June Callwood, who has been fighting cancer for four years, has died. She will long be remembered for her sense of justice. Callwood was the author of thirty books and started fifty social organizations. Callwood once said,
“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren’t an observer, you are a participant.”
Support Nina’s Books4Israel Project. She is sending children’s books to poor schools in Israel, especially to Bedouin schools in the Negev Desert.
Donations are welcome–either books for the children or cash for postage and shipping.
Nina is a technical writer who likes to knit in her spare time. She’s the one who told me about BookCrossing.
Canada’s June Callwood has been a noted feminist and author, and a very gracious human being, for many years. I had the privilege of being introduced to her, years ago, by Margaret Fraser, the subject of Callwood’s book, Twelve Weeks in Spring.
She was interviewed by George Stromboulopoulos of CBC TV’s The Hour. Over the last three years she has been battling cancer. It’s mysterious, with secondary cancers all over the place when they can’t find the primary one. They gave her six months to live–three years ago. But now it’s on the move again and she’s saying goodbye to friends and family. She wants no fuss and no memorial service.
When George asked he what she thought came after this, she said, “Nothing. There’s nothing after this. We get a life, now, here.” Her point is that it’s up to us to make that life count.
And she’s giving her family and admirers the final gift that is ours to give–she is facing death with courage and without complaint.
Percy Saltzman, who brought the idea of dynamic weather reporting to television and made it happen, died at age 91 after a brief illness. Mr. Saltzman received the Order of Canada in 2003. He was an interesting character. Read about him.
Larry Moran at Sandwalk reminds us that it’s the birthday of our first Prime Minister:
In typical Canadian fashion, we honour our most famous Canadian (he’s on the $10 bill) by going off to work. There’s no holiday for Canadians on January 11th. You celebrate by raising a glass of scotch when you get home in the evening, or maybe at lunch.
Covert Bailey’s “Fit or Fat” books recommend a “target diet” in which you aim for the centre. Eat the foods listed in the centre most often, the foods in the outer circles less often, and the foods outside the target hardly at all.
In effect, he’s saying that you can eat lots of most fruits and vegetables, water-packed tuna, skim milk, and whole grains; and less of foods heavily laden with fats and sugars. That makes it fairly easy to follow—or at least to know what to eat.
He has only four stated rules:
* Eat a balanceed diet.
* Choose foods that are low in fat.
* Choose foods that are low in sugar.
* Choose foods that are high in fibre.
