Skip to content

Column: What’s old is new again

Good stories last forever. I saw the Cinderella movie with GDs #6 and #7 and their parents. We all enjoyed it.

Good stories last forever.

I saw the Cinderella movie with GDs #6 and #7 and their parents. We all enjoyed it. This story has been around since the seventh century and almost every country has a version of it.

This latest version with real people combined with the special effects is, well, special.

***

Those who attended the city’s birthday tea at the museum Sunday might have noticed a somewhat scruffy looking black Bull in the foyer.

This Bull was created in the 1970s from a 45-gallon drum as part of a unique Stampede activity known as the bull throwing contest.

The event had politicians and dignitaries vying to see who could throw the bull (chuck a dried cow patty) the farthest. Along with locals, participants included provincial cabinet ministers, a few mayors, and at least one premier (he won). The Bull held the cow patties. It still does.

The contest was dropped in the 80s,I don’t remember why.

When Walt Cobb became Mayor in the 1990s, he resurrected the contest. Ray Woods, the next mayor, deemed it unseemly for dignitaries to toss cow poop around and he stopped the contest. Mayor Cobb is being encouraged by some (including me) to bring it back. Are the current batch of politicians good enough sports to participate?

***

Prime Minister Harper has been ratty lately about Muslim women wearing the Niqab, the veil that covers their faces.

He says it is a sign of oppression against women and doesn’t reflect Canadian values. But how do we know if a woman is wearing the Niqab because she wants to or because some man says she has to?

And if we are talking about rights, will Mr. Harper defend a woman’s right to breast feed her baby in public?

After all, body parts are just body parts. Also, why is it bad for a woman to veil her l face but okay for a guy to wear a beard that covers his?

Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.