Bambi's Thoughts
Bambi would like to start by thanking her friend Mary for sharing a wonderful thought that someone shared with her earlier. She had fun with both Mary and Mounir in translating those beautiful Arabic words into English as follows:
“Between breaking hearts and gaining hearts, there is a fine line called the art of communication“.
Bambi hopes you enjoyed the above. May we all learn how to gain people’s hearts, with our own loving hearts, along with our genuine words expressed with kindness.
The Lebanese basketball team will play today in the final against the very strong Australian team! Bravo!! All the best!
Yesterday, the Lebanese national team won over Jordan, another great team, by one point only. What a beautiful game! Thank you and bravo! (https://www.arabnews.com/node/2128081/sport).
Earlier, Lebanon won against India and New Zealand, imagine?
What will happen today? Bambi sends her warmest best wishes to her birth country’s team. Regardless of the outcome, the Lebanese basketball team members have demonstrated that they are already the champions!
If you are not convinced by the above assessment, just think of the living conditions these players, and their trainers, have been preparing themselves in. We are talking about a bankrupt country drowning under systemic corruption yet full of talent and of wonderful people who deserve a better country. We are talking about a shocking hyperinflation with sad and unacceptable daily power outages. We are talking about a country with much political shenanigans, paralysis, and a total lack of accountability for Ponzi schemes and explosions.
So, what do you think of these athletes after the reminder above? Do you agree with Bambi that they are the champions? Of course, Bambi is saying so with the utmost respect for the forthcoming FIBA Asia cup champions, Australia or Lebanon! Good luck to both countries.
Zum Geburstag viel Glück liebe Fatma ?! Yes, Happy Birthday to you ?!
Bambi thanks you for reading her blog and for taking the time to comment in different languages. You even understand the essence of French songs :)!
Before concluding this post with your two birthday songs in German and Arabic respectively, Bambi sends you her love across the miles ?! If she may, she will add that you should be commended for who you are (i.e., your uniqueness and humanity) AND for being a devoted mother. Yes, bravo for having raised a wonderful and much talented daughter!
Indeed, is there anything more precious in life than seeing our young adult children with roots (i.e., deep connections with their ancestry) ALONG with efficient wings to freely and responsibly fly as far/high as they aspire to? May your – and her- forthcoming year/s be filled with Love, Happiness, Health, Continuous Success, Peace of Mind, and dreams/projects to enjoy!
Bambi would like to thank all her kind readers who informed her about the blog’s technical issue. Many thanks to those caring readers who tried to help. This being said, the biggest thank you goes to Louis :)!
Bambi would like to wish her cousin Joumana a wonderful birthday! ❤️
As their maid of honour (about 25 years ago), Bambi is eager to wish Rania and Rabih heartfelt happy wedding anniversary wishes! ❤️❤️. Rabih, thank God you survived the surrealistic (and unacceptable!) Beirut port explosion; Rania thanks for being Bambi’s loving and beloved sister ❤️.
Indeed, there is nothing like caring family members or friends in life. Bambi is blessed in so many ways with both of these blessings. Once again, all the best Joumana, Rania and Rabih. Have fun!
Bambi is a fan of Ms. Wendy El Hage! She has always known that she is very smart and beautiful both from the inside and out. One must also add that she is like a blooming flower with an old soul, so to speak, in terms of her inspiring maturity even at her young age.
Yesterday, Bambi discovered Ms. El Hage’s incredibly beautiful voice and she has been deeply moved by it. She also discovered her blog and writing in both English and Arabic (perhaps in French too?). She is still speechless. You can see her blog in the language of Shakespeare. For those of you who understand the Arabic language, you can read two of her poems below.
Thank you, Ms. Wendy El Hage, for being uniquely yourself and for your beautiful values. Bambi is proud to call you a relative and… a friend 🙂 ❤️. She will take the opportunity to add, if she may, bravo to your parents for raising their talented children the way they did. Please keep singing and writing. However, most importantly, please keep being who you are!
https://www.instagram.com/diwanybywendy/
Bambi would like to thank the multi-talented Pat from Montreal (Québec) for his superb pictures, which he kindly accepted to share with all of you. She is honoured by his generosity.
Bambi looks forward to a future interview-post devoted to Pat’s health-related professional talent :). Please stay tuned… but until then she hopes you will enjoy Lebanon’s beauty through his eyes!
Rania, Bambi is guilty of not asking you for the permission to post your beautiful picture on her blog as this post is meant to be a surprise :). Thanks for capturing the magical sunset moment in Beirut and for sharing it with your sister.
As for Beirut, what can we say about this unique place? It is surely full of CHARM but also of contrasts: As you can see, its sunrises and sunsets are two beautiful sides of the same coin of a stunning masterpiece. Its people are beautiful and sweet. Sadly, they have been struggling with their country’s multiple crises. How sad to see their Lebanon moving backward at a scary speed. In addition to a financial crash followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been devastating after-effects of a surrealistic port explosion, which remains unaccountable. As a result, there are unacceptable increasing power outages. The latter are a daily struggle in a tough winter, like the past one, and especially in hot and humid summers, along the coast.
To conclude this post, Bambi will say the following: bravo Rania for your talent and thank you Beirut for remaining beautiful. If she may, Bambi would like to offer Lebanon’s capital two songs: The first one in Arabic, subtitled in English, by the talented Mr. Ragheb Alama. As for the second French one, it is by the great Mr. Enrico Macias.
Yesterday eve, before closing her eyes to sleep, Bambi read about the deficit in Canada since 2020, about $410B (https://financialpost.com/opinion/franco-terrazzano-nothing-prudent-about-trudeau-governments-budgeting). Of course, the pandemic did not help, like in other countries, but the trend of overspending and deficit preceded the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pandemic or not, in times of ever increasing deficit, who needs useless and highly expensive bureaucratic positions in our federally regulated museums, in the name of an ideology called “diversity and inclusion”?
Indeed, thanks to Ms. Sophie Durocher for her thoughtful article on the topic that Bambi will translate for you below. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to put more funding and energy into increasing the capacity in the federal government’s Passport Office (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/04/have-a-seat-canada-looks-to-ease-passport-lineup-crisis-with-801-new-chairs-00043927; https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2022/06/27/des-passeports-qui-ne-passent-pas) or into something concretely needed?
Anyhow, Bambi will stop here in order to translate Ms. Sophie Durocher’s article for you, with the help of her friend “Google Translate“. Her thoughtful article, published in the Journal de Montréal, is entitled “The Anti-racist Museum” [“Le musée anti-raciste“] (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2022/07/20/le-musee-antiraciste).
“I often tell you that “Diversity pays off”. I regularly talk to you about these highly paid positions, in the direction of diversity and inclusion, in the cultural sector (Telefilm, NFB, Radio-Canada, etc.). Well, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), a federal Crown corporation, has just opened up a vacancy…and it takes the cake in terms of woke gibberish.
THE RETURN OF THE JEDI
On July 14, the NGC opened a position of “Director, Anti-Racism and Inclusion” which will report to the “Chief Strategy and Inclusion Officer” within the “Strategic Transformation and Inclusion Department”. But what will this job that requires 37 hours of work per week consist of?
“To support the preparation and implementation of the NGC’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (JEDI&A) Action Plan focused on eliminating racism and oppression “. Damn! The oppression! In 2022, in the world of museums, there is not only racism… but oppression!
But beware! That’s not all! Don’t think that our future “Director, Anti-Racism and Inclusion”, reporting to the “Chief Strategy and Inclusion Officer”, is going to twiddle their thumbs. He or she “must also work as part of the team responsible for implementing the NGC’s accessibility framework and collaborate with the Indigenous Pathways and Decolonization division. This collaboration should serve as a model of inclusive practice by adopting an intersectional lens.”
He or she won’t twiddle their thumbs, I’ll pass you a note. He or she “must also focus on eliminating systemic racism by determining meaningful actions that address all barriers and disadvantages.” We can say that he/she will have the work cut out, ladies and gentlemen! “This Director’s duties include, but are not limited to, developing organizational strategies, systems, programs, metrics, education sessions and training workshops.”
Training workshops? Sure ! This is why in the qualities and experience required for the position, it is specified that “having experience in training trainers is an asset”.
To complete the task, “in collaboration with senior management and various others, the incumbent must support and inform the decision-making process in order to improve and strengthen an anti-racism culture based on the principles of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and cultural change”.
Don’t think that we’re going to hire just anyone for this strategic, and let me say neuralgic, position!
It takes someone who has “an excellent understanding of theories and practices of anti-oppression, decolonization, anti-racism, intersectionality, or of intersectional feminism; 7 to 10 years of experience with them; and the ability to put knowledge into practice.
Have you noticed ? This is a job offer for the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), the largest collection of works of art in the country. But nothing in the offer speaks of art knowledge…
IT PAYS OFF!
Will you be the rare pearl? You will have “a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package”. Competitive is an understatement. This position is paid from $90,961 to $123,067 per year. Oh yes. Our director should not be a victim of oppression”.
“C’est dans les choses simples que la vie prend tout son sens” [It’s in the simple things that life makes sense]. The latter is part of the simple yet deep lyrics of Mr. Nicola Ciccone’s beautiful song. Many thanks to this great artist from Québec for his inspiring talent, wisdom, sensitivity, humanity, and authenticity (https://www.nicolaciccone.com/).
He probably does not remember it, but Bambi is proud to have had the opportunity to sit next to Mr. Ciccone in one of her courses and to have had him as a peer in graduate school. She will always remember his genuine character and kind soul. She hopes he is happy in his life. If she may, she would like to thank him for spreading happiness and love to his broad audience, including women. Indeed, his compositions (both lyrics and music) are a richness into our lives and a pleasure to our ears :). We all love you Nicola Ciccone. Please keep singing and being productive!
