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Nuremberg Trials
On this day in 1945 the Nuremberg Trials began in post-war Germany. An American led “International Military Tribunal” began a series of trials for Germans accused of crimes against humanity, primarily in connection to the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews, Roma, homosexuals and other groups. The various trials stretched out over nearly a year. While public sympathy was very much in favour of both the rationale for and the outcome of the trials, there have been major criticisms against the legal jurisdiction of the tribunal. While we are right in wanting justice for the crimes of the Nazis, how legitimate were the Nuremberg Trials? Moreover, were the Allies themselves guilty of some of the same crimes for which the Germans were tried?
For more on these questions, check out some of the following:
As an interesting side note, today student from our school are joining other students from around the province for a Symposium on the Holocaust at UBC, presented by the Holocaust Education Centre.
Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?
Thought provoking ideas from a wide variety of thinkers are brought together by editor John Brockman in Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? In the opening essay, “The Bookless Library,” Nicholas Carr asserts:
As a technology, a book focuses our attention, isolates us from the myriad distractions that fill our everyday lives. A networked computer does precisely the opposite. It is designed to scatter our attention. It doesn’t shield us from environmental distractions; it adds to them. The words on a computer screen exist in a welter of contending stimuli.
Carr isn’t arguing that the internet is bad. We cannot dispute that the internet has given us huge advantages. However, those advantages come at a cost.
My own reading and thinking habits have shifted dramatically since I first logged on the Web fifteen years ago or so. I now do the bulk of my reading and researching on-line. And my brain has changed as a result. Event as I’ve become more adept at navigating the rapids of the Net, I have experienced a steady decay in my ability to sustain my attention… What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.
The computer age has not rendered the book obsolete. True, the future of paper publishing may be in doubt. The physical book is here for at least the short-term. In the long run maybe they will be completely replaced by e-books. That is not the point. Regardless of the format, we need books, more than ever. We need them for many reasons, not least as an antidote to the distracted, shallow thinking that is the product of so much of what people do on-line. We need long-form text, including fiction and non-fiction. We need to read things that require concentration, engagement and deep thinking.
IGD@YL was AWESOME!
![IMG_0091[1]](https://tweedsmuirlibrary.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/img_00911.jpg)
Thanks to all the students and staff who joined us in the school library to celebrate International Games Day @ Your Library. Over 300 people came in at some point during the day to play games. Together we celebrated the tremendous educational power of gaming, and especially the unique advantages of board games, table games, party games and other social games. We hope that you continue to play games throughout the year. Come down to the library to play games, or even to borrow our games to play at home with your family.
Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak was born in April of 1469 in north-west India, (what is now Pakistan.) He would go on to become the founder of Sikhism as the first of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism. Although his birthday was in April, it is celebrated in November on the day of the full moon. (As such, the date will vary from year to year on the solar calendar, like other lunar based holidays.)
Most Canadians of Indian heritage who live in Canada are Sikhs, including many students at Lord Tweedsmuir, and communities throughout Surrey and Greater Vancouver.
For more on Guru Nanak and Sikhism, check out the SikhWiki, the online “Encyclomedia of the Sikhs.”
International Games Day @ Your Library!
Today we celebrate International Games Day @ Your Library! We are looking forward to the many different classes, representing all grades and from across the curriculum, that will be joining us for all sorts of board games, table games, card games and more.
What are your favourite board games?
What are your favourite board games? We can use the term loosely, to include all sorts of table games and party games. Here are some of my favourites:
- Settlers of Catan
- Monopoly
- King of Tokyo
- Chess
- Nameburst
- Scrabble
- Trivial Pursuit
- Scattergories
- Backgammon
- Password
What are some of your favourites? Leave a comment to let us know!
International Games Day @ Your Library
November 15, 2013
SafeTeen
SafeTeen will again be in the school library today, for the afternoon blocks only. As such, students are reminded that no study block students or drop-in students will have access today. No female students or staff are to enter the library during the boys SafeTeen session.
International Games Day @ Your Library JUST 2 DAYS AWAY!
Just another couple days until International Games Day @ Your Library!
Take a look at the map to see the locations of libraries all over the world that will be taking part!
For more information, check out the official home page
SafeTeen
SafeTeen is a tremendous program that covers a variety of topics including conflict resolution, healthy relationships, bullying, sexual health and more.
Once again we are very pleased to host SafeTeen seminars in the school library. Grade 10 BOYS will be attending SafeTeen seminars on November 12 and 14. As such, the room will be closed to all drop-in and study block students, as well as to all female staff.
Kristallnacht
For all the amazing accomplishments and advances of humanity, we are still capable of terrible barbarism and unspeakable evil. One of the most terrible and shameful chapters of our history is marked by the remembrance of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” These events of November 9 and 10, 1938, in Germany, are seen to be the symbolic start of the Holocaust, the systematic persecution and genocide of the Jews (and other groups) by the Nazis.
From Yad Veshem :
On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a series of riots against the Jews in Germany and Austria. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. For the first time, tens of thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps simply because they were Jewish. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) for the shattered store windowpanes that carpeted German streets. Kristallnacht was an essential turning point in Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews, and a significant event in Holocaust history.
For more about Kristallnacht, click here. For educational resources click here.
Visit the full site of Yad Veshem for more information on the Holocaust. Other online sources include:
Remembrance Day
Remember, Remembrance Day is not one of the those holidays that is just an excuse for a long weekend. Please take some time over these next few days to reflect on what Remembrance Day is all about. And on Monday, plan to take some time to honour those that have died and those that have served. Whether you attend a ceremony in person, or check out the television coverage of the ceremony in Ottawa, take some time for Remembrance.
Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library 