The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

It all comes down to gratitude for the bless- ings we have. _ United Church rClhatter 'tear------. - not merely our economic liabilities - and we are convinced the former' would outweigh the latter. There is much to be thankful for, and much to be concerned about but if we allow our gratitude to outweigh our apprehension then with our leaders we can begin to see a future that may be different from what we have known in the past, but one which we can face with assurances we are convinced, would show us oiuGGikT:.'d not simply material assets - and our liabilities Perhaps it is time for the leaders of this country and its citizens to pause for 24 hours - if we can take that long for such an important exercise - and together take an honest and realistic inventory of where and what we are. An h.onest inventory looks openly at the debit and the credit side of the ledger. An honest inventory faces problems squarely, but at the same time takes cognizance of our virtues as well. We're pretty sure that the results would be more heartening than we think. We would dis- cover that we have a lot for which to be grate- ful. We would discover, too, that we have a lot of serious changes to face but change is only painful for those who are afraid to look into the future with confidence. An inventory, not much to cheer iarout.ksriiiiirfnoGriiiiiiiii' that all is rosy is almost as unrealistic as to prate about Canada's imminent demise. The list of problems facing a nation as large and as complex as Canada, with its emphasis on multi-culturalism, its diverse backgrounds and its two founding peoples, is staggering. And to those of us who still think that pride in a nation is not something to be embarrassed about there seems, on the surface at least. 'The taxi driver was angry. All day, he said as he bucked his way through the traffic, he'd heard nothing but Quebec separation and in- nation, crime and high unemployment, baby seals and lousy weather. He agreed that all of these were problems we must try to solve, ex- cept perhaps the lousy weather, but was there nothing that Canada could be proud of, he wondered? ’ _ -V-.-- w. -._ a... - vv-ww wilum l0”! hwmnmmmmwwnuwmumocwmum .ce'Poolt"romth-tootrortiGiid"iGri'Gi7,i' Tani-commotion ham-mm...“ 2nd hoot-Ia vaGGia - yye"ttoPmo'cs-st-soe, Pap 4 .. WW Chronido. WM, May 25, 1977 waterloo chronicle ' Count our blessings With only a few weeks left before Senior Citizens’ Week June 19-26, the staff at the Adult Recreation Centre is busily finalizing a variety of special pro- grams. The week will begin June 19 with an open house at the centre featuring crafts and displays. On June 20, a volun- teers dinner to honor the many com- munity people who help with seniors' By Mary Stupart World champion kite flier Ken Lewis of Oakville will be in town this week to make final arrangements with commun- ity services staff for his participation in the Waterloo Days festival. Mr. Lewis has an extensive collection of kites of all sizes and shapes that he will be flying during the two-day festival June 10-12. ”are” I“, by Fairway PM. "tvii-od Kim-Wuhan Record Lu, other, “as W to Waterloo emu Valerian Square. Waterloo, on. W‘” Pubiuhet James M Bound Edna: Mary Stupan mama-u 8103 year In Canada. " I year in United States and Foreign Countries 2nd loot 003mm Scan ' one. to... tafaimy ml. s., tutseder.dil established 1854 First year it was done on a shoe-string. Foley's students raised money by collecting beer bottles and other nefarious means. A few authors and poets turned up and talked to the kids. It was a great success. Since then, it has grown in both scope and ambition, and is now a singular annual event in Canadian literature circles, with hundreds of students busing hundreds of miles and a pretty good accounting of Canadian writers, good, bad and indifferent, turning up for their accolades. Foley, who is nouirnnif aa; H251}; to raising_money, got publishers. a notably reluctant lot when it comes to v _ ___ ,,7V_ --e- "Cl'""" “Ila-I’ll wuulclB. It was Jim Foley, a leprechaunish slip of a man, who spawned the idea originally, when he taught high school English in Port Colbome. Why shouldn't students have a chance to meet some real, live writers? _ ,VV "*0 __-_- vuuuuu ou. an annual event at which Canadian writers come out of the woods or from under stones and allow themselves to be pestered for autographs, lauded to the skies and otherwise tortured by hordes of starry-eyed students and eager English teachers. " -..r--- v'-, W'N_% . . - - The auxiliary of Parkwood Manor has realized donations of $1,100 from its annual tea several weeks ago. Publicity secretary Grace Peacock of New Ham- burg tells me the white elephant and bake sale tables were most popular with the visitors. For years I'd been hearing about Canada Day, an annual ' ." -i.'V n-__ )2, - .. - programs will be held at the centre. On June 22 a, billiard tournament for sen- iors will be held at Brunswick Bowl. A solo tournament sponsored by the Jolly Oldsters will be held June 22. On June 23, an afternoon of magic and puppets will provide entertainment at the cen- tre. On June M, Project PROP will hear a talk from members of the Nutrition Improvement program (NIP). Watch the Chronicle for more details about Sen- ior Citizens' Week in later issues. WEE"!!! Canadian publishers, on the whole, showed their usual un- inventiveness, coming out of what seemed a deep Iassitude only when John Roberts of the Federal cabinet said some- thing about more help for publishers, That's the only thing that seems to stir them. Exceptions are a few small pub- lishers, who show some verve and imagination in design and quality of books. Farley Mowat's beard is almost as long as he is but he has (Continued on page 7) _ And by the way, there's a young fellow to watch - Hodgins. He was exhausted from a combination of jet lag and too many interviews in too short a time. But he gave it every- thing he had, in panels and quiz sessions. He's very hand- some. very eloquent. and very enthusiastic, and I imagine the teenagers were swooning over him. Let's hope he does- n't get caught up in the snarling and backbiting that too often stains the Canadian culture scene. Age seems to have little to do with ability. Leslie Mac- Farland. the grand old man who wrote the Hardy Boy books (and received about $50 each for them as total royal- ties) away back when, was honored at the same time as young Jack Hodgins from Vancouver Island, who has just published his first novel. There's close in sixty years dif- ference in their ages. Some rather interesting contrasts poppeau; For exam- ple, the novelists seem to be rather a steady lot, in compar ison to the poets. who Ia.) , tendency. to getAinto the grape. "Well, after Margaret Laurence gave me a big kiss," I noted, "the whole weekend was just one mad whirl." This made my students sit up. "Michael Ondaatje’s beard is neater than mine," contri- buted my friend Roger, "but I'm a better poet, and I told him so." "At least half the writers there are regular readers of my column," I commented smugly. Three or five of them ac- tually are, but wotthehell. "We had breakfast with Mavor Moore and drove him to his seminar," Roger tossed in. And so we went on. As a matter of fact, some of those things did happen, and some others that I have no intention of revealing. This year I attended, along with a young colleague who is a budding poet. and we had a good time and came home dropping names all over the place and buffing our cultural fingernails all over ourselves very ostensibly. spending money, to set up displays. He tapped every possi- ble cultural well, from departments of education to Canada Council.