Folk Yolks Blues: Friday, June 6th!

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths. -Aleksandr Pushkin, poet, novelist, and playwright (1799-1837)

Hey Corinne and Patrick: sorry, I got waylaid by Craig at the mailbox - hence the delay. Here's the Elink I use:
 

http://fluidsurveys.com/s/StrataOwnerSurveyHT/

If you click on this directly it seems to work OK - but I have no idea why, Bob 

Hey Corinne - did this work OK?  If not I'll contact the web coordinator, Bob

Hi Robertito! Yes, the link works. Cora Lee is responding as I scribe! Thanks very much for this and for all your work on this issue. Very important, obviously. Certainly much appreciated.

If we don't bump into you over next few days trust you have a safe, enjoyable trip to Scotland. Please down a few drams of malt for me while there! Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi Gents, Sorry for delay in replying as I got some bad flue the last little while. July 6th works for me too. Cheers, Moe

Thanks again to Pat. See you all then, G

Hello Lads, one and all!

Look forward to a full, well-read turn-out as this will be last meeting, I assume , before our Esteemed Secretary makes the move to Galiano! Cheers, Il Conduttore! Stats for today's ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/515158456#.U5JSqAzM5-0.email

Thank you for attending A Dram Come True FYI - Cheers....Paul

P, See you at the Hell Bent Terrace at 9:00 unless you tell me other wise. W 

Update on Complimentary Parking Passes

UBC Parking recently wrote to all UBC Emeritus Professors and 25 Year Club retirees about the complimentary parking pass that is awarded to you in recognition of your contribution to UBC. On considered reflection, complimentary Emeritus and 25 Year Club parking permits - for Members not receiving any renumeration from UBC for paid work - will continue to be issued without charge to Members and unless instructed by the CRA, (Canadian Revenue Agency), issued without any taxable benefit being assessed. In essence this means no change to the current program.


However, we do believe that there are important caveats attached to the issuance and use of an Emeritus and 25 Year Club parking pass specifically, the permit is:

1. For the exclusive use of the holder only: they are not transferable
2. To be used for occasional volunteering on Campus
3. For other occasional visits not associated with volunteering

IMPORTANT This means that:

1. If you are using a complimentary parking pass and being paid for work at UBC we are required to declare the parking permit to be a taxable benefit
- Individuals being paid by UBC will see the taxable benefit listed on their next T4.
 

- the amount of taxable benefit is dependent on the parking option selected - see below for your options
2. In addition, we want to caution you that we believe the CRA will view frequent visits to campus as a taxable benefit even if you are not being paid by UBC. We think that "frequent" (high use) is more than 2 visits to campus per week on a sustained basis

The majority of complimentary parking permits are used for occasional visits to Campus and help Emerti and Retirees maintain strong connections to UBC - and this is exactly the purpose of these permits. 

In order to maintain these important connections, but without burdening the recipient with a taxable benefit, UBC Parking will monitor use of these permits and alert the recipient ahead of time if there is high usage. Parking will not issue a T4 for high use unless directed by the CRA but this alert will act as a warning to Members should Parking receive a CRA directive.

Emeriti and 25 Year Club retirees are encouraged to self-pay for parking on Campus if you're alerted by UBC Parking as being a high-use visitor. This will help us maintain the current program and help recipients avoid CRA issued taxable benefit assessments.
 

Parking Options for High Use Members

Option A
Annual parking permit with full 24/7 access to all parkades and surface Faculty/Staff lots, a taxable value of $1,200

Option B (*)
FlexSaver 20 permit package - allows you to visit the campus up to 23 times this year parking in parkades, a taxable value of $198

Option C (*)
FlexSaver 10 permit package - allows you to visit the campus up to 11 times this year parking in parkades, a taxable value of $99

Option D
Decline any parking permit and instead pay for parking while visiting campus

(*) Options B and C can be repeatedly purchased if necessary.

Contact Us If you have any questions as it relates to Parking and your permit, please don't hesitate to get in touch - we'll be happy to help. Taxation questions are best resolved by consulting your tax / financial adviser. UBC Parking  

Hi Patrick and Corinne, Thanks for the marvelous evening with good wine and company. Hope to see you soon. We are arrived home safe. Good night. Eyob and Shewa

From The American West by Anne M. Butler and Michael J. Lansing. In the late 1700s, the western parts of North America now referred to by scholars as Comancheria and Apacheria were the scene of large-scale sex slavery little commented on by historians:

"The land that seemed so distant and romantic, so receptive to myth-building -- French Louisiana and Spanish Texas -- should have drawn the close scrutiny of the Americans. There they would have seen that the Spanish moving north out of Mexico and the French moving south out of Canada and the Ohio Valley mingled with Indians in places that would be known as Comancheria and Apacheria. The overlay of cultures produced a world distinct from other regions of Native-European interaction.

"After the French and Indian War, Spain gained administrative control of Louisiana. By this time, the French had added the Comanche and Wichita Indians to their earlier alliance with the Caddos. These Indian tribes came to a position of economic and political dominance across the region. A prominent component of these interlocking commercial relations included a vigorous trade in female slaves.
"The armies of men see-sawed between military aggression and peace-keeping ventures. In the teetering back and forth, women and children of the foe became targets for capture. Within this environment, the most vulnerable of the enemy camp were actively pursued as captives. This system led to widespread occasions of human slavery, predicated not on race, but on gender.

"Although a woman in a Native society often held carefully delineated economic and political power, when separated from her cultural community, a woman could find that her decision-making and personal agency evaporated. Instead, now held by an enemy camp, a woman became quite powerless, transformed into a slave to be used for forced labor -- domestic, mercantile, or sexual. Often referred to almost benignly as 'captivity,' the condition was, in fact, slavery, one in which women had no control over what happened to them.


"In this unsavory circumstance, women were valued as war booty. Men were not seen in the slave trade, as they either killed themselves before capture or were murdered when apprehended. Women and children, however, might be captured as punishment against an offending tribe, such as when the Spanish carried off Apache women. In addition to inflicting emotional pain on the enemy, the Spanish anticipated the value of the captives as a trade item during peace discussions, which they assumed would materialize at some point. The women, however, had no idea how long their slavery might last or its outcome -- sold off to a jobber for labor and death, given as a 'gift' during peace talks, exchanged for female slaves held by their captors' foes, murdered, raped, or married.

"The French moving south and west on the Plains during the eighteenth century more than dabbled in this slave trade, as they stoked the fires of their Indian alliances. Natchitoches and its nearby fort was a trade center, where the French acknowledged the most valuable goods were horses, pelts, and slaves. The trade in female slaves allowed men on both sides of the table to enhance their commercial and diplomatic ties. "In this swirl of several Indian tribes, Spanish administrators, and French traders, men of opposing sides cooperated in perpetuating the traffic in women, holding them in a bondage that was neither gentle nor brief. 

Women were an instrument to be used for the advance of masculine political and economic strategies. In the meantime, female captives changed the demographics of American slavery, forcibly held in western lands that were increasingly mythically regarded as a paradise of unfettered freedom. Such unattractive elements in western life, as this female slavery, were typically minimized or ignored."

The American West: A Concise History, Anne M. Butler, Blackwell Publishing, 2008