The Poetry of Arthur Vaso

Thank you, Merci to all our Heroes!

5/18/2020

37 Comments

 
We have made a page to show off and thank all of our front line healthcare workers, nurses and staff here in Quebec, but also to thank all of you worldwide. You are appreciated. Below is a link to our Covid page!
 
Nous avons fait une page pour montrer et remercier tous nos travailleurs de la santé de première ligne, nos infirmières et notre personnel ici au Québec, mais aussi pour vous remercier dans le monde entier. Tu es apprécié. Ci-dessous un lien vers notre page Covid!

Art by Cathy Sorich, USA
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Covid19 Page
Art by Combo Culture Kidnapper, France
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Hemos creado una página para mostrar y agradecer a todos nuestros trabajadores de atención médica, enfermeras y personal de primera línea aquí en Quebec, pero también para agradecerles a todos ustedes en todo el mundo. Eres apreciado. ¡A continuación hay un enlace a nuestra página de Covid!
 
Gumawa kami ng isang pahina upang maipakita at pasalamatan ang lahat ng aming mga trabahador sa pangangalaga sa kalusugan ng linya, mga nars at kawani dito sa Quebec, ngunit din pasalamatan kayong lahat sa buong mundo. Pinapahalagahan ka. Sa ibaba ay isang link sa aming pahina ng Covid!



N'oubliez pas, envoyez-nous vos photos et sourires, nous ajouterons à la page Web que nous recevons.

Rememeber, send us your photos and smiles, we will be adding to web page as we receive.

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Testing new shields for Nurse's or Darth Vader!
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37 Comments

Old Man Trump - Woody Guthrie

11/21/2018

18 Comments

 
There is enough said about Donald Trump, he is a Traitor for one, a self centered, narcissist son of a bitch to be blunt. He has the education of cockroach with a lobotomy, on crack. Ask me how I really feel? He is also without any doubt a criminal, who has robbed and defrauded many, he just hasn't been convicted yet. A conman without any doubt. However his racism, his abuse of women, his abuse of the weak and his abuse of veterans and mentally handicapped is beyond the pail. Not to mention his anti-gay gender views.

How does a man become the man he is? The age old debate, of environment verses genetics. Whatever the answer, lets take a peek into his fathers history.
 
Now this is never an excuse, but once you read, is it no wonder the dummy turned out as he did?

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Although this was photo shopped, it was about Donald Trump giving the KKK special permissions to hold a rally.
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Here are exerts from an article by Marie Loveland
 
 
Trump’s Dad Was So Racist, Woody Guthrie Wrote A Song About It
In 1950, Woody Guthrie signed a lease for an apartment in Brooklyn; his landlord was Fred C. Trump
By Mariel Loveland
 
In 2015, future President Donald Trump issued a seemingly innocuous-but increasingly portentous when put into context-statement: “My legacy has roots in my father’s legacy.” But it might be more than business acumen that has trickled down from the top of the gold-encrusted Trump family tree. Trump’s dad Fred had an unexpected occupant in one of his New York properties in the early 1950s: American singer-songwriter and social justice warrior Woody Guthrie. And guess what? Guthrie was no fan of “Old Man Trump.”
 
While contemporary musicians like Adele, Miley Cyrus, and Waka Flocka Flame have all taken to social media in order to criticize Donald Trump’s ideals, this was merely round two of musicians coming for the Trumps. Over 60 years ago, Guthrie was feverishly penning tunes lambasting Fred Trump for racist behavior. “Old Man Trump,” Guthrie’s song about Fred, exposed a dark world where the landlord and rumored KKK affiliate profited from an apartment complex that housed only white families. It included the scathing lines, “I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate/He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts/When he drawed that color line.”

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FRED TRUMP ARRESTED AT KKK RALLY
 
In May of 1927, a 21-year-old Fred Trump was arrested in the melee surrounding a Klan rally in Jamaica, Queens. A New York Times article from the incident describes the scene as “1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen [staging] a free-for-all.” For his part, Donald Trump vehemently denied that his father was ever arrested at a Klan rally, and he urged New York Times reporter Jason Horowitz to drop the subject in an interview, stating, “It shouldn’t be written because it never happened, number one. And number two, there was nobody charged.”
 
Trump did get one thing right: his father was never charged. Out of the seven people arrested, Trump’s father was the only one who got off completely free. According to a clipping from the now defunct Daily Star, four of those arrested were expected to go to court, and two were paroled. One, Fred Trump, was not held on charges. However, this doesn’t negate his standing as a member of the Klan. According to newspaper clip obtained by VICE, all the people arrested were wearing Klan attire, which VICE contends likely would have included Fred Trump.
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Guthrie’s lyrics went as follows:
 
I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
he stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his
Eighteen hundred family project.

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What Guthrie didn’t know was that the FHA had specific racial guidelines
 
 
Fred Trump wasn’t acting on his own when he refused to rent property to people of color. In the 1950s, the FHA, which fronted the bill for some of Trump’s housing projects, had a set of guidelines for avoiding “inharmonious uses of housing.” According to Trump biographer Gwenda Blair, this was, “a code phrase for selling homes in white areas to blacks.” The practice of refusing to rent people of color homes in traditionally white areas was rather common among FHA projects. It only took a year for Guthrie to find out the truth.

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Woody Guthrie was honored on a postage stamp, please let us hope we never see Trump on one.
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And finally lets end on a positive note and just enjoy some of his music!
18 Comments

Great Women Making History

10/3/2018

19 Comments

 


And Yes!!! They are Canadians!!
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Donna Strickland        Astrophysicists

Gina Parvaneh Cody          Engineer


Now, what's amazing Canadians making history, Women making history, and well this also goes to show, without Persia and immigration, where would we be? !!!!!!!!!!!

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After having just dont a blog on Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin, the astrophysicists, by complete coincidence yesterday I found out a Canadian woman has won the Nobel price this year for Physics, along with Athur Ashkin and Gerard Mourou.

"Donna Strickland, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, on Tuesday became the first woman in 55 years and the third ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, sharing it with an American scientist and another from France for their work in laser physics.

3rd female laureate in physics

Strickland is the first female Nobel laureate to be named in three years and is only the third woman winning in physics: Polish-French physicist Marie Curie earned the award in 1903 and German-born American theoretical physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer in 1963."

Quote from the CBC

More powerful lasers
Their research enabled new studies of matter by allowing scientists to produce more powerful bursts of laser light, said Michael Moloney, chief executive officer of the American Institute of Physics.

While laser eye surgery is the most familiar application of their work, Moloney?said, it has also let scientists probe fundamental forces acting within matter at very high temperatures and pressures.
"With the technique we have developed, laser power has been increased about a million times, maybe even a billion," Mourou said in a video statement released by Ecole Polytechnique.


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Gina Parvaneh Cody - Engineer

Gina Parvaneh Cody came to Montreal from Iran in 1979 with $2,000 in her pocket and dreams of becoming an engineer.

Now for me this story has two wonderful sides to it, first is great to see more equality and Gina Parvaneh Cody is a leader advancing the sciences and engineering for woman, but also for education in general. She was also an immigrant to Canada, from Iran, and this shows how immigration is of such an immense benefit to Canada, and that being a more open and inclusive society helps us all!


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Extract from the Montreal Gazette

After an hour-long interview with her brother's engineering professor at Concordia University, Cody was given a scholarship to help cover the cost of her master's degree.

Ten years later, she became the first woman in Concordia University's history to earn a Ph.D in building engineering.

After a highly successful career as an engineer and business leader in Canada, Cody announced on Monday that she is giving a $15-million gift to her alma mater.

"Concordia welcomed me and provided me with support that changed my life," she said. "My gift to the university is for the next generation, so that more people can succeed like I did."

In recognition of her generous donation, Concordia has named its faculty of engineering and computer science after Cody. The Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science is the first engineering faculty in Canada to be named after a woman.

Cody, 61, said she developed a love of building and engineering as a child growing up in Iran.

"I used to fix everything, if the chair was broken, I would fix it or change the bulbs in the television," she told the Montreal Gazette in an interview.

Her father, who owned a private boys high school in Iran, had the 17-year-old Cody teach math and science to students during the summer.

Cody said she believes that higher education is the best way for women and minorities to succeed and she hopes her donation will encourage them to study engineering.
Her mother always told her that the best way for a woman to become independent was to achieve higher education, she said.

She attributes her success as an engineer and businesswoman to hard work, perseverance and confidence.

The $15-million donation will fund graduate and undergraduate scholarships, as well as research on smart cities. It will also allow the university to create three new chairs  in data analytics and artificial intelligence; the internet of things; Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing.

A portion of the gift, which Concordia will match, will go toward a special fund for equity, diversity and inclusion programming.

At present, only 20 per cent of university engineering students are women and only 12.8 per cent of working engineers are women, according to Statistics Canada.
The small percentage of female engineers in the workforce could be due to a lack of role models, Cody said, but also because "girls are still told that engineering and computer science are for boys."

Parents and school administrators need to tell girls that they are just as capable as boys when it comes to math and science, she said.

"We are equal in our brain, equal in our abilities and we should be equal in numbers."
Concordia President Alan Shepard said Cody's generosity is "a watershed moment for engineering and computer science in Canada."




19 Comments

Great Women in History

10/2/2018

24 Comments

 
Draft, please email edits

Although times are changing, I thought it would be nice to do a blog on a woman that has not really been given credit for her work, and in fact some might say some tried to steal the credit so to speak. We don't always realize it was only a short time ago, women didn't have the right to vote, and they certainly weren't meant to excel in education and the sciences. It sis something I find hard to grasp, and there is still social biases to this day. I thought what better way than to show these GREAT WOMAN of the past and how their determination never let them give up.
 
I even managed to finds some historical photos, for me photos help to bring stories to life!
 
I have written many poems on famous woman, and hope to do more blog's on the topic as well!


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Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (May 10, 1900 – December 7, 1979) was a British–American astronomer and astrophysicist who, in 1925, proposed in her Ph.D. thesis an explanation for the composition of stars in terms of the relative abundances of hydrogen and helium


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“Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.”
--
Jeremy Knowles, discussing the complete lack of recognition Cecilia Payne gets, even today, for her revolutionary discovery. (via alliterate)



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Cecilia Payne’s mother refused to spend money on her college education, so she won a scholarship to Cambridge.

Cecilia Payne completed her studies, but Cambridge wouldn’t give her a degree because she was a woman, so she said fuck that and moved to the United States to work at Harvard.
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Cecilia Payne was the first person ever to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College, with what Otto Strauve called “the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.”

Not only did Cecilia Payne discover what the universe is made of, she also discovered what the sun is made of (Henry Norris Russell, a fellow astronomer, is usually given credit for discovering that the sun’s composition is different from the Earth’s, but he came to his conclusions four years later than Payne—after telling her not to publish).



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Cecilia Payne is the reason we know basically anything about variable stars (stars whose brightness as seen from earth fluctuates). Literally every other study on variable stars is based on her work.

Cecilia Payne was the first woman to be promoted to full professor from within Harvard, and is often credited with breaking the glass ceiling for women in the Harvard science department and in astronomy, as well as inspiring entire generations of women to take up science.

Cecilia Payne is awesome and everyone should know her.

(via bansheewhale)


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The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person in the history of the world to see something or to understand something. Nothing can compare with that experience... The reward of the old scientist is the sense of having seen a vague sketch grow into a masterly landscape.
—Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin



24 Comments

Emmanuel Kelly

8/3/2016

3 Comments

 
I will simply re-post his Bio, thats says it all, this young man is an inspiration, both his story and his own spirit, and his brothers. Let no one tell you love is not powerful. I have posted a poem  in the Humanity-People section EMMANUEL
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His Bio from his Page

Bio Of Emmanuel KellyEmmanuel Kelly has always dreamed of becoming a professional recording artist. This inner spirit of determination and courage together with a beautiful voice and performance moved demanding judges and many of the 6000+ audience to tears and a standing ovation on The X Factor’s opening night on 29th September 2011. Emmanuel wowed judges Ronan Keating, Spice Girl Mel Brown, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Guy Sebastian with his heartfelt performance, Ronan Keating said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been as moved as I was by that performance ever!”
Emmanuel was born into war torn Iraq and abandoned by his parents as a baby, he was raised at an orphanage ran by the Mother Theresa nuns, before being rescued by his now mum Moira Kelly and brought to Australia for life changing surgery. Over the last 14 years being in Australia Emmanuel has had over 6 surgeries and has had to step over huge hurdles to try and achieve his goals. he has always had his eyes set on huge dreams. In his words: “You have to dream to achieve the greatest goals in life.”
Emmanuel has melted the hearts of millions around the world. Within days of his X Factor audition Emmanuel’s YouTube video received over 12 million views; in 6 months he generated an amazing 50 million hits, today Emmanuel is estimated to have over 100 million views all over YouTube.
Emmanuel’s rendition of Imagine even touched Yoko Ono so much that she tweeted “Thank you, Emmanuel. You sang beautifully! Thank you. John would have been proud of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Love, Yoko”.
Since his Appearance on X factor Emmanuel has released 3 singles, one dedicated to mothers called A Song For Edis, which charted in the top 100 in Australia whilst having very limited marketing and no radio air play, Dream Big which is featured in the U.S movie Crooked Arrows as the end title track and Let love find you which went on to chart in the top 40 in Australia and top 100 in 4 different countries. Despite the fact of again having very small limited marketing, no budget and mainstream radio refusing to play the track Emmanuel still was able to beet the odds.
He has also produced, recorded and written with U.S and Canadian writers. performed concerts, toured and spoke around the USA and Europe, in 2012 Emmanuel Performed in front of a crowd of over 8,000 at the famous MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, he has performed at main platform events around the world to audiences of over 10,000 and has even auditioned for the hit program Glee.
There is nothing ‘ordinary’ about the extraordinary Emmanuel Kelly, neither his start in life nor growing up. However, Emmanuel says that his damaged limbs have not held him back and never will. He is not looking for sympathy. “I have actually been through nothing compared to some of the other kids I have met.” Emmanuel’s sheer passion for singing, for life, for ‘dreaming big’ in the face of HUGE obstacles is a much needed message for our troubled times. It is a message with mass appeal that transcends boarders, boundaries, countries, cultures and religions and ages. In a world consumed with all too often insignificant worries or stress, Emmanuel is an immediate wake-up call with the innate ability to touch, move and inspire young and old alike to their very core.
In Emmanuel’s words; “I may not have the greatest voice or looks but I do have a passion and that is to sing and entertain for world. My dream is to make people smile through my music, and to show young kids that it is ok to strive for your dreams. My ultimate dream is to become the first artist who is different to be recognised in the comercial world, so then I can show young teens and also the older generations around the world, that it is never to late to dream big and it doesn’t matter what you look like, what religion you are, or where your from, you can still achieve your dreams!! At the end of the day we are all born with gifts and talents, mine is to inspire you to achieve through my words, to make you smile, dream, imagine through my entertaining, to be passionate through my music, and most of all to never give up!!
DREAM BIG NEVER SMALL
BELIEVE
HOPE
WORK HARD
AND NEVER GIVE UP!!!!
This is my Moto

3 Comments

Hanan al-Hroub Global Teacher Prize 2016

7/3/2016

1 Comment

 
PALESTINIAN TEACHER HANAN AL HROUB WINS US$1 MILLION GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE 2016
Announcement made by His Holiness Pope Francis


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BiographyHanan grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem, where she was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatised by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school. Her experiences in meetings and consultations to discuss her children’s behaviour, development and academic performance in the years that followed led Hanan to try to help others who, having grown up in similar circumstances, require special handling at school.

With so many troubled children in the region, Palestinian classrooms can be tense environments. Hanan embraces the slogan ‘No to Violence’ and uses a specialist approach she developed herself, detailed in her book, ‘We Play and Learn’. She focuses on developing trusting, respectful, honest and affectionate relationships with her students and emphasises the importance of literacy. She encourages her students to work together, pays close attention to individual needs and rewards positive behaviour. Her approach has led to a decline in violent behaviour in schools where this is usually a frequent occurrence; she has inspired her colleagues to review the way they teach, their classroom management strategies and the sanctions they use.

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I have always said, when a people love their children more than they hate their enemy, they shall have peace. Of course this was said in one way or another by many before me. We often may not have all the answers in life, but teaching children to love, to smile, to be non violent, this is indeed a noble cause. More so because when one is within a deep and difficult conflict, the easy road is always to hate and teach hate.
One must also realize than to go against the popular thinking, and leaderships, who are often infested with hate, one who does such good deeds, well is not always an easy thing to do! I have always believed in embracing goodness, and every now and then you see or hear of people, and you know, you just know, they are the angels, the good ones. They often cross barriers, of religions and cultures and race. If we all thought for the children, then, I can say this. Instead of being right, we would be doing the right thing, two completely different ways of thinking.

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1 Comment

See why this judge chose to spend night in jail

4/30/2016

2 Comments

 
Why this blog? Well I wrote a recent poem “We are the Children“ and attached a fairly graphic video that shows the reality of children suffering under war. This was in reference to Turkeys National Children day, a holiday I am sure many are not aware off.
 
Poem We Are the Children
 
It’s not easy to see, and was difficult to post the video, but we can never bury our heads in the sand and ignore especially children’s cries for help. The first step to any solution is always awareness of the problem, of the issues.
 
That being said, the conflicts of today are complex and not always black and white, nor are the solutions, the purpose is not to pick sides, countries, politics or religions, simply to say, where ever you are from and who ever you are, forgot not the children!
 
We tend to see so much violence and bad news, we have become a cynical bunch at times, so to counter my last poem, I thought why not show something a little more heart warming, more up lifting, and well the good side of humanity.
 
I found that story, where Justice, the Law and Compassion all met at the same place. It may not seem a huge story or a big deal to most, however to see a Judge, show such compassion, to be able to succeed at dealing with the law but also true justice and compassion, I found this heartwarming, I hope you do to!
 
CNN Story on a Judge spending the night in Jail

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Not all wounds are physical

They put their lives on the line

We should ensure they receive

all the help they need

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2 Comments

Random Acts of Kindness

4/2/2016

3 Comments

 
They are all around. In a turbulent world, where the news shows us one disaster or horror after another, we sometimes forgot about the good that exists within us all.

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This video  I am posting touched me, and the idea is not to have a feel good moment, but rather take a moment to pause and reflect, on how lucky many of us are. If we all took a small moment, once a week, once a month, even once a year, I challenge you all, find that moment, find the time, do a good deed and plant the seed of kindness. You will be surprised at the results.
 
I will also say, so many times people do not act , not because they don’t feel too, but often out of shyness, be bold, be a leader, and as the famous NIKE add says, just DO IT.

3 Comments

Wise Men Plant Trees

3/4/2016

1 Comment

 
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Wise Men Plant Trees
 
It seems there is a global phenomenon where rhetoric (pardon the pun) trumps substance and this is from all sides of the political spectrum. Common sense is passé and we have become a society with short attention spans, where self trumps thinking of others.
 
This is not the fault of our leaders, of our enemies, perceived or not, it is not the fault of big corporations or marketing campaigns, it’s the fault of every human, who of free will often chooses greed and complacency over compassion and giving.
 
This is not new, it’s a recurring theme in the history of man, and thus I refer you to a very wise quote;


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A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
“Greek Proverb”

I dedicate this Blog to a friend who will soon become a very wise man, planting many trees!
To Bechir Harfouche!
1 Comment

    Arthur Vaso

    Hi there, the blog has been running for almost a year, and as you can see I try to keep up a few posts a month. More about poetry and fellow poets, but also about current events, social issues as well as art and music. I look forward to any suggestions from readers and fellow poets!

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