Category: Holidays & Observances

Songs of Peace: Alice’s Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends, family and neighbours! Along with Turkey and football games, another staple of American Thanksgiving for many is listening to the 18 minute classic, “Alice’s Restaurant.”

November has been Peace month in the School Library, with an emphasis on understanding peace education, the antiwar movements, civil disobedience and other non-violent means of social change. Such themes overlap with American Thanksgiving in “Alice’s Restaurant.”


Originally released in 1967, Arlo Guthrie’s 18 minute long recording of “Alice’s Restaurant” has become on of the most famous protest songs against the Vietnam War.  The events described in the song, beginning with a Thanksgiving celebration amongst friends during the sixties, were the inspiration for a film which was released in 1969.

More than 50 years later Guthrie’s signature song is a staple of classic rock radio stations on and around American Thanksgiving.

Find out more:

source: Arlo Guthrie / You Tube via Warner Records

November is Peace Month at your School Library. Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American family, friends and neighbours. The American version of Thanksgiving marks the unofficial start to the “Holiday Season.” We look forward to a time of holiday cheer over the coming weeks. Be sure to visit us in your school library to find out more, especially in December when our theme is “Holidays and Holy Days.”

Louis Riel

On this day in 1885, Louis Riel was hanged for High Treason by Canadian authorities. Riel was a Metis leader who led the resistance of his people against the Canadian government in the Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the North-West Rebellion of 1884. Few Canadians can come even close to Riel as a divisive figure in Canadian history. Riel was portrayed as an enemy of Canada by the government of John A. Macdonald, a view that was held by many anglophone Canadians for many years, and still by some today. On the other hand, Metis was a hero to the Metis, to indigenous people in general, and to many French Canadians, and anglophone Catholics. To them Riel represented those that would stand up against the elites whose vision of Canada was dominated by white people, English speakers, and Protestants of Anglo-Saxon heritage. Today more Canadians look favourably upon Riel, a complex figure whose life is entwined with so many problematic issues from Canada’s history that still challenge us today.

Find out more:

Songs of Peace: “Hero of War”

“Hero of War” is a 2009 song by the American band, Rise Against. Many of the most well known peace and antiwar songs that are most prominent in popular culture come from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly protest songs against the American war in Vietnam. However, there are also many other more recent songs that look critically at more contemporary wars, including the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Have a listen, and spend some time thinking about your response. What do antiwar songs, and songs of peace and alternatives to violence, have to say to us in 2023?

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is November 11. Today at LTSS we will observe Remembrance Day Assemblies.

Armistice Day was established to honour the fallen of the First World War, which formally ended at “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” Later, the name of the day was changed to Remembrance Day. Canadians served and died in another World War, as well as other wars and peacekeeping missions around the globe. Remembrance Day is a national holiday to honour the memory of those Canadians who have fallen in war.  

On Remembrance Day we pay our respect to those that have paid the terrible costs of war. Remembrance Day is not meant to celebrate war or glorify war. War has brought untold suffering and pain to the world. Those who has experienced war, especially those that have lost loved ones in war, know that war is not something to celebrate.

It is also important to remember that Remembrance Day is not one of the those holidays that is just a chance for rest and recreation. Please take some time to reflect on what Remembrance Day is all about. On November 11th at 11:00 AM, 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 or other parts of Canada, take some time for Remembrance.

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali and Bandi Chor Divas

‘Tuhanu Diwali diyan boht both vadhaiyan’

Keval Tank, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Diwali is celebrated by millions of people in India, Canada and around the world. Hundreds of millions of Hindus celebrate “the Festival of Lights.” People of other faiths, including Sikhism, also celebrate.

For Sikhs the festival has added significance as it generally coincides with a Sikh celebration known as Bandi Chhor Divas. In 2023 this takes place on November 12.

Many people will celebrate a five day festival from November 10 to 14 in 2023, with the main celebration of Diwali on November 12 . However, it may be celebrated at different times, and in different ways, by various groups in India, South Asia, and in the Indian diaspora.

Diwali may also be rendered as Deepavali or Divali.

For more information on Diwali, check out:

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. Today we are highlighting a few noteworthy librarians for the “Library Hall of Fame.”

Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria

Gene Joseph


Gene Anne Joseph is the founding librarian of the Xwi7xwa Library, an Indigenous Library at the University of British Columbia. She was the first librarian of Indigenous descent in British Columbia. Gene Joseph is from Hagwilget, British Columbia and is a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nadleh’dena First Nations. (source)

Zenodotus

Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria


Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria. During his leadership of the Great Library, Zenodutus was credited with establishing the first classification systems and other organizational schemes for the library. (source)

Jessamyn West


Jessamyn West is a librarian whose work has had a profound impact in many different ways, including her activism and her pioneering work in library technology. She is the founder of librarian.net and the owner of Meta Filter. West sees her work as a contribution to social justice. In her own words, “my main interest area is the intersection of technology and civic engagement. I believe the digital divide is just one more symptom of an increasing distance between haves and have-nots…” (source)

Find out more:

Jessamyn.com
Librarian.net
X̱wi7x̱wa Library
Gene Joseph Scholarship
Zenodotus of Ephesus
Great Library of Alexandria

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:
Brian Day
Zoia Horn
Nancy Pearl

October is Canadian Library Month
October is International School Library Month