Construction of the Pacific Trails Pipeline.

Unist’ot’en Camp uncovers proposed deal between Moricetown Band and PTP

by Brett Rhyno, Vancouver Media Coop, Aug 5, 2014

A document leaked to the Unist’ot’en, which this reporter has seen, provides direct evidence that Moricetown Band Council has been negotiating to become part of the First Nations Limited Partnership (FNLP). FNLP is the body created by Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP) to garner indigenous support by providing shares in the pipeline project and financial benefits.

As most people know, Whoopi Goldberg was being raised by a single mother when she dropped out of high school about 40+ years ago, probably because her dyslexia interfered with her formal education. She became a phone sex operator and then left home and went overseas. Read HERE. This must have been a very difficult or even traumatic time for her.

She transformed herself into a superb comedian known for her scathing wit. Unfortunately, today she simply does not understand that tenure for all K-12 American teachers is not the way it is in movies about the dons at Oxford who do evil things yet keep their jobs no matter what. Teaching is not a guaranteed-for-life job as US Supreme Court judges have.

This is a sad situation for Whoopi and a devastating situation for all of the teachers in America who have risked their jobs to advocate for…

I already posted about Rena Effendi and her project Pipe Dreams. She is definitely a photographer to follow, with many great projects behind her.

One of them is The Women of Zaatari Refugee Camp.

Artist statement:

“Of the 124,000 people living in Zaatari, Jordan, the world’s second largest refugee camp, 54% are women and 42% of the families there are headed by women. The life of Syrian women in Zaatari is harsh and potentially dangerous – harassment is a reality and rape a nighttime possibility. The refugee women I encountered there told stories of death, deprivation, suffering and sacrifice. All of them went through major trauma of losing their homes and family members in the war. However, they refused to be portrayed as victims. As they struggle with the stigma of being refugees and cope with a loss of place and belonging these women showed remarkable resilience, definite…

Carol A. Hand

Years ago, I was a faculty member for a school of social work at a western university. It was not a school that welcomed diversity. Many faculty members used a heavy-handed method for assuring conformity, an approach that was as odds with my beliefs about education as an opportunity to help students learn to unlock their potential. I was astounded when a graduate student related her experiences in a class on human behavior in the social environment. The instructor wanted to teach students to become accomplished public speakers. He noted, “Social workers are so often terrible speakers.” Perhaps, but so are many others from other backgrounds.

The teaching method he used seemed at odds with a program that was purportedly based on promoting a strength-based foundation for working with people. What astounded me in the student’s account was her feeling of humiliation. Public speaking is, after all…