Bakers Journal April 2010

So grateful to Bakers Journal for publishing our story in the April 2010 edition of their awesome publication! Brian Hartz is definitely the nicest, most professional, and supportive Editor I've ever worked with, ever! Thank you Brian for giving us the opportunity to share our fundraising story. Hopefully others will enjoy learning about how our community is helping another community (with MSF and FINCA's help); learning about the power of social marketing; and enjoy the reminder that cupcakes, although small are enriching and magical beyond our comprehension.

Work for the Cause

To all you darling humanitarian activists, please consider doing something as simple as adding a photo here to help breast cancer research or clicking here.

Thank You!
Gracias!
Merci!

Mighty Pen Thursday - Feb28/08

A version of the letter below went to a cookie manufacturer in California, didn't get a response. This weekend I'm going to tweak the letter so that I can send it to Jason regarding a lotion's packaging. I'll send the letter, plus the container, hoping they can refill it for me.



Dear XX,

My name is XX. For a living I work as a freelance writer, and part time at a health food store that sells some of your products. I recently bought your X cookies for the first time. Yes, they are delicious, and I found them to be a perfect snack, yet I won’t be buying them again because the packaging is not environmentally friendly.

On the back of the package there are three points about the cookies: good food, good fun, good planet. Sorry to say, but the way you currently package these cookies, they are not good for the planet. Here in Toronto, the recycling program mantra is: reduce, reuse, recycle. I wish the same ideology were followed in California. Your cookies are packaged in 3 layers! Glossy waxed carrying bag, a hard cellophane tray wrapped in cellophane. In Toronto our home recycling program only allows us to recycle # 1 and # 2 plastics, so two of the pieces of packaging you use I can’t recycle. For this reason I can’t ever again buy your cookies.

If you really do care about the environment, please, please come up with a new way to package your products.

Many of us earth lovers think we are doing the earth a big service because we buy organic products like your cookies, but, buying products with redundant packaging is detrimental to our eco system.

Please be an industry leader and do something to change your packaging practice.

Sincerely,
XX

Limited Warranty Politics

A few weeks ago our barely one year old humidifier's motor died. The rest of the unit, the water tank, the base, the motor housing are fine. The 5 Year Limited Warranty states that 'normal wear and tear' are not covered under their warranty.

The humidifier has been sitting in the hallway waiting for me to make the next move; I've been mentally debating offering the parts on freecycle or packaging it up and putting it on our front steps with a 'free parts' note.

I've been stalling based on a landfill experience from last year when our coffee bean grinder's motor died. Village Papa tried fixing it but didn't have the right miniature tools. Then I went to three repair shops who all told me to throw out the unit and buy another one; no one wanted to repair it, 'too expensive to repair' was the excuse. Throwing that grinder in the trash made me feel terrible; I felt paralyzed from my inability to repair/reuse, and mostly reduce our family's contribution to the landfill.

Imagining our humidifier's next incarnation as landfill mass provoked me to call the Consumer Service Centre. They have said they WILL replace it with a brand new one. I should be elated, but
I have no idea what they'll do with the one I send them. They couldn't tell me that because they haven't seen the unit.

So here I am grateful for the new humidifier we are going to get (the one that keeps nose bleeds at bay), but I feel guilty that the motor I send them may just end up in the landfill anyway. Anyone have any cheerful warranty/repair/non landfill ending stories to cheer me up?

Mighty Pen Thursday - Feb21/08

No submissions, so I looked through my vault. The only thing that seems important to share, given the recent writers' strike, is a little essay I wrote regarding a poem of mine that was plagiarised.



Whether you’re a poet, a sculptor, a photographer or any other member of the creative community, there’s one thing you should know: plagiarism is alive and well. Yes. I mean the kind of plagiarism where one person takes your work and presents it as their own.
I know, because it happened to me.

In my case, I’d submitted poetry samples with a grant application. Being that I’ve applied for grants for many years, all I expected was rejection letters. The “RJ” letters came, and months and months later so did a huge kick-in-the-head.

It was early May, when I was reading through a literary journal (that had recently rejected work of mine) and I happened upon a poem that ‘rung a bell’. I re-read the familiar-looking poem, and suddenly a very creepy feeling washed over me. My hands began to tremble. I said aloud ‘hey, those are my words!’ My deaf cat stared at me blankly. I thought ‘oh, maybe the editors decided to publish one of my poems after all, but forgot to let me know’. But the table of contents confirmed that this was not the case. There I was, holding my poem, but my poem had not been credited to me.

The hours that followed took me on an emotional roller coaster I will never forget. I became sad. I laughed. I felt violated. I got nervous. I huffed and puffed. And finally I sat down and thought about who I could call for help. Two lawyer friends came to mind. Professional writer friends came to mind. Finally, I picked up the phone, and called lawyer friend # 1. Voice mail picked up, so I had to leave a message. Luckily before I began dialing lawyer friend #2, my other friend returned my call. The first words out of my friend’s mouth were, “contact ALAS”. “Hmm, what’s ALAS I asked nervously” thinking that it was some secret service agency like the CIA. “Artists Legal Advice Services” she chirped and then went on to explain that most lawyers who volunteered at ALAS were fluent in the Copyright Act. I was elated at the thought that I wasn’t alone, and that there were people who could help me. That night I called ALAS to book an appointment.

ALAS’ appointments are 30-minutes long, and they ask for a $10.00 donation. I handed the bill over with a smile. Once the session started I knew I’d come to the right place; first thing the lawyer said was that plagiarism were the norm.
My barrage of questions began. The first thing I wanted to know was if I was correct in thinking my work had been plagiarized. See, from the time I saw my poem in the journal I wasn’t sure if I was out of my mind. It didn’t make sense that someone would want to steal my work! To my relief, after the lawyer read the published poem and all of the paper trail (which documented the history of the poem), she said ‘yes’. My work had been plagiarized. Next, the lawyer proceeded to write a letter on my behalf to the person that had published my poem under their name. Then she wrote another letter, this one to the literary journal that had published my poem. After that there were still another nine minutes left, and the lawyer suggested alternative routes, including taking the case to Small Claims Court. My thirty minutes were up, and I walked home a lot more confident than I walked in.

Following my appointment at ALAS I mailed out the letters, and waited. Within days I got a written apology from the person that had reproduced my work as if it were theirs. With this letter in hand I approached the granting body, who in turn promised to preclude the person from ever again being a recommender or a juror. Then in late summer, the literary journal that had published the poem in question published the writer’s apology to me. In four quick months my rose-coloured glasses had cracked. The optimistic me was now a bitter cynic. All I could do was stare and re-read the apology letters and try to console myself that these were small victories. But my heartache was huge; damage had been done to me and one of my favorite poems.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t be afraid to speak out, and protect your work. As stated on the Writers’ Union of Canada website “Copyright is a property right that arises initially from authorship alone. In Canada, formal registration is not required. An author has copyright in any original literary work, whether or not it is published, except in some cases where the author has been employed to write the work. Copyright in a work remains with the author or his/her heirs for the life of the author plus 50 years, unless copyright is assigned (by sale or gift) to someone else”.



CONTACT INFORMATION

ALAS - ARTISTS' LEGAL ADVICE SERVICES
(By appointment only)
1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900
Toronto ON M5E 1E5
416-367-2527

Mighty Pen Thursday: V-Day Edition

Happy day...no submissions to 'Mighty Pen Thursday', thus, something written by someone whose work I admire, someone who also loves food.

Enjoy!

food news rant

Is is just me, or do the 'frugal living' blogs discussing weekly food budgets freak you out? Real human beings feeding their families for $20/week "sounds" admirable/resourceful with a captial 'R', but when you look closer it's all processed food. Not a legume, wholesome grain or fresh/dried seasonal food in sight.

I've travelled to many poor countries where people with less than $20/month eat better than our neighbours here.

Coldplay's song 'Clocks' asks:

(am I)
A part of the cure,
or am I part of the disease


So I ask you, what's to be done? How do we help the young and helpless?

Mighty Pen Thursday - Feb7/08

You've got mail!


Welcome to the second edition of Might Pen Thursday!

If the theme of plagiarism is of interest, this letter which I learnt about here is a must read .

Mighty Pen Thursday - Jan31/08

I believe the written word is mightier than the sword, so I always make sure to stand up for my rights, my family's rights, human-animal-planet earth's rights by putting words on paper.

Going forward, Thursday's at Mama's Village will be devoted to letter writing activism. Got a thank you or no thank you letter you want to share with others? You do?! Awesome! All you have to do is post your letter on your blog, then email me the post link and I'll add your Mighty Pen Thursday link to the list. I'll post 'sometime' Thursday 10amish, Toronto time, so be sure to have your contribution to me just past midnight on Wednesday, or at the crack of dawn Thursday Toronto time.



Here is the body copy of the 8th letters I've written and snail mailed to Peter Henseler RC2 President and Mr. Curt Stoetling RC2 CEO, and CC'd State Senator Tom Hancock and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding the Thomas recall:

January 16, 2008

Re: RC2 Voluntary Recalls 2007

I received a response (dated Dec. 12/07) to the letter I addressed to you dated October 9, 2007. I am disappointed that yet again RC2 does not understand that I do not want a replacement to all the toys affected by the recall, I want a full refund.

As I’ve stated in all my previous correspondence, I no longer trust your company because ‘providing safe toys’ was obviously not a priority; in the year 2007 RC2 produced and sold toys painted with lead paint. The oversights with RC2’s quality assurance are terrifying. Your company makes children’s toys; you company made decisions that affect millions of families, including mine in Canada. Those decisions included giving the green light to some third party to use lead paint, that irresponsibility in this year 2007 is unforgivable.

As I’ve stated repeatedly, I no longer trust RC2 to make toys suitable for my children, I want to return every single Thomas & Friends Wooden toy and accessories. If you check your files you’ll see multiples copies of the receipts totalling $625.27.

I look forward to your soonest reply.

What's for preschool snack: Friday + Happy BND!!

Second time this week we've baked "Anything Goes" Fruit-Filled Muffins from 'How it all Vegan!', pg 49. These are so easy and fast to assemble, and the result is a dense, delicious, fruity, nutritious snack. The "anythings" we added today were 2 bananas, 1 tablespoon organic raspberry jam and 1 cup of frozen blueberries. Plus, we sprinkled brown sugar on the tops for a crispy sweet finish.

This afternoon, in lieu of shopping (see below*) the kids and I have planned to bake two batches of 'Mucho Margarita Cupcakes' from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World - 75 Dairy Free Recipes For Cupcakes That Rule, pg 133, [one Tequila laced batch for mom and dad, one virgin batch for the kids].


*Two Kensington Market retailers in Toronto: "Left Feet" and "Heart on Your Sleeve" are closing their doors in observation of "Buy Nothing Day" - BND. They are promoting a "Sell Nothing Day!" as a stance against rampant consumerism. They believe in ethical retail, and believe that businesses have a role to play in reducing our global environmental impact.
Content from: http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/view.php?id=409