Victoria’s Read

The 6th of December commemorates the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, as well as the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. 

On this day the Nipissing University Women’s Centre will be hosting their annual Candle Light Vigil to pay tribute to women who have experienced violence. 

The Montreal Massacre has strong importance within the educational system and for people apart of this system. 

On the 6th of December 1989, 14 women were killed at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal. These women were singled out simply because they were women striving for an education.  As a university with a high female population this day of commemoration is especially important for Nipissing, not only in honoring the lives of women lost to violence, but also in raising awareness about violence against women within our community.

The Vigil will be taking place on the 6th of December at 10:30 AM in the Conference Room of the Nipissing Public Library.  This event will include biographies and speeches, as well as refreshments afterwards.  We invite all people to attend this event, and to make announcements to your classes. 

A White Ribbon Campaign has also begun this week. If you wish to wear a white ribbon please stop by the table booth outside the Pals variety store and down the hall- on the Nipissing University Campus- starting this Wednesday, November 17, 2008.

If you have any questions please contact us.
nuwomenscentre@hotmail.com
Samantha Rice, Women’s Centre

The Christmas season has always been my favorite time of the year because it holds my most fondest of memories.

In my younger years, Christmas day would begin with my father anxiously waking my brother and me up to see what Santa had brought us and as time went on, only that would change. After opening our presents and eating up all of mom’s delicious home cooked breakfasts, we would head down the highway to Grandma’s house.

The drive was long and I didn’t much appreciate leaving our new toys behind but all that would just disappear the minute I saw Grandma. She would swing open the door and swoop us into her arms, plastering us with enough kisses to last a lifetime. She loved us so and we loved her.

Her home was filled with homemade pies, cakes, breads and everything in between. It was a child’s paradise and selecting just one for dessert was never a problem because Grandma always allowed us a little of each.

I can still smell her turkey cooking to this day. I would happily eat up all my meal for her from the special dinner plate that was only for me. Grandma would praise me for eating all my veggies. Mind you, having her smother them in brown sugar had NOTHING to do with it!

Grandma always kept us busy during our visits. She treasured all of our wonderful creations made of the cardboard tubes and egg cartons she had saved all year long as if they were gifts handed down from the heavens.

At the end of the day, she would settle us down in our P.J’s and new knitted slippers (lovingly made by Grandma). With our trays of goodies and milk beside us, my brother and I would play the new board games she bought us. Only then would she go into the kitchen to play cards with the adults.

The most glorious moment in my life took place on one of those splendid Christmas days at my Grandmas. On bended knee, my husband purposed to me. He could not have chosen a better time or place. Grandma looked on, wiping her teary eyes, thrilled to have another grandchild to love.

Grandma is in heaven now but my Christmas memories of her will live on forever.  Thank you, Grandma.

Written by: Victoria Evangeline Reed

HIV/AIDS in Canada is not what it was a decade ago. HIV/AIDS is on rise for Canadian women.

Although the majority of those living with HIV and AIDS-related illnesses in Canada are men, growing numbers of women, especially young women are becoming infected through heterosexual contact. Without immediate and appropriate action, the HIV epidemic in Canada may well follow the same devastating path as it has elsewhere in the world, spreading through the general population with heterosexual contact as the primary route of transmission.

Since the early 1990s, the rate of new HIV infections has declined among men  This is good news. But in contrast, infections arising from heterosexual contact have risen steadily. The greatest increase in new infections has been among young women, aged 15 to 29. At present, heterosexual transmission accounts for nearly 75% of all new infections in women.

Physiological differences between females and males place women at greater risk of infection. Delicate tissues in the female reproductive tract and concentrations of the virus in semen make it easier for infected males to transmit the disease to their female sexual partners than vice versa.

Social roles and cultural expectations are critical factors in women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection. Because women often have less power (social, economic, political) than men in our society, it can be difficult or even impossible for many to refuse sex or negotiate safer sex.

Gender roles and stereotypes also hinder women’s ability to manage HIV and AIDS-related infections. Women diagnosed with HIV tend to, according to Health Canada have a lower survival rate than men in part due to late diagnosis and delay of treatment because of mis-diagnosis of early symptoms; exclusion from drug trials and lack of access to antiviral treatment; lack of research into the natural history of HIV in women; higher rates of poverty among women and lack of access to adequate health care and the tendency of many women to make self-care a lower priority than the care of children and family.

While women as a group are more vulnerable than men to HIV infection and AIDS-related illnesses, some populations of women face significantly greater risks. For example, HIV affects more than twice as many Aboriginal as non-Aboriginal women in Canada. As elsewhere in the world, women in Canada who are most disadvantaged and marginalised are also most vulnerable to HIV.

www.cwhn.ca

Annie Buller was an important figure in the development of the militant, radical wing of the Canadian labour movement and the Communist Party of Canada.  Annie Buller was born in Montreal in 1896 to a working class family. At age 13, she went to work in a tobacco factory, 12 hours a day and six days a week. While still a teenager she joined the Socialist Youth Movement.

During World War I, Annie Buller enrolled in the Rand School of Social Science in New York where she developed an interest in and sympathy for the Russian Revolution and trade union organizing. Upon returning to Montreal, she set up the Montreal Labour College with a small circle of like-minded friends. The College started in 1920 and operated for a number of years.

Annie Buller was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Canada. In 1929 the Communist Party set up the Workers’ Unity League (WUL) as a trade union central.

In the summer of 1931 wage cuts, unsafe working conditions and squalid company housing caused the coal miners of southeastern Saskatchewan to approach the WUL affiliate, the Mine Workers Union of Canada (MWUC). The mine owners refused to negotiate, forcing a strike.

On September 27, 1931, Annie spoke to a mass meeting of union miners, family members and supporters in Bienfait. Two days later, during a peaceful motorcade through Estevan, the municipal police and RCMP provoked a confrontation with the strikers and shot three of the picketing miners dead. Annie Buller was arrested for inciting a riot, unlawful assembly and rioting.  February 1932, she was tried and convicted. She was sentenced to one year of hard labour at the Battleford Jail and a $500 fine; she served the sentence in solitary confinement.

Annie Buller worked with organizations for the unemployed during the 1930s and campaigned against fascism in the 1940s. She also devoted considerable time to left-wing and labour publications such as The Worker and The Tribune. In 1955 she visited the USSR with her husband, Harry Guralnick. In the 1960s she was active in opposition to the Vietnam war.

Annie Buller died on January 19, 1973.

esask.uregina.ca

CHRISTMAS BREAD

INGREDIENTS:
1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries
1/3 cup softened butter or margarine
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts or walnuts 

DIRECTIONS:
1.Drain maraschino cherries, reserving two tablespoons of juice. Coarsely chop cherries; set aside.

2.Combine butter, eggs and brown sugar and reserved cherry juice in a bowl. Mix on medium speed with a mixer until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Combine flour, salt and baking powder; mix well. Add mixture of flour and mashed bananas alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in drained cherries and nuts. Lightly spray a 9×5x3-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread batter evenly in pan.

3.Bake in a preheated 350° F oven one hour or until golden brown and wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove from pan; let cool on wire rack.

 CHRISTMAS MORNING BREAKFAST

INGREDIENTS: 
12 ounces  breakfast sausage 
3 slices white bread, torn into bite-size pieces 
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 
6 eggs 
1 cup low-fat milk 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/8 teaspoon pepper 
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 

DIRECTIONS:
1. Brown and crumble the sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Remove it from the heat, drain off fat and let cool.

2. Place the bread in the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish lightly coated with cooking spray. Layer the sausage over the bread, then top it with the Monterey Jack cheese.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the contents of the dish then top with the Cheddar cheese. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4. In the morning, heat the oven to 325º. Remove the plastic wrap from the dish and bake the casserole for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through. Makes about 6 servings

Below is one of the stories that will be shared during Nipissing Performs for Poverty which is part of Nipissing University’s Poverty Awareness Week.  Join us for the readings of stories like Sasha’s, along with music and dance performances on February 4th at 6:30pm at The Wall  all in an effort to raise awareness about local poverty. 

A Day in the Life of Sasha

It’s not easy being a mother nowadays - you have to save every penny and live from pay cheque to pay cheque. My husband works two jobs and it’s still not enough to support the two of us, not to mention our one year old daughter and newborn son. 

I wake up in the morning knowing that I have to make sure everything like food, diapers and formula lasts until the end of the month.  On top of that, there is the constant worry of doing coin laundry. It is way too expensive for us to do laundry and it’s simply money that we do not have.

I never thought that things would ever get so tough but they did and now my family is suffering for it. It doesn’t make me feel proud to say, “I can’t do that, because I can’t afford it.”  My self-esteem is at the minimum and I feel like I am at the end of my rope. I try to do things with my kids everyday but I just can’t afford the transportation to get to most programs and some activities simply cost money that again, I do not have.  Me and my kids are forced to spend most of our days at home instead of getting out of the house like “normal” families do.

Food banks for me are the lowest point. When I have to visit a food bank, it makes me feel like I have failed as a mother, wife and “normal” human being.  I don’t think that anyone should be made to feel this way.
On top of all this anguish, I must live in an apartment building where if I step out on the back porch, I fear for my safety. The landlord refuses to fix it until someone falls through it. Is this somewhere you would want to live?

The truth is that I need a hand up, not a hand out. I need something to help our family through this tough time and keep us out of what seems like a constant down slope; one that is never-ending.

For more information, please email mentor@nipissingu.ca or call 474-3450 ext. 4241.

-A female house sparrow will often seek out the nest of another female that her partner has also mated with. She will then kill the first female’s young, to remove the competition and ensure that the male spends as much time as possible helping to raise her chicks.

-A worm-like amphibian, the caecilian takes parenting to a new level. By elongating specializes stratified epithelial cells, mothers transform their skin until it is twice as thick, and it is then eaten by their offspring.

After almost 2 years of renovations, The Moosehead Estate in Mattawa is open for business. As the owner, I feel salvaging this century home was well worth the blood, sweat and tears that were poured because it is an historical landmark with a location that is magical.

Having 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a few powder rooms, the home is perfect to operate as a county retreat. Its peaceful location is ideal, being situated on Lake Champlain (part of the Mattawa River) only minutes from downtown Mattawa. Exclusivity and privacy along with gracious hospitality and great food that is prepared from scratch are what you can expect while sojourning with us. 

Born and raised in Mattawa, I truly believe that this small town is a gem just waiting to be discovered. This is one of the main factors that came into consideration prior to purchasing the property along with my husband, Marc Bouthillier. While many felt we were out of our minds to invest in this place, I could see so much potential for something special and we took the plunge.

Other factors that came into consideration while contemplating this project were my passions: collecting antiques, sewing, decorating, cooking and entertaining. Being able to combine all these passions and working with them on a daily basis is a dream come true.

A graduate from the University of Ottawa, I have worked in different fields before opening The Moosehead Estate. I love new challenges and new undertakings. Women too often underestimate themselves and this prevents them from going to where they want to be. My mother saw this a long time ago and empowered my sister and me by always telling us “You CAN do it”.

If you’re looking for a getaway to do business or simply to have fun, I’ll be more than happy to assist you. 
Call me at 705-744-0322 or visit our website at www.mooseheadestate.com

By Melanie Viau