Every City Has a Kathryn

A person who always has room for you to stay the night at the last minute, who will open their home for the writer's conference and feed everyone too, who will organize the food bank and who will exhaust herself caring for those who need it. These Kathryns don't make a lot of noise about what they do, they don't tell others what to do either. They are not likely to spend much time on Facebook or twitter or developing PR strategies because their lives are taken up with the needs of nurture. Their impact on their cities are like gold in the bank but they don't have much of that metal in their accounts. Their influence on their communities are like the Reverend Doctor in the pulpit but you won't hear them preaching. They will be out there dealing with the most difficult and contentious issues without complaint. They are strong but not domineering, they have a message but do not shout. Every city has at least one Kathryn and if they left you would feel it, although most of them don't receive awards or much notice of any kind - in fact they probably eschew applause and praise. Not all of them are named Kathryn - some are called Mary or Jack and you can sometimes recognize them by their manner - the word "I" doesn't find its way into daily small talk.

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The Ultimate Goal of Patriarchy is the End of Life

I want to clarify the line between men in general and patriarchal values propagated and imposed on human society.

In order for patriarchy to succeed, it had to kill more efficiently than the nine months gestation it took for a woman to give birth. So the craft of war became more than simply defending territory. It became the ritualized erasure of our human nature for the rule of centralized power.

And no, it hasn't succeeded in diminishing the human population on this planet but it has succeeded in sustaining an ideology of what it means to be a man.

Civilizations built on myths of great conquerors. Histories about the exploits of the greatest killers. Inventions of race, religious ideology and ritual that transformed the teachings of thoughtful prophets into crusades. Endless games of winning and losing.
Men who celebrate life through medicine, science, education, art, philosophy and poetry must be dismissed as soft, shamed as effeminate.

Men who have been raised with love, love …

Anonymous Sources

Where does "Greatness" come from? The imagination? Facts? Confidence? A willing suspension of disbelief in a slogan that makes us happy? A capacity to judge well? An ability to observe and find solutions that benefit most if not all? Taking responsibility for the community? A masters degree from Oxford or Yale?

Let me offer the opinion that greatness comes from extraordinary effort or talent. Greatness as it may exist in our anonymous ambitions does not win fame except in isolated circumstances. That is to say, fame is not a realistic goal for an individual.

Greatness is like a dove in the imagination, an angel, a temporary insight, a fleeting epiphany. Something aspired to in the privacy of our minds.

Greatness was an ambition I held when I was a teen and had no proof that I was good at anything or useful to the world at all. After repeated criticism and dismissal from the community around me where I attempted to win something, anything, like a medal, a competition, or a…

Torturing Youth is Okay with us?

“More than two-thirds of Canadians feel Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the wrong choice in awarding a $10.5 million settlement to Omar Khadr, according to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute.” CBC News
But we don’t see the survey questions in this article. How was the poll actually worded? Reading one article might make us believe we are well informed, but how does a single poll actually tell us how people feel?
“And while the survey shows that a majority of Liberals and New Democrats are opposed to the government's decision, how the numbers compare to previous polling suggests that views on Khadr have hardened over the last decade — and that he remains a divisive figure.”
How can a single poll tell whether Khadr is a divisive figure or not? What information do respondents have to make such a claim?
The article then switches to a former US special force soldier who was blinded in one eye during the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan involving Khadr. Of course he would be critica…

Infinite Power

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