his native culture and language. Longboat deeply resented the school and escaped to the home of his uncle.  In later years, when he was invited to speak at the institute, he remarked with disdain, "I wouldn't even send my dog to that place."

Longboat began racing competitively in the spring of 1905 when he ran in the Victoria Day Race at Caledonia, Ontario.  He was noticed by another Six Nations runner, Bill Davis, who had finished second in the 1901 Boston Marathon.  Davis was impressed with Longboat's athletic talent and they began training together in preparation for the Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton, Ontario.  On October 18, 1906. Longboat won the Hamilton event by over three minutes.  It was his first significant competitive victory.

On April 19, 1907, at the age of 19, Tom Longboat competed in the prestigious Boston Marathon against 123 other runners.  It was a cold and rainy day, but throngs of people lined the streets to witness the event.  Longboat won the world-renowned race in spectacular fashion, setting a new course record that was five minutes faster than the previous one and earning himself international recognition.

Here is the front page of the Boston Post with its headline on the 1907 Boston Marathon.

Here are two excerpts from the Boston Globe's report on the 1907 Boston Marathon.

From the Boston Globe, April 20, 1907

FASTEST MARATHON EVER RUN WON BY LONGBOAT
RECORD CLIPPED BY INDIAN YOUTH
Caffrey's Time Improved by About Five Minutes
Fowler, Himself a Mark-Shaver, Half-Mile Behind at Finish

Thomas Longboat, a full-blooded Indian from Hamilton, Ont., won the famous B.A.A. Marathon race of 25 miles from Ashland to Boston yesterday in 2h 24m 24s, beating the record for the course 2h 29m 23 3-5s, which was made by J.J. Caffrey, also of Hamilton, in 1901, when the latter won the race for the second time. 

                                                                       * * *

The thousands of persons who lined the streets from Ashland to the B.A.A. were well repaid for the hours of waiting in the rain and chilly winter weather, for they saw in Tom Longboat the most marvelous runner who has ever sped over our roads. With a smile for everyone, he raced along and at the finish he looked anything but like a youth who had covered more miles in a couple of hours than the average man walks in a week. Gaining speed with each stride, encouraged by the wild shouts of the multitude, the bronze-colored youth with jet black hair and eyes, long, lithe body and spindle legs, swept toward the goal. 

After his victory in Boston Marathon, Tom Longboat focused his attention on the 1908 Olympics in London, England. Unfortunately, the 1908 Olympics marathon ended in heartbreak and disappointment for the young competitor.  It was a hot day and the route was a lengthy 26.2 miles. Longboat and some other participants collapsed from exhaustion, including Italian runner, Dorando Pietri.  Longboat was in second place when he collapsed near the 20-mile mark. He was forced to leave the race. Pietri's collapse occurred in the final metres of the race, when he was leading the field. After receiving assistance from officials, he was able to cross the finish line in first place. American Johnny Hayes, who had finished second, protested the results.  Pietri was subsequently disqualified.and Hayes was awarded the gold medal.

Below is a photo of Tom Lomboat (No. 72), leading the pack at the 1908 Olympics in London as the runners leave Windsor Castle.  Behind Longboat is Dorando Pietri (No. 19)/

After the Olympics, Tom Longboat decided to turn professional, competing indoors for prize money. As a professional, Tom became king of the match-race circuit at a time when there was a public craze for long-distance running.  On December 15, 1908, he challenged Dorando Pietri, who had already beaten Johnny Hayes in a rematch between the two.  The setting was Madison Square Garden in New York City. With six laps left, Pietri collapsed and had to be removed from the track.

On December 28, 1908, Tom Longboat married Lauretta Maracle, a Mohawk school teacher on the Tyendinaga Reserve. The ceremony was held on stage at Massey Hall in Toronto.  Soon after, on February 6, 1909, he went head to head with prominent British runner Alfred "Alfie" Shrubb in a contest to determine "the World's Professional Marathon Champion."  Their highly-publicized showdown took place at Madison Square Garden before a sold-out crowd of 12,000 and it was billed as the race of the century.  Shrubb took a ten-lap lead, but Longboat, came from behind to pass him and win the race.

Alfie Shrubb became Longboat's greatest rival on the circuit.  The two engaged in a number of match races in front of enormous crowds with Longboat besting Shrubb at distances over 20 miles and Scrubb winning the shorter races.

Tom Longboat's rival, Alfred Shrubb

In 1911, after some much-publicized disagreements with his managers, Longboat bought out his own contract.  He was determined to use his own training methods, although he was criticized for his supposedly relaxed attitude.  In fact, his one-time trainer, Mike Flanagan, had walked out on him before his showdown with Alfie Schrubb, telling the Globe that Longboat was "the most contrary piece of furniture I have ever had anything to do with."  Despite the criticism, Longboat continued to have success as a professional.  By about 1912, however, the public's passion for marathon running began to fade and the outbreak of an international conflict,in 1914 changed everything.

In February of 1916, Tom Longboat enlisted in World War I.  During the war, he served as a dispatch runner for the 107th Pioneer Battalion in France, assigned to the dangerous task of delivering messages and orders between units.  He kept in competitive shape by  racing in inter-battalion sporting contests (He won the eight-mile-long race at the Canadian Corps Dominion Day celebrations).  According to Veterans Affairs Canada, Longboat was wounded twice during his service overseas. However, the injuries were not mentioned in his military service record.

Despite having been mistakenly reported dead, Tom Longboat managed to survive the war.  He was discharged in 1919, but upon returning home he soon discovered that his wife, Lauretta, believing him to be deceased, had remarried.  According to David Blaikie, author of Boston: The Canadian Story, Lauretta chose to remain in her new marriage,  Longboat later wed Martha Silversmith, an Onondagan, with whom he had four children.  According to a piece on the website of the Loyal American Hall of Honour, Bay of Quite Branch, Martha was the sister of Canadian First Nations actor Jay Silverheels, who portrayed Tonto in the old Lone Ranger television series.  Silverheels was born Harry J. Smith at the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford.  He was also known as Harry Silversmith.

After the war, Tom Longboat moved out west to secure a land grant in recognition for his military service.  He settled near Edmonton, Alberta, where he was a homesteader and performed odd jobs.  In 1922, he returned to Toronto. At first, he worked for the Dunlop Rubber Co. and then at steel mills in Hamilton and Buffalo.  He was laid of in 1926, but soon found employment with the City of Toronto's street-cleaning department.  According to an article by Peter Unwin in Canada's History magazine, Longboat toiled at that job "faithfully for 19 years"  He "drove horses, swept leaves, and collected garbage."

Tragedy hit the Longboat and his family in 1932.  Following Tom's participation in a radio interview at the Canadian National Exhibition , his five-year-old son, Clifford, was struck by a car and killed. Unwin's article in Canada's History states that the child's mother, Martha, saved the CNE pennant she had bought that day and kept it for the remainder of her life.

In 1944, Tom Longboat retired to the Six Nations Reserve where he died of pneumonia on January 9, 1949 at the age of 61 or 62.  Roger Robinson, I think, summed up Longboat's achievements best when he wrote the following in Canadian Runner magazine (May 16, 2014):

Tom Longboat was he only Canadian distance runner so far to prove himself definitively as the world’s best, and he did it three times: once at Boston and twice at Madison Square Garden. But Longboat’s historical importance reaches beyond Canada. He was the first world-class non-white marathon runner.



END NOTES

* In 2010, the Ontario Legislature passed a bill declaring June 4 Tom Longboat Day.

* Alfie Shrubb went on to coach the Harvard University cross-country team and the Oxford University Athletics Club.  Interestingly enough, he settled permanently in Canada in 1928, making his home in Bowmanville, Ontario.  He died in Bowmanville on April 23, 1964 at the age of 84.  The

* After his disqualification from the 1998 Olympics marathon, Dorando Pietri was awarded a gilded silver cup by Britain's Queen Alexandra.

* During World War II, Tom Longboat served as a member of the Veterans Guard and was stationed
at a military camp near Brantford, Ontario.

* Tom Longboat has been inducted into the Canadian Indian Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.  A school in Toronto has been named after him.


- Joanne

Nurses: Uniforms and Scrubs

Above is the old image of a nurse - female, white uniform and cap.  Nurses, of course, haven't looked like that for a long time now.  In the United States and the UK, for example, about 10 per cent of nurses are male.  A 2013 study for the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the number of males in the profession has more than tripled since the 1970s.

An increasing number on males are becoming nurses

The image of nurses has undergone a major transformation over the years.  Think of  Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing, or Cherry Ames, the main character in a series hospital mystery novels published between 1943 and 1968.  Nightingale and the fictional Cherry Ames, bear scant resemblance to today's nurses. Although today's nurses are just as dedicated, they certainly have a different appearance.

Florence Nighingale

Cherry Anes

It is highly unlikely that nurses are ever going to revert to wearing all-white uniforms. The main reason is that most nurses don't want to wear the traditional uniforms. They argue that white uniforms stain more easily and are more expensive to clean.  In addition, they are not suited to the increasing number of males in the nursing profession. Scrubs are preferred because they are considered more comfortable and more practical.

However, the absence of white uniforms has created some difficulty and also some discombobulation. Identifying nurses has become far more problematic for hospital patients and visitors  It is not often easy to distinguish them from doctors, lab technicians and other medical personnel in hospitals.  They all seem to be wearing scrubs. Perplexed patients are frequently left wondering which person in scrubs is a nurse.  I underwent a surgical procedure last summer and found it quite a challenge to identify the nurses.

Here is my point.  In order to avoid confusion, there should be a clearer way to identify and distinguish nurses.  Name tags don't really solve the problem.  They are not easy to read from a distance, especially for those of us with poor eyesight.  It is evident that nurses require some type of identifying feature, or perhaps they could wear comfortable non-white uniforms.  There has to be a better way.


- Joanne

Barack Obama: His Legacy

Rather than protect wasteful tax loopholes for the few at the top, we should be investing more in things like education and job creation and job training that we know grow the economy for everybody.  And rather than lock in tax breaks for millionaires, or make it harder to actually enforce existing laws, let’s give tax breaks to help working families pay for child care or for college. And let’s stop rewarding companies that are shipping jobs overseas and profit overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here.

- President Barack Obama
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, April 5, 2016


As Barack Obama nears the end of his presidency, the 44th President of the United States must be reflecting on his legacy. He's had a rough time in office due to the machinations of conservative Republicans and Tea Party supporters. Will history treat him more kindly?  I certainly hope so.

Let me be clear.  I am not an apologist for President Obama or any politician.  I'm not saying that Obama's a 21st century Abraham Lincoln.  I'm merely arguing that he has been underappreciated and underrated.

From the beginning of his first term in office, Republicans and Fox News tried to discredit him.  They endeavoured to portray him as an outsider, a foreigner and "not one of us."  The so-called "birthers," including Donald Trump, claimed that he wasn't really born in Hawaii and that he was probably born in Kenya or Indonesia.  His middle name is "Hussein," so they implied that he had sympathy for Islamic extremism.  What utter nonsense!  What claptrap!  Unfortunately, too many Americans were hoodwinked.  According to polls, they actually believed this to be true.

Soon after his inauguration, President Obama had to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  His steady hand and his investment in infrastructure helped the United States through a crisis that wouldn't have happened if there had been more regulations on American financial institutions.

In addition, Obama inherited the fallout from George W. Bush's ill-advised and ill-fated invasion of Iraq.  According to a 2013 report by scholars from the "Costs of War" project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, more than 190,000 people had been killed in the decade since the invasion began in 2003.  The war will cost the United States $2;2 trillion, including the funds needed to provide for veterans until 2053.

Every step of the way, the Republican-controlled Congress has tried to impede Obama's attempts at progress.  For example, the President supports more stringent gun-control legislation.  He is sickened by the preponderance of gun violence in the United States, particularly after the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.  In fact, he told the BBC that his failure to pass "common sense gun safety laws" in the United States "even in the face of mass killings" is the biggest frustration of his presidency.

President Obama has been called a "socialist" because of the Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as "Obamacare."  He has been called a "socialist" because he has endeavoured to provide health coverage to the vulnerable and he has opposed tax breaks for the most wealthy segment of American society.

Here's what President Obama has accomplished:

* Over 20 million Americans who didn't have health insurance before, have it now.  Ask them if they'd be willing to go without health insurance again.

* The current U.S. unemployment rate (April 2016) is 5 per cent.  When Obama took office in January of 2009, it was 7.8 per cent.  In 2008, the last year of George W. Bush's presidency, the jobless rate jumped from 5 percent to 7.3 percent.  In October of 2009, during the economic downturn caused by the Great Recession, the unemployment rate rose to 10 per cent, the highest level of Barack  It decreased steadily from then on.

Here is a chart, provided by the U.S, Bureau of Labor, showing the U.S. unemployment rate from 2006 to the present.

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2006	4.7	4.8	4.7	4.7	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.5	4.4	4.5	4.4
2007	4.6	4.5	4.4	4.5	4.4	4.6	4.7	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.7	5.0
2008	5.0	4.9	5.1	5.0	5.4	5.6	5.8	6.1	6.1	6.5	6.8	7.3
2009	7.8	8.3	8.7	9.0	9.4	9.5	9.5	9.6	9.8	10.0	9.9	9.9
2010	9.8	9.8	9.9	9.9	9.6	9.4	9.4	9.5	9.5	9.4	9.8	9.3
2011	9.1	9.0	9.0	9.1	9.0	9.1	9.0	9.0	9.0	8.8	8.6	8.5
2012	8.3	8.3	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.1	7.8	7.8	7.7	7.9
2013	8.0	7.7	7.5	7.6	7.5	7.5	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.2	6.9	6.7
2014	6.6	6.7	6.7	6.2	6.2	6.1	6.2	6.2	6.0	5.7	5.8	5.6
2015	5.7	5.5	5.5	5.4	5.5	5.3	5.3	5.1	5.1	5.0	5.0	5.0
2016	4.9	4.9	5.0	5.0

* In his recent statement on the economy, Obama called on the Republican-controlled Congress to close corporate tax loopholes such as "inversions," a kind of merger in which an American company purchases a foreign counterpart and then relocates to that county in order to reduce its taxes.

* He has taken action on climate change while right-wing Republicans refuse to accept the severity of the situation.  Despite reliable scientific evidence to the contrary, they deny that it is a problem or they hide their heads in the sand.

* He has restored diplomatic relations with Iran and removed many economic sanctions against the country in exchange for the limiting of Iran's nuclear program.  This may not be a perfect deal, but it's certainly preferable to tension between the two nations and uncertainty about Iran's nuclear intentions.  Not surprisingly, Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president, has been vocal in his criticism of the deal and has stated that he would revamp it.

During his final year in office, Obama has seemed more relaxed.  He doesn't have to be concerned with being re-elected, so he has a freer reign to do accomplish what he wants.  He can really be himself and fight for what he believes.  It's unfortunate, though, that during he two terms in office, race relations do not seem to have improved in America.  As the first African-American U.S, president, Obama has had a historic opportunity to make significant progress in that area.  It seems to me that he just hasn't been particularly successful in soothing strains between blacks and whites.

On Friday, May 27, 2016, Barack Obama will make a historic visit to Hiroshima, Japan, where the first atom bomb was dropped by the United States on August 6, 1945.  He will become the first sitting U.S. president to tour the site of the world's first nuclear bombing, where he will be accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

This is a bold move on the part of the President and the prospect of Obama travelling to Hiroshima has stirred up controversy. He will, however, stop short of apologizing for American actions in 1945. He told Reuters news agency that the main purpose of the visit is to "reflect on the nature of war" and the suffering it causes.  He said it's "a happy story about how former adversaries came together to become one of the closest partnerships and closest allies in the world."


- Joanne