anitaxpress-Bleacher-Report

I'm 10 days into my New Year's challenge of giving something every day (a.k.a. 365 gifts) and so far it's been quite fun.

As planned, my daily gifts have been a combination of new/purchased items (i.e. coffee beans to thank our lovely hosts in Kitchener) and donations of used items (i.e. a blanket and flannel sheets for my favourite food bank).

But I've had to pace myself and am purposefully not filling up the donation bags as full as I can. 355 days to go, I remind myself. So in some ways this is curbing my generosity.

Like yesterday, when I was at the Parkdale Food Centre chatting with the Executive Director Karen Secord, she told me about a new bakery in the 'hood - Bread By Us. They have a suspend system where clients can buy a loaf of bread and pay for another one which is 'suspended'. Karen directs her clients to the bakery and they can receive a loaf of suspended bread, no questions asked.

"Go now," Karen urged me - and tried to convince me that 8-month-old Nisha really needed a cookie.

Sounds great, I thought. But I'd just dropped off my donation for the day, so I'm going to save it for another time. This delay felt a bit counter to the spirit of this project.

That said, I have had to make some modifications to the project. Since I don't usually have access to a car during the week, it's hard to deliver my gifts or donations outside of walking distance. So on the days I can't deliver, I'm setting the bag or box in the sun room. And I'm not going to let myself cheat here (no saying, I'll put that together tomorrow). By the time I tweet it (#365gifts), anyone can show up and say 'I hear you have a donation for ... and I have to be able to hand it over. I also appreciate organizations like the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy who will pick up donations.

This means on the days I do have the car, I'm get to feel like Santa, driving around with my gifts to deliver. Ho ho ho!

But I have discovered that this project is going to require a lot of research, at least if I'm going to stick with my goal of trying to intentionally place items where they are needed and not just dump everything in a charity donation bin. I really appreciate the organizations, like Ottawa's Youville Centre, that provide an online list of items needed.

I'm also keeping a little notebook with ideas for donations, places that accept used items, etc. It's great too that friends are starting to make suggestions.

And more ideas are certainly welcome - 355 days to go!

It is amazing how one little person can have so many clothes!

As any parent knows, you end up with a lot of clothes when you have a baby. And given that most babies grow an inch a month in the first six months, then an inch every two for the rest of their first year, baby clothes are outgrown very quickly. There are cute little outfits my girls have received as gifts that were only worn once or twice before they were outgrown.

So, what to do with the mounds of baby clothes that have been outgrown?

There are consignment stores, such as Boomerang Kids in Ottawa, that will accept used items. But with so many families wanting to off-load clothing, consignment places can afford to be pretty picky and they prefer top brands. I have taken bags of clothing there, only to half of the items rejected.

While I'm not trying to pass on stained and worn-out clothes (those I turn into rags), I have been looking for places in town that will accept gently used items that are still in decent condition - and give (not sell) them to people in need.

Here's what I've found so far. Would love to hear more suggestions.

- Birthright Ottawa, a volunteer-run charity that supports women with unplanned pregnancies. They will take good quality clothes for infants and toddlers (up to 2 years-old).

- Youville Centre, a charity which helps single mothers. They have a handy pdf of the various gently-used items they accept, which includes children's clothing (infant to age 6).

- City of Ottawa's family shelters. There are two family shelters run by the City that assist families in need of temporary emergency shelter for a variety of reasons including financial, health and family crisis. The shelters accept donations of household and personal items - including baby clothing and bedding.

Additionally, those looking to donate cloth diapers can pass them on to Diaper Lending Ottawa, a volunteer-run not-for-profit that will accept donations of cloth diapers (in any condition!) which they repair, clean and lend out.

I was looking at the CBC Canada Reads list the other day and noted that I had read none of the five 2014 contenders. This wouldn't do. And, since I'm aiming to read 13 Canadian books before Canada Day, I decided to read at least one on the list.

I started with Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood (2009), a dystopian novel whose narrative steps before and after the 'waterless flood' that at some point in the future has killed most of the world's population. The book's two main characters have survived this flood because they were barricaded from contagion - one in a deserted spa, one in a high-end sex club.

The novel is dark, although its satire is amusing and the narrative is engaging. Atwood hooks the reader in - primarily because you have to read more than two-thirds of the book to find out what this destructive flood is, and even then she is a little vague.

Fear is constant throughout the book - of the impending flood, and then of the chaos and desolation it wrought. There are strange species (i.e. rakunks - a mix of racoons and skunks) that were gene-spliced by mad scientists. There is anarchy in the streets and gated communities controlled by private companies. It is all rather grim and more than a little depressing. At times when reading this book I had the strong urge to move to the country, plant a large garden, and raise bees.

This book is part of a MaddAddam Trilogy, and takes place in parallel with Oryx & Crake (2003).  I haven't read that book and am not sure I want to - although I guess it explains the 'waterless flood' in more detail. But if it's anything like this one, reading it would be to fall down the rabbit hole of the dread that happens when I read too many articles about climate change and environmental destruction. I'm already scared enough, without needing Atwood to throw in crazy scientists and genetic manipulation.

Reading this book is not unlike driving by a road accident - you can't help looking, but feel a little unsettled for doing so.

Anyone who knows me, or who has followed this blog in the past, knows that I'm a bit of a sucker for New Year's challenges. For example, in 2011, I blogged precisely 365 words each day for 365 days.

As another new year approaches, I find myself itching to take on a new project. So, for 2014, I have set the goal of giving something away every single day.

One of the primary motivations for this project is simply that we have a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. Our basement and garage are filled with stuff. We don't need most of it, so it's high time to pass it on.

Sure, I could just organize one big garage sale or dump the lot of it off at Value Village or St. Vincent de Paul, but I want to be more intentional about this. For example, I know that bird sanctuaries will take old towels and baby blankets. My goal is to find people and organizations that could make use of the things we no longer need. I'll do some research, make some phone calls - and post information about what I find out in case there are others reading this blog who also have things that could be put to better use.

But this won't just be about giving away my old junk.

I'll be the first to admit that I am terrible at remembering to give presents. Perfect example, after Miya's last day of JK before the Christmas holidays, her teacher sent out an email to all the parents thanking them for their thoughtful Christmas gifts. The problem is, I forgot to send one. I also forgot to put out a card and tip for my newspaper deliverer.

I don't know how many times I have been at events where other people have lovely little gifts and I stand barehanded. It's not that I mean to be stingy. I just don't think of it until it's too late.

So in the year of giving, I resolve to pay better attention to the many occasions when gifts are expected.

Unlike my previous New Year's projects, this one will be a family affair. I'll be encouraging Miya to give where she can - even simple things like thank you cards or little crafts. We can't afford to buy 365 presents, so many of the things we give this year will be handmade - baking, knitting, etc. Cash donations will count, too.

What won't count is things that are given within the family. I can't pour my husband a cup of coffee and count that as my daily gift. I can't count the clothes and necessities I buy for my children. The exception here will be special occasions - like birthdays or anniversaries.

I won't be blogging each gift - that would be tedious and some may think this project already sounds a little too precious. But for the sake of public accountability, I will tweet each gift - @AnitaGrace11, #365gifts.

Your comments and feedback - and reminders of special occasions - will be welcome!

I recently interviewed Churchill Alternative School teacher Shauna Pollock, 2013 winner the Prime Minister's Teaching Award for Excellence, and wrote an article about her for our local paper, The Kitchissippi Times.

As usually happens when I'm covering local events, I had my mini-assistant with me, 7-month-old Nisha. During the interview, Nisha crawled around the classroom floor, played with our shoes and tried to eat some books.

I mentioned that I had wanted to involve Nisha in the Roots of Empathy program, which has babies visiting school classrooms several times over the course of a year. Ever looking for new ways to engage and teach her students, Shauna suggested Nisha come back to visit this classroom. A couple days later, Shauna and I used Google Drive to draft a 'science experiment' the kids could do with little Miss N.

Nisha is just at the cusp of understanding object permanence - a fancy way of saying that she'll understand that even if she can't see something, it still exists. Shauna and I created an experiment with which students could test if she has reached this cognitive milestone.

When we came to Class 209, Shauna had the lesson plan projected on the big screen at the front of the room. She asked the kids if they thought baby Nisha is able to form memories. They were invited to write out their hypothesis on their lab sheets.

We explained the idea of object permanence and the experiment we had designed. Students would show Nisha a toy, then cover it with a cloth. Observe how she responds. Does she seem confused? Does she try to look for the toy? Will she lift up the cloth?

The experimenting began and students were eager to engage with Nisha and test their hypotheses. They took turns trying to get her attention with a toy, then covering the toy up.

Students recorded their observations of how she responded - which was generally to look away and almost never to reach for the cloth or search for the hidden toy.

The funniest part of the experiment happened almost accidentally. Nisha had not napped well that morning and after about half an hour, she was getting fussy and restless. She started crawling around the floor, trying to grab students' papers. I suggested we cover up something she was crawling toward and see what happened.

So when Nisha began crawling toward some blocks on the floor, a student quickly threw the cloth over them. Without a pause, Nisha kept crawling right on over. She didn't even notice that what she'd been after had disappeared.

"I had no idea she would be this oblivious!" laughed Shauna.

The class has invited us back in the new year so we can retest for object permanence and see how Nisha's cognitive development is progressing. We'd like to try another experiment then too.

Any suggestions?


Here is a lovely blog entry written by one of Shauna's students.

Mavis Gallant's book From the Fifteenth District is a collection of nine wonderfully written short stories set Europe, in periods of time ranging from before, during, and after World War II.

The characters are vividly drawn and the settings are so artfully portrayed as to almost become additional characters in the story.

I was especially drawn into a story called 'The Moslem Wife' about a British woman who inherits the family hotel in the south of France. Like many of the stories in this collection, this one has several layers. It is about the protagonist's relationship with her lazy, philandering husband, but also about British expatriates during the period leading up the the Second World War, about the war, and about fractured communities.

Mavis Gallant, born in Montreal in 1922, was a journalist in Canada before moving to Paris in 1950 to write. Many of the stories in this collection are about people who inhabit a space without actually belonging to there - a British family who moves to the Riveria so the ailing patriarch can die there, a German former soldier who does not make it back to Berlin until many years after the war has ended, an aging Polish bachelor in Paris who falls for a flighty Canadian girl...

The tension of person and place has a strong role in each story, as much as any dynamic between characters. As someone who has spent many years of my life inhabiting but not belonging to a place, these stories resonated deeply with me. I was also impressed with Gallant's talent as a short story writer such that in with so few words, she is able to create such a rich and complex world of places and people.

They started coming in the morning. Yesterday's jack o'lanterns. Those pumpkins that had been carefully carved and proudly displayed on porches, front steps and window sills. Normally discarded the day after Hallowe'en, now given one last chance to shine.

Tonight was Ottawa's first pumpkin parade. Through word-of-mouth, social media, and flyers, we'd been inviting people in the Iona Park neighbourhood to bring their Hallowe'en handiwork to the park. At dusk we began putting candles inside them and the jack o'lanterns began to flicker and glow as night fell.

The idea for this parade came from my friend, Allegra Newman. She used to live in Toronto where the Sorauren Park Parade amasses around 2,000 pumpkins each year.
Iona Park's inaugural Pumpkin Walk was a more modest affair. By 8 p.m. there were close to 30 pumpkins lining the northern pathway into the park.

But it was a good beginning. Violet Lowe, who has lived beside the entrance to the park for 56 years, was thrilled to see the decorated pathway. "This is fantastic," she said.

Several young families and local residents braved the blustery winds to come to the park between 6 and 8 p.m. and admire the skill and creativity of carves in the neighbourhood. In addition to grinning pumpkin faces, there was a howling wolf, a man being chased by a dragon, and a lovely snowflake pattern.

The pumpkins will spend the rest of the weekend in the park, where they will be enjoyed by squirrels and admired by children, then picked up on Monday by city waste management.