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Barris Beat

A pattern for life

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On July 8, about a hundred cars full of people gave Sue Carmichael a drive-by 60th birthday party.

Our community still mourns the passing of Sue Carmichael two weeks ago. Her family members will remember all she gave them, her church and the rest of us, at a service this weekend. By coincidence, exactly 10 years ago, I wrote a column about Sue and her passion for giving, quilting and living. I offer my thoughts from that column in tribute:

Even in this liberated community, there are some areas still considered off-limits to certain people. I mean, children aren’t often seen in pubs. Most women don’t hang out in repair garages. And men don’t generally frequent beauty salons. The same could be said of men in sewing shops and the like. In fact, recently, when I decided to pay a courtesy visit to the Quilters Cupboard in town, I got a predicable response when I entered.

“Hey ladies,” the proprietor announced from inside the store, “a man has just entered the shop.” Most got a chuckle out of the remark. I did too. (more…)

Barris Beat

Of war presidents, losers and suckers

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Aisne-Marne American Cemetery

Just northeast of Paris, France, lies a small wooded hill. The few acres of green have been peaceful for most of the last century. Aisne-Marne American Cemetery resides here. It’s home to the memorial stones of 2,289 war dead, mostly Americans. A few hundred yards down the hill, 102 years ago, a great battle raged here.

Near the start of it, French troops found themselves overwhelmed by a charging enemy. In March 1918, the German Army had launched its largest offensive, that it hoped would drive the Allies into the sea and deliver them victory in the Great War. On June 2, 1918, a retreating French soldier is alleged to have shouted to arriving U.S. troops:

“Withdraw! Withdraw! We are overrun!”

Historians tell us, in that moment, Lloyd Williams, a young Marine captain from Virginia, shouted back, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” (more…)

Barris Beat

Why not demand zero risk?

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Potential new-look classrooms.

The countdown continues to Sept. 8, when all high schools in Ontario begin the fall 2020 semester, and about the same when elementary school children begin a staggered re-entry to class. But the jostling continues too. The premier and his ministers of education and health are on one side. And the rest of us sit on the other, trying to get a handle on the way learning will look and sound come Sept. 15 or thereabouts. Then, on Tuesday, Christine Elliott responded to a question from a reporter at the government’s daily media conference.

“Why can’t the Ontario government mandate class size at 15 students?” the reporter asked. (more…)

Barris Beat

As plain as the culvert under your street

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It’s a hole in the ground for a culvert, but could be much more.

A few days ago, my daughter – who’s recently joined me on my morning walks – posed a provocative question:

“How come we haven’t got a bridge in Uxbridge?” she asked.

I didn’t have an answer. But it occurred to both of us that we have an opportunity to change that. Since construction crews have ripped open most of the main thoroughfare through the downtown to make way for the renovation of the underground flow of the Uxbridge Brook, here might be an ideal chance.

Why not, we thought, somewhere along that now gaping throughway for storm and other water passageways, make an effort to include some sort of bridgeworks that might reflect our name? (more…)

Barris Beat

Don’t let COVID kill immigration

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One of thousands of boats that brought refugees out of south-east Asia and to our doorstep.

The note came out of the blue. After retiring from Centennial College where I taught journalism and broadcasting for 18 years, I’ve only periodically run into former students. They’re the ones busily working as newspaper or radio reporters, videographers, editors, etc. Most of the time, I hear from the successful ones. Not from those struggling. Then, I got a note from a young woman named Farheen.

“I have been looking for positions to help me build my portfolio,” she wrote in her email to me. “But due to my lack of experience, I always fall short.” (more…)

Barris Beat

You think you invented social media?

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A British corporal from the front in Burma, with greetings for Joy.

A soldier with circular spectacles, corporal’s stripes on his sleeve and khaki shorts on, walks toward a stationary camera. He smiles as he acknowledges the commotion around him. Glasses clink. There’s a general hubbub of voices in friendly conversation. He’s in a military pub – circa 1940s – and stops in a kind of selfie-framing attitude and speaks right to camera.

“Hello, Joy. How’s this for a wartime miracle?” he begins. “And a novel way of saying, ‘I love you.’” (more…)

Barris Beat

What COVID-19 has wrought

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It was one of those break-through moments, one that a lot of us have waited for all these many weeks, since the pandemic descended on us. My wife and I were visiting with members of the immediate family, inside our acceptable bubble. I motioned to one of the grandchildren, with my arms. She looked to her mom for permission. Mom gave her the nod. Out went her arms.

“Oh, hurray!” we both sighed, “a real hug!” (more…)

Barris Beat

Including all ‘the few’

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F/L William Nelson, a Canadian of Jewish faith,  who served with distinction in the Battle of Britain. Photo – Canadian Jewish Heritage Network.

“We are all in this together.”

It’s a phrase often repeated in times of crisis, a common call to arms or for popular solidarity, that leaders have adapted in so many different ways. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s told Americans (at his inauguration in 1933) to pull together since, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”

In October 1970, after the FLQ kidnapping of a politician and a trade diplomat, Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, encouraging Canadians, “If we stand firm, this current situation will soon pass.” (more…)

Barris Beat

The edu-clock is ticking

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Potential new-look classrooms.

It was a gathering – yes, a gathering – we’d anticipated since the first days of the province-wide shutdown back in March. Monday night, we entertained half of the family – one daughter and her three sons – at dinner on our back porch. We actually sat together at the table. And we hugged the grandkids for the first time in four months. It felt wonderful. But the next morning, as we smiled in the afterglow, my wife observed:

“You know, once they’re back at school, we’re going to have to be extra careful.” (more…)

Barris Beat

State of Statues

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Down a country road, stands a stone marker, remembering Canadians in the Great War.

It stands about three feet tall. It looks like a stone pedestal, but it has no statue on it. It’s not located in an obvious public square or along a busy thoroughfare. It’s a war memorial, but it doesn’t glorify a victory, nor mourn a defeat, even though for Canadians it signifies tremendous loss.

When I’ve taken fellow Canadians there, I’ve always been struck by its simplicity, modesty and basic message. Its only identification is a brass plaque across one side of the pedestal with an inscription:

“Here, 8 May 1915, the ‘Originals’ of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, commanded by their founder Maj. A. Hamilton Gault, DSO, held firm and counted not the cost,” is all it says. (more…)