“The Gentle Author” is the maintainer of Spitalfields Life,
a blog that has featured a brilliant and moving series of essays about
the history of East London; Author is also sharply critical of the plans
by giant property developer Crest Nicholson to redevelop the site of a
Victorian chest hospital and dig up an ancient tree called the Bethnal
Green Mulberry.
Gentle Author was surprised to learn that his sworn enemies at Crest
Nicholson had used one of his photos of the endangered Bethnal Green
Mulberry – the very tree they were planning to kill – in the
promotional materials they were using to sell the plan, as part of a
false narrative about the history of the tree, downplaying the damage
their plans would do.
So Gentle Author wrote to the company and informed them that their use
– which is hard to square with even the most expansive views of UK Fair
Dealing under copyright – infringed his rights, and asked them to pay a
fee, to withdraw their leaflets, to cease displaying it at their
exhibition, and to never use it again.
Then, Kevin Maguire, Company Secretary to Crest Nicholson wrote back and
said, essentially, “Sure, we’ll pay you, but we demand confidentiality
about this ‘license fee’ and you have to swear that you’ll stop
criticising our plan to knock down the tree whose picture we took from
you without asking for permission.”
So Gentle Author, who never offered confidentiality and has no intention
of being bullied, published Maguire’s letter and their amazing, blazing
response, which includes this lovely phrase: “You underestimate me if
you think that I will permit you to gag me by making it a condition of
payment.”
When I went to see Tangled with my family, I was terrified of having to talk about the movie afterwards because I related so much to Rapunzel, and I was sure my mom would hate the movie because it was so obvious that she was exactly like mother gothel. So when mom asked me afterwards if I liked it I gave a tepid non-answer. But then my mom started talking about how she loved the movie! And it slowly dawned on me that she also saw mother gothel as evil and abusive, but somehow didn’t make the connection that she and her were the same. My mom even made a comment to the effect of how, like rapunzel’s real mom, her love for me would always triumph or whatever. And she didn’t get it!
She didn’t see the similarities of how she locked me away in the house, or how she kept me under the tightest supervision under the guise of keeping me safe. I spent the entire mother knows best song stealing glances at her next to me in the theater just waiting for her to drag us out of the movie because she couldn’t stand to have her “love” portrayed as evil. And she didn’t see how the fact that she created her identity completely around being a mother and nothing else was like mother gothel’s dependency on rapunzel’s magic hair.
It was only after seeing her positive reaction to the movie, that I really understood the meaning of the phrase “everyone is the hero of their own story”. No one actually thinks they’re the villain, even if confronted with a painfully obvious rendering of their own actions done by someone they agree is rightly portrayed as evil.
“everyone is the hero of their own story”. No one actually thinks they’re the villain, even if confronted with a painfully obvious rendering of their own actions done by someone they agree is rightly portrayed as evil.
Excitement in the Green community is at an all time high: the Green movement is growing. You may already be part of it without even realizing it! Every conversation you have about our communities, economies, and environment builds the impetus toward change. We’re seeing an appetite for a green future beyond anything we’ve seen in past elections… and this one hasn’t even begun!
Excitement in the Green community is at an all time high: the Green movement is growing. You may already be part of it without even realizing it! Every conversation you have about our communities, economies, and environment builds the impetus toward change. We’re seeing an appetite for a green future beyond anything we’ve seen in past elections… and this one hasn’t even begun!
Excitement in the Green community is at an all time high: the Green movement is growing. You may already be part of it without even realizing it! Every conversation you have about our communities, economies, and environment builds the impetus toward change. We’re seeing an appetite for a green future beyond anything we’ve seen in past elections… and this one hasn’t even begun!
WTGreens are growing a people-powered movement in Waterloo Region to elect our first Green MPs!
You’re invited to our 2019 WRGreens Candidate preNomination Social Thursday, January 31st
7:00 – 9:00pm
at Fresh Ground ~ 256 King St E, Kitchener
People from all parties and backgrounds are invited to come find out how we will make the community, economy, and environment our priority.
WRGreens believe our only credible path toward a healthy and robust future for our region and our country is decisive action: we need to start electing Green MPs. We have all the tools and solutions. All we need do is choose to act together. Be part of the solution by joining the first wave of this movement as we build toward the October election!
Come meet Waterloo Region’s Green Party candidate nominees
So far we have half a dozen declared candidate nominees for Kitchener Centre, and we may have contested nominations in all 5 ridings! This is your chance to find out what our potential Waterloo Region Greens candidates are working for, and why they’ve committed to running under the Green banner in 2019! If you are interested in throwing your hat in the ring (or know someone else who might be) for the riding of
Our first combined nomination meeting will take place on March 6th, when GPC members of the Kitchener Centre and Waterloo EDAs will choose their candidates. Then In April, we’ll host the combined meeting for Kitchener South–Hespeler, Kitchener–Conestoga, and Cambridge candidates.
If you’re not a member yet, before you can vote for the next Green Party Candidate in your riding, you’ll need to join the party. You can purchase your $10 membership online before the preNomination Social, or you can wait and do it at the event.
Whether you’re a GPC member or a friend, this will be a great opportunity to grab a coffee, listen to music, and get to know each other. Families are welcome.
Peak indifference
is the moment at which a far-off problem becomes so obvious that the
number of people alarmed about it begins to grow of its own accord; a
new Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason
University Center for Climate Change Communication surveyfinds that
46% of Americans believe that they are living through adverse effects
from climate change right now (up 9% in a year) and 72% of Americans
say climate change is ’“extremely,” “very,” or “somewhat” important to
them personally’ (the highest figure ever recorded); 57% acknowledge the
scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change (also the highest
level ever).
After peak indifference, the activist’s job changes: once people start
self-converting to believers because they are experiencing undeniable
negative consequences of inaction, the next job is to convince people
who know there’s a problem that it’s not too late to do something about
it. After peak indifference, you have to fight nihilism. (via Naked Capitalism)
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is puzzled as to why 800,000
furloughed federal workers need to visit food banks to keep their
families from starving, when they can simply get a loan.
Asked about their struggles, Ross told CNBC: “I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why.”
“The banks and the credit unions should be making credit available to
them,” he said, noting that the government would give federal employees
back pay. “There really is not a good excuse why there really should be
a liquidity crisis.”
Wilbur Ross is has a net worth of around $700 million, according to Forbes.
Before becoming Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Ross was co-chair of the
Bank of Cyprus, which is a laundromat for dirty Russian money. From The Dallas News:
The country of Cyprus has a long history as a laundromat
for dirty money, particularly from Russia. Cyprus is referenced 530,937
times in the Panama Papers, and the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s
largest bank, is referenced 4,657 times. And the cast of characters
linked to the bank and President Donald Trump is troubling.
Facebook Event Page:
Eventbright Page: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/waterloo-region-greens-pre-nomination-kickoff-tickets-54805419485
