Every day Bambi thanks God because you survived the surrealistic Beirut port explosion. Today more than ever. May your leg injury keep healing as surely and smoothly as possible. May this new year/decade be simply beautiful. Yes, you deserve the best in life, Maya!!
To make you smile, Bambi will offer you a birthday song meant for “Maya l’abeille” or “Maya, the bee” (“Maya, l’abeille” was known as “Zeina” in Lebanon, if you recall this cartoon from our childhood :)).
To try to make you smile again, Bambi will remind you that your birthday is special for Bambi’s spouse and her for another reason. Do you happen to remember why? This is a memory test for you :)… Mmm, OK, Bambi will make it easier on you: Well, it is the anniversary of their first kiss.
In Canada, in 2021, your birthday happens to be our federal elections day (mind you, this may not be as romantic as the story above :)).
To conclude this post, all the reasons are good to celebrate in life, especially friendships. Thank you for being Bambi’s faithful friend (and the daughter of the childhood friend of Bambi’s mom as well :)). Much love to you from not only Bambi, but also her entire family!
If Mr. Trudeau is re-elected in a majority government, which is VERY unlikely, Bambi would offer him the “Mabrouk” song , which is a Lebanese song meant to celebrate weddings, anniversaries, successes, happy events, etc. It is one of Bambi’s favourite songs in life because it is joyful and associated with happy memories.
Now, if Mr. Trudeau either loses OR even wins but with a minority government, Bambi would offer him a French kids’ vacation song that celebrates vacation on each day of the week. Why this song? Because, Mr. Trudeau could (and perhaps even should) resign if he wins a minority government. Indeed, even if he wins a minority government, he would have lost his personal/party political goal. He insisted on taking his country into an unnecessary election campaign (ahead of time) AND in the middle of a pandemic. Why? Perhaps you get it. Bambi doesn’t yet.
Regardless of the song that Mr. Trudeau will receive (hoping he has a sense of humour like Bambi :)), may everyone keep on being safe and sound: him to begin with, all our candidates across parties, and all Canadians too (those who already voted in person or by mail, those who will vote tomorrow, and those who lost hope in politics and stopped voting).
As they say: Governments come and go, but countries stay. All the best to Canada!
Bambi appreciates Federal Minister Mélanie Jolie. She finds that she became even more competent with the years. However, lately and with all due respect, this politician made a comment that was ridiculously exaggerated to the point of sounding funny.
Indeed, Ms. Jolie commented on Mr. François Legault’s public statement following the fiasco of the English debate (i.e., the moderator’s loaded question to Mr. Blanchet, which was endorsed by the consortium of “independent” journalists). As a reminder, none of the politicians participating in the debate rejected the attack on Québec’s democratically voted bills on the protection of the French language and on the state’s secularism. Indeed, the only politician who made a quick comment about this on his Twitter account was Mr. Maxime Bernier (who was excluded from the debates).
Anyhow, Mr. Legault made a public statement the following day in which he expressed the disappointment of Québeckers (tired of being “bashed”) and to defend the values of Québec. In the Q/A period, he allowed himself to invite Québeckers to think twice before voting. Bambi was happy to see Mr. Legault having a spine by publicly refusing the “systemic” disrespect of Québec (as per her earlier post, shown at the end of this post).
In relation to this story, and as reported by Radio-Canada, Ms. Jolie later made it sound as if Mr. Legault was telling women how to vote by saying: “You know? Our grand-mothers fought for the right to vote. They also fought during the Quiet Revolution in order to have the right to think for themselves” (https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1823513/joly-legault-vote-conservateur).
Bearing Ms. Jolie’s comment in mind, Bambi has a question for her now: Will she say the same about Mr. Obama (who, as a reminder, is American and not Canadian, like Mr. Legault)? Indeed, like in the last electoral campaign, Mr. Obama allowed himself to interfere in our elections. Our media (favourable to Mr. Trudeau) are all relaying his statement.
“Attendance at any indoor private social gathering is not permitted for vaccine-eligible individuals who are unvaccinated“.
We understand we are (still) in a pandemic. We understand that massive vaccination, perhaps along with physical distancing (and/or other strategies, as needed), are the best tools available to public health to help in getting us as efficiently as possible out of the pandemic.
However, why do governments feel entitled to dictate to people whom to socialize with or not? Whom to socially exclude or not? Since when this personal (or maybe familial?) decision about whom to invite to one’s place or not is the business of a government?
Why are politicians fostering social division among Canadians to that extent? Aren’t we already divided enough? And are they going to fine people over this, by the way?
Alternatively, why don’t they use more positive, rewarding educational methods of primary prevention to promote vaccination?
To conclude this post, perhaps it would be wise if our decision-makers learn to avoid overcontrol, even if it is in the name of our protection… and despite their fear of the coronavirus.
MAFA is the Mount Allison University Faculty Association of about150 full-time and 60 part-time faculty and librarian members.
CAUT (ACPPU in French) is the Canadian Association of University Teachers or the “Association canadienne des professeures et professeurs d’université “.
CAUT was established in 1951 and its website describes it as “the national voice of the university body. CAUT represents more than 72,000 professors, librarians, researchers and other academics and is committed to academic freedom and is actively working in the public interest to improve the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada“.
Thus, Bambi is BOTH honoured and delighted that CAUT is supporting MAFA in her grievance, as per its bulletin of September, 2021.
The CAUT statement in both official languages is shown in the two screenshots at the end of this post.
Alternatively, you may wish to read the same texts directly in the CAUT bulletin. The English statement can be found in the first link and in the top left of page 9 in the second PDF link. The French statement appears on page 11 of the second PDF link:
Bambi would like to thank her friend Joëlle for sharing this moving song described further below [as taken from the YouTube channel of Ms. Pascale Ojeil with a quick English translation followed by the lyrics in Corsican (Corsu) and Arabic].
Bambi had the chance to visit the charming Corsica with her family almost a decade ago. It is a piece of heaven in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
As for Lebanon, she is too biased to tell you about its beauty (for having been born there and for having visited it several times over the past 31 years), so she will let the pictures speak for themselves.
According to “Cèdre Corse” (which Ms. Ojeil is the spokesperson), and as reported by France Info, “Sintineddi sounds like a tribute from Corsica to a Lebanon bruised by all the crises it is going through… It is a way to make the reality of what the Lebanese are going through in Corsica and to help them in these difficult times” (https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/corse/corse-la-chanson-sintineddi-au-service-des-libanais-2244505.html).
The song is meant to raise awareness about Lebanon in Corsica in order to help support Lebanese students in their access to education following the Beirut explosion of August 4, 2020.
Grazie
“Pascale Ojeil and Jean Charles Papi, propose to us to combine the two shores of the Mediterranean and to build a bridge between East and West where the sentries of yesteryear, who have seen so many and so many crises, offer us a glimpse of today ‘ there are so many outstretched hands and why not happiness on the horizon.
As the situation of the Lebanese people continues to deteriorate, Pascale Ojeil has decided to express the suffering of this people through “Sintineddi” Lebanon needs sentries!
Godmother of the association “Le Cèdre Corse”, chaired by Father Louis El Rahi, Pascale wanted to offer through this song a way to raise awareness of the situation of Lebanese families and to act through the association to help them pay for the their children’s education.”
Beirut has been on Bambi’s mind all weekend, especially after reading on Friday evening that Lebanon has finally a government. Yes, all this after over 13 months of wasted time in which the country has been in freefall :(!
This morning, Bambi called her parents. They had no power (the country being bankrupt). They were sitting on their balcony, trying to breathe fresh air, as it remains too hot indoors without air conditioning. What do they and their neighbours do to keep their (expensive) food fresh in their fridge? What do they do with their medication when it needs to remain stored at low temperature? How do they manage to sleep at night?
Although Bambi’s parents did not complain, she kept thinking of them all day long. Why do the people of Lebanon, especially its seniors, have to go through this adversity affecting their daily quality of life, in addition to the devastating hyperinflation?
We can chose to remain positive in life and say that at least they have their beautiful flowers to appreciate while sitting on their balcony:
A first picture taken by Bambi’s dad from their balcony in Beirut, Lebanon. Bravo to Bambi’s mom for her green thumb (and her dad for helping :)!
A second picture taken by Bambi’s dad. Bravo to Bambi’s mom for her green thumb (and her dad for helping :)!
A third picture taken by Bambi’s dad. Bravo to her mom for her green thumb (and her dad for helping)!
Bambi does not understand the internal politics of Lebanon for having left her birth country for too long (i.e., over 31 years now). Thus, she has no clue about the political calculations that led to nominating the current Ministers of this recent government. Who are they? Will they succeed in doing something useful to lift their country out of the hell of its multiple crises? Will they begin to reform? Or will they just act as a band-aid government?
Talking about Lebanon’s governance, in this country, the power-sharing system divides posts according to religious sects. For Bambi, such political system based on sectarian quotas is both odd and ugly. Indeed, the modern history of this country gives us a clear lesson that sectarianism (versus merit) can destroy countries. Thus, it is Bambi’s hope that we will not fall into a trap similar to the above in Canada.
To conclude this post, Beirutis love their city (which is the capital). They resist leaving it. They sing for it. They dream of “re-building its houses” and are convinced that “it is eternal“, as per this beautiful song that Bambi discovered today on her Internet radio from LA. The singer is called Mr. Rabih Baroud. The song is called: “Beirut does not die“. Bambi would like to offer this song to her parents and to their/her beloved Beirut, with much love!
Mr. Trudeau, Bambi is scared of the direction of Canada under your (or your political party’ s) governance, despite your good work on some issues in addition to the talent of many of your colleagues. Yes, you do scare her with your spending, with some of your policies/programs that foster sectarianism, and especially with your illiberalism (i.e., Bill C-36 limiting freedom of expression!). Yet, she calls you her Prime Minister (at least until September 20, 2021). Plus, she respects you/your position. She even wishes you the best.
So, why can’t you call Rebel News “a media organization” (like all the others that get financial support from our federal government)?
It is surprising to hear your comment below, without even answering the legitimate question(s) of the journalist. You did so, even after Rebel News successfully sued to have access to the federal leaders’ debates (for the second time, it seems). Bravo to the journalist who reminded you of this. A big bravo to our court system for its independence.
Again, Mr. Trudeau, why can’t you answer this “media organization”s relevant questions, as Ms. Anamie Paul did? The latter was asked about Mr. Maxime Bernier who was not allowed in the debate? She answered the Rebel News‘ question very well by saying that we need to ensure that smaller parties (like hers) have a voice too, that is not always the same old, large parties.
This being said, this story related to independent work is making Bambi think of the English debate’s loaded question that was addressed to Mr. Blanchet. It came from a moderator who even admitted that her question was vetted by ” by several levels in the organization” (i.e., the polling firm Angus Reid). Isn’t it scary that so many smart media people approved calling a bill (democratically voted for) that protects the French language discriminatory? Does this make any sense to you? Same for the bill on secularism, which is made in Québec, by Québec, and for Québec ONLY (whether we like it or not).
To conclude this post, in Arabic they say “el Mamnouw Marghoub“. This means “what is forbidden is desirable“? So Mr. Trudeau, watch out. Your strategy (of exclusion) of the political competition or, even worse, of Canadian journalists, may backfire in the end.
