July 1st 2022 - Half-Way

I've had a number of July 1st ideas.  For example,   those whose birthdays are  between Dec 25th and Jan 1st  should celebrate their birthdays on July 1st so that they get a real birthday celebration.  And that given July 1st is half-way through the year, there should be fund-raising festivals on the theme "Christmas in July".   These are based on the days of the year, and not the ceremonial importance of this day as a celebration of nationhood. Canada's "Day" has been contentious throughout our history.    Last year things halted as the many graves at the residential school sites made clear what the colonialists did, and how long colonialist behaviours with residential schools lasted.  Last year there was a call to scale back Canada Day and to cancel Canada Day.   So here we are a year later, with a bit of progress towards resetting our views of history. In April  2022 Ryerson University  was renamed Toronto Metropolitan University.   After reading Egerton Ryerson's biography, my view is that there could be no other course of action.  His role as "father of public education" was so lauded that his other actions were ignored.  They were very significant.  He was a primary architect of the residential school system.  He was persuasive in his writings - supporting converting Indigenous people to Christianity in order to assimilate them.  He wrote that it was "a fact that they could not be civilized".   And much more.  He was prolific in his writings.  We weren't prolific in our readings, being tone deaf to what doesn't match up with a colonialist view.    So I am back to my Christmas in July idea.  Hallmark is already on it.  It starts July 16th with three new movies.  It will feature 24/7 Christmas movies throughout the Fourth of July weekend.  Here are a few of the titles: Sense, Sensibility and Snowmen Dickens of a Holiday Christmas Comes Twice The Santa Stakeout So this isn't a flag picture day.  We've soured a bit on the Canadian Flag when it got conscripted to the Convoy protest.  That is supposed to be underway again today.   So instead, we look at the Christmas scene below - it is an amazing contrast to our colourful summer scenes.

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