A Moment in Time

Posted on November 30, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
Looking South

Looking South

Contemplation

Contemplation

Each photograph we take captures a moment in time. For that brief second all that was happening stops. In our fast paced world what if we could stop time for just a moment and truly let the beauty of earth’s wonders seep into our souls. If we wait to long that moment vanishes and may never return.

Maui from Above

Maui from Above

Flying high above Haleakalā heading towards the more active volcanos of the Big Island. One can appreciate time gone by and how these beautiful islands were born.

Lover's Moon

Lover’s Moon

Finding its way through the trees the moon captures your heart in the coolness of the tropical night.

Bring on the Night

Bring on the Night

The dark night sky is illuminated by the colours and music of Hawaiian dancers on a warm Maui night.

Waiting for Goodbye

Waiting for Goodbye

Standing by the Red River that gently makes it through Winnipeg. Knowing very soon the murky waters will soon turn to ice.

Waiting for a Train

Waiting for a Train

Far from his homeland, a bronze statue of Gandhi looks to the west wondering when will the peace he longed for come for all people..

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Children of the Rope 2 – We are all Connected

Posted on November 23, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
Children of the Rope 2 Hashim Hannoon

Children of the Rope 2
Hashim Hannoon

Hashim Hannoon was born in Basrah, Iraq 1957 and graduated from institute of Fine Arts-Baghdad in 1979.He received his Bachelor of Sculpture/College of Fine Arts-Baghdad in 1999 and is a Member of Iraqi Artistic Forming Assembly and the Babylon Assembly of French Arts. Since immigrating to Canada there has been an evolution of his works with more vibrant colours and the incorporation of people into his work.

Children of the Rope 2 for me displays this evolution through the vibrant blues, greens and oranges and unique textures and melding of these colours while making the people the focal point of the piece. Like most Art Work this piece can not be truly appreciated unless viewed in person. The texture and colours come to life. Yet despite the vibrant colours and textures a thin black rope brings together what I believe is his message. The painting seems to take his past life experiences (many painful-see below) and training from Iraq to a Canadian experience to help us all realize that be it in the smaller context of our homes, communities, cities, countries or more globally we are all connected. How the ebbs and flows of each person’s life can affect everyone.

At times as portrayed by the one larger person who is holding onto the rope we find ourselves as parents, community members and teachers trying to hold on to our children to keep them safe but also wanting them to reach out and experience the vibrancy of the world under our protective guidance.

Now of course this is my interpretation of this magnificent piece of Art. As you look at the piece it may say something else to you and as Hashim Hannoon painted both Children of the Rope and Children of the Rope 2 this may not have been the message he wanted to convey. For me as I see a world where our children are trying so desperately trying to be connected through the many social media methods it is important that we help guide them through our ever closer global neighbours. Helping them understand that each of us are important to how colourful and vibrant our life will be. After all whether we always admit it or not we are all connected and our actions good or bad make a difference.

MAYBERRY FINE ART, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

Hashim Hannoon

(1957)

A respected artist in the middle east, this Iraqi born artist immigrated to Canada in 2009. Writing in The Golden Medium, a monograph published for Hannoon’s 2008 solo exhibition in Amman, Jordan, critic Khalid Khudayer describes Hashim Hannoon as a realist and an abstract expressionist. He believes that Hannoon’s style of abstraction captures the “golden medium”, the perfect balance between form and colour.
Wherever he lives, Hannoon seeks to achieve contact with the spiritual existence of a place. Since coming to Canada, the concept of the city has become a theme in many of his canvases. He is not concerned with painting a literal portrait of a place, rather his interest lies in capturing the essence of community and how it enriches the city. This process results in abstract images of gentle beauty that invite the viewer to experience his vision for the city through the filter of his imagination.
As a result of his acquaintance with the hardships of war, the abstract paintings of Hashim Hannon spring from a milieu quite different from that of many of his North American colleagues. Since arriving in Canada, he continues to remain honest to the spirit that permeates his experience. Painful memories are often a force that cannot be ignored. Once brought into the light and shared with others, however, the same memories can have the power to bring hope. In this way, though born from tragedy and sorrow, the paintings of Hashim Hannoon radiate optimism and an overwhelming vitality

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Am I Good Enough: Self-Image and Art

Posted on November 16, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
What are our Children Feeling?

What are our Children Feeling

Education of the whole child continues to be a key element in creating a safe, caring and respectful school and community environment. It has been a struggle to find a balance between the social and emotional, the physical-self, teaching and learning in order to educate the whole child. What are the strategies we are using to help all our students find as Dr. Brooks refers to our ‘Islands of Competence’? What are the outside pieces hindering our journey to help every one of our students understand they are capable and valued people and learners.

Girls’ inner critics are starting to reveal themselves at a younger and younger age. And body image issues are an aspect of their lives which is causing them low self esteem and day-to-day suffering. 

Elizabeth Berkley

Self-Image

Self-Image

On Thursday and Friday our school had Sarah Swan present two half-day sessions for our Grade 7 and 8 girls called ‘It is hard being a Girl’. Having the opportunity to go through the evaluations of the girls, it is striking not only the insight they have but the enormous pressures they are feeling in understanding their self-worth. Sarah Swan is an artist, author (Sarah Gordon-Rapture Red & Smoke Grey, served in the military as a field medic, traveller, Facilitator of Art Talk on First Fridays in the Exchange and mother). Sarah uses Art to facilitate conversations about the pressures facing our girls in regards to self-image. I met Sarah when she facilitated an Art-Talk in regards to Andrew Valko and  I recommend reading her article entitled “Artists work of female nudes convey dark societal theme” found in the Winnipeg Free Press on July 2, 2013. In her article she quotes Valko as saying “Some of the nudity in the work is there to support the narrative of the paintings. Through my work, I am making a comment about our cultural practice of objectification rather than becoming just another example of it.”

The Chat Room Andrew Valko

The Chat Room
Andrew Valko

Through using a variety of Art, Sarah is able to lead young girls through a presentation that helps them understand the struggles of creating the many ‘masks’ they feel they need to have in order to be valued. The pressures of media, peers and the images of ‘what girls are supposed to look like’ is hindering their journey to understand their ‘Islands of Competence.’ A few examples of the students’ feedback is:

  • Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough, I feel alone
  • Everyone thinks I am happy, people don’t know I feel this way
  • I don’t have confidence in myself-I don’t like the way I look
  • Celebrities think they need to show their bodies on social media and it probably isn’t them
  • We are all hiding who we are so no one knows how we feel
  • We have to be sexy

The striking piece is these statements are from our Grade 7 girls. Should we be concerned that so many of our young girls’ self-worth is linked to looks rather than other characteristics?

  • Your presentation was amazing it made my day. I’m sure you are helping lots of girls including me.
  • I learned I shouldn’t post naked pictures of myself on the internet
  • I think this helped everyone in the room in a different way
  • Every girl should try to be themselves not anyone else

As we watch our students, our children walk into our building, sit in our classrooms, the lunch tables, go out into the community what are the ways we can connect with each of them in a positive way so that we can help every child see themselves as a learner, as important for who they are and what they bring to our community.

I Suck at Everything

I Suck at Everything

Boys and boys’ body image and clothes have become just as important an issue for boys as for girls.

Rosalind Wiseman

Excerpt from Sarah Gordon’s (Sarah Swan) book Rapture Red & Smoke Grey

Sarah Swan

Sarah Swan

And then God said to me

there is a thing called fearlessness

when your skin and your eyes

flash from one temperature to

another, and in the instant you

know you are capable of giving

over all days and years- all minutes

of your living and dying and tearing

at things with your hands

for they are not yours anyway.

you are made of restraint, and

unrestraint, the space that breathes

between walls that heave and buckle

you are made of tightening strings

as stretched on a violin that sings and screeches a non-orchestra

of wild and hurting sounds.

you are made of limits, and the few

steps just after them that feel so free

and careful

and you are made of retreat, and looking

back.

Do not look back, for there are things

stronger than fondness and regret-

there are things for you to tear down

and conquer, there are ruins to stand in

and weep over

the smoke wthat rises will billow long

through old window3s

and then there will be

new work to do.

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A Vision for Sustainable Growth

Posted on November 9, 2013 by jameswhoddinott

urban sprawl

There is controversy once again coming out of City Hall as council tries to institute an added tax for new developments. The Municipal Government has positioned itself in a way of trying to recover costs associated with infrastructure development and the increasing deficit our city has where as the provincial government has indicated they will not approve additional taxes as they are providing enough money to the city for infrastructure so it leaves us to wonder what the right solution is. Well both have gotten it wrong.

Our continued difficulty with Municipal and Provincial politics in the area of development is lack of a sustainable development plan. The reasons our city struggles with Urban Sprawl as well as development situations that place our Mayor and Councilors in ethical dilemmas to decisions they make in regards to projects is we have no guidelines or protocols for the design, development or approval of projects. Development is seen by our Mayor as a purely economic decision rather than a decision that needs to take into account economic, social, environmental and long-term sustainability of our city.

Why has the City of Winnipeg and the Provincial Government got it wrong. The Niagara Region has a guiding vision for determining growth.

The purpose of planning is to guide the physical development and redevelopment of the Municipality. Planning seeks to manage the land and resources within a municipality to ensure a healthy and sustainable future economically, socially and environmentally.

Good planning ensures orderly development and provides appropriate locations and choice for homes, retail shops, parks, offices and industrial uses, supported by an appropriate network of services such as sewers and roads and transit. Good planning also takes into account the need to preserve heritage resources, conserve energy, and protect our natural features, such as the Niagara Escarpment and our valley and wetlands.

 SmarterNiagaraLogo_small

They use these guidelines in order to assist in the development of incentives to create and rejuvenate existing communities. The trouble with Urban Sprawl is it creates the need for expanded infrastructure without generating the tax revenue to support it. It also creates the need for increased transportation needs as people commute to work. Our other neighbourhoods still exist so we also need to maintain current services like police, hospital, schools, libraries well we now need to expand these services to our bedroom communities. Our desire to spread out to the suburbs not only increases our reliance on cars but also is putting houses on once productive farmland. As our neighbourhoods sprawl our sense of community diminishes. This does not meet any environmental standard. We need to develop strong vibrant communities that are self-sufficient with parks, stores, shops all within walking distance.

The Niagara Region has five principles when developing neighbourhoods.

1) Identifiable – meaningful community involvement in the process

2) Interconnected – examining traffic and street design to improve traffic flow

3) Compact and Walkable – mix-use communities that have a wide range of residential designs, businesses, services and recreation in our neighbourhoods

4) Diverse – use street design to create layouts that encourage mutli=use development

5) Respect for Natural Heritage – building should have a strong connection physically and visually to existing natural environmental features (I would add historical and local flavour)

The Mayor and Council would have us believe that by putting guidelines and expectations in place would discourage development. The Niagara Region has a long-term plan until 2031 as to what growth will look like. They have used tax incentives rather than taxes to encourage sustainable growth.

The Niagara region does not tax ‘Urban Sprawl’ but rather provides the guidelines and incentives for growth from a provincial and municipal level. The two governments work together to make vibrant self-sustaining communities by encouraging people and developers to build and rejuvenate existing neighbourhoods. Taxes have always been a needed part of our country to provide those essential services for health, education police and fire services. Taxing the growth, or overtaxing densely populated areas at the same rate as less dense areas is counterproductive to creating a vision for a healthy economic, environmental and neighbourhood growth.

We need to re-examine our attitudes and beliefs about development. To have a city to continue to mismanaged in the manner our current Mayor and Council are doing is all of our responsibilities. We must remember that we do not inherit our earth from our ancestors but rather borrow it from our children.

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Mayor and Council Get Failing Grade

Posted on November 2, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
The Beautiful Waterfront Drive Skyline

The Beautiful Waterfront Drive Skyline

We are not the only City who has been plagued with this kind of alleged corruption, scandal and lack of vision. The political scandals that had plagued the City of Montreal, London, Ontario and now Toronto are all to common. There is little doubt that our city deserves better from our Mayor and our councilors. Below is a list of characteristics from the Montreal Board of Trade found in journalist Phillip McLeod’s blog called the McLeod Report:

1) Honest – A spotless past, strong ethics, transparent.
2) A leader – Charismatic, a mobilizing force, able to make unpopular decisions.
3) A person of action – Results driven, pragmatic, adopts a transformation strategy, quickly implements priority initiatives.
4) Effective manager – Efficient, realistic, knows how to surround him or herself with the right people.
5) Focused on economic development – Can articulate a clear vision, convincing, gets involved in structuring flagship projects for the city.

So where does our Mayor Katz, the EPC and City Council stack-up using this criteria.

1) Honesty, a spotless past, transparency (F)
Without a doubt the recent scandals, the dubious business connections as well as the failure to adopt City Plans to guide development has placed our politicians where their recent actions make a failing grade in this section easy to score.

See the CBC news feature called ‘Competing Interests’ to get just a flavour of deals that puts in to question not only our Mayor’s honesty and certainly indicates the lack of transparency by our Mayor and City Council.

2) Charismatic, a mobilizing force, able to make unpopular decisions (F)

This one is a little more difficult to score as for whatever reason despite political and business scandals that have surrounded Mayor Katz he continues to be re-elected. However, the recent scandals, the evidence that is mounting in regards to hiring of friends to manage the City of Winnipeg’s business affairs and either being so disinterested in the happenings of our city, or so disinterested in the business dealing occurring in Winnipeg or so aware of the connections to close business and personal friends that seem to have benefited him personally but hurt our city has removed any ‘Charisma’ our Mayor may have had. Every decision that is made at City Hall one must question if the thinking around the table is “What’s in it for me” rather than the best and long-term benefit to our city.

3) A person of action – Results driven, pragmatic, adopts a transformation strategy, quickly implements priority initiatives. (F)

There has been a lot of construction in the City of Winnipeg. However, it lacks a plan. This has resulted in high-cost housing developments that requires a huge committment to infrastructure development, transit difficulties and environmental problems. The new Boutique Hotel on Waterfront Drive will serve as a multicoloured beacon to what city-planning looks like when no parameters or guidelines are in place on development. Development although happening is done project by project without and end in mind; without a vision, guidelines or any regard for long-term fiscal responsibility.

What were you Thinking!!!

What were you Thinking!!!

Development of this kind is inexcusable and has resulted in projects that are over-budget, poorly thought out and in the end put our city in a position where they want to cut workers, raise taxes or both.

The Mayor and Council have transformed our city but not in a good way.

4) Effective manager – Efficient, realistic, knows how to surround him or herself with the right people (F)

Phil Sheegle quits

EPC Members quit

5) Focused on economic development – Can articulate a clear vision, convincing, gets involved in structuring flagship projects for the city. (F)

There is no doubt we have had flagship projects like MTS Centre, Investors Field, Condo Development, the new Fire Halls but development is without a plan. Development is haphazard and for the most part fiscally irresponsible to sustainable economic growth for our city.

On August 7th the Winnipeg Free Press indicated the proposed development of a 24 storey high-rise on Waterfront Drive where the historic pumphouse is located. This is prime Waterfront Real-Estate. It describes this development as “A Bold New Plan” rather than yet another plan that seems covered in secrecy without identifying the developers, without regard to current architectural design that makes the Exchange District popular with film makers, theatre goers, artisans and those seeking to enjoy the charm of the area through the many restaurants. Certainly none of the Residents of the exchange that I speak to are against development. They are against development that is not transparent, not part of an overall vision to create a strong vibrant community that takes into account the unique needs for design of this historic part of Winnipeg. If past history is any indication construction of this building complete with the required zoning variances will begin before the rest of us know what is happening and we will have yet another example to add to our list of poorly planned and most likely costly to the tax payer developments.

The Pumphouse

The Pumphouse

Visit the Pumphouse blog for more information and an alternate vision as to what development can look like.

A view from the Pumphouse - Location

A view from the Pumphouse – Location

Looking at the Street View from the River - Location

Looking at the Street View from the River – Location

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if our political leaders could take responsiblity for their decisions. From the Senate Scandal to our own issues in Winnipeg with our Municipal Government it seems everyone is quick to blame, find a scape goat, distance themselves from the blatantly obvious mistakes made, actually anything rather than take ownership of their piece of the troubles that plague our governments and more specifically politicians.Yes Winnipeg as Menno Zacharias said in his blog “Policing, Politics and Public Policy” our Mayor is more than deserving of Rick Mercer’s Disgrace Mayor Serving Set.

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Discipline: It’s About Teaching

Posted on October 26, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
Chick Moorman: Motivating the Unmotivated

Chick Moorman:
Motivating the Unmotivated

On Friday, October 25th in for Manitoba’s Educators it was a day of Professional Learning. Our Special Area Groups of Educators (SAGE) Conference provided a wide-range of learning opportunities designed for educators across the Province of Manitoba. One of the most difficult decisions as we approach this day is which session are we going to attend. After reading through the program filled with topics around literacy, numeracy and other curriculum based ideas I decided to attend a session organized by Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children called Motivating the Unmotivated with Chick Moorman.

SAGE Friday Afternoon

SAGE
Friday Afternoon

Myself along with three hundred other educators made our way to the Garden City Canad Inns to gain some new insight and more importantly to take the words from Chick Moorman what are we going to do ‘Next time’ or what can we do Monday in our schools and classrooms. Having done presentations in the area of ‘Teaching Behaviours’ throughout Manitoba as well as attended sessions by some of our leading educators like Randy Sprick (Safe and Civil Schools), George Sugai (Positive School-Wide Behaviour), Dr. Robert Brooks (resilience) as well as more specific behavioural sessions to support students with special needs like ‘Gentle Teaching’, FASD, as well as children with Autism is was not surprising the overriding message in Chick Moorman’s teaching supported all the previous professional development I have given and taken that Discipline is about Teaching and Learning and not punishment.

Although the information confirmed my belief system based on caring, teaching and learning there were some interesting concepts developed in his presentation which coincide with some of the challenges we are facing today. When it comes to teaching children our expectations for what we feel is appropriate behaviours as they relate to their interactions of others (social skills, respect, bullying) as well as creating a child that believes in themselves. The importance of modeling teaching children by touching their spirit was a big part of Chick Moorman’s strategy. Often as parents and educators we use shame and criticism and concentrate on what the child has done wrong instead of teaching them what we need for them to do. Teaching and re-teaching our expectations. ‘Next time’ I need you to…and then teaching them what you need them to do. Concentrate on the behaviour well showing the child you still care.

Perhaps I am in the minority, but I don’t remember my parents ever shaming me or using criticism as their tools to teach me to be respectful, to stand up for myself have a good work ethic. I always knew my parents loved me, that they thought hard work and responsibility was important. Modeled reading and community involvement and neither of them completed high school but both my mom and dad went to work everyday, were kind to others and loved their family even in those times we made choices that didn’t fit into their expectations of us. Chick Moorman and others speak of the importance of parents, teachers and media modeling respectful behaviours.

Research indicates the harm Gossiping does in regards to an individual’s development of appropriate social interactions. Chick Moorman indicates that for Teenage girl’s Facebook and other social media tools are the number one place they gossip. This gossip defined as cyberbullying is often done unanimously. If we remember the premise of teaching as our foundation we need to as George Couros talks about teach and model what we expect from our students and children. So as a parent if I don’t want my children to gossip I need to model and teach those expectations. As an educator George Couros would tell us we need to provide our students with models of how to use the Internet for learning and connecting in an appropriate way.

Chick Moorman also speaks of the inappropriate models on television and the responsiblity of society to teach and model the expectations of responsibility and respect. Many of our shows that our students watch do the opposite. Many of our Politicians are currently modeling behaviours that we would never accept in our homes, in our schools and we certainly shouldn’t accept from those people in public office who need to be held to a higher standard than the average citizen.

Perhaps this was a long way of saying we need to teach our students and children with dignity and respect. To teach behaviour it is like teaching curriculum it is done through Demonstration (Modeling), doing it together (sometimes over and over again), providing guided or short times of them doing it independently, to eventually having the student or child being able to fulfill the expectations independently.

Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children

Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children

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Changing Times

Posted on October 21, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
Looking South

Looking South

Remembering Summer

Remembering Summer

Times Gone By

Times Gone By

Albert Street

Albert Street

A Resting Place

A Resting Place

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Winnipeg: We’ve Got a Problem

Posted on October 19, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
The Changed Waterfront Skyline

The Changed Waterfront Skyline

With an election still one year away the evidence continues to mount that our current Mayor, Councillors and the executive policy council is dysfunctional. The most recent evidence of this dysfunction is the case of Phil Sheegl and the alleged improprieties of the land accusation and building of the much-needed fire halls. This debacle has cost Reid Douglas, Fire Chief his job and our Chief Administrative Office has also resigned although it is a little harder to feel sorry for Phil Sheegl given the expected $443, 000 payout that comes with his resignation just prior to the release of the Audit around the Fire-Hall Project as indicated in an article written by Bartley Kives. Many have speculated that with these two individuals gone, it will be hard to hold anyone accountable for the findings in the audit. Let’s be certain the overall responsibilities of what happened fall directly on the Mayor, City Council and the Executive Councils’ shoulders.
If this issue was a one-off we as citizens could be more tolerant of the problems I’m sure the Audit will identify, but this is a pattern; a pattern of dysfunction. We have the building of Investor’s Field and the entire process around site selection, transportation issues, cost over-runs and the cost of infrastructure development that is now required in order to address these council-inflicted problems.

We have the issues of Urban Sprawl and the costs related to our cities addiction to building new developments that generate little tax revenue but require huge costs to our Municipal Government for the infrastructure required to address the water, sewer and transportation needs that come with developments built on once fertile farm land. The traffic issues and need for massive expenditures in road construction is a result of our Urban Sprawl. The City’s portion of taxes per house in these development incurred for infrastruture will not cover the expenses certainly put us in a financially difficult position. However, as indicated by study after study as pointed at in my past blog “Creating a Greener Winnipeg” the need for Winnipeg to reduce Urban Sprawl is required to reduce the capital costs associated with increased infrastructure development in sparsely populated areas that do not generate the revenue required to support the burden put on Municipal, Provincial and Federal Governments to provide services to these new communities. Creating an Environmental Property Tax Credit for the development of more densely populated communities using existing infrastructures would not only increase revenue to the City of Winnipeg but decrease expenses as well. The benefit also would be our ability to create more cost-effective public transportation systems to reduce our negative impact on our natural resources and environment.
Another smaller example is related to the downtown development, Centre-Venture, the Winnipeg Parking Authority and the Mayor, councilors and members of the executive policy committee lack of understanding, communication and as a result discontinuing a Residential Parking Program for the West and East Exchange Districts. We are into month two of this change and on any given night on the streets allocated to those few residents who have purchased those $100.00 a month parking permits to allow them to park on streets where on any given evening the streets allocated for residents to park on are full as Winnipeggers choose not to use the lots available to pay when attending events or businesses in the area. Let’s be clear all these issues are related. The continuation of Urban Sprawl results in an increased need for parking in the downtown as people must travel from the suburbs to take advantage of the great cultural and sporting events offered in the downtown area. The Residents in the Area walk to the events. Many Jets fans park as far away as Waterfront Drive and then walk through the tunnels to MTS Centre. This isn’t as much to do with not paying for parking as much to take advantage of the restaurants in the area as well as it is quicker to make the 30 minute walk then to be stuck in the traffic-jammed downtown as they depart MTS Centre.
The Winnipeg Parking authority speaks of “consultation with stakeholders in the Exchange District to address the transportation and parking issues within the area. The Winnipeg Parking Authority has developed an East and West Exchange District Residential Meter Permit as a pilot project.” There was no agreement in these so-called consultations and having attended said meetings I did not hear any support from any of the stakeholders for the proposed Pilot Project that took away a previous program designed to support residential development which is what our City needs to reduce Urban Sprawl and increase revenue. The needs of the Residents of the Exchange Area were completely ignored. Residents who requested opportunities to speak to the Mayor, to meet with Mike Pagtakhan or just wrote letters hoping for a response to their concerns were also ignored. Council just sits there hoping the issues just go away as the business of everyone’s life makes it hard to spend time advocating to a Council and Mayor that don’t listen and clearly believe they operate outside any accountability for their decisions to the taxpayers of Winnipeg.
There has to be accountability for just this snapshot of examples of the dysfunction of our Mayor, Executive Policy Committee, Councillors and the departments that either institute their poorly designed vision or act independently in ways that are detrimental to our city and pocket books. I know it is easy to say these issues may not relate to me directly but we can’t continue to have a Mayor and City Council that is not accessible or accountable to the citizens of Winnipeg and continue on a development path that is not only financially unsustainable, is contrary to any urban planning research but perhaps most importantly; environmentally just the wrong thing to do.

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Colour Me: Winnipeg

Posted on October 15, 2013 by jameswhoddinott
The exchange

The Exchange

Winter Blues

 Winter Blues

Red River

Red River

Golden Boy

                                                                            Golden Boy

July 1

July 1

Scrabble

                                                                            Scrabble

Human Rights Musuem

Human Rights Museum

Juba Park

Juba Park

Riel Espanlde

                                                                Winnipeg to St. Boniface

Down at the Forks

Down at the Forks

Lazy Day by the River

                                                                     Lazy Day by the River

We walked for Someone

We walked for Someone

A Walk for Breast Cancer

A Walk for Breast Cancer

Photos by James W Hoddinott

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Freedom,Responsibility and High Expectations

Posted on October 13, 2013 by jameswhoddinott

 

Individuals often speak of freedom as their right to make their own decisions and often when we speak to adolescents and young adults that can be translated into “Doing what they want.” Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as saying:

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry their own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

For everyone there are numerous opportunities for us to assert our individual freedom. Individuals may say they have the right to say what they want or do what they want in disregard of impact on others in society. The high responsibility comes to each of us in when we make our decisions to asset our freedoms, including freedom of speech it is with a thought of the greater good and recognition of our part in our family, community, country and global community. It is up to each of us to create a society that provides high expectations for our children, politicians, fellow citizens and most importantly ourselves for a freedom that takes into account our right to that freedom but also recognizes our responsibility as part of a community.

I was at a meeting in regards to some community issues and perhaps one of the saddest statements I heard as we talked of asserting our voices for the greater good of our community to our local politicians a voice from an elderly lady stated “When you all get as old as me, you will realize those people (politicians) won’t listen and we can’t do anything about it.” We at times live in a society that appears apathetic where we often find it difficult to see the importance of our one voice or how our small actions can make a difference. Helen Keller is quoted as saying:

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

There continues to be a lot of talk from all sides in regards to Miley Cyrus and her new image and her killing of Hannah Montana. She was even on ‘Ellen’ on Friday justifying her current career choices, her freedom to do as she wants. It is interesting how we as a society equate sex with power and of course there is the expression sex sells. We have individuals who proclaim that we have individual license to expression, free speech and therefore anyone who argues with any form of expression is against individual rights and individual freedoms.

Now this is not a blog about Miley Cyrus but more a reflection on freedoms and responsibilities and how you cannot have a truly great society without recognizing both of those essential components to a meaningful life.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

In my job as a vice-principal I have the great opportunity to learn from the wisdom of our youth. I was walking behind three young girls while I was on outside supervision. These three young girls were talking about Miley Cyrus. I walked and listened. The one young girl talked about how her mother sat with her and they watched the video ‘Wrecking Ball’ together. They both really liked the lyrics and the song but could not understand why she had to represent the song in a video the way she did.  On side note, I was appreciative of this mother who chose to take this opportunity to teach her child about choice and what it was to be respectful of self. The young girl told her friends that her mother told her she couldn’t watch the video again (they watched it together). She then told her friends she was upset how Miley is representing woman. Now the girl was only eleven so she may be repeating the words of her mom but the other two girls agreed. They said they were not going to watch the video.

I decided to join their conversation and asked the girls if they were talking about Miley Cyrus. They said they were and I told them I thought she has a great voice. In our school we have basically three overarching beliefs about respect for self, others and property. I asked them to think of the video in those terms. One girl said she liked Hannah Montana it was someone who was nice to people and didn’t understand why she wanted to kill this nice person who actually made her wealthy. The other girl said when she does those things like using her body to sell her music it is like she doesn’t think her singing is good enough to sell her songs. The other girls said when my mom and I talked about it was more that we don’t think woman; girls should share that with everyone. It wasn’t respecting your self. I thanked the three girls and continued supervising our amazing students. In essence these girls were talking about Miley’s responsibility as a citizen in our society.

Every adult has a responsibility to be the change they want to see in the world; to take freedom and responsibility seriously. If we want a society where we don’t view woman as sex objects we have to quit modeling to our children that is the way to be successful. If we want our children to be honest and respectful we must also model those behaviours. Growing up my parents spent the time and energy to teach me how to be a kind and generous person. Like everyone I am human and have not always met those expectations. In the end it is taking responsiblity for one’s mistakes, learning from them and that is where growth occurs.

In my life as an educator, I have an enormous responsibility to model respect for self, others and property. My individual rights of expression need to be taken into the context of my social responsibilities to the students in my school and the community I live in. Those that are in business, whether it be in entertainment, sports or the creation of products need also to be cognizant of their responsibilities as global citizens. It is difficult at times to understand how what we do affects and influences the children in our society.

There are lots of things each of us could do to make money but fortunately most of us take our responsibility of teaching our children to be respectful of themselves, others and property seriously.

In life, all actions have consequences for ourselves and others. When we discover even the smallest action has this effect, one becomes thoughtful of what we do.

James W Hoddinott, When Eagles Dare to Fly

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