The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday September 23rd, 2022- International Day of Sign Languages
The International Day of Sign Languages is a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. During the 2022 celebration of the International Day of Sign Languages, the world will once again highlight the unity generated by our sign languages. Deaf communities, governments and civil society organisations maintain their collective efforts – hand in hand – in fostering, promoting and recognising national sign languages as part of their countries’ vibrant and diverse linguistic landscapes.
The laid-back charm of Meycode by Dr Elsa Lycias Joel
In that remote village called Meycode, animals and birds seem to read human minds, especially my mother’s and vice versa. Crows either wake her up if she sleeps through or wait for her at her door step and caw in different intonations when they do and don’t get what they expect. Seven sisters go a step ahead; fly into the house to eat mixture and chips spread out for them in newspapers. As they eat, they chirp loudly, taking their turns or sometimes in unison. My mother listens to them as if her schedule is part of their itinerary. I won’t be surprised if my mom turns out to be another Aileen Fisher. Mynas and squirrels join the seven sisters often to outwit them in eating and chatting. How beautifully they coexist, wait patiently for their turns is a sight to watch! It’s only during rainy or stormy days their schedule is a bit off that they fly in together, act erratically, peck away squirrels and pretend like they completely lost it. Another animal in the scene is the cat that acts like a watchdog, always in the vicinity of my mom. At times it tries to act nasty or funny with the birds. That’s when the cane comes out of my mom’s kitchen. An obligate carnivore surviving on human food will definitely have a fascination for meat. While in her garden, my mother just doesn’t get the fact that food chain and food web is essentially a part of life. Watering her small garden that has all the herbs, creepers and shrubs she can think of is what my mom enjoys the most, more than teaching English, counseling or managing the church library. It’s while watering she counts the number of newborn fishes and water lilies in her mini pond and realizes her small garden is haven for glowworms, snails, butterflies, bird nests, dragonflies, humming birds and birds of prey which she manages to scare away.
Blessed with a green thumb, supposedly a matrilineal genetic disposition, my mom has an unusual yearning to grow all that Margaret, her grandmother, had in her garden. Even if the garden doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing due to a lot of plants growing here and there, it’s a near carbon-copy of her Margaret’s. Anybody else watering or tending to her plants will feel unsatisfied as she points out an unwatered newly sprouted monocotyledon in some corner or beside a philodendron or elephant ears. I like to believe it’s none other than Margaret Stephen’s soul that’s acting as a bird whisperer.
Continue reading HERE!
2:00 AM #poem by Bohdan Yuri
“It’s 2:00 AM,
And I don’t want to go to sleep.
I’m not done with the day,
I’m still wired,
I don’t want to rest,
Only to start over again tomorrow.”
Continue reading HERE!
John Boyd Orr: Action for a Comprehensive World Food Policy by Rene Wadlow
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) aims by 2030 to “Double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets , and non-farm resources.”
John Boyd Orr, whose birth anniversary we mark on 23 September, was a medical doctor and biologist from Scotland concerned with the impact of poverty and malnutrition on health. He worked on food issues with the League of Nations and during the Second World War was deeply involved in food issues in Britain, especially focused on the needs of children and youth. From his experience with the League of Nations he saw the need for as large a group as possible to think of themselves as Citizens of the World. He wrote “Our civilization is now in the transition stage between the age of warring empires and a new age of world unity and peace…When the fabric of society is so rigid that it cannot change quickly enough, adjustments are achieved by social unrest and revolutions.”
Continue reading HERE!
Sceptic feathers #046 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas
For more Sceptic feathers HERE!
For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!
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