Leeroy Stagger’s newest song was inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Head over to YouTube to get a copy of the song.

On October 15th, the 99% of Lethbridge will be holding their own “occupy” demonstration:

OCCUPY LETHBRIDGE

Saturday, October 15th, 2011
Lethbridge, Traditional Blackfoot Territory
Peacefully Assemble with The 99%!

10 am – Special “Not Your Mother’s Poetry” Broadcast on CKXU 88.3 FM.
Stop by the Station, Lower UofL SU Building

11 am – Sign making outside of City Hall

12 pm – Peaceful Assembly outside of City Hall – Beginning of the 99% Open Mic. Please keep it to under 5 minutes.

12:30 pm – March as part of the 99%. City Hall around downtown and back. Open Mic stops outside of financial institutions and Jim Hillyer, MP’s office. What is YOUR message to the 1%?

2:00 pm – Open Mic finishes at City Hall.

* The route is approximately 1km long and will be kept at a slow pace for those with limited mobility.

For those unable to march, there will be people with information mingling outside of City Hall. They would love to discuss how a better world is possible.

Occupy Lethbridge

During convocation, we were shown some memorable clips from past honourary degree recipients, one being Chava Rosenfarb, Yiddish writer and Holocaust survivor. She received an honourary degree in 2006 and was invited to give the convocation address.

Thanks to keepmethoton on YouTube, I was able to find her full speech. You might want to grab a box of Kleenex for this one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NYPRBkRTj0

In 10 days, October 18th to be exact, citizens of Lethbridge will have the opportunity to vote in a new mayor and aldermen in the municipal election. But that’s not to say they will.

In the last election, voter turnout was 22.63%. Out of the 65,835 citizens eligible to vote ONLY 14,896 actually did. Disgraceful. And to make matters worse, no one ran against Bob Tarleck for mayor, giving him that seat by default. This is the guy partially responsible for the $30M+ ABCP investment fiasco, which was only revealed after that election.

My opinion? Stop voting in the same, used-up politicians that have been getting a free ride year after year and start with a fresh city council. We have a good opportunity here to make Lethbridge suck less.

This year, many candidates have been using more than just the shotgun-approach of yard signs and newspaper ads, but have websites and engage in social media. For the first time I have been talking with candidates, openly and have gained their trust, going on more than what’s just printed on a piece of paper. They are engaging me in an open, fluid medium for all to see.

If you’re wondering who are our candidates, what the issues are and how to interact, Elect Lethbridge is a great place to start. To find out their stance on certain issues, Lethbridge Accountability is also fantastic. If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, join the conversation.

And for everyone’s sake, get the hell out there and vote! Don’t be lazy!

Municipal Election 2010

UPDATE: Lethbridge College’s student newspaper, The Endeavour, has posted video profiles of our candidates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC1GtIhwpSk

Tommy Douglas was the socialist premier of Saskatchewan, the father of Canada’s healthcare system, and the grandfather of actor Keifer Sutherland. In this short animated video introduced by Sutherland, Douglas delivers his famous “Mouseland” parable, about the day the mice decided to elect their own to government.

Mouseland: a parable from the father of Canada’s healthcare system (via BoingBoing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiwSPg4jC3M

Skateistan is Afghanistan’s—and the world’s—first co-educational skateboarding school. The school engages growing numbers of urban and internally-displaced youth in Afghanistan through skateboarding, and provides them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment. Our students come from all of Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. They will not only develop skills in skateboarding and skateboarding instruction, but also healthy habits, civic responsibility, information technology, the arts, and languages. The students themselves decide what they want to learn—we connect them with teachers who will enable them to develop the skills that they consider important. Since Skateistan has been active in Kabul, we’ve seen that Afghan youth of all ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds love to skateboard. Skateistan brings them together, equipping young men and women with the skills to lead their communities toward social change and development.

Skateistan

I’d like to focus on copyright today, something many of us are not familiar with. After reading the Boing Boing article, “Canadian Prime Minister promises to enact a Canadian DMCA in six weeks,” It became clear that our Conservative minority government didn’t learn any lessons from the mass outcry against bill C-61 two years ago.

The Tories have shown — yet again — their utter contempt for public opinion and Canadian culture and small business…

I find it upsetting that the Conservatives are pushing this bill so quickly to undermine Canadian citizens, yet again. And you wonder why there’s a Pirate Party.

Rewind back to 2008, I sent a letter to Rick Casson regarding the introduction of Bill C-61. I received a reply, which was only a formulated response. It became clear that he was not, and still probably is not, interested in addressing the concerns of myself as a constituent, in typical Conservative fashion. For those interested, you can read my letter sent 2 years ago, as well as his response. I plan on sending yet another letter this time around.

Sent:

June 16, 2008

Mr. Rick Casson
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Dear Sir,

I’m a constituent who has been following recent developments in Canadian copyright law. I’m concerned that the Copyright bill presented by the government on June 12th goes too far in outlawing the lawful use of copyrighted material, and does not take into account the needs of consumers and Canada’s creative community who are exploiting the potential of digital technology. I’m disappointed that this bill adopts an American approach to digital copyright laws, instead of crafting a Canadian approach.

Canada’s copyright laws need to advance Canada’s interests. This means copyright laws that respect ordinary consumer practices, such as unlocking cell phones and copying the contents of purchased DVDs for use in video iPods. The current bill outlaws these practices. This means copyright that facilitates the work of Canadian creators, such as documentary filmmakers, who instead find that this bill outlaws the use DVDs as source materials for their films. This means we find made-in-Canada solutions to the challenges of file-sharing, such as consideration of the P2P proposal of the Songwriters Association of Canada. Instead, this bill paves the road to importing the consumer file-sharing lawsuit strategy that has failed so spectacularly in the United States. Canada deserves better.

Please ensure that this bill really is made for Canadians by allowing all Canadian stakeholders a say in its final contents. That means meaningful consultation in the coming months, and opening up Canada’s copyright policy to more than just the special interests that lobbied behind the scenes for this law. As my MP, I urge you to represent my interests in the copyright debate.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Ruzek

Received:

July 4, 2008

Dear Constituent,

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning Bill C-61.

The Government of Canada introduced Bill C-61, (An Act to Amend the Copyright Act) on June 12, 2008. The proposed legislation is a made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation and competition in the digital age.

What does Bill C-61 mean to Canadians? Specifically, it includes measures that would:

Expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the “statutory damages” a court could award for all private use copyright infringements
Implement new rights and protections for copyright holders, tailored to the Internet, to encourage participation in the online economy, as well as stronger legal remedies to address internet piracy
Clarify the roles and responsibilities of Internet Service Providers related to the copyright content flowing over their network facilities
Provide photographers with the same rights as other creators
What Bill C-61 does not do: It would not empower border agents to seize your iPod or laptop at border crossings, contrary to recent public speculation.

Bill C-61 is not a mirror image of U.S. copyright laws. Our Bill is made-in-Canada with different exceptions for educators, consumers and others and brings us into line with more than 60 countries including Japan, France, Germany and Australia

For more information, please visit the Copyright Reform Process website at www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/home

Thank you for sharing your views on this important matter.

Sincerely,

Rick Casson, MP – Lethbridge.

Chair-Committee on National Defence
Canadian Chair-Permanent Joint Board on Defence

255 8th Street South
Lethbridge, AB. T1J 4Y1
Phone: 403-320-0070
Fax: 403-380-4026
Email: casson@rickcasson.com

Cory Armfelt, city consultant, writes:

Hey everybody the City Cirlces are up and running!

Get a group of friend’s together, record what you like about Lethbridge and/or what you don’t like (please include a way to solve the problem…) and submit it to the City. We are hoping for a variety of mediums- Personally I’m hoping that someone comes up with an interpretive dance about what Lethbridge means to them and is willing to present it at the ideas fair in October…

City Circles

Listen, Lethbridge matters to me, or else I wouldn’t have started this blog. If you’re a young person like me (I’m 28) who has ever referred to this city as “Deathbridge,” this should matter to you.

Not only is the city holding visioning workshops, which probably won’t give much true insight, they are also encouraging everyone to create their own “city circles.”

A City Circle is a self-formed and self-managed  group of Lethbridge residents who want to help with preparing the new Plan. To form a city circle get a group of friends together; they can be from work, school, sport, extracurricular activities, an existing organization, your family, all of the above – there are no rules for how your Circle organizes itself.

Your City Circle will meet when and where its members want and discuss any community related issue you choose such as: Arts, Heritage, CULTURE, Parks, recycling, SUSTAINABILITY, zoning, roads, CITY GROWTH, pesticide use, RECREATION, affordable housing, protecting the river valley.

The point of the circle is to submit your ideas for presentation to the public. These ideas will be published in the Plan Your City Ideas Book and presented at an Ideas Fair in October. Joanne and I plan on starting one very soon, so keep your eyes on Lethbian Love.

Over lunch, she and I ranted on numerous issues; things that should be addressed now and others worked towards. I feel we have a long way to go before becoming a progressive city, but the following is just a small sampling of the things we brought up.

Lethbridge:

• must be designed
• isn’t inspiring, especially to youth – why do they all want to leave?
• needs to cultivate culture, such as the arts – why are art collections locked up at the university and college?
• is not beautiful (save the coulees) – we need more architecture and green spaces
• has transportation woes: bus transit sucks, we need a third bridge, more bike paths & pedestrian streets
• needs more higher density & affordable housing
• needs curbside recycling, or even bins downtown, let alone more sustainable practices
• must pierce through the accepted norm or else change won’t happen
• and so much more (succulent bison steak has pervaded my thoughts)

I’m not a political person or anything like that, but I want to see this city change because I’d hope to stay here. I want an amazing city; not one to try and find excuses to love it.

Seriously, it’s up to you – the people who read this blog! Don’t let the nearly-dead or religious conservatives dictate the future of this city – it’s yours!

If you want to know more, get in touch with the City Circle coordinator, Brian Conger at 403-329-7139.

So here’s the scenario, a horrible pandemic has hit every corner of the Earth in only a few short weeks thanks to modern travel and the diseases incubation period. With symptoms rivaling that of Ebola, death comes like a thief screaming in the night. Unless properly burned, the once dead bodies possess the uncanny ability to reanimate in a matter of hours. With so many people dropping dead, fires can’t be started fast enough. Soon Mayor Magrath Drive is full of the walking undead, and they smell your beautiful brain.

Let’s plan this together. What do you do? What tips can you share for the Lethbian masses? I want to see some deep, insightful comments people!

You want a reason why? Kyle from Andrew Hilton writes:

In less exciting news, I wanted to let everyone know how the new Alberta Liquor Tax that went into effect this past Tuesday (April 7) is going to affect prices in the store. There is no point in sugarcoating it, this is an absolutely huge increase in taxes (about 25% more tax per bottle) that makes a very obvious difference on the shelf. The taxes will add the following amounts to the price of every bottle:

- To a 750mL (standard bottle) of wine, the increase will add $0.75 – $1.00 per bottle. This can be upped to $1.50 – $2.00 for a 1.5L bottle, and over $4.00 for a 4L bag-in-box cask wine.

- To a 750mL bottle of spirits, including liqueurs, the increase will be approximately $3.00. 1140mL bottles will be increased by approximately $4.50 and 1750mL bottles by about $6.75.

- Beer will be a little more complicated, as the tax varies based on the size of the brewery. Larger breweries, such as Molsons and Labatts, will see about $1.50 per dozen increase, while very small breweries like Wild Rose will only see about a $0.40/doz. increase. Medium-sized breweries, like Big Rock and Sam Adams will fall somewhere in between.

Sin tax, my ass. Isn’t eating babies also sinful? If there’s one thing I’d like to see change in Lethbridge and Alberta, is that more young people started voting (period) for change and voted for a more progressive party like the NDP. Isn’t it about time we had a prime minister with a mustache?

Well it looks like I won’t be showering for a while…now I have to resort to making bathtub gin.

Alberta raises taxes on cigarettes, liquor

“On a chill Easter Monday in 1917, with a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France did what neither the British, nor the French armies had been able to do in more than two years of fighting.

They seized and held the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front – a muddy scarp known as the Vimy Ridge. The French, who had lost 150,000 men trying to take the ridge, didn’t believe it could be done. Nor did the Germans; even the British were sceptical. But the Canadians triumphed!

They went over the top at dawn. By lunchtime, most of the ridge was in their hands – at a cost of ten thousand casualties.

How could an army of civilians from a Nation without a military tradition secure the first enduring Imperial victory in thirty-two months of warfare? The answer was precisely that these men were civilians, with flexible minds unfettered by military rules.

The events leading up to the battle show how the offspring of a frontier Nation used daring and common sense to solve problems that had eluded professionals.

Vimy has become an enduring Canadian legacy marking, in most minds, a turning point in Canada’s relations with the world and in the image Canadians have of themselves. It has become the historic milestone in our emergence from the colonial shadows as an independent Nation.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was more than a Nation finding its manhood. It is equally the story of individual soldiers, trapped in the horrors of a silly and senseless war and enduring almost indescribable conditions.

Some were no older than sixteen when, in one dreadful morning, they clawed their way up those sodden, shell-torn slopes as their part in a struggle they innocently believed would make war obsolete.” – Pierre Burton

National Day of Remembrance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge

If you’re into gardening and interior design, like me, check out the Home & Garden Trade show:

Guests to the show can find a variety of exhibitors, ranging from flooring and cabinets to hot tubs and fireplaces to landscapers and greenhouses, and much more. It’s the largest Home and Garden show in Southern Alberta, and the variety of products is almost endless!

The show runs March 25 – 28 at Lethbridge Exhibition Park. Tickets are $5.

Home & Garden Trade Show

Q: What inspired you to create the speaker event, The Last Lecture?
A: The Last Lecture is not an original idea. I would be lying if I said that I did not have any inspiration from outside sources in coming up with the event. I distinctly remember seeing Randy Pausch’s lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” and how he spoke with so much passion and wisdom to, not only his student but also his co-workers and peers. It touched those he was closest to and reached out to complete strangers.

Q: Why did you create the Last Lecture here at the University of Lethbridge?
A: I saw it as a way for professors and instructors here at the University of Lethbridge to communicate their life to students. As instructors, these people are confined to academic teachings, and only on a few instances, have I been enlightened on a progressive way of thinking that exceeds molecular genetics and organic chemistry. Many students and staff develop personal relationships with these people and I wanted to give them an opportunity – a chance to speak their mind about love, life, and all its hardships and tribulations – to give a heartfelt speech to those they cared about and to those who cared about them.

Q: Why not any other speaker event?
A: Convenience has a part to do with it – after all, it takes a great deal of effort and resources to book speakers from agents who have no personal investment aside from their reputations. I believe the local community is overlooked in terms of speakers. Many people regard their professors as someone who specializes in their field and nothing more – as though they are some sort of robot that is put into a closet at night until the next day’s lecture. This is the wrong mindset to get into, these people have been through university as both a student and as a tutor, and they are perfect by no means.

Since these people are not perfect, they have faced many troubles that we face today and to hear how they overcome their obstacles can inspire us to do the same. I want people to hear these professors speak and to hear how they’ve reached their current spot as respected, smart members of society and how we can do the same.

I remember my first year of university where my chemistry professor, Dr. Peter Dibble, told the class, “How many of you think I’m smarter than you?” The majority of the class put up their hands, he joked, “Those who didn’t put up your hands are very arrogant. But you’re right. The only thing that makes me different than you is experience”.

He is right. The only thing that makes us different than each other, different from our friends, different from our instructors is experience. And that’s something I want to emphasize, especially with this lecture series.

Q: How do you feel about this year’s Last Lecture?
A: I think Jenn Prosser is completely incompetent and inept. Next question. Just kidding Jenn. I’m actually really glad that I started a legacy lecture here at the University of Lethbridge. In ten, twenty, thirty years from now, I can look back and say that I have impacted the lives of not only other students, but of the lecturers, of everybody who cared to listen and change their lives for the better.

This years Last Lecture features Political Science professor Chris Kukucha, Education professor Robin Bright and Management professor Craig Milner. It begins at 7pm and is in PE 264, all are welcome and admission is free.

A complimentary evening of music, art, story telling and other cultural experiences

If you missed the Anti-Racism March earlier today, stop by tonight between 7:30 – 9:30PM.

Growing up, I had the luxury of running around with my friends, exploring my surroundings and gaining valuable like skills, like fighting for meat. It’s a game we’d play.

The point I’m getting to is that I had the freedom as a child to go unsupervised on my own adventures, climb trees, catch frogs, scrape my knees, take risks and learn the consequent lessons from them. I was what some nowadays call a “free-range kid.”

“We’ve done it for cattle and for chickens – it’s time we unleashed this generation of kids.” – Carl Honoré

Granted, my mother always kept me on her radar. She would always ask where I was going, what I’d be doing and who with. Although my adventures would always lead me a little off-course, she trusted my friends and I to have the intelligence and capacity to come home safely.

I was a child who would walk to school, take bike rides to Henderson Lake and journey into the river valley to hunt rattlesnakes. This independence built my confidence and creativity and exposed me to a world outside of my backyard. It made me a responsible and smart child, who knew he had to come home at dinner time.

Growing up, my environment wasn’t overly structured or scheduled. I didn’t have music lessons or sporting lessons forced down my throat (I wasn’t interested anyway). I was given chores to do, did my homework and the rest of the time was mine. I pursued my interests.

“It’s estimated American children lost 12 hours of free time a week between the late 1970s and 1997. In Britain (and no doubt Canada), the average distance kids are allowed to stray unaccompanied from home decreased almost 90 per cent since the 1970s. Even then, they are umbilically leashed by cellphone.” – Macleans

My mother dearly looked after us kids. But she wasn’t a hyperparent with an irrational fear that something bad would happen if we were let into the outside world. There weren’t any mobile phones to track us at all times, just her howling voice when I strayed too far.

Of course, I would get myself into trouble as well, stealing apples off trees or getting my head stuck in tree branches while playing MacGyver. It’s part of being a kid. And I didn’t die or get abducted.

To make a long story short, I grew up in Lethbridge and consider it a safe city where everyone knows everyone. I think this city provides a lot of opportunity for children to just be children. It allows parents to relax and give their kids some freedom to walk alone to school, go tobogganing in the Sugar Bowl or throw rocks at wasp nests.

If you think you might be a little over-protective, or are just curious, I suggest you check out some books on free-range children. Or just remember what your childhood was like!

With over 83,960 people, two main venues, a few alternative/found venue spaces and a handful of dedicated promoters, there is a pretty incredible amount of music that comes through here. An incredible amount and maybe 60% gets noticed. I have seen two separate Julie Doiron shows with less than 10 people in the bar. Joel Plaskett Emergency, Tokyo Police Club, Cuff the Duke, The Dudes, Sharp Ends, The Wicked Awesomes, Chad Vangaalen, B.A. Johnston, and Beija Flor have all come through our town in relatively small venues with low ticket pricing. For a small center Lethbridge is a pretty killin’ scene.

Being so small there isn’t always the best effort made to communicate, sometimes it is just assumed people will show up. So, we nerdy folk take it upon ourselves to ensure we stay informed and remain in the know. Being a small place with limited options it is fairly easy to keep up to tabs on the haps here.

Keep on eye out on The Slice’s webpage and listen to CKXU every once in a while. If the college talk radio doesn’t jive with you, check out CKXU programmer blogs, they are usually filled with up coming show happenings. These guys tend to be in the know so the information listed is pretty reliable. Start with the obvious ones and they will link you along to others in short time. Also, Blueprint is a great source for upcoming show information as they sell most tickets for most things and are just rad folk. There are a ton of Facebook groups for Lethbridge music stuff and Mammoth Cave records does a lot with the Lethbridge scene and was created and is run by Paul Lawton, bassist for Endangered Ape. Basically Lethbridge’s incestuous nature is a good thing for those wanting to get in the know. Meet one person, listen to one radio show, go to one show and your guaranteed to find out about what’s happening next and there is always something happening next.

Lethbridge does a pretty sweet job of keeping it real and searching out the new and exciting. Where it be an album release, film screening or exhibition opening the culture here is vibrant and the people are are pretty amazing.

Speaking of shows…Check out the GCBC show tomorrow night, Friday March 20th. Axis of Conversation, The Darby and Joan Club, saVK and Paul Van Campen all for $5.0o. 9pm.

Also, come to the ULFC’s screening of The Room, a movie you will need to see at least twice. 7pm PE275 at the UofL. Admission is free and all are welcome.

These student speakers have presented on what they believe can be done to change the world, these presentations have been created by the student themselves and have been done so out of class time. In this time of great change, the world as a whole is looking to bend the status quo and find solutions for the myriad of issues we have presented before us. Education, economic hardships, over consumption and technological evolution all play into our day to day lives now and with a constant barrage of negative messaging being thrown at us we look to those who present something positive.

An incredible opportunity to hear what plans are  in store for the future, as these are the minds that will go on to shape our world and hopefully change it for the better. Come out tonight to Ballroom A in the Students’ Union Building at 4PM to hear Jeff Henry, Trish Silk and Joanna Waszkiewicz present on changing the world, what it means to them.

An idea conceived by several community members and a student in the early days of a crisp, clear and earthly fall. The United States was entering into a black hole of financial mismanagement, an environmental crisis in Alberta’s backyard was receiving international focus and Canada’s democratic process was being called into question. It seemed that the end was near. It still seems like the end is near but with witty political slogans and copycat poster makers, North Americans seem to have calmed down just a little. Which is it a bit of a concern, this right here is not the time to calm down, this is the time to pay close attention to what the future has in store. Changing the world, a difficult concept, how big does change need to be?

We have for so long been told that one person can make a difference, but is it possible for a single person to change the world. Of course not, one person acting solely cannot make a difference, one person cannot change the world, one person cannot reform Elections Canada or slow Tar Sand production but a community can. We have powerful politicians and policy makers in place at all levels to ensure that one person can actually affect very little change but when a group of a people rise up change can happen quickly. Even ‘ole steady Eddy, who believes that Albertans’ “whisper in his ear,” cannot single-handedly change Alberta’s political and economic agenda.

There is a reason why “Yes, We Can” was chosen and then spread faster than syphilis at the height of tourist season in Banff. It is all of us, and it can only be all of us that will change anything. The ULSU, SACPA and LPIRG have come together, a group that combines students, community members and an on-campus activist group to create something that might just get that message across.

Changing the World: Student Speakers Challenge was a series designed to allow students to stand up and say what they believe will change the world, what do they think is the greatest problem facing us today and what could be done to solve it. Out of all the applicants six students were chosen to speak on why they believe their idea is the right idea. Out of those six, 3 were chosen to compete and in the semi-finals and then one sole person will earn the distinction of having the idea that with change the world. Pretty sweet bragging rights. Besides the illin’ cash prize that is up for grabs there is also the added bonus of actually getting to say what you think, for once.

Students are hypothetically encouraged to speak their minds and propagate new ideas but often when the words are on the wire, the opinionated ones are often left on the line. This series was designed to allow students to chance of free thinking and free speech. The three preliminary rounds have already been held and the students competing in the semi-finals present drastically different ideas on what the world needs to do to chance. They come from different perspectives; different faculties and offer differing opinions. These ideas are all worth noting, and at the very least worth remembering as these are the changes we may need to see if our world is going to be all that’s it hyped up to be.

The semi-final competition will take place March 18, 4PM in Ballroom A of the Students’ Union Building and will feature Jeff Henry  speaking on social and independent media, Trish Silk speaking on tolerance of differences and Joanna Waszkiewicz speaking on creating awareness of change. Please see their blog.

Canada’s theme for International Women’s Day 2009 is Strong Leadership. Strong Women. Strong World: Equality.

8 March 2009 marks the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, and offers a valuable opportunity to celebrate past accomplishments and gains; pay tribute to current efforts; and focus on the challenges that still lie ahead in working towards equality, justice, peace and development for women.

An event titled “Celebrate Our Voice – Women’s Stories” will be held 9AM to 2PM on March 7 at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization, hosted by the Lethbridge & District YWCA.

International Women’s Day 2009

So often, books are censored or removed from bookshelves in libraries and schools because their content is deemed unsuitable for children or audiences in general. I remember reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in school as a part of my curriculum; it’s now banned. Another childhood favourite, Huckleberry Finn, is considered racist, yet (to many scholars’ opinion) it was written against that.

We sometimes take for granted the freedoms we have available to us, whether it be net neutrality, free speech or the books that sit on our shelves. This week, I encourage you to be subversive; go to your nearest library and read a “challenged book,” if you can find one. Make Mark Twain proud:

I am always reading immoral books on the sly, and then selfishly trying to prevent other people from having the same wicked good time.
- Mark Twain (regarding banning of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the Denver Library)

Freedom to Read