Author: Bambi

Today, without naming the precise program, Bambi declined an invitation to act as a peer reviewer for the CIHR, which stands for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research). Why? She did it because she does not want to complete the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Self-Identification Questionnaire , that is now a requirement for peer reviewers of grant applications since September 23, 2022 (https://bit.ly/3UV6OPT).

Of note, our government has been increasingly driving what is called a pro-diversity ideology, that has led to documented new forms of discrimination based on identity, including the good example of Dr. Patanjali Kambhampati, Professor at the department of chemistry at McGill University whom Bambi had the honour to interview (https://bit.ly/3TTCAv9) following a National Post article about him (https://bit.ly/3EQOMZm). As a reminder, he was denied research grants because he clearly wrote that that he would hire researchers based on merit, not skin hue. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada turned down his grant application, worth $450,000, on the justification that “the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion considerations in [his] application were deemed insufficient.”

Now, the CIHR is telling us that “our research entreprise” is “systemically racist” (https://bit.ly/3tQFl62; https://bit.ly/3UTSQ0l); now our country is into the business of “eliminating systemic racism in Canada’s health research funding system“. No, it is no longer about merit and about advancing science. It is about advancing ideologies.

Can someone tell Bambi why should the CIHR, or any other funding agency, care to know about her identity, self- or otherwise, characteristics? The only metric that should matter must be the quality of the review, period.

Once again, without much surprise, Beirut has voted against a resolution condemning the Iranian regime for repressing protesters and for violating human rights (https://bit.ly/3XlckN6).

As a human being AND as a female Canadian deer born in Beirut, Bambi echoes the title of the Orient Today/L’Orient Le Jour article cited above: How sad to see Lebanon “retaining its place on UN ‘list of shame’ for stance on Iran“.

Shame!

This post is meant to celebrate the International Children’s Day with three beautiful French songs: The first, entitled “Taking A Child By the Hand“, is sub-titled in English. The second melody is about “Children from All Countries“. As for the third song, its title in English could be “Woe To The One Who Hurts a Child“.

Before sharing these songs, Bambi will pause to think of ALL the children around the world, including Canada: those are who are raised in loving homes, enjoying their happy childhood, and those being neglected or abused. Those entering a foster care system, sometimes bouncing from one family to the other. Those who cannot play or go to school, perhaps forced to sell products in the middle of polluted streets, or to go to war. Those who lost their lives, parents, or eyes in surrealistic explosions. Those who have suffered from cholera or are growing up in extreme poverty, refugee camps, or on the streets. Those who died, in front of their parents’ eyes, in illegal migrant boats. Those lacking respect, love, and unable to develop healthy attachment. Those deprived of liberty, dignity, or exploited in one way or another, often forced to grow up too fast. Those at risk of turning to violence, drugs, or fanaticism.

To the kids, whether safe or in danger, to their parents and the caring adults in their lives. To our inner children, as adults, too. Happy International Children’s Day. Long live peace of mind, playfulness, and the joys of childhood… for all and at any age!

It is with deep sadness that Bambi learned of the death of Mr. Nagi Zeidan, a Belgian-Lebanese author, full of curiosity and compassion, who devoted 28 years of his life researching the Jews of his birth country (https://bit.ly/3VchSYt). May his soul rest in peace.

First, Bambi will send her condolences to his spouse in Brussels, family and friends in Lebanon (where he died), Belgium, and literally around the world. Second, she would like to express her gratitude for all the lessons she learned from him, over the past few years, about one of the integral parts of the fabric of Lebanon (i.e. one of its 18 religions). Yes, without his meticulous legacy, the Lebanese society would have continued to miss a meaningful piece of its rich puzzle.

To come back to the sad news from out of Lebanon, Bambi learned from the L’Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3VchSYt) that Mr. Zeidan fell down in his apartment about a month ago. After spending an entire month in the coma, he left our world on the night of November 12-13.

Of note, Mr. Nagi Zeidan’s 2021 book, entitled “Les juifs du Liban” includes the family trees of Lebanese Jews. As for his title “Ami des juifs” [“Friend of the Jews“], he earned it as a passionate and talented specialist of the Jewish community of Lebanon.

Thank you, Mr. Zeidan for your hard work. May your own memory be eternal, precisely like in the drive you had to honour the memory as well as the remaining, tiny community of Lebanese people of Jewish ancestry.

Surprise, dearest “Lilo”. Yes, this post is devoted to you!

Bambi does not know from where to start; she loves you beyond words ❤️.

For her, you are an inspiration at many levels, including spirituality and humanity. Yes, you have a deep faith in both God and goodness in our world. You always seem to find ways to reconnect with hope, even in your country’s darkest days.

You are an inspiring caregiver to your mother as well as to your nephew and niece.

Yes, who needs the official title of motherhood to win its top prize?

You are an uplifting educator and a great teacher with a scientific mindset.

You are also a creative entrepreneur skilled in sales.

You are a beloved cousin surely not just to Bambi, but also to all your larger family.

All in all, you are a beautiful woman and a human being.

Bambi thanks you for existing while wishing you a wonderful birthday!

From the Montreal Gazette (https://bit.ly/3Gv4FWM), Bambi just learned that Mr. Jean Lapointe left our world at the age of 86. He was a spouse, a father, a grandfather, a great Canadian filled with multiple talent. Yes, he was an actor, a song writer, a singer, a Senator even, and, last but not least, the founder of an amazing non-profit addiction treatment centre, La Maison Jean Lapointe. From its website shown below, we can read the following information about this resource:

“La Maison Jean Lapointe is a non-profit addiction treatment centre located in Montreal, Quebec. La Maison is primarily focuses on assisting men and women with drug and alcohol addictions, problem gambling, and family therapy. Their treatment program is typically 3-4 weeks, including detox. They also offer a 12-week aftercare program to prevent relapse. La Maison Jean Lapointe recently received $1.5 million of funding from the Quebenc government to put towards a free youth drug abuse program”.

It is not a secret to anyone that Mr. Lapointe suffered from alcoholism, which was the drive that motivated him to help others overcome their addictions. Indeed, in 1982, he created the great centre shown below (https://bit.ly/3Gv4F).

La Maison Jean Lapointe

Among his achievements, Mr. Lapointe was named an Officer of the Order of Canada (1984). He was also named to the Senate by Mr. Jean Chrétien (2001). Bravo!

Merci/Thank you Mr. Jean Lapointe for your artistic talent and for helping generations of your fellow citizens in coping with addictions. May your memory be eternal. May God comfort your grieving family, colleagues, staff, fans, and loved ones.

To conclude this post, how about the own, unique, voice and beautiful lyrics of Mr. Jean Lapointe himself? Yes, “why don’t we sing together words that look like us while uniting us? Why don’t we sing for life? Why don’t we sing only for love?“

Bambi would like to thank Mr. Jonathan Kay for informing us of the following:

It is getting late on the East Coast now. Bambi is about to go to sleep. This post will be very brief: (1). It will feature and older post on this topic by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté; and (2) once again, it will end with a song honouring the French language in North America. If what we are doing to the latter is not a form of modern “colonization“, to use the word of a relative, what is it then? And what will be the end result of all this linguistic non-sense? Bambi refuses to use this “Newspeak“, whether she lives in France, Lebanon, Québec, New Brunswick, or BC. She prefers to stick to the beautiful French language she started learning at age 3. Yes, she will do so, even if the entire planet, including her birth country, starts writing and speaking French like this.

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Dr. Mathieu Bock Côté: “Inclusive writing attacks the French language” [“L’écriture inclusive agresse la langue française”]

All parents can be so cute with their care for their children, including their adult ones.

Lebanese or Lebanese-Canadian parents, and by extension Canadian parents of Arab descent, are notoriously known to be generous when it comes to food.

If you do not see what Bambi means, here is a funny brief video for you by Mr. Mark Hachem and his spouse/girlfriend. They made Bambi’s day with their sense of humour. OK, they also made her hungry too! “Sahteen” [or Bon Appétit] to them 🙂 !

Bambi adores Mr. Kendji Girac, often featured on her blog. The last time, it was to share his moving French song to his daughter, Emma, as shown further below.

This post is about a new, spiritually oriented song in Spanish. It is called Para Mi Dios. This beautiful Christian chant means “For my God“.

If she may, Bambi would like to dedicate this song-prayer to her childhood friend Bernard. He knows why… She will just remind him of how much she loves him (and his family) ❤️. May “his” God knows how to comfort his heart, she prays from the bottom of her heart.

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You are right Jacinthe, Mr. Kendji Girac’s version of Aznavour’s “La Bohème” is so beautiful!

Ms. Kendji Girac: Is there anything more pure than his love for his baby daughter Eva?

Long live Corsica: Thank you Mr. Kendji Girac and L’Avvinta for having joined your musical forces in “Catena”!

Mr. Kendji Girac & Mr. Claudio Capeo: “Que Dieu me pardonne” [May God forgive me]. Have you heard their beautiful song?

Happy Mothers’ Day to Bambi’s mom and to Lebanon’s mothers!

Good-bye Nawal: With a heavy heart, Bambi stands with your family and friends from the Moncton Lebanese Association

Re-visiting two uplifting songs, one filled with hope in Egyptian Arabic and the other spiritual in French

To all the migrants of the world: The older, recent, and future ones. To their birth places and to their welcoming adoptive countries!

In addition to the birthday of a beloved cousin, today happens to be called “I love to write day“, an initiative of Delaware-based author John Riddle in 2002 (https://bit.ly/3O7Vayk). Thankfully, some love to write and are great at it. So, we can enjoy diving in, travelling through, and learning from all the great books of the world!

However, make no mistake. This day is not about any specific writing like a novel, school assignment, a dissertation, a sermon, and/or a speech. It is meant to be writing for the love of writing, for people of all ages. Writing an email, a greeting card, a love letter, a song, a poem, maybe a grocery list, or anything really. Just writing for the pleasure of writing. This means that down the road, there would be someone reading or listening to the above. Didn’t Molière sarcastically yet elegantly say:

“L’écriture ressemble à la prostitution. D’abord on écrit pour l’amour de la chose, puis pour quelques amis, et à la fin, pour de l’argent” [“Writing resembles prostitution. First one writes for the love of it, then for some friends, and finally for money”].

Of course, there are incredibly smart people in life who do not write or read. Yet, they made a successful living in being skilled at something and with a mindset of an entrepreneur. There are also people who do not enjoy reading in life or find it hard to communicate with others.

Sadly, for all sorts of reasons and contexts, there will always be a few people who would write to harm others without any principle or compassion in their hearts. Yet, there are many more others who make the whole difference by writing with their moral compass in mind; their hearts and souls are not too far behind. Perhaps most importantly, some write in ways to elevate the debate and educate.

Last but not least, some people read or write in one language only, mastering it well. Others write in more than one. They may at times have the impression that they lack words to express themselves. Their brains may even confuse languages when tired, sleepy, jet lagged, or just being silly; a deer may be speaking for herself now :).

Without much philosophy about writing, Bambi will stop here and end this post on a musical note with songs about writing. You may know some of them. Bambi hopes you will enjoy them!