Author: Bambi

Bambi would like to thank her cousin Coco for explaining to her the most recent economic-related development out of Lebanon. The Al Jazeera brief news documentary shown below addresses the same topic.

How sad to see Lebanon in this situation since December 2019. What reform plan did its “leaders” put in place to get their country out of its economic collapse? Why is it taking so long? Why can’t the Land of Cedars act at least half as efficiently as other countries that managed to get out of their past financial troubles (e.g., Greece, Cyprus, etc.)? What’s next for the Lebanese people?

Given all the still unanswered questions above, it is not surprising that some residents of Tripoli (city in Northern Lebanon with a high rate of poverty) are escaping misery in dinghies under questionable safety conditions! Sadly, over six out of 60 people died recently, including a young toddler :(. Who knows? These desperate people may have perhaps been deceived into thinking that they will safely reach and be welcomed in Cyprus or the European continent (https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1297595/search-continues-for-survivors-of-smuggling-vessel-that-sunk-off-tripoli-last-night.html).

Anyhow, Bambi will stop here. To conclude, she will now share the Al Jazeera short video mentioned above and conclude with a song-prayer, by Fairouz, entitled “Bayti ana baytak” [“My house is your house“]. She would like to dedicate this song to the grieving families… May God know how to comfort their aching hearts. If she may, by extension, she will also offer this same song to her birth country’s people at large who have been struggling to make ends meet.

If you are interested in the lyrics, here is a translation for you from Arabic into English (https://www.abcsonglyrics.com/fairuz/shayef-el-baher-shoo-kbeer.html):

شايف البحر شو كبير”

Do you see how huge the sea is?

كبر البحر بحبك

I love you as huge as the sea

شايف السما شو بعيدي

Do you see how distant the sky is?

بعد السما بحبك

I love as distant as the sky

كبر البحر و بعد السما

As huge as the sea and as distant as the sky

بحبك يا حبيبي بحبك

I love you my love, I love you

نطرتك أنا ندهتك أنا

I waited for you, I shouted for you

رسمتك على المشاوير

I’ve drawn you

يا هم العمر يا دمع الزهر

You’re all what matters to me in life, you’re like a flower tears

يا مواسم العصافير

You’re like a bird in spring

ما أوسع الغابة

How wide the forest is!

وسع الغابة قلبي

My heart is as wide as the forest

يا مصور عبابي

Your picture is on my door

ومصور بقلبي

And also on my heart

نطرتك سني يا طول السني

I’ve waited for you a year, it was a long long year

واسأل سجر الجوز

Ask the nut trees

وشوفك بالصحو جايي من الصحو

I see you coming

وضايع بورق اللوز

Lost in nut trees leaves

ما أصغر الدمعة

How small the tear is!

أنا دمعة بدربك

I’m a tear in your way

بدي أندر شمعة

I’d light a candle thanking God that you came back to me

وتخليني حبك

And let me love you”.

First, who is Mr. Balarama Holness, for those who do not know him from neither the world of football nor the political Montreal municipal circles?

To answer the question above, here is Mr. Holness own promotional website: https://www.balaramaholness.com/

Now, you may wonder why is Bambi asking the same question raised by a sarcastic yet lucid journalist from Québec, Ms. Sophie Durocher?

Well, Mr. Holness recently created a new provincial party (not just municipal!). At first, he wanted his city Montreal (a metropole of Québec) to become bilingual. Now, his ambitions are wider: He seems to want the same for his province, imagine.

One one hand, Mr. Holness seems to prefer politics to football and, who knows, he may be as or even more talented in the former than the latter. Good luck to him in all his projects, including his politics that Bambi does not agree with.

On the other hand, he seems to think or wants us to think that he is defending the rights of anglophones. In reality, and according to Bambi’s humble opinion, his ideas are rooted in wokeism. The latter is incompatible with Québec as it is potentially destructive in the very long-term to the existence of his province: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/balarama-holness-creates-new-provincial-political-party-1.6424816. Why is Bambi saying so? She will explain her thoughts below.

Mr. Holness seems to have “regressive” ideas and aspirations for his province. He seems to want it to become bilingual. As a reminder, New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. This is fantastic for our province. However, Québec is not New Brunswick. As a reminder to Mr. Holness and all the woke forces in our country and in the world, Québec’s healthy nationalism is admirable because it has succeeded in moving from an ethno-religious nationalism to a language-based nationalism. Re-moving it back to an ethno- or identity-based nationalism is clearly a step backward in humanity and in Québec’s vision for its existence.

Indeed, languages are inclusive. Languages assemble people. Languages build bridge between people. They do not divide them. In other terms, a language is not sectarian, contrary to wokeism. Sadly, the latter seems to be obsessed with one aspect of an identity (race, gender, religion, etc.) and it aspires to impose it on all the others.

So, should Mr. Holness move to our beautiful New Brunswick, if he is so attached to bilingualism, as Ms. Sophie Durocher suggested? Well, Bambi’s answer is yes and welcome :). He would be much needed in our province if he sincerely pushes for the protection of the French language/culture and keeps our bilingualism vivid for real, not just on papers.

To conclude this post on a musical note, if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Holness a song about the beauty of the French language.

Bambi woke up this morning to this sad news from Québec (https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/guy-lafleur-death-reaction-1.6427532).

Mr. Lafleur is a Canadian and Québecker hockey legend.

A legend does not die. A legend will forever remain in the history of his nation.

Thank you, Mr. Lafleur and good-bye… Count on Bambi to remember ALL the GREAT TV (hockey or show interviews) and street moments.

She will also remember her mom’s teasing moments when she used to predict that her youngest daughter will fall in love with a guy from Québec… and his name will be “Lafleur“. Well, she was right… except for the last name :). The bottom line of this mother-daughter funny story is that, like her fellow Montreallers of the time, Bambi’s mom has been impressed and inspired by Mr. Lafleur. In addition, she liked his beautiful French-Canadian family name. Indeed, is there anything more beautiful in life than a flower?

In the end, even beautiful flowers have a short life. They fade. They die. However, the memory of their beauty, good smell, and nice touch transcends their death. Same for legendary humans, like Mr. Lafleur: Their achievements transcend death and time.

May Mr. Lafleur’s memory be eternal. May he keep inspiring younger generations postmortem… and may peace find its way to the hearts of his family members, close friends, and fans.

Bambi celebrated Easter last week with the majority in Atlantic Canada, according to the Protestant and Roman Catholic calendar (and traditions). However, because she loves the Byzantine chants that remind her of her beautiful childhood memories, she could not help not to cheat today (and likely tomorrow too : ) by re-listening to Fairouz’ healing voice singing chants ahead of the forthcoming Orthodox Easter.

Enjoy this beautiful time of the year, mom and dad. Please remember the following: (1) Bambi loves you so much; and (2) Enjoy eating “Maamoul” (the delicious Lebanese Easter pastry) on Sunday 🙂 ❤️!

While working yesterday evening, thanks to her preferred internet radio station, Bambi discovered a joyful Lebanese song entitled “Yalla Nirkous” [or “Let’s Dance”] by a singer called Mr. Georges Manoukian. Bambi searched his name on Youtube and she discovered more about his talent. Well, in addition to inviting us to dance, he seems to also be into spiritual songs. Who knows? Perhaps the latter would be the theme of a future post :)?

Following this sweet musical discovery, Bambi took a little pause off work in which she decided to have fun by trying to remember as many songs as possible on the theme of dancing :). Below, she will share with you the melodies she was able to recall. She hopes you will enjoy them!

Of course, the first song that came to her mind is the French famous song “Sur le pont d’avignon” :)!

The, she thought of Mr. David Bowie’s famous “Let’s dance”!

And, naturally, she thought of “Grease”… and of you Bente (you know why :))!

To continue on the theme of dance, here is a wonderful French song that Bambi loves dearly, entitled “Dernière danse“, by the talented Ms. Indila!

Following the nice song above, how can Bambi not think of the late Mr. Sami Clark and his joyful Arabic song entitled “Oumi ta nourkous ya sabiyyi” [“Come danse with me!“]. May your memory be eternal, dear Mr. Sami Clark. This being said, if she may, Bambi would like to dedicate this song to you Charbel because you also miss Mr. Sami Clark.

Now, following Lebanese music, Bambi will switch to the beautiful German language with a song for kids entitled “Halli, hallo, wir tanzen durch den Sommer” [“Hello, hello, we’re dancing through the summer“]. If she may, she would like to offer it to you Achim because you will understand it :).

After the light song above, let’s be more serious now. Here is Ms. Martine St-Clair’s “Danse avec moi” [“Dance with me“].

In the same vein, here is a song Bambi recently featured on this blog. It is an excellent Lebanese production in both French and Arabic by Ms. Mirva Kadi and Mr. Shady Farah. Bambi will dedicate this one to you Mary because you like it.

Next, Bambi thought of Mr. C. Jérôme’s “Et tu danses avec lui” [“And you dance with him“]. Yes, compared to the other songs, this one may be rather sad. Thank you Mr. Jérôme for this moving song.

Well. the following melody is such a beautiful song about dance by the late and irreplaceable Mr. Leonard Cohen. You may guess that Bambi is talking about his “Dance me to the end of love”!

Next, the late Mr. Tino Rossi came to Bambi’s mind. If she is not mistaken, she was 11 years old when he died. May his memory be eternal… It is eternal for sure through his musical legacy, including “Le plus beau tango du monde” [“The most beautiful tango in the wold“]!

Finally, Bambi promises you that this is the last but surely not least song that she will share with you in this post. Yes, of course, it is the Dabke or the traditional Lebanese dance that came to Bambi’s mind! Below is a video posted in the past on this blog. It shows scenes of the joyful and vigorous Dabke dance that took place at the Beirut airport a few years ago. Enjoy!

Beirut is still mourning since that doomed August 4, 2020.

Today, Bambi learned from her sister Roula of the death of Mr. Rami Fawaz.

According to l’Orient Le Jour (https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1297189/blesse-par-des-eclats-de-verre-rami-fawaz-nouvelle-victime-de-lexplosion-du-4-aout-2020.html), Mr. Fawaz, a dear spouse and a beloved father of 3- and 5-year-old kids, became the 220th victim of the surrealistic Beirut port explosion that also injured 6 500 innocent people, including children (many of whom lost their eyes).

Bambi’s heart goes to Mr. Rami Fawaz’ family… May his memory be eternal.

Bambi is very thankful and honoured to have been invited by CUPE 3912 to write an article on academic freedom in its latest newsletter (https://cupe3912.ca/documents/the-instructor/). Of note, her article was authored/in press prior to the settlement of her arbitration process.

From this union’s website, you can read that “CUPE 3912 is Nova Scotia’s largest university union, proudly representing 3000+ precarious academic workers in 4 bargaining units at Dalhousie University (Dal), Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), and Saint Mary’s University (SMU)” (https://cupe3912.ca/about/).

Bambi (or Rima Azar)’s article appears in the April 2022 edition of the Instructor‘s newsletter of CUPE 3912 on pages 2, 3, and 4: https://newsletter.cupe3912.ca/2022-04–CUPE3912_Newsletter.pdf

As a reminder, both the About Page of Bambi’s Afkar’s blog and Dr. Rima Azar personal website (https://rimaazar.ca/) include the following words about the settlement of her arbitration process:

Thank you for your heart-warming support

Merci du fond du cœur pour votre soutien chaleureux

ENGLISH (Le français suit…!)

Hello everyone:

Many thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for your heart-warming continuous support over the past 14 months.

It is your generosity that contributed to making the resolution of my arbitration process possible in the form of a confidential settlement.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my great lawyer, Max, for his outstanding legal counsel throughout my journey.

Below you can find the official statement for the settlement, as released in emails by the university and the union.

Thanks again,

Rima Azar, PhD [or Bambi on her blog]

“Mount Allison University, the Mount Allison Faculty Association and Professor Rima Azar (the “Parties”) are announcing today that all matters in dispute between them have been resolved. 

 The University received student complaints and took these complaints seriously pursuant to the Policy on Workplace Harassment and the Anti-Racism Policy. The Parties agree that these processes are important and complaints of this nature from our students need to be taken seriously. 

 Where all parties have agreed that fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment – one which also recognizes academic freedom – is of the utmost importance, we consider all outstanding issues in dispute resolved, and no further commentary will be offered.”

FRANÇAIS

Bonjour tout le monde:

Un grand merci, du fond du cœur, pour votre soutien continu et chaleureux au cours des 14 derniers mois.

C’est votre générosité qui a contribué à rendre possible la résolution de mon processus d’arbitrage sous la forme d’un règlement confidentiel.

Enfin et surtout, je tiens à remercier mon excellent avocat, Me Max, pour ses conseils juridiques exceptionnels tout au long de mon parcours.

Vous trouverez ci-dessous le communiqué officiel du règlement tel que publié par courriel par l’université et le syndicat.

Merci encore,

Rima Azar, PhD [ou Bambi sur son blog]

“Mount Allison University, the Mount Allison Faculty Association and Professor Rima Azar (the “Parties”) are announcing today that all matters in dispute between them have been resolved. 

 The University received student complaints and took these complaints seriously pursuant to the Policy on Workplace Harassment and the Anti-Racism Policy. The Parties agree that these processes are important and complaints of this nature from our students need to be taken seriously. 

 Where all parties have agreed that fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment – one which also recognizes academic freedom – is of the utmost importance, we consider all outstanding issues in dispute resolved, and no further commentary will be offered.”

Our friends are like a ray of sunshine in our lives… and vice versa.

We may sometimes end friendships in life.

Alternatively, friendship could slowly but surely fade out of existence.

The good news is that we may make new friends at any stage of life.

However, perhaps most importantly (even if it may be rare), we are blessed to have childhood friendships that can last a lifetime.

Many beautiful poems, songs, and sayings have been written on friendships in all languages.

For instance, from an older post, Bambi learned that Mr. Richard Wagner reflected on friendship as follows (English follows the French):

«Quelle noblesse d’avoir un ami, mais combien plus noble d’être un ami».

“How noble to have a friend, but how much more noble to be a friend”.

Bambi’s older post, from March 26, 2020, was entitled “Why don’t I be a good “friend” to myself, especially in a pandemic?”.

The two-year old post, mentioned above and shown below, was inspired by a guest (a deer!) in Bambi’s backyard. The current post that Bambi started preparing yesterday night, is also inspired by the theme of friendship. Well, what a coincidence! Guess what happened to Bambi early this morning? She bumped into another (or the same?) “deer” friend in their garden-backyard :). This friendly encounter was magical: it made her day!

Anyhow, regardless of any wild animal in your garden or pet in your house, Bambi hopes you are a good “friend” to yourself before being or becoming a friend for others.

Like any type of relationship, whether personal or professional, friendships take ONE basic (simple and free-of-charge) underlying ingredient, called respect. Without the latter, friendships lack the potential for growth.

To summarize and conclude, in Bambi’s mind, self-respect comes first. It is a must to truly respect/love oneself… and then others. This being said, she will stop here to let the following few songs remind us of the beauty of friendship. Long live friendship! Vive l’amitié!

—

Why don’t I be a good “friend” to myself, especially in a pandemic?

Whether you celebrate Easter or not, whether your Easter is today OR next Sunday (i.e., the Orthodox Christian one), Happy Easter to you!

If you happen to believe in the deep meaning of Easter, Little Bunny and Bambi will come together to greet you, in a Lebanese traditional style, by saying in Arabic “El Massih Kam” [Christ is risen]! The joyful reply to this greeting is supposed to be: “Hakan Kam” [Truly risen] :)!

To continue on a more serious musical note, here is Fairouz singing, or rather praying, the El Massih Kam hymn in Arabic with some Greek. Regardless of any faith in the resurrection or not, it may be moving for some, including Bambi, to listen to byzantine chants because: (1) they are a treat to the ears; and (2) they may be associated with wonderful childhood memories, despite the adversity of civil war.

This being said, to conclude and if she may, Bambi would like to offer this joyful song, which is an Easter Greek Orthodox/Catholic hymn, to Aline, Amale, Mary, Chaitali, Jean, Leila, Mirella, Nayla, Rony, Achim, Charbel, Alexis, Evan, Spencer, Felix (Dr. Baerlocher), and Bloo, as well as her cousin Paul, if they happen to read this post :). Enjoy Fairouz’ unique voice!