Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 29, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Letters to the editor Sam in d Vav Magazine focus editor Brian Cole / 697-7044 a i Winnipeg. June 29,1997 sunday free press j0 let prose win Over electronics preserve the letter in frantic times remember when the test of your ability to do two things at once was to try to rub your stomach and Pat your head at the same time this has apparently been replaced by talking on your cell phone while you walk. Why else would anyone do this what could be so urgent that it can to wait until you get to your destination you see people everywhere a on Portage Avenue in St. Vital Centre in Winnipeg International Airport a walking along talking on their cells. Its become More popular than talking on your cell while you drive another Way to prove you can do two things at once even though statistics show that its hazardous. Canadians have always been incorrigible Telephone users and we used to rationalize that it was the Best Way to communicate in the Long months of hibernation. But Well take those cell phones with us anywhere. We be also become obsessed with Telephone answering machines. My son changes the message on his machine every week a this week he a John Lennon telling callers the lads Are out. Young people have become so creative you Hope they wont answer so that you can hear what their message is. Of course More and More people use the answering machine or its slightly More sophisticated Cousin voice mail to screen Calls. Phone anyone these Days and you done to expect to hear a live answer. I love to leave a message that ends with a no need to Call me backs a kind of a �?T90s version of a a done to Call me ill Call Call any Large company or institution and you re bound to receive an electronic message that directs you through umpteen stages a if you want an answer in English press i. If you want an answer in French press 2.�?� you press i. A if you know who you re calling press i. If you done to know who you re calling press 2.�?� you press i. A if you know the first name of the person you re calling enter the first three letters you enter them but you misspell the name. A please Start communication takes More time than it Ever did before. Some people Tell me they be had As Many As 50 messages on their voice mail. Remember the Good old Days when a Secretary would write messages on a Little pad that you could Check in a few seconds the fax machine is a Good idea and quite useful for documents you have to Send somewhere quickly. But i know people that done to react to faxed letters any More quickly than they would to Snail mail. And often you done to know where your faxed document might be going at the other end. Suppose your confidential message is falling into the wrong hands. Better phone to find out if the right person received your fax. Of course some people have their fax machine on their regular phone and you have to phone them ahead of time to Tell them you re sending a fax. I had to do this the other Day and i kept getting a strange mechanical sound and a whistle at the other end a explanation their Telephone was in the fax Mode at the very moment that i was phoning to Tell them i wanted to Send them a fax. A but the real time Saver is email. In a president of a National organization and my treasurer is in Halifax. I Send him a one liner in the late afternoon and he answers the next morning. No need for a How Are you in a Fine. How a the weather just the essentials. Then there Are people who insist on sending you a a attachments via email. You try and try to pick up the attachments finally give up Call your help desk find out that you done to have the right system in place for receiving the attachments. So you email the sender and Tell her to Send them by mail and a message comes Back a a what a your postal address a when i was in Australia earlier this year i met a few writers who have since corresponded with me via email. But one writer i met a Shonagh Korea of new zealand a said that if i drop the electronics and just write someone a letter. Wrote to her in the old fashioned Way shed answer she said she loves writing letters. I wrote and her answer came the other Day a wonderful single spaced epistle that contains passages like a my cat has come with me every week Down to the Flat at the University and seems to have coped with the weekly change of location with greater equilibrium than i have. She sits serenely on a Stool in front of a Long victorian window in the old stables Block where the Flat has been built up in the roof space and she tranquilly regards pigeons and other Large Birds which sit on a Light Standard outside in the gardens. Neither of us goes outside much a she not at All because i am afraid i would lose her and me Only in Broad Daylight because the Park where the stables Block is situated is fraught with every difficulty on the crime map so it is Best to remain like Rapunzel in my Tower. A the calming effect of such prose seems to justify preserving the letter form in these frantic electronic times. Slice of life is a weekly column featuring Manitoba writers. David Williamson is Dean of business and applied arts at red River Community College and author of four books the latest of which is accountable advances. River cruises waterborne noise it is important that children Wear belts in cars at All times. In be lived along the red River for the past eight years and its continuously amazed me that the pad dle wheel boats can so flagrantly defy the noise abatement bylaws particularly in the evenings when Many of us Are retiring to sleep. These boats pass into the Early morning hours and its not unusual to awake to the sounds of ridiculously loud music Yelling and screaming As the boat makes two passes by the River properties. If i or anyone else attempted to elevate the level of a House party to that of these operators wed be shut Down in two minutes Flat. We re taxpayers too and More than offset the privilege of living along the River by the considerable taxes we pay. In fairness i do feel we deserve at least enough respect from both the City and the boat operators to ensure we Are not unduly subjected to this problem on a continual basis in the future. Dan Donahue Winnipeg Metis land fight not Over Terence Moore s column the flood s lingering reality free press june 13 made Many Good Points. But one he missed badly was when he included Metis with the Selkirk settlers and canadians from Quebec and Ontario. Whatever or. Moore Means by land a taken up cannot apply to the Metis when we know 130 years since confederation these people Are still fighting for their original land rights. Hopefully these rights will soon come into being. We Are getting closer and when it happens May Louis Riel the most distinguished and interesting personage in the history of this county rest in peace. Mary Welch Roland How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from readers. Letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed name address and Telephone number. Names will be published but not addresses. All letters May be edited for style and length. Short letters Are less Likely to be condensed. Please address letters to letters to the editor Winnipeg free press 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Letters can be sent to our fax number 697-7412. Letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be signed but must include Home address and Telephone dish provides Canadian to i understand columnist Fred Clev Erley a frustration at Canadian distributors inability to provide Canadian programming no service for dish customers free press june 23. I also have been frustrated at express us a inaction until last april when i discovered Alpha stars existence. Without any fuss and quite economically Alpha Star gives me Csc Csc and More Csc including the Canadian versions of discovery tic Etc. Through a Small dish and All that with digital Quality. I Hope he updates his article soon. Franck Pellerin Falcon Lakert turns Eye to society a woes its hard not to laugh at the childish Way Jake Weibe headed for moral breakdown. Free press june 16and Lynn Dennison arts pot can to have it All free press june 14 have condemned the plug in gallery for displaying a painting of a Drunken Man with pants around his Ankles throwing up into a toilet or As or. Weibe so insight fully puts it a the garbage they chose to Call what could this pair possibly be afraid of do they honestly believe this painting will incite Young children to pull Down their pants in a similar fashion and run rampant through the streets of Winnipeg do they worry that their Favourite restaurants will soon be filled with Young adults attempting to puke in the toilet the Best Art is that which challenges the conventions and illusions of our life so As to generate some sort of meaningful debate which in turn leaves the participant informed and understanding. Is Dennison in particular has missed this Point for while she May be Correct in saying that the funding of the arts takes away from other social programs we cannot for get that the arts help draw society a attention to Many important problems and issues. In the Case of this painting the subject dealt with is alcoholism and contrary to the morally perfect world in which or. Weibe and is Dennison seem to dwell Here on Earth excessive drinking is a problem. If the letter writers truly desire to see no More paintings like the one in question then perhaps they should devote their time and Energy to defeating alcoholism instead of taking cheap shots at an artist who was simply painting what is for Many a daily fact of life. Jeremy Nelson Winnipeg children unbelted in photo Martha Helgerson a article kid control free press june 24 shared some useful ideas on keeping kids and therefore parents Happy on car trips. There was one major flaw however in the photos accompanying the article a the children were not wearing Seatbelt please remember to have All passengers belted and babies and Young children should travel Only in car seats for their safety. It is the Law. Susan Lonowski Winnipeg add buckle up to tip list Martha Helgerson a child a play column in your june 24 Issue contained some useful tips that make travelling with Young ones bearable for All concerned. The Choice of Art for the column however must have made safety advocates shudder. All three pictures featured children Riding without seat belts. One More tip is Helgerson could add might be a buckle up the kids so they can arrive alive As Well As Ewan pow Neepawa Myanmar use wrong for Burma our profound and Heartfelt thanks to the Winnipeg free press for publishing Myanmar regime propped up june to linking the narcotics drug menace originating in Burma that has been propped up by businesses. However in spite of Kan Bawza wings attempt to define that the word Myanmar is chauvinistic and synonymous with Gross human rights violations i was rather surprised that you used Myanmar instead of a burmese regime propped the romanticized version of the burmese generals in changing the fair name of my native country to Myanmar by decree and forcing every one within its clutches to comply stems from the illusion that names in English could be changed by dictators. Sweden has called itself sverige Germany deutschland Spain Espania and so on but the world recognizes them in their English names. So Why acquiesce to the Grassness of these drug generals for clarity a Sake let me take a few lines to explain. The word Myanmar comes from the South India word of Miramar. Later in the burmese language it was known As Myanmar. The ending Mah is pronounced softly As in the second syllable of the word Mother in English. The Union of Burma which is its old name is composed of several ethnic groups such As Shan Chin Kachin Karen Mon Arak anese and so on who All willingly joined hands at the famous pan Long conference in 1947 to gain Independence from the British. Thus the Union of Burma was born. Hence the word Myanmar is both phonetically and politically wrong. Of course it is up to the Winnipeg free press to use it As its conscience May dictate and fancies May please. But a handful of burmese who seek a Safe Haven Here together with three million in Diaspora would construe it As lending a hand in a charade designed to mislead the Canadian Public if not the investors. This Over the indigenous people is seen As a prelude like the Khmer Rouge who changed Cambodia to Kampuchea or the sinhalese chauvinists who changed Ceylon to ancient sri Lanka to help justify their grip on Power. Perhaps some lessons should be drawn from our past treatment of the aboriginals in understanding what Mya Marnese Are doing to their ethnic tribes today. Perhaps we should refrain from using the world Myanmar and continue to use Burma until such time As human rights and democracy Are obtained in Burma and the consensus is reached Over this word. Rosy . Yee Winnipeg Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 a Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email Rudy Redekop repress. My. Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Brian Cole / editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown / circulation sales and marketing Ian Cummins / technology Laurie Finley advertising Verne Kalichuk / human resources Glenn Williams / finance and administration a 1997 Winnipeg free press a division of . Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council vol 125 no 175 t t v ;