Month: December 2016

On the prospects for hopeful renewal in the New Year

/ findinghopeness / 2 Comments
obamas

The Obamas – good people who deserve a Happy New Year and some good-old fashioned renewal time in 2017. All the best.

I happened to catch that part of Michelle Obama’s recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, when the outgoing First Lady of the United States said, “this is what not having hope looks like.” I knew right away what she meant; and so did a lot of you, I’m sure.

But there are millions of people in the U.S. who feel hopeful about the prospect of Donald Trump being formally inaugurated President on January 20 of the New Year and where that might lead. I daresay they are bound to be disappointed, perhaps terribly so. Continue reading →

On the spiritual value of stone

/ findinghopeness / Leave a comment
IMG_0179

The view of Hope Bay from the top of the Niagara Escarpment. Dow Chemical’s plans for a huge quarry in Hope Ness 50 years ago included a shipping facility here

The extraction of massive amounts of stone from the bedrock of southern Ontario for use in construction, landscaping, and road-building is expected to increase as the province’s population continues to grow.

The Bruce Peninsula has long been a source of stone for those uses and continues to reflect a continuing and anticipated growing demand as existing quarries expand and new ones are licensed or proposed. For example, a 143- hectare (315-acre) quarry just north of the long-established former Angelstone, now Adair, quarry in the Hope Bay area was approved this past summer over the concerns of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

The Peninsula is part of the traditional territory of the two local First Nations that comprise the SON. The Supreme Court of Canada  has ruled non-Aboriginal governments have a duty to consult First Nations regarding development in their traditional territories. Continue reading →

“Superwoman” is coming

/ findinghopeness / 1 Comment

(Author’s note: Kellyanne Conway cancelled her planned trip to Alberta just before President Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20)

north-america-relief-map

Some memories are not faded with time.

I can still see him, with his charcoal suit, shirt and tie, close-cropped white hair and ruddy complexion, my old high-school history teacher Mr. Greason, pointing at a topographic map of North America he had pulled down over the blackboards at the front of the class. Continue reading →