(Left to Right: Alyson Hannigan [Date Movie, 2006], Philomena Kwao, Essie Golden, Tess Holliday)

For the typical size 18 girl like myself, the summer months bring along the ever complicated dilemma: wear longer clothes that cover up “problem areas” but threaten to cause heat stroke, or throw caution to the wind and go for the shorts and tank top that show every jiggle and bump. Up until my senior year of high school, skirts and shorts were out of the question. The last thing I wanted was for everyone to see the bits of me that made me the most insecure about myself. It was a question of comfort. At least clothes left everything to the imagination; I would rather burn under the summer sun to please others than show everyone my chubby arms and legs.

And that’s when it hit me. It’s not like my body was a secret…

Well that seems to be the take-home message of this article in the Financial Post on the ‘other’ Irish Referendum. You may not have heard about this; I hadn’t. But apparently there was a second referendum last week regarding the age at which one is eligible to run for President of Ireland. And the result was that the Irish voted “No” to reducing this age from 35 years to 21 by a resounding 75 per cent to 25.

What’s interesting is the argument (and it may be tongue-in-cheek) that this age ban isn’t age discrimination. The author suggests that the result shows how voters think of age discrimination as being different from other kinds of discrimination. And he suggests that it is. I’ve come across this contention before (though not so much recently). The argument is that ‘we don’t all experience being gay, straight, white, non-white, male, female…but on…

While I chose to keep the activities in the Solomon Islands area in August intact, action was going on around the rest of Asia and the Pacific as well ____

12 August – Japanese forces in Shantung Province, China took advantage of hostilities between the Communist and Nationalist Forces.  The Japanese launched a huge new offensive against the Nationalist troops.

Nautilus, Argonaut & Narwhal

17-25 August – US submarines Nautilus and Argonaut delivered the USMC 2nd Raider Battalion to Makin Island [now known as Butaritari], in the Gilberts.  Their mission was to attack enemy installations, gail intelligence and divert attention away from Guadalcanal.  They went ashore on 2 beaches in high surf and headed inland.  The Japanese garrison was wiped out, but the retrieval of all of the Marines went awry due to high seas, seaplane strafing.  As a result, 11 Marines were captured. Koso Abe was later tried and…

Let’s make the world a better place.

Photos and Story Copyright Jeffrey Foltice

Above from left- Sable Falls, Chapel Falls, Agate Falls and Munising Falls

The waterfalls of Northern Michigan stir feelings of power, renewal, wonder, tranquility and beauty as they rush forward in their never-ending journey that is part of nature’s wonder. There are many to be seen in my home state, although driving to some near the Michigan, Wisconsin border from where I live in Southwest Michigan would be the equivalent of driving past Pittsburgh, Pa. That’s about nine hours of nonstop driving over a distance of about 500 miles. However, if you take a shortcut via Muskegon’s Lake Express Car Ferry, the drive from Milwaukee is about 300 miles or 5 1⁄2 hours of driving.

Bond Falls

Two of the falls to visit in the far western Upper Peninsula are Agate Falls and Bond Falls. The pair are great to see in autumn with the colored trees accenting the beauty of whitewater spilling over dark rock formations.

Upstream from Bond Falls is an amazing palette of colors…