Name: Helen McLeod
Age: 52
Her contribution to the community: Works as an adult literacy Educator

Married, with two kids, Helen was born in Scotland and their family migrated to Canada when she was around three years old. As a child she mostly lived in Montreal and attended University there. Always dreaming of being a teacher, she wanted to get into the field but as there were not many job openings in teaching, her father discouraged her from doing so. His logic—it is always good to get into a job which has a future. So she got a Bachelors degree in Commerce. Thereafter she started working for the Revenue Department, which continued for quite a number of years until she was thirty and both she and her husband decided to have a family. Soon she was blessed with two wonderful boys and she determined to stay at home with kids until they went to high school whence she started working part time. Later in life she came to know about Adult Literacy Educator Certificate Program. After all these years her desire for teaching was to be fulfilled. When her boys were grown, she had begun to volunteer and got involved in scouting and attended women’s institute. This happened when she was invited to a meeting by a friend where they were discussing about the need for more volunteers for adult teaching. She thought this was something she could easily do. First she got involved as a volunteer for a number of years and after a few years she was asked if she would be interested in training the trainers. She complied and there was no looking back ever since—she is still involved in training/teaching.

Mentionables of her life: She was born on her grandfather’s birthday and later her son was born on the same date which makes her believe that there is a certain order in the Universe which is beyond our comprehension and has a deep meaning. During her stay in Montreal, there were a lot of political upheavals and threats to their lives which made her desolate and she thought that she would not marry until the age of thirty but as destiny would have it, she met her husband and not later than the age of twenty two she had taken the vows.

Currently, she is the Vice President of the Provincial Board of Adult Education, board member of the Adult Basic Education, is actively involved in scouting and keenly participates in various activities of the local Church like holding Bible Schools and shouldering responsible positions of the likes of Treasurer.

Regrets in Life: At this point, none. Earlier in life, she always regretted not having been able to get into the Teacher’s College. But now, after she got into Adult Education, it all seems to have fallen into place.

Her joys of life: Parents, husband and children, not to forget her joy in the ability of being some help by working for the Literacy Council; more so seeing her adult students improving with each passing day.

A fairly religious person, she never forgets to thank God every day and any day which is devoid of any kind of help that she loves to extend is considered more of a failure.

In future, she would like to travel more and experience life at different places.

Message to the readers: “The most important thing in life is to appreciate what you have.”
“Sharing is an amazing thing.”
“When you are busy doing things, your body lives up to the
demands, so it’s important to keep busy and always have something
that you are working towards.”

Most of us confuse success with material accumulation, a social standing or some important position in office. Real happiness, I think, lies in serving the people around you in the possible way you can. Helen has surely given a meaning to her life and she has ample lessons to give us.

She can be reached at:
Hamilton Literacy Council
75 MacNab St. S., Rm. 321
Hamilton, ON
L8P 3C1
Phone: (905) 529 9907

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People say that if we like 90% of any body then chances are we would find it easy to stick on to that thing or person. But does that mean, if we differed more percentage, then we would walk out or even recoil from the company of such a person? Personally I would still differ.

Can we actually love or hate something completely and categorically? It is not only impossible but childish to go by such a possibility. It reminds me of Nietzsche, who sees beauty and exaltation in Tragedy (as in the genre and not mere emotion), which he extendedly talked about in his The Birth of Tragedy.

Nietzsche argued that being all scientific led to nothingness. Modern Man (or at least the philosophical type) has bloated his self with an insatiable lust for knowledge and as a result is dying from opulence. Thus, Nietzsche showed dissatisfaction with the 'modern' way of life which has no sense of art and has an utter inability to see grandeur in tragic and human finitude, and in return wants the crutches of Science to help make it richer (as in material saturation).

This consumer culture is the result of the triumph of the utilitarian (The Birth of Tragedy), scientific man who insists on firmness and tangibility—a Man, who although possesses heart, spirit or creative imagination, is shutting those quarters and only showing up as a lazy manipulative consumer.

Settling for anything is what Nietzsche was against. The Hegelian tension between thesis and antithesis is what he cared for. Not the synthesis. For in the tension lies the strength stimulating moment. He cared for invoking the Appollinian man who used reason with will as an art of transforming the untamed and passionate Dionysian Man into great products of imagination.
Not only did he reject the reason-driven Platonic Man, but also the Freudian irrational Man. What he was looking for, is that idiosyncratic spirit and creative capacity of Man which is what makes a life WORTH living.

Even if you find God, in hindsight, it is the striving for Him that you will find more pleasurable.

It is the first anniversary of this magazine, we have done little but there is that undone vast and proudly we admit that it is an enjoyable journey. Each month we take pleasure in the striving and completion of one issue. We hope to continue for long and the fun lies in not knowing what is yet to come.

Doting on the state of between this and that…
Amidst, Manjit

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Because the FBI has systematically set out to accomplish these goals in their Counter Intelligence Program. SAC Cartha Deloach claims, “We were engaged in COINTELPRO tactics: to divide, conquer, weaken, in diverse ways, an organization.”

Though Louis Farrakhan had stated, “The die is set and Malcolm shall not escape… Such a man is worthy of death,” Malcolm himself admitted that the harassment he had experienced prior to his death was not within the Nation’s capabilities.

“Recent evidence shows that the ‘assassination’ was a government-orchestrated plot that involved Nation of Islam members,” claims author Monique Camp. Washington Post editor Karl Evanzz contends, “Malcolm and Martin Luther King, Jr., were victims of a conspiracy engineered by the U.S. government.”

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who prevented women and minorities from joining the FBI, admitted for the House Subcommittee on Appropriations, “Since the assassination of Little, this organization [Malcolm’s Organization of Afro-American Unity] has been groping in the darkness in a search for leadership,” which eventually led to its collapse.

William Sullivan’s testimony also explained the government’s war on King, “No holds were barred… This is a rough, tough business.”

These tactics were not limited to eliminating leadership. A U.S. Senate Committee to investigate intelligence activities found that the FBI had illegally gathered over 500,000 domestic intelligence files on American citizens, many who were only peaceful political dissidents. Letters were opened, communications were intercepted and buildings were searched.

What differentiated COINTELPRO from other security measures carried out in the past was that this operation was covert. There was no way for the victims to legally challenge the actions, or for the agents to be reviewed and constrained.

The targets of this campaign included, “proponents of racial causes and women’s rights, outspoken apostles of nonviolence and racial harmony, establishment politicians, religious groups and advocates of new life styles.”

This went as far as sending agents to an elementary school Halloween party, monitoring welfare mothers’ organizations and even infiltrating church youth groups and a priest’s conference on birth control. Hardly a threat to national security, but apparently worth monitoring nonetheless.

Strategies included instigating employers to fire employees, concocting rumors to destroy marriages, using tax returns as deterrents, impersonating group leaders and misrepresenting orders, defamation of character and promoting internal strife.

Of special interest were student groups on campus. Activist professors were fired and files were opened on every black student union member and related group so that “the information could be used if they ever applied for a government job.”

The FBI was even involved in collaboration with the media to achieve their goals. They suppressed articles critical of their policies and edited several articles published on King.

Two professors were placed on probation after an anonymous letter exposed their support of an anti-administration student newspaper. They also urged a couple professors to stop funding another student paper to “eliminate what voice the New Left has.” I hope they especially enjoyed this week’s Torch.

Most interesting was the policy of conducting interviews “to enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles” and “get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.” Rather than succumb to such paranoia the community should fight to free the wrongfully incarcerated leaders of today such as Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Mumia Abu Jamal, and perhaps many more who are suspected terrorists.

The Italian community has done no less. Joseph Salvati was wrongfully convicted to protect Mafia murders and FBI informants. He was separated from his wife and children for 32 years until 10,000 FBI papers were released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, Rep. Dan Burton said, “J. Edgar Hoover knew Mr. Salvati was innocent… and his name should not be emblazoned on the FBI’s headquarters. We ought to change the name of that building.”

The Senate investigation concluded, “The Committee is not satisfied with the position that mere exposure of what has occurred in the past will prevent its recurrence. Clear legal standards and effective oversight and controls are necessary to ensure that domestic intelligence activity does not itself undermine the democratic system it is intended to protect.”

Louis Freeh, FBI director until last year, seems to agree. “We are potentially the most dangerous agency in the country if we are not scrutinized carefully,” he said.

The recently passed Patriot Act once again extends the power of the intelligence community.

Those who think that they are immune from its reach or that gross abuses will not take place again will be sadly mistaken.

Resources

Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to IntelligenceActivities of the United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, 1976: 1967 FBI Appropriation
Testimony of John Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation,Before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations on February 10, 1966
The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X, by Karl Evanzz "Profiles in Black History: Malcolm X," by Monique Camp, Birmingham World (February 20-24, 1991).
USA Today (May 7, 1993), p. 11A.

Originally published in Ferris State Torch. Reproduced here with author's permission. Opinions experessed are those of author only.

⁽⁰⁾

In the United States, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, where the harvest generally ends earlier in the year, the holiday is celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is observed as Columbus Day or protested as Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States.

History
The famous thanksgiving story goes like this. In 1620AD few pilgrims (members of the English Separatist Church, a Puritan sect) decided to sail to North America aboard the Mayflower from Europe. They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620AD. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast, including 91 native Indians who had helped the pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance.

Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated with a feast shared among friends and family. In both Canada and the United States, it is an important family gathering, and people often travel far distances to be with family members for the celebration. The Thanksgiving holiday is generally a "four-day" weekend in the United States. Thanksgiving is almost entirely celebrated at home, unlike Christmas, which is associated with a variety of shared public experiences (fireworks, caroling, etc.). In Canada, it is a three-day weekend as Thanksgiving falls on a Monday.

In USA, George Washington was the first to proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. But many did not agree with the idea of celebrating a national holiday which had its origin in the hardships of a few Pilgrims. President Thomas Jefferson dismissed the idea of having a national holiday for Thanksgiving. After 40 years of campaign, President Lincoln in 1863, proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving. President Roosevelt's attempt to celebrate one week prior to the proclaimed date met with disapproval and he had to change the date back. At last in 1941, the fourth Thursday of November was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday of Thanksgiving. Various events are organized to mark this occasion throughout USA. In New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day in Midtown Manhattan. The parade features moving stands with specific themes, scenes from Broadway plays, large balloons of cartoon characters and TV personalities, and high school marching bands. It always ends with the image of Santa Claus passing the reviewing stand.

Canadians trace the holiday to a feast held by Martin Frobisher in Newfoundland in 1578. It is also probable that American loyalists who immigrated to Canada after American independence brought with them many of their Thanksgiving traditions. The Thanksgiving celebration was held occasionally in English areas of British North America in the eighteenth century, especially in Nova Scotia. The holiday rose to much greater prominence with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. The first official Canadian Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on April 5, 1872 in gratitude for the Prince of Wales' recovery from serious illness. The holiday was not officially recognized again till 1879, when parliament declared Thanksgiving to be an annual national secular holiday. The date was moved several times, finally being set on its current date (the second Monday in October) in 1957.

Myths
There are many myths associated with this festival. Many Americans believe that
• The pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving is about family
• Thanksgiving is about Religion
• The pilgrims ate turkey
• The pilgrims dressed in black
None of the above are facts but somehow a lot of people have come to believe them.

Celebrations
No Thanksgiving Day is complete without the grand Thanksgiving supper. Usually in Canada Thanksgiving dinner features turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and beverages. For dessert, various pies are served, particularly pumpkin pie, strawberry-rhubarb pie and pecan pie. The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal in the late afternoon or evening, starring a large roasted turkey. Because turkey is the most common main dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, thanksgiving is sometimes colloquially called Turkey Day. Many other foods are served alongside the turkey—so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is generally served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at the crack of dawn or days before.

I’ll share my favorite recipe of mashed potatoes which you might try this season or in fact anytime of the year and be thankful!

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Serves 8
You can prepare mashed potatoes several hours before dinner, but only use two-thirds of the cream. Half an hour before serving, place the potatoes in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water; warm, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Just before serving, mix in the remaining cream.


2 large heads of garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups heavy cream/skimmed milk
1 cup chopped spring onion
½ cup finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method:
1. Heat oven to 425°. Slice tops 1/4-inch off garlic heads, and discard. Coat heads with olive oil, and wrap heads in aluminum foil. Bake until tender and golden, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, and let stand until cool enough to handle. Carefully peel garlic cloves; set aside.

2. Place potatoes in a large stockpot, cover with cold salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook until very tender, about 12 minutes. Drain in a colander, and pass through a sieve or food mill over a large bowl.

3. Heat butter and cream/milk in a saucepan until butter has melted and cream is hot. Pour over potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and stir well to combine. Add spring onions and coriander leaves, gently stir in the roasted garlic cloves and serve.

⁽⁰⁾

across the lake
as i
dive
passing through the air
into the pressure of resistance
the comfort of experiencing something with substance.
my shadow casts itself
across the dock
as i
move
into light like water

born a ghost

into a family of devoted strangers
willing
bearing a ghost
with shared memories to neglect
until unsurrounded
baring a ghost
surrogate
and legitimate
born again a ghost

Anthony Kupferschmidt is a student in the Department of Gerontology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

⁽⁰⁾

Without resorting to the fruit of action, he who performs the action that needs to be done, he is a renunciate and a yogi, and not one who has renounced ritual fires nor one who is actionless.
—Bhagvad Gita

Love one another, but make not a bond
of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
—Kahlil Gibran

Each of us bear his own hell.
—Virgil

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
—William Blake

⁽⁰⁾

2. Bullyrag
a) A bully
b) A kind of dog
c) To bully or harass
d) None of the above

3. Crocked (slang)
a) Annoyed
b) Pleased
c) Drunk
d) Both b & c

4. de jure
a) According to law
b) Meaningless
c) Straight
d) Both b & c

5. Fakir
a) A monk
b) Materially-oriented person
c) Wonder-seeker
d) Both a & c

6. Forensic
a) Related to court of law
b) Medical advice
c) Related to human anatomy
d) None of the above

7. Issuable
a) Related to an issue
b) Inflatable
c) Able to be issued
d) Both a & b

8. Manyear (accountancy)
a) Illegal relationship
b) Year long partnership
c) A Unit of measurement
d) None of the above

9. Reverie
a) Unconscious babbling
b) Related to brain
c) State of dreamy musing
d) Both a & b

10. Synopsize
a) To Make synopsis
b) To expand
c) Pithy rendering
d) Both b& c

Answers:
1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5 (d) 6 (a) 7 (c) 8 (c) 9. (c) 10 (a)

Your Score:

8-10 Excellent
5-7 Good
1-4 Need improvement

⁽⁰⁾

This and countless and other important questions related to life-satisfaction and psychological well-being are explored in this decidedly readable and insightful book The Paradox of Choice. Barry Schwartz’s book is alive with reason, research and sane advice for consumerists who like to have more choices in almost every conceivable sphere of life. And his advice is simple: more choices can potentially land you in trouble! “As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize.” (pg. 2)

The Paradox of Choice is laid out in four sections with eleven chapters and it goes into the anatomy of choice-making and its consequences in the form of loss of control, regret and depression. We are often told that added choices can make our life easier. But is it so? Schwartz, however, says that, “A large array of options may discourage consumers because it forces an increase in the effort that goes into making a decision.” Multiples choices are always not that much of a blessing and can be a source of stress and depression because “It is the cumulative effect of these added choices that I think is causing substantial distress,” (pg. 44)

Similarly, “as the number of options increase, the effort required to make a good decision escalates as well, which is one of the reasons that choice can be transformed from a blessing” (pg. 49). Too many choices can lead to cognitive overload. Imagine getting overloaded when you have to make a sound decision. In that case, overwhelming choices that act as potentially debilitating on decision making, lead, in some cases, to regret, indecision and depression. This problem is compounded by our lack of self-knowledge and susceptibility to advertising campaigns as “We probably like to think that we’re too smart to be seduced by such “branding” but we aren’t” (pg. 54). We fall prey to carefully crafted ads in media.

Another problem is that we have “come to seek and accept only the best” (pg. 76). This is called the tendency to ‘maximize’. But how can something be ‘the best’ when there are so many possibilities, when every moment there are new brands and new choices. The pursuit of ‘the best’ becomes a wild goose chase. Just imagine buying MP3 players from one store and then stumbling on a better one for a lesser price in a store on the other end of the mall. How would you feel about it? In this sort of fluid market, can one really aspire to become a maximizer or shoot for the best without running the risk of being dissatisfied and regretful with the decision? Here lies the problem, says Schwartz. Too many options create pressure to make a good decision. Pressure leads to stress and when we are stressed, we can not make good decisions because of too much cognitive noise. Options in this case become counterproductive and “it is certainly possible that choice and maximizing are not independent of each other” (pg. 96).

Contrary to what we expect, though we have “more freedom and autonomy, we don’t seem to be benefiting from it psychologically” (pg. 99). In fact, it is creating misery and unhappiness among people. An important premise of choice is that we can have unlimited control of our life and, “that more control people have, the less helpless, and thus the less depressed, they will be” (pg. 109). But how can we exert control on the outcome when possibilities are limitless. Perhaps that is why people are ever more depressed than they were few decades back where the choices were limited and freedom was not that pervasive. This is a paradox, the central premise of this book. It explores the counter-intuitive shades of human life.

Barry Schwartz charts an important terrain of human life in his book. He lays bare the paradoxes and consequences attendant to unlimited choice and provides a recipe for living a fulfilling life. His advice is simple and summed up in the following points: (1) Choose When to Choose (2) Be a Chooser not a Picker (3) Satisfice more (settle for good enough), maximize less (4) Think about the Opportunity Costs of Opportunity Costs (5) Make your Decisions Non-reversible (6) Practice an “Attitude of Gratitude” (7) Regret Less (8) Anticipate Adaptation (9) Control Expectations (10) Curtail Social Comparison (11) Learn to Love Constraints (pg. 222-236).

The Paradox of Choice is an insightful and well-researched book and should be read by anyone who thinks that in order to be happy one should have unlimited choices. If you are one of those, think again and read this book, it might end up setting you truly free!

=====================================
THE PARADOX OF CHOICE
by Barry Schwartz
ISBN: 0060005688; Imprint Ecco
Format: Hardcover; Pages: 288; $23.95;
$36.95(CAN)

Also available as Trade Paperback

⁽⁰⁾