A Potpourri of Topics for a Sunny June Day in Peterborough

8/8/2020

Rosemary Ganley
The Peterborough Examiner
June 18, 2020

People with time on their hands sometimes look up words. Mine today is “potpourri,” from the French for an assembly of spices and scents. This column is a potpourri of ideas.

I won’t even mention that there is an alternative meaning for the word, “pourri:” “rotten.”

Item No. 1: I took advantage of the free, public testing for COVID-19 on June 6, driving into Kinsmen Centre parking lot, full of winter memories of delivering boys to hockey games at dawn. I found a quick and efficient team of paramedics, in two open tents, welcoming cars, and conducting simple tests with a cheery attitude. That was Tiffany. Greeter Aaron gave me the sheet which had been written up by medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, a user-friendly handout about what would happen with my results.

The New York Times has just featured a glowing story about Dr. Bonnie Henry of B.C, who has so expertly guided that province through COVID-19. Salvaterra deserves similar gratitude for her leadership here. On Mother’s Day, her staff of nine, eight of whom are mothers, were hard at work on the phones, contact-tracing. She brought each of them a nosegay of flowers. Premier Doug Ford has mentioned Peterborough as a success story, too.

Item No. 2: The matter of middle-class people such as myself, receiving $300 from the Government of Canada in early July, just for being old. I am having fun considering the charities (Canada has 70,000 of these) to which I can donate this money. One must be Black Lives Matter-related. The Black Legal Action Fund, I think. One must be arts-related. These people among us make life worth living, so it will be Electric City Culture Council. The third must be in the progressive ideas sector: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Small amounts but heartfelt.

The lockdown has meant multiple opportunities to learn online. Every Wednesday at noon, Trent University has free “Trent Talks,” featuring two professors discussing an area of their expertise. On June 10, it was “Unmasking Racism in Canada” with professors Daion Taylor and David Firang of Social Work.

I lived a challenging and satisfying life for six years in two Black-majority countries, Jamaica and Tanzania. I studied their literatures at their universities and co-founded a small development organization which brought Caribbean culture to Peterborough, among its several goals. But even with this background, I have needed updating and an examination of my own white assumptions. I need to become more intentionally anti-racist. I think my role might well be to amplify Black voices, especially Black feminist voices, through social media and column writing.
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