A Hundred Years Ago

There are times when looking back a hundred years just for curiosity’s sake uncovers some of the most interesting and intriguing trivia.  That’s how it was that I came across three important things about music that have roots in the year 1912.

The first was that Woody Guthrie, who was born in 1912, was named by his parents after then-President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.  In fact, his given name was Woodrow Wilson Guthrie.  For those of my readers who are too young to remember any of the songs Woody Guthrie wrote, I’d like to say that if you’ve ever sung “This Land Is Your Land” at school, then you’ve sung a Woody Guthrie original.  What most people don’t know about Woody Guthrie is that with his recordings of the early 1940s he always included his own “Copyright Warning” as he called it and his “Copyright Warning” was this:

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern.  Publish it.  Write it.  Sing it.  Swing to it.  Yodel it.  We wrote it; that’s all we wanted to do.

Back in 1912, a jazz and blues music icon was born and his name was Sam John “Lightning” Hopkins.  At the age of 8, he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas and was convinced that his future lay in being a musician.  What most people remember most about his music is that his songs were filled with humourous double entendres and you could always count on hearing introductions that made you laugh long before the song started, even if he did have a sour take on life and love.  It’s easy to see in such songs as “Fast Life Woman” where he sang:

You may see a fast life woman sittin’ round a whiskey joint,
Yes, you know, she’ll be sittin’ there smilin’,
‘Cause she knows some man gonna buy her half a pint,
Take it easy, fast life woman, ’cause you ain’t gon’ live always …

And then there was John Milton Cage Jr. who critics consider to be one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century,  also born in 1912.   He’s best known for his controversial 1952 composition 4′33″.  It’s a singularly odd piece in three movements, all of which are performed without a single note ever being played.   How can this be considered a piece of music?  The composer intended for the sounds heard within that silence to be the piece as opposed to the four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence that most thought the piece was about.  It was, without a doubt, the piece of music that most irritated and delighted audiences insofar as many thought of it as a cop-out while others thought of it as pure genius.

And so, here we are a hundred years after these three musicians were born and each of them is known for something that is uniquely theirs alone.  One has to wonder who is being born this year that will have an impact on society a hundred years from now.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to speculate in years to come as to who those three may be?

American Pickers Sing

Antiques and memorabilia have always been of interest to most people, whether they buy them or visit museums to look at them.  For many people, the House On The Rock in Wisconsin has to be about the most famous American Picker-style museum imaginable.

For almost a decade now, North Americans have been enamoured with reality television and so when I first learned that someone had somehow managed to make a reality show from dumpster diving and barn sailing, I didn’t rush to see how that worked.  I have to say that if it hadn’t been for Thomas suggesting I watch the commercial for this season’s segments, I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the show.  But sometimes advertising and marketing can entice even the most reluctant audience to tune in and this was the case with the ad for American Pickers.

Now maybe it’s because I remember David Naughton being the face on all those Dr. Pepper commercials in the late 70s and into the early 80s, and maybe it’s because I enjoy seeing someone do a great parody of a well-loved and familiar point in time, but regardless of the reason, when Thomas shared the American Picker commercial with me, I was impressed with the attention to detail that had gone into parodying David Naughton.  In some small measure, you could say that Mike Wolfe vaguely resembles David Naughton of days gone by.

For a parody to work well, it has to share many of the same elements as the original it parodies and so I thought I’d dig up the original that’s closest to the American Pickers commercial.  I watched more than a few versions before settling on this one to share with readers.  Listen to the lyrics to see what I mean.

And now let’s watch the American Pickers commercial.

When all is said and done, whoever created this parody knew what he was doing and he knew the market he was hoping to capture.  How do I know that?  Because after watching the commercial, I was intrigued by who these two guys were and although I’d be hard pressed to say that I’m a regular audience member, I can say that whenever I have the time to catch an episode of American Pickers, I’m there.

Maybe it’s time for you to find out if you’re an American Picker fan.  At the very least, you might find out you’re an American Picker commercial fan.  Ad truth be told, I’m looking forward to see what they’ll do to promote the show next season.  Maybe they’ll consider doing something somewhat reminiscent of those Mr. Popeil or K-Tel Records commercials from the mid-70s.  That would be interesting.

A Call To Action

MIC Youth Spokesperson, Lewis Schofield, is a pretty amazing teen. In the past two years, he’s won four major awards for his volunteerism, humanitarianism and advocacy. He has created videos and given presentations to large corporations, organizations, non-profits, charities, service groups, at colleges and universities and more, to help people better understand that not one of us is defined by disabilities. Disabilities may set the parameters under which one lives life but it’s the person who determines who they are and how they walk through life.

On Friday, December 2, 2011 Lewis was named one of the Top Ten finalists in the Blackstone Role Model Contest as chosen by the Producers of Blackstone Cycle II. Lewis’ first thought was that being nominated would help raise awareness of the abilities and talents of other kids like him who are living with life-threatening medical conditions. When he found out that Blackstone would donate $500 to a charity chosen by the winner, he knew that he would want the money to go to Make-A-Wish if he won.

What makes Lewis unique is that he defaults to, “If I win, how can I make this win help others?” when most others default to, “What’s in it for me?”

Lewis decided to film a video to help others understand how much it would mean to him if he won the Blackstone Role Model Contest.

To vote for Lewis, log into your Facebook account. Go to “Blackstone The Series” all in lower caps and one word. On the left hand side of the Blackstone Wall, click on PHOTOS. Once the photo albums are displayed, click on ROLE MODEL CONTEST 10 FINALISTS. Click on the FIFTH one in the list to read Lewis’ bio. Scroll down to the bottom of the bio and click LIKE on the bottom left hand corner. Voters can also leave comments in the comment section below.

Voting closes on Wednesday, December 14th at noon MST.

Lewis and the MIC volunteers are hoping that on Thursday, December 15th Lewis is going to find himself on the phone sharing even more good news with Make-A-Wish Executive Director, Jennifer Ritter. We’re hoping that MIC readers and visitors will not only vote for Lewis, they will share Lewis’ story with their online friends and family and urge them to vote for Lewis as well.

After all, this is what it looks like when one person works hard to Make It Count and in this instance, the “it” is trying to secure a $500 donation for a non-profit organization that grants wishes to children living with life-threatening medical conditions.

Elyse Bruce
Founder and Creator
MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Every Day

Reprinted with permission from the MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO blog
http://www.midnightinchicago.wordpress.com

Black Friday is a tradition in America. It’s the day after American Thanksgiving and signals the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It’s the day that many Americans will camp out for hours on the doorstep of many Macy’s stores across the nation, in anticipation of the minute when the doors are unlocked and shopping formally begins.

Macy’s has 810 stores and this year, they partnered with teen singing sensation, Justin Beiber, to sell his Someday Special Fragrance set comprised of 1.7 ounces of fragrance spray, a poster and his Christmas CD for $64.

$2 donated to Make-A-Wish with purchase of Justin Beiber's $64 gift set

It was loudly trumpeted that $2 from each sale – up to $100,000 – would be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

At the Herald Square store in New York City, 900 Justin Beiber Someday fragrance sets were sold out in the space of two hours for a total donation of $1,800 to Make-A-Wish from that particular store. On average, that left each of the other stores to sell 60 or 61 sets to achieve the $100,000 maximum donation amount set by Macy’s on Justin Beiber’s Someday Fragrance set.

On YouTube, the Macy’s commercial registered almost 2.3 million hits. BestofJBieber, clevverTV, lordius27, 2009ableJR, alltvworld, JustinBeiberZone and justinbnewscom combined reposted the commercial and garnered another 0.7 million hits. And, of course, there were countless others YouTubers who reposted and tweeted and social media LIKED the commercial. At that rate, it’s not hard to believe that each store could sell an average of 61 fragrance sets on Black Friday to meet the $100,000 maximum donation to Make-A-Wish.

Over on eventful.com, the top five cities in the US clamouring for a concert by Justin Beiber are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas/Fort Worth with a combined plea from almost 36,000 for him to show up in their city. If every fan in those five cities who are begging for Justin Beiber to perform live and in concert in their city bought a fragrance set, between Macy’s Herald Square and those fans, nearly $80,000 would be raised for Make-A-Wish from that particular fundraiser.

When you have that kind of reach into the pockets of America’s youth, that’s pretty awesome. I can’t imagine the event not having raised the maximum $100,000 for Make-A-Wish.

But I’d like to talk about another teen who is not nearly as well-known as Justin Beiber. He’s also raising money for Make-A-Wish and his name is Lewis “Codeboy” Schofield.

You see, unlike Justin Beiber, he’s donating 20% — and not 3% — from the sale of his Special Limited Edition print “A Sunday Afternoon Stroll In The Park” to Make-A-Wish. And unlike Justin Beiber, he knows first-hand what it’s like to live every single day of his life with a life-threatening medical condition. Lewis lives with Myasthenia Gravis (an incurable life-threatening neuromuscular autoimmune disease that strikes 2 in 1 million kids), Asperger Syndrome (an autism spectrum disorder), a bilateral congenital kidney defect and a raft of other not-as-serious-as-the-first-three diagnoses. Because of this, he knows how important dreams and wishes are.

While Justin Beiber is living his dream, Lewis Schofield is living his wish to see money raised for Make-A-Wish so other children like him who are also living with life-threatening medical conditions can have their wishes granted.

$10 donated to Make-A-Wish with purchase of Lewis' $50 Limited Edition Print

Lewis “Codeboy” Schofield’s Dancing In Dreamtime project is more than just the beautiful Special Limited Edition print. It’s also a CD entitled, “Dreamtime” by recording artist Elyse Bruce where 20% from the sale and downloads of the CD are donated to Make-A-Wish. It’s also a dance performance in the Spring of 2012 that will see the proceeds from the performance donated to Make-A-Wish. And yes, Lewis’ project is underwritten by people who love and support him and what he does to make this world a better place in which to live.

If you’d like to help Lewis raise money to help Make-A-Wish grant wishes to kids living with life-threatening medical conditions, here’s what you can do.

You can purchase a print for $50.00 plus shipping and handling and see $10 from that sale donated to Make-A-Wish.

LINK: A Sunday Afternoon Stroll Under The Sea

You can purchase a CD for $14.99 plus shipping and handling and see $3 from that sale donated to Make-A-Wish.

LINK: www.indiepool.com/EB2011CD1

You can download a CD for $9.99 inclusive and see $2 from that download donated to Make-A-Wish.

LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dreamtime/id460917628

You can listen to selections from the CD at Elyse Bruce’s page at Reverb Nation by clicking HERE.

And you can share this blog article with as many people as possible to help spread the word.

Lewis “Codeboy” Schofield may not be as famous or as recognized as Justin Beiber, but his fundraiser means everything to him. This is his special wish and he hopes others will make his wish come true so that others can benefit. Won’t you help make his wish come true? Won’t you help make it count?

Truth In Advertising

Click on images to open in a separate window.

Over the years, I have met and done business with a number of entrepreneurs, businesses, non-profit organizations, charities and corporations and over the years, I have sometimes stepped back from a potential project partner because I don’t agree with how thinly the truth is sliced.  Sometimes, the truth has been completely excised in the retelling of the past which certainly validates why I stepped back from the partnership in the first place.

Recently, I was sent a copy of a newsletter from a small business that showcases exactly what I mean by slicing the truth very thinly in order to leave an impression other than what is accurate.   The paragraph in the newsletter that caught my eye was this:
Now, it sounds laudable that a small business found itself in the enviable position that they were “unable to accept the offer” of money from the Federal government.  Surely, this must mean that business is going very well and they have no need for the money they originally applied to receive from the Federal government. 

The truth of the matter, however, isn’t that the small business didn’t need the money from the Federal government but rather that it was unable to secure what the government requested in order for the government to release funds to the small business.   In fact, this is exactly what the small business stated on their blog site in February 2011.

The story to which the comment refers was a news story on CBC Television that stated that a very small percentage of businesses that are advised they are eligible for funding such as the small business had applied, are unable to access those funds because they are unable to meet the terms of the agreement.  This small business happened to be one of those small businesses that was unable to meet the terms of the agreement.  No one other than the small business is to blame when this happens.  In fact, even the owners of the small business originally stated that it was their inability to secure bank financing that led to losing the subsidy from the Federal government:

What’s odd about the media release, however, is this additional comment where the small business began to pave the way to blame the Federal government for the small business’ inability to secure the required points in the terms of agreement between the business and the government’s Action Plan.

If conventional banks were unwilling to provide a loan to the small business — and trust me when I say that the small business VP posted on various social media networks that they had tried a number of conventional banks, all of them without success — then the terms of agreement could not be met by the small business.  Obviously, the Federal government is not to blame for a business’ inability to meet reasonable terms that are met by nearly all other businesses that are approved for monies from the program.

In an attempt to raise $130,000 CDN, the small business decided it would be a wise business move to offer the government’s Action Plan for sale on eBay.  It didn’t sell.

There are a number of reasons why a conventional bank is unwilling to extend a business loan to a small business.  Sometimes it’s because the business isn’t established; sometimes it’s because the revenues don’t justify making a bank loan.  And sometimes, it’s questionable business practices that leave the bank feeling uneasy about loaning out their depositors’ money to business that admit to such thing as “creative” accounting.

And so, we can see that for the small business to claim in November 2011 that they were ”unable to accept the offer” of money from the Federal government which implies they didn’t need the money when the fact is that they were unable to secure their end of the funding from a conventional bank really says a lot about the small business.  It certainly makes one question how trustworthy the business owners are and it makes one question how ethical or moral they may or may not be.

Yes, there are many reasons to step back and take a closer look at some potential partners with whom one may want to partner on a particular project.  But if you take the time to watch how they conduct themselves, the truth in advertising will soon be seen.

Trick Or Treat Follow-Up

A week ago, little ghouls and goblins were making their way from door to door, begging for candy.  Over the years, Hallowe’en has been one of my favourite traditions.  I shy away from using the word holiday because it isn’t really a holiday in the true sense of the word.  But as a tradition, it certainly holds a special place in the hearts of most people in North America.

Unfortunately, over the years, more and more of the older kids have taken to throwing on any rag-tag assortment of odds and ends, called it a costume and made the rounds of the best neighbourhoods in search of booty.  Heaven help the home owners who dare ask them what they’re supposed to be or question those 14 and 15 year olds if they aren’t just a little too old to be trick or treating. 

Of course, it oftentimes begins with parents who, when those teens are much younger, have words with home owners for giving out what the parents feel is a substandard treat.  Truth be told, I don’t remember any rules or regulations about what kinds of treats are acceptable and how much has to be given to each child who rings your doorbell.

Years ago, when I was a member of the “under 12 years of age” brigade, I remember finding some interesting albeit odd finds in my own goodies bag including a couple of toothbrushes, a comic book, a can of pop and a homemade chocolate chip muffin wrapped in plastic with a note attached inviting me and my family to attend Sunday worship the following weekend.  And even though those items were definitely unexpected surprises, they were accepted at face value.  That’s what the people at those homes gave out that year.

Some houses, of course, went dark and I and my friends assumed that the home owners had run out of candy.  We were jealous of those who had made it to those homes before they went dark for surely whatever they were handing out was superlative to the regular fare most home owners were handing out, we reasoned.

In Oshawa, last week, one home owner wasn’t home that night and he returned home to a rather interesting trick left for him because there hadn’t been anyone  to hand out treats to the kids on All Hallow’s Eve.  It was a note, purportedly written by the “children of the hood” however it is much more likely it was written by the “parent of at least one of the children in the hood.” 

Hallowe’en is a tradition; it’s not a law.  No one has to give out candy to children for any reason any day of the year including on Hallowe’en.  Obviously someone thought differently since they wrote and delivered such a note to a neighbour. 

Kudos to the recipient of the letter for not bowing down to pressure, buying candy and delivering it to the “children in the hood” this past weekend to satisfy their overblown sense of entitlement.  Instead, he had a little treat of his own for whoever wrote that letter and he posted it on Kijiji along with a snapshot of the original letter.  His reaction was to post a note to the author or authors of the note that read:

Dear Children of Entitlement (and likely their parents):

Thank you for leaving this note in my mailbox.  You have gone ahead and reminded me of why I do not want children, and why I weep for the future.   For your information, I was not home on Halloween, and therefore was not available to hand out candy. 

Also, I have gone out and bought a ridiculous amount of candy, and I intend to spend an entire day on my deck Saturday, eating them all with my friends.   I invite you to come over and enjoy watching us eat these, and possibly make yourself useful cleaning up the wrappers. 

I hope the home owner and his friends had a great time on the deck on Saturday.  The weather was a beautiful, warm autumn day …  a perfect day for hanging out with friends in the comfort of one’s own backyard.

I suppose it could have been worse.  The “children of the hood” could have easily vandalized his house instead of writing him a letter.  Then again, extortion isn’t a very nice way of dealing with disappointment either now, is it?  No, I didn’t think so.

It does, however, beg the question:  Did Miss Toby hand out candied apples because she enjoyed making them for the “children of the hood” or did she do it because she felt intimidated every year by some of the “children of the hood?”  It’s a very good question that only Miss Toby can answer.  Let’s hope her reason leans more towards the former than the latter.

Truth or Consequences: The Facts About Unicorns

In my professional life as well as in my personal life, I have met more than a few business people from CEO’s of large corporations to industrious entrepreneurs and quite a few who fall between the two extremes.  The ones I have chosen to associate with are those who make a habit of being honest, straight forward and trustworthy.  There’s a reason for this.  You see, when someone makes a habit of being honest, straight forward and trustworthy, the expectation they place on those with whom they work or associate is that they will be honest, straight forward and trustworthy as well.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a lie as follows:  to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.  Now some people will justify certain lies with disclaimers.  They will say that a little white lie that spares someone’s feelings isn’t really a lie since you’re doing it for a good reason.  The problem with that justification is that it really doesn’t spare anyone’s feelings.  Once the little white lie is found out, the person to whom the little white lie was told will feel betrayed.  The person who told the little white lie when it’s found it will be labeled a liar.  That makes for two people who are immediately hurt by a supposedly harmless white lie. 

There are those who will say that I am correct with this assertion but it’s only correct if the little white lie is found out.  To those people I would like to point out that a lie – even a little white lie – thrives on destruction when it survives in secrecy.  And so to claim that the secrecy of a little white lie means the lie hurts no one gives a false sense of security to those who engage in telling little white lies from time to time.

Again, there are those who will say that telling the truth could cause untold emotional pain to the person hearing the truth.  Once again, I would like to point out that telling the truth doesn’t have to be done in a ruthless and uncaring way.  Being gentle with hard truths is not lying.  Being gentle with hard truths means you’re allowing time for the other party to process the information as it is being delivered.

Now Webster’s Dictionary also provides a secondary definition for lying:  to create a false or misleading impression.

Over the past few days, I learned that an entrepreneur I have met on occasion has been creating a false and misleading impression about his previous employment.  I was surprised as it always surprises me when I learn that someone in business makes use of false and misleading impressions to get ahead in the world.  For some, the misinformation on this person’s curriculum vitae may seem innocuous for the most part.  After all, how much difference is there between stating that one was an Executive Director of a well-known local college sometime between 2008 and 2010 and the more exact truth which is that this person was actually the Acting Executive Director of the Advancement and Alumni Department for a six-month period?

The difference is that one expects more from an Executive Director of a well-known local college over an implied 2 year period in terms of responsibilities, abilities, skills et al than what one expects of an Acting Executive Director for a department over an exact six-month period.  When someone is willing to lie in this way, it makes honest, straight forward and trustworthy people question what else such a person has lied about in the past and what else such a person will lie about going forward.

Regardless of whether one tells an outright lie, a lie of omission, a lie of speaking truth by technicality (also known as a splitting hairs), a little white lie, a lie of repeatedly and purposely under-promising to be able to over-deliver, or any other kind of lie that hasn’t been mentioned here, a lie is a poor way to do business.

Now what do lies have to do with unicorns you may ask?  Unicorns – whether you believe in them or not – are rarely seen.  Likewise, for those who rely on lies to get them to where they hope they are going in life, the truth is also rarely seen.  When the truth does show up, the liar insists to those around him (or her) that they’re imagining things and he (or she) redoubles his (or her) efforts to convince those around him (or her) that the lie is real.

Do not be fooled by such people.  The unicorn will show up when it’s least expected.  The truth always wins out in the end.  So ask yourself this question:  Isn’t it better to know what kind of person you’re doing business with by doing a little research than to unknowingly buy into someone’s lies that will only hurt you in the short-term and in the long-term?

Bell Curve Expectations

With the growing trend for musicians, singer-songwriters, arrangers, producers, recording artists, composers et al to go Indie over the past decade, there has been an explosion of online sites to help those in the music industry to market and brand themselves to buyers and end-users.   While the pages on these sites aren’t websites, they provide a common starting point from which to find all sorts of industry people in pretty much any musical genre imaginable.

But there’s a problem with places like this and the problem is that they create them with bell curve expectations and penalize those who aren’t bell curve for any number of reasons.

For most music people in the industry, the profile checklist on such community websites is accurate and invaluable:  profile picture, music, band members, artist bio, social media networking site linkage, sync status updates, band profile, fan reach, press items, tour date, online store, create widgets for other websites, blog, et al.  If you fill in all the blanks on the checklist, your page is listed as 100% complete.

Now consider this.  What if you’re an arranger or producer or both?  You won’t be able to complete the page to 100% status for a few reasons with the top two being:  you aren’t touring and there aren’t any members of a band to identify.  Awkward, as my son would say.

And what do you make of the promotional checklist?  Sure the site suggests you create your own mobile app, launch a street team, use Facebook apps, use widgets, develop an online press kit, create banners and tune packs, and more in order to confirm promotional checklist 100% status.  The problem with that is that an arranger or producer isn’t really going to need to complete everything on the promotional checklist.  That means that someone checking out their pages is going to be left with the impression that the arranger or producer may not all that and a bag of chips, if you’ll pardon a very old expression from the very early 90s.

You see, not everyone needs to have their very own mobile phone app.  And no everyone needs to gather what’s euphemistically referred to as fan intelligence.  And not everyone can — or wants to — gig. 

Now, I’m not saying that these websites are bad things for people in the industry.  Au contraire (that’s French for ‘Woah Nelly’), my friend.  I think such websites are indispensable on so many levels.  What I’m objecting to is the stereotyping the programmers and website owners appear to have about who uses their services.

Those who make use of such websites are buyers as well and let me assure you, the fastest way to alienate or put your customer on alert is to insist that they do what you tell them to do or they won’t get promised goodies everyone else is getting by completing everything they’re told to complete.

Some of the promotional checklist must-do’s on some of the websites include singing up for services that will charge a reduced fee to those websites’ users.  If the user doesn’t complete that step and make use of the reduced-fee service offered, the user hasn’t got a hope in this lifetime of ever seeing “100% complete” on their promotional checklist.

It’s more than a little ironic that an industry that is built on the individuality of the person is the one most hyper-focused on homogenizing its end users.  Maybe someday website owners and programmers will come to the realization that the music industry isn’t a one-size-fits-all sort of thing and as such, one can’t approach the needs of the industry with bell-curve expectations.

Direct Marketing Via Hacking

Earlier today, the media reported that flashing road signs in Winnipeg had been altered from “Be Alert For Deer” to “Slow The F*** Down.”  Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) said they had no idea how the signs had been hacked, and law enforcement is now searching for the person or persons responsible for hacking these signs.

Now the Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) would like people to believe that hacking these signs requires a fair bit of specialized knowledge to be successful with the attempt, but the truth of the matter is that, with a few key words plugged into a browser, there are a number of sites that claim it can be done by anyone, even your grandmother.

It would appear there’s a major design flaw where, even if the password to the sign has been changed by employees to something super secret, a low level hacker can push a couple of buttons and reset the sign to have a very simple password and voila! the hacker is in the system.  Once in the system, supposedly the programming is as easy as texting friends.

From time to time, the media will run a story on some of the funny sayings that have replaced serious and important messages on flashing signs.  They range from “you’ll never get to work on time” to “prepare to be annoyed.” Not that long ago there was a news story about a flashing road sign that alerted to motorists to the fact that there were “Zombies Ahead!”

That’s all very humourous but the fact of the matter is that no matter how humourous those messages may be, a very serious important message had to be removed to make way for the anonymous comedy routine.  And that brings me to this point: just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Over the years, this is something that Reni Barlow, Executive Director of Youth Science Canada, has believed in.  Of course, back in the day when he was teaching computer classes in middle school in the late 1980s, he was referring to desktop publishing but his point of view hasn’t changed over the years as free software becomes part of mainstream internet technology these days.

British poet and historian, Thomas Babington Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) said, “The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.” 

And that’s my point.  While it may be great fun to change those flashing signs to say all sorts of hilarious things to amuse motorists driving past first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon, the bottom line is that it’s more important to leave messages on flashing signs as they are. 

It doesn’t matter if someone can get away with altering the message.  What matters is knowing that the message matters just the way it is.  So while I have to admit that whoever reprogrammed the flashing sign in Winnipeg to read “Slow The F*** Down” certainly knew how to get his audience’s attention,  the sign was perfectly fine as it was when it warned motorists to “Be Alert For Deer.”

Canadian Turkeys and American Turkeys

Back in the day, when the Puritans landed in Massachusetts in 1620, they were ill-prepared to survive the harsh winter.  Maybe they would have had a better chance of making it through the winter with fewer challenges had they arrived earlier, but they set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620 when the ground was already long frozen and the animals were either hibernating or had migrated.

By the time spring of 1621 finally arrived, half the colony had died due to inadequate food supplies, strenuous work, harsh weather and sickness.  The Wampanoag tribe found them in terrible condition and shared what they knew about catching fish, planting crops, hunting, foraging and more to help them settle in their new-found home.  All this effort led to a harvest in the fall and Governor William Bradford declared a three-day celebration that Americans refer to these days as the first Thanksgiving.

Years later, on November 26, 1789, George Washington issued a general proclamation stating that the following November 26 would be a day of celebration to “unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation.”

In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln was President, he proclaimed that the last Thursday in November would be recognized as “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficient Father.”  For 75 years after that proclamation, each year the President of the United States would make a formal proclamation that the last Thursday in November was Thanksgiving Day.  However, in 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to proclaim that the second last Thursday in November of that year was to be recognized as Thanksgiving Day.  Two years later in 1941, Congress made it official: Thanksgiving Day was to always be the fourth Thursday in November.

But you know, Canadians have their own history and their own way of doing things.  English explorer, Martin Frobisher, was trying to find a northern passage to the Orient but instead, found himself establishing a settlement in Newfoundland.  And so it was that in 1578, he held a formal ceremony to give thanks to God for surviving the long journey from England to Newfoundland.

Not to be outdone, the French under the direction of Samuel de Champlain arrived in Quebec and held huge feasts of thanks every year when the harvest was done.  They even formed “The Order Of Good Cheer” and invited their Aboriginal allies to come celebrate with them.

In 1879, Parliament declared November 6 as Thanksgiving Day however, over the years, many dates were used for Thanksgiving Day with the most popular one being the third Monday in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving Day were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11th occurred until 1931 when it was determined that both these holidays should have their own day of celebration.

On January 31, 1957, Parliament proclaimed that “a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed” would be observed on the second Monday in October.

However, long before the American Thanksgiving Day and the Canadian Thanksgiving Day, First Nations people in North America had their own thanksgiving celebrations.  The difference was that they didn’t mark just one day of the year off as Thanksgiving Day.  The reason for this is because the concept of setting one day aside for giving thanks diminishes the fact that every day is a day of Thanksgiving.

As for the Wampanoag, ask them how the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock thanked them for helping them in 1621 when they found them.  You’ll hear stories of how the Puritans stole wheat and bean supplies from the Wampanoag, sold the Wampanoag as slaves and worse.  But historians don’t want to hear that version of what happened between the colonists and the Wampanoag.

You see, the Puritans struggled with the concept of good agricultural management.  With help from the Wampanoag, the pilgrims were able to produce 20 acres of corn.  The Wampanoag routinely brought food to the Pilgrims, realizing that they were not doing very well on their own.  In other words, this was the first Welfare system established in America.  On the first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoag brough duck, geese, venison, deer and grains to the pilgrims to help build up their stores for the coming winter.

Even with the generosity offered by the Wampanoag, they found that their new neighbours were hostile towards them and routinely subjected them to robbery, enslavement and murder.  Notes in Governor William Bradford’s journals attest to the manner in which First Nations people were treated and were to be treated.  In time word spread and the pilgrims were known to the Indians of Massachusetts by the name “Wotowquenange” which roughly translates into “cutthroats and stabbers.”

Even European historians such as Roger Williams wrote of the Indian wars that were “far less bloody and devouring than the cruel wars of Europe.”  Captain John Mason ridiculed Indian warfare by calling it feeble and “hardly deserving the name of fighting.”  John Underhill wrote in his journal that the Indian warfare was not “to conquer and subdue enemies.”

In the first 10 years of colonization in Massachusetts, the Indian population fell from 24,000 to less than 750 while European settlers grew from 0 to 12,000.

This year, as Canadian Thanksgiving draws to a close and American Thanksgiving is nigh, remember the history of this celebration in both countries.  Remember that what you were taught in school about Thanksgiving left some of the most important details out.  Remember that true Thanksgiving should be about thanking God for all that He has given you.

For more information on what really happened at Plymouth Rock, read “The Hidden History of Massachusetts: A Guide for Black Folks” by Dr. Tingba Apidta (ISBN 0-9714462-0-2).

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