Finding lost graves at 'Uncle Tom's' family cemetery

UWO grad students Flannery Surette and Jim Keron surveying Henson cemetery.

Contrary to popular mythology, Uncle Tom may have been a bold fighter for freedom. Josiah Henson, possibly the man behind the Uncle Tom character, was an escaped American slave who fled the United States with his wife and children to enjoy freedom in Upper Canada, the future province of Ontario.

Josiah Henson's last home still stands in Dresden, Ontario

Henson was a renowned abolitionist, preacher and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.  He personally "conducted" more than 115 runaway slaves to freedom, according to Devon Robinson of the Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, In all, the secret network helped almost 30,000 make it safely to Canada.

Henson delivered on his promise: "I'll use my freedom well." His home in Dresden, Ontario, is now a historic site commemorating his work.

Today archaeologists from The University of Western Ontario are searching for unmarked graves hidden in the Henson Family Cemetery. A few years ago Henson's home was moved a few hundred metres (yards) to its present location beside the cemetery.

Archaeologists find lost graves with ground penetrating radar.

Originally, the search was to be completed before the 177th anniversary of Emancipation Day, which celebrates the abolition of slavery in the British colonies.

Unfortunately, rain prevented the UWO archaeologists from mapping the areas in question before the symbolic August 1st date. The team is using sophisticated Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) which beams radar waves into the ground. It cannot be used in the rain.

Hidden features and buried objects reflect the waves enabling archaeologists accurately to map anything they discover. This approach minimizes surface disturbance — very important when mapping an historic cemetery. GPR allows a thorough but respectful search by the archaeologists.

Dena Doroszenko, archaeologist for the Ontario Heritage Trust, which owns and operates the historic site, said, "This work will be extremely helpful. Because the Henson family cemetery is still in use today . . . "

A forgotten grave was unearthed at the Henson Family Cemetery during a burial —  an unnerving event. "We are trying to prevent this happening again," said Edward Eastaugh, a UWO archeology supervisor and leader of Western’s survey team.

It is possible some of the unmarked graves will later be identified with the help of family members who have a knowledge of Henson Family genealogy, Doroszenko said.

Josiah Henson shown with Harriet Beecher Stowe, top right.

Many have forgotten how influential the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was at the time of its publication. It was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, only bested by the Bible. It was a catalyst for positive, radical change when it came to society's rejection of slavery in the States and around the world.

Shortly after the release of her book, Stowe acknowledged that Josiah Henson's autobiography, published a few years earlier in 1849, had been an inspiration for her novel. Henson, himself, republished his work as The Memoirs of Uncle Tom.

Sadly, as The New York Times recently pointed out:

"Today, of course, the book has a decidedly different reputation, thanks to the popular image of its titular character, Uncle Tom — whose name has become a byword for a spineless sellout, a black man who betrays his race."

Clearly the original meaning of Uncle Tom has been lost or Henson would not have taken the name for the later release of his memoirs. The archaeologists from Western are finding long forgotten graves while showing great respect as they conduct their search.

Josiah Henson's grave is not forgotten. It is clearly marked. But the respect for "Uncle Tom" seems to have been lost. Finding the man behind the myth is easy, no GPR necessary, but finding Uncle Tom's noble character, now obscured by time, seems much harder.

Dormant or dead?

Dying? Dead? Or just dormant?

Recently I started thinking that Stephen Colbert was onto something with his newly minted word: "truthiness". Someone suggested to me that the widely reported story of lawn grasses going dormant during a drought may be more truthiness rather than truth. They were right.

When newspapers and other media outlets tell you "grass goes dormant during dry periods" and proceed to encourage you to refrain from watering, you see yourself as green, if not your lawn. Unfortunately, follow this advice too rigidly and you will not be green and your lawn will be dead — permanently dormant.

Surprisingly, the lack of truth in the advice is not in the claim of dormancy, grass does go dormant during a drought. It is the belief that dormant grass needs no water where the error creeps in. Dormant grass is living grass and so it should come as no surprise that it still requires a little water.

So, what is the greenest response to lawn care during a drought? Based on information gleaned from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and from Ohio State University:

• Water turf once every two weeks with about half an inch or 1.27 cm of water. This will supply enough moisture to keep crowns, rhizomes and roots of your lawn grass hydrated and alive. This amount of water will not regreen a dormant lawn, however, it will help to insure good recovery with the return of rainfall. (If your soil is very sandy and does not hold water well, your lawn may require watering more often —  say, once a week.)
• Use water gauges to measure the depth of water applied. A lawn water gauge can be as simple as several empty straight-sided cans, such as tuna and salmon containers, placed in the sprinkler's watering pattern.
• If possible, cycle irrigation to allow water penetration and avoid water runoff. Dry soils may not absorb even 1.27 cm of water in one application.
• Water turf in the early morning to reduce water loss from evaporation.
• Never allow sprinklers to water pavement, driveways or sidewalks. This wastes water.
• Never trim lawns shorter than two and a half inches or 6.35 cm. Taller grass develops a deeper, more extensive root system. Keep mower blades sharp to avoid tearing rather than cleanly cutting the grass. A healthy lawn is better positioned to survive a drought.

If the drought is serious and a total ban on lawn watering is in force, face reality; Your lawn may be toast.

What does it have to do with me?

Mel Goodale is director of the centre focused on the "three pounds of wet matter" between our ears.

When research centres hold press conferences to make important announcements there is a tendency for the average person to have the response, if they have a response at all, of: "So what? What does all this have to do with me?"

The Centre for Brain and Mind at The University of Western Ontario held such a press conference today. It was announced that The Centre will begin training post-doctoral fellows from University of Cambridge, King's College London and University College London (three of the top institutions in the United Kingdom). Similarly, Western will be sending three post-doctoral fellows to each of the three U.K. institutions for four-month training periods.

Stephen Williams, King's College, U.K.

This was big news — it had to be — as research scientists from the United Kingdom made the long flight across the pond to speak at the press conference.

Still, you can be forgiven for wondering, "What does any of this have to do with me?" Research like that done by The Centre can sound esoteric and its concerns remote, unless it involves you or a loved one.

Years ago, while still working for the local paper, I covered the installation of a special, 3 Tesla MRI unit at The Robarts Research Institute.

Kim Krueger, an MRI technologist, shows scans during tour.

I was told the huge scanner being carefully lowered by a giant crane slowly into the Robarts Centre was 10 to 15 times the strength of low field or open MRI scanners then in common use.

Interesting, impressive, but so what?

Then, a few months ago I found myself inside that high-field MRI as part of an ongoing research study.

The clarity of those images revealed what been hidden from specialists right across the continent, from London to Winnipeg to San Francisco; The 3T MRI showed that the right side of my heart is being converted from muscle to fat and scar tissue causing the right side to weaken and expand. A valve is leaking.

DNA testing confirmed that this was an ongoing problem with a genetic cause. I have ARVC.

Videographer Craig Glover films 7T MRI from a safe distance.

When I heard The Centre for Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario in the Natural Sciences building works closely with both University Hospital and the Robarts Research Institute, I knew this was a press conference I did not want to miss.

I learned the Robarts people have an even more powerful scanner than the one used to diagnose my heart problem; They have a 7 Tesla MRI — one of only three 7Ts in the world developed specifically for neurological use. According to Siemens, MRIs don't come any more powerful for human applications. Wow!

The research scientists with The Centre will be using this incredible and very rare machine. There are less than four dozen of these in use in the entire world. There are clear reasons why The Centre is widely recognized as a global leader in many branches of neuroscience research.

So what diseases may be forced to reveal their secrets by Western's pioneering scientists? Think Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, schizophrenia, epilepsy, stroke, a myriad of psychiatric disorders . . . Sadly, I am sure something in that list hit all too close to home. What is being done here is not remote, ivory tower research but work advancing our knowledge about, and our ability to deal with, everyday medical tragedies.

And now you know the answer to the question: What does an announcement of the grand opening of The Centre for Brain and Mind have to do with me? In a word: "Lots!"
________________________________________________________

To read more about The Centre's research which is being conducted by approximately 20 principal scientists and many others across many disciplines at both Western and the Robarts Research Institute, check out the following links:

• Click of his tongue unleashes sonar-like bat sense
• People blind and deaf from birth have remaining senses enhanced
• UWO team proves sound of yawning is contagious

The village paper

The London noise bylaw brought an end to the Bruce Cockburn outdoor performance.

According to The London Free Press, London "is a village masquerading as a big city." Why? Because a London noise bylaw prevents outdoor concerts from being "played too loud* after 11 p.m." In truth, if London were a village, it would be much easier to hold loud music festivals. The bigger the city, the more people who must be appeased.

Last year in Montreal, the second largest city in Canada, music festivals like the Osheaga music festival and a Pop Montreal showcase held at Parc des Ameriques were the focus of efforts by the City of Montreal to deal with noise pollution. The Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal initiated Project Noise and began handing out fines of up to $12,000.

When the Concordia student union planned on bringing international star K’naan onto campus for a performance, the city insisted the volume must be kept under under 80 decibels. The orientation headliner was moved to Loyola Campus when the city would not relent and the concert could not find another venue anywhere in downtown Montreal.

Loud music is a problem that all cities face but many do not realize the full extent of the problem. Loud music causes hearing loss and hearing loss is not a joke. In 2008, V-Fest in Toronto was promoted with catchphrase: "If it's too loud, you're too old." A more accurate statement might have been, "If it's too loud, you may be going deaf."

I suffer from tinnitus. The only sound I hear from my left ear is generated within the ear itself. Other than that constant background noise, I hear almost nothing with my left ear. Why? I trace the loss back to my youth and hours spent listening to outlandishly loud rock concerts. What finally did my ear in was an April Wine concert held at the old London Gardens. My left ear was pointed at a massive bank of speakers all night long. When that night was done the ringing in that ear never left.

When I was young, and immature, (rather than my present old and immature), I took in some fine, loud rock concerts. One of the most memorable was that of Detroit's Amboy Dukes at the former Terrace Bowling Lanes in Windsor, Ontario. The Dukes were fronted by guitarist Ted Nugent and Nugent knew a thing or two about loud.

Writing this I began to wonder how is Ted Nugent doing today? Is he as deaf as I am all from a silly drive for high decibels and truly ear-splitting volume? The answer in a word: Yes!

Musicians with tinnitus:
  

• Ted Nugent - "My left ear is pretty much whacked."
• Pete Townshend - "I have severe hearing damage. . . . It hurts, it's painful, and it's frustrating."
• John Entwhistle - According to Who scholar Andy Neill, Entwhistle was pretty deaf, and tended to rely on lip-reading.
• Jeff Beck - "It's in my left ear. It's excruciating . . . " You can ask, "Why is a guy scratching at a window with his nails such a horrible sound — I couldn't put up with that! This is worse!" 
• Phil Collins - The former Genesis drummer and vocalist announced he will perform live only occasionally to avoid further hearing loss on his "hearing damaged left ear."
• Danny Elfman - Oingo Boingo, film scores/composer. Touring took a major toll on his hearing. "My instincts were telling me I was doing myself a lot of harm — and I was right. I really should have gotten out sooner . . . I'm paying the price for it now."
• Steve Lukather - The guitarist/song writer for Toto says, "Yes, I have tinnitus, what a drag. . . . My hearing is damaged . . . I always have to say, "What?" Be careful guys, this could happen to you!"

Free Press editorial writers beware that attempting to diminish your hometown, the city and its people with childish remarks doesn't actually diminish London; It does diminish you.


* played too loud - Shouldn't this be the adverb loudly modifying the verb "played" instead of the adjective loud as used?

This is an honest question. I make a lot of grammatical errors. I am slowly correcting many thanks to the suggestions I receive from former editors. I'd really like to know: Is it loud or loudly?

Truthiness is hot in the media

Going jogging? Have a cup of coffee first.

Nothing brings out truthiness like extreme weather. As hot weather records in Ontario tumbled Thursday, at least three hot weather myths were repeated in the media ad nauseam.

The Weather Network online forecast it would feel like 49°C.

Linda Stobo, of the Middlesex London Health Unit, talking with The London Free Press, managed to repeat two of the most common myths in one interview.

She told the paper: One should drink plenty of water . . . even if one doesn't feel thirsty and one should avoid caffeinated drinks because they will make you more thirsty.

False and false. Both are myths that have been repeated so often they have entered the realm of truthiness.

Stephen Colbert, the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, had this to say about truthiness.

I'm sure the word-police, the "wordanistas" at Websters, are gonna say: Hey, truthiness is not a word! Well, anybody who knows me knows that I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen . . .

Cobert doesn't trust books. They're all fact, no heart, he says . . . we are divided into those who think with their heads, and those who know with their hearts . . .

According to some folk who think with their heads at the University of California, Berkeley, and publish the university's Wellness Letter: "You don’t end up with a net loss of water from drinking moderate amounts of caffeinated beverages. In other words, they don’t dehydrate you."

In a study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center a decade ago, healthy adults showed the same "hydration status" (as determined from urine analysis and other tests) when they drank caffeinated colas and/or coffee as when they drank only water and/or fruit drinks.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), which advises the government about health issues, including dietary intakes, concluded "caffeinated beverages appear to contribute to the daily total water intake similar to that contributed by non-caffeinated beverages."

One report, by a scientist at the University of Connecticut who reviewed 10 previous studies, discovered fluid retention was essentially the same for both water or a caffeinated beverage.

So, feeling thirsty? Have a Tim's, if you like. Many authorities agree that the average person can enjoy from three to four cups of coffees over the course of a day — even a day that's a scorcher.

And have that Tim's when you're feeling thirsty, unless you're an old geezer like me, then drink early. Again, from the Wellness Letter: People normally get enough fluids by drinking when they’re thirsty — only older people should drink water before they get thirsty. Thirst is a less reliable indicator as we age.

This may seem like nitpicking and unimportant but if you're ever in Africa and in need of a drink, coffee made from boiled water is a healthier choice than cold water. Even bottled water can be suspect in some regions of the world.

I know a fellow who, while traveling in the Sahara Desert, drank so much bottled water at the encouragement of his guide that he made himself quite ill. That night he had a severe headache, suffered from fatigue, nausea, vomiting and had to urinate frequently. He was up all night. He munched on potato chips in an attempt to boost his low levels of sodium. Come morning he ate a couple of bananas for the potassium. The water, consumed despite not being thirsty, appeared to have seriously diluted his body's electrolyte.

Long distance runners have been known to force themselves to drink despite not feeling thirsty and a very small number have died as a result. It's rare but it happens.

Yes, it can get hot enough to fry an egg!

Oh, and about the phrase "hot-enough-to-fry-and-egg", it is often reported that this is a myth — an impossible feat. Can't be done, we're told.

Well, it can be done but it is a bit of a magic trick. You've got to know how to pull this one off. It is not as easy as simply breaking an egg on a hot surface. The hot surface will quickly cool and the egg itself will supply the insulation needed to keep the surface from regaining its original temperature.

The Alberta Egg Producers say that egg whites begins to ease into an opaque state at 62°C (144°F). Yolks needs a bit higher temperature: 65°C.

If you want to pull this off, have a chat with a high school physics teacher to get pointed in the right direction.

Once, I fried an egg in a frying pan placed on the hood of a black car. My neighbours were amazed. One hint: you've got to keep the performer's spiel going and keep attention diverted. It's only magic if no one can see the science behind the trick.

There is one group of folk who can't rehydrate with a Tim's. And these folk cannot tell you if they are feeling thirsty, either. I'm talking about babies.

Well-meaning caregivers may believe a baby needs plain water on a hot day; They don't. With such small bodies babies can quickly ingest too much water. Water poisoning is one of the leading causes of seizures in otherwise healthy babies, according to Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Keep babies lightly dressed, keep them in air conditioned environments, if they are drinking formula, do not over dilute the mix. If they must go outside to play, encourage them to splash about in a small pool set up in the shade.

The advice — drink plenty of water . . . even if you don't feel thirsty — is poor advice in many cases. Who knows, maybe even Stephen Colbert would agree.

The benefits of using a tripod

I've been very disappointed in a lot of the videos shot by newspaper reporters and photographers. Frankly, all too often the videos posted on newspaper web sites have an amateur quality imparted by the shaky camera.

To see what a difference a tripod can make, watch this little video documenting an abandoned amusement park in Wichita, Kansas.


No Joy from Mike Petty on Vimeo.

Canon 7D

Note: This little clip was not shot with a true, video-purposed camera but with a Canon 7D. When I enlarge some of the newspaper videos to full screen, they begin falling apart, jaggies appear, unlike this little video which enlarges beautifully.

Now, I'm going to get ready to attend PhotoCamp London 2011.

Addendum: At PhotoCamp I learned there's a lot of experimenting being done with Canon DSLRs being used for shooting video. For instance, a season final of House was shot using a Canon 5D Mark II. Amazing!

Yes, this is a London, Ontario suburb!

It may be city land but adjacent landowners maintain the wide trail.

London was a small, compact community when I first moved here almost four decades ago. London never fell for the ring-road concept and so the city grew mainly around its edges with no ring-road attracting development even farther away from the core.

I live in a London suburb: Byron. It is a classic subdivision plan with lots of crescents and courts. It takes fifteen minutes to drive approximately 10 kilometres from my driveway to the downtown core. It takes about the same amount of time to walk to the supermarket, the drugstore, the bank or a number of other businesses.

The nicest thing about walking to the store is that there are short-cuts. One doesn't have to walk along the street but can take pathways that cut between and behind area homes. These pathways link streets and courts. The walks are very pleasant in the non-winter months. As they are not maintained during the winter, they may be blocked by snow in mid-February.

I love the colours and textures encountered walking to the store.

Of course, in mid-February the pathways may be in use by others, such as kids with sleds and families with toboggans.

My point here is that London suburbs are not all dull, boring, stale places to live. They are not places to escape from as some of the writers at the local paper seem to believe.

I love my neighbourhood, my now grown children love the area and my 3-year-old granddaughter enjoys it, especially the pathways to adventure.

The best lawn in Canada is no more

Once the London Life lawn would never have had even one weed, yet alone dozens.

It was once known as the best lawn in Canada. It was incredible. It was unbelievable. It was a golf green unmarred by a hole and cup. It was the London Life lawn in downtown London, Ontario.

The London Life lawn is patchy not perfect.

The insurance company's grass was a brighter green. It was finer, denser, shorter. It was so short that a special drum lawn mower — the kind usually reserved for trimming golf greens — was used to cut the grass to a height of 1/8 inch. London Life must have had a full-time greenskeeper. Amazing.

But all that came to an end a few years ago. According to The Londoner the look could only be achieved through the use of chemical pesticides. When the province banned lawn pesticides, the death knell sounded for the famous London lawn.

Greg Sandle, London’s pesticide education coordinator, told the Londoner that folks have to change their perception of what constitutes a perfect lawn.

“There will be dandelions, there will be weeds. But we want people to just relax, they’re only weeds."

If you look carefully at the London Life lawn, you can still see remnants of the former lawn, fine and dense.

The new grass is hardier. It doesn't demand all the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer and water of the golf green variety. You might say, despite appearances to the contrary, the new lawn is actually "greener" than the old one.

Old and new: patches of the old, perfect lawn can still be seen.

London lawns more than grass

A pesticide-treated lawn in London, Ontario.

Recently I watched a very enjoyable video on lawns in London. It was well written, nicely shot and well edited. Unfortunately, it missed the story.

According to this reporter/videographer team, Londoners have started letting their lawns be. Why? They have no choice, London banned pesticides for lawn care and soon after the province followed suite. Lawns in London "have become … less perfect, more wild."

There are more weeds than before.

It's true that lawns in London and throughout Ontario have suffered in recent years. With 2, 4-D banned, weeds grew quickly and soon invaded lawns right across the province. The once popular herbicide was feared by many Ontario residents despite being declared safe at the time by Health Canada. Still, the stuff had a checkered reputation and banning it wasn't unreasonable. Read the Toxipedia entry on 2, 4-D.

Personally, I wasn't sad to see 2, 4-D go. Treated lawns stunk and the odour ruined an otherwise pleasant walk.

But, the chemists fought back. They fought back against the provincial ban and against weeds. Now, there is a new chemical on the block and on London lawns and on lawns across the province: iron.

According to Nutri-Lawn, a company that boasts they provide ecology friendly lawn care:

An excessive uptake of chelated iron (FeHEDTA) is toxic to broadleaf weeds. They absorb the iron differently than turf. Turfgrass is not affected by the application of  FeHEDTA but weeds die. So Killex (2, 4D) is out and Fiesta (FeHEDTA) is in.

Scotts Weed B Gon contains FeHEDTA.

I've noticed a number of lawns in my neighbourhood sporting signs advising folk walking by that the grass has been treated professionally. But this iron stuff is readily available at garden centres and many more lawns are being treated than posted.

Many lawns in London and other communities throughout the province are weedy now but this may be a short term thing. Fiesta, and weed killers like it, are gaining in popularity and the reviews of these chemicals are very positive at this moment. Read this release from the University of Maryland on iron-based herbicides.

What I love about lawns in my area of London is that many are not lawns at all. More and more home owners are choosing to plant trees and flowers and shrubs in place of grass. One neighbour has removed the lawn completely and replaced it with a rock garden.

A grassless "lawn" in London, Ontario.

Many others have simply reduced their use of grass. In extreme cases the grass is less lawn and more accent colour. Grass is just part of an overall look. Whatever approach has been taken, it looks great and gives my London neighbourhood the appearance of a well kept park.

Is any of this unique? I doubt it. A lot of home owners love gardening — young and old. You don't have to be a so-called baby boomer to love getting your hands dirty.

The only constant in life is change

Large, opulent and deserted.

Back in the '60s a friend told me: "The only constant in life is change." This, I believe, is a quote from Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus. It's nice to seem some things last.

I think change helped hollow out our cities and ruin our downtowns. Change doomed many a grand movie house and change destroyed many an opulent downtown hotel.

Saturday I saw how change can affect a small, forgotten bit of elegance lost deep in a small town backyard: A solid concrete swimming pool built with hard work and love.

The entrance to the pool is amazingly intact.

Ernie built concrete, in-ground pools for a living. When Ernie built an in-ground for himself and his wife, he built a well crafted beauty.

Ernie died more than a decade ago and his pool was forgotten. His wife, in her eighties, didn't use the pool and living alone she was unable to maintain it or even close it down properly.

Sadly, no neighbour, no relative, no one spent much time thinking about the forgotten, concrete pool. It sat neglected.

It is mainly frogs that enjoy the pool today.

The water grew green with algae and the laughing of young nephew and nieces was replaced by the croaking of bull frogs. The concrete deck gently heaved and weeds grew between the concrete slabs.

But Ernie made a good pool. Rainwater and snowfall replenished the pool water that evaporated and the old, solid pool held; It didn't leak.

Ernie's wife died recently and the pool has been rediscovered. Despite its green-thick water, despite the frogs, despite the weeds and forlorn flower gardens, the pool was a real estate plus. The home sold quickly and the new owners, a young couple, are going to restore the old, concrete pool.

I wish them luck.

The pool has new owners and the change may bring it some permanence.

Morgan Featured Marque

My Morgan, I've had it for almost 43 years, is the green one in the foreground.

At the British Sports Car of London sponsored show at Bellamere Winery in the northwest end of the city Saturday, Morgan was the honoured marque.

The quintessential British sports car may be a very small car producer but it is a successful one. That's more than one can say for General Motors. After more than a century, Morgan is still in business and, unlike GM, it does not have a bankruptcy skeleton in its closet.

That's right, Morgans are still being made! And some models, yes models, the Morgan Motor Company makes a line of cars, harken back to the early years of the last century.

I bought mine in Windsor, Ontario in December of 1968. It's been a fine car. My wife and I have driven it across the continent to California twice in the past six years. I've kept it for almost 43 years and if I want to keep driving a Moggie, I've got to keep my old girl on the road. Treat her with love.

You see, Morgans are still being made but they are no longer sold in Canada. It has been decades since one could buy a new Morgan in Canada. The Morgan company has been unable to meet all the demands of the Canadian government when it comes to meeting the multitude of rules regulating the importation of new cars.

It was hoped that the Morgan 3 Wheeler, brought back into production just recently, would be available Canada, entering the country under regulations governing motorcycles. Think Can-Am. They are legal and considered roadworthy. Morgan trikes, with a solid heritage going back to 1910 are not being cleared for sale.

Click on the links. Check out the Morgan line. Check out the new-old 3 Wheeler. And remember, what some claim is the greenest car in production today, the Morgan is not sold in Canada. A pity.

Cheers.

Not Made in London, Ontario

There is a big move to make London Ontario a more successful community, a better place to live. The folks behind the push think of themselves as forward thinking but, in a certain sense, they are talking about bringing back the past. (Not that that is always a bad thing.)

I have written about some of the large and small companies that flourished in London in the past and which have either been bought and closed or bought and folded into a larger company. Over the years many businesses and many jobs have left the city, many have left Canada. (For more info, see: The Forest City: A rich past of fading memories)

One of the companies I mentioned was McClary appliances. Born in London around the 1850s, it grew into a major Canadian supplier of home appliances. Today it has departed the town of its birth. Its memory has faded. Its London plant has been demolished.

Last night I was in an appliance store and checked where the appliances, Inglis and Amanda, were made. It was a short but interesting read. Inglis is a bit like McClary.

According to Wikipedia, the Inglis name originated with John Inglis of Dundas, Ontario. The machine shop he opened with Thomas Mair in Guelph, Ontario, in 1859 grew into the company that made the engines for the Canada Steamship Lines. By the mid 1960s, Inglis was the leading producer of Canadian-built laundry machines. Inglis, like McClary, was a long running Canadian success story.

Today the Inglis name is still on the marquee but the show is over, closed by the Whirlpool Corporation of Benton Harbour, Michigan. The large Inglis complex in Toronto has been demolished and the land is being redeveloped as housing and commercial space. The appliances I examined may have carried the Inglis and Amana names but both brands are controlled by Whirlpool and made in Mexico, Shunde PRC or assembled in the United States. There's no mention of Canada.

If alarm bells are not ringing in your head, let me clue you in and then please watch the following video. Benton Harbour, the Michigan town Whirlpool Corporation calls home, the town mentioned on the manufacturer i.d. plates on the appliances I examined, is a town famous for being an ongoing economic disaster. Benton Harbour suffered an urban collapse possibly worse than that suffered by Detroit. Years ago The London Free Press sent a reporter and a photographer to Benton Harbour to document the town's economic collapse and to determine if London could learn from the small Michigan town's experience.

If you have the time, please watch the following video.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In London, the conversation has turned to making London a creative city. What is being ignored is that London was once, and not that long ago, a creative city.

McClary, Labatt, Blackburn, Carling, Jarmain . . .  all are part of a long list of creative, successful Londoners. These creative types brought wealth not only to themselves but to their city.

The McCormick cookie and candy plant sits closed, empty.

There are a couple of names that are not on the list despite being two very creative guys who have made a big impact on London. These men are Marc Leder and Rodger Krouse, the founders of Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm that has bought and closed three London plants in just four years. Following from The London Free Press and The Tribune:

• In 2007, Sun Capital Partners closed McCormicks the cookie and candy factory on Dundas St. E. in London, cutting 275 jobs, denying workers severance, vacation pay and pensions.
• McCormicks workers fight two years in court to win vacation pay and have to pay their legal bills from the winnings.
• One 48-year employee now earns a pension of $300 a month.
• In 2008, Sun Capital Partners closed closed H.J. Jones in London while denying severance. Employees had to fight to get a deal paying them half of what they were owed.
• In 2008, Sun Capital Partners was involved in the closing of the CanGro Foods in St. Davids, an Ontario canning plant and the last remaining fruit canning plant in all of North America east of the Rockies. The plant had been in operation for more than 100 years.
• In 2008, Sun Capital Partners was involved in the closing of the CanGro Foods canning plant in Exeter, Ontario. The closing of the two canning opertions resulted in the loss of 268 hourly and 27 salaried positions as well as all seasonal positions.
• In 2011, Sun Capital Partners closed closed Specialized Packaging Group in London. Talks are to begin on determining severance packages.

Attracting the attention of these two creative fellows may not have benefited London or London workers but somewhere there must be a creative city, a dominant spike of prosperity, benefiting from Sun Capital Partners. Who knows, maybe it's Boca Raton, Florida.

Sun Capital Partners founder Marc Leder's 15,000 sq. ft. home in Boca Raton, Florida.

When Lisa Leder filed for divorce she claimed her husband, Marc, was worth more than $400 million. He denied the figure, offering his wife a settlement of more than $100 million.

The couple agreed they enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle with a 15,000-square-foot home near Boca Raton, a vacation retreat in Stowe, Vt. and six vehicles including an Aston Martin DB9 convertible, a Bentley Continental convertible, a Cadillac Escalade and a Lexus LS. They traveled by private jet.

Well, Lisa enjoyed it. Marc worked. In court papers she claimed she had been essentially a single parent as her husband devoted long hours to his business.

For more about Sun Capital Partners and the two gentlemen behind it, read the New York Times story: In a Romney Believer, Private Equity's Risks and Rewards. 

And for an update to the McCormick factory story, please read: Imported candies marketed as Canadian.

The wasteful development of our farmland, our birthright, continues.

Upper Cornell is a New Urbanist medium-density plan in Markham, Ontario.

In the mid 1970s I worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources out of the Richmond Hill office. At lunch many of us would sit at picnic tables and "chew the fat" along with our sandwiches. A popular topic, and one often discussed in some depth, was the rapid and massive loss of rich farmland that we all saw being bulldozed as we drove to work.

According to Ontario Farmland Trust:

"In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) alone, more than 2,000 farms and 150,000 acres of farmland were lost to production in the two decades between 1976 and 1996. This represented approximately 18% of Ontario's Class 1 farmland."

I now understand why the loss of GTA farmland was such big topic of conversation. The dramatic loss of Canada's birthright, Canada's farmland, was a shocking story unfolding right before our eyes.

Which brings me to a story in my local paper, The London Free Press, by Debora Van Brenk. The Strathroy-Caradoc Township council appears ready to approve the loss of 80 acres of good Southwestern Ontario farmland for the construction of 214 suburban homes.

From the description in the newspaper, this is not Class 1 farmland but it does have its own set of advantages. It is light, well drained soil that has come into its own with this spring's heavy, day-after-day rainfall. The paper quotes renter Larry Cowan who farms this land: "In a year like this, we'd like to have 500 to 600 acres" of this light soil.

Cowan is not just an area farmer but he's a former director of the Ontario Corn Producers' Association and a Strathroy-Caradoc Township councillor. He defends the development, telling the newspaper: "You can't stand still."

It may surprise Mr. Cowan but the construction of 214 suburban homes on 80 acres is standing still when it comes to the world of urban growth in 2011.

These numbers reflect yesterday's low-density approach to housing. Housing from a time more than hundred years past often had a higher density and realized their high density goal with greater style and aplomb.

• Mount Brydges:  2.675 homes per acre
• Oak Park (New Urbanist development near Oakville): 22.5 homes per acre. (Oak Park encompasses 204 acres supporting a dense urban neighborhood with 4,600 homes on a radial grid planned for 10,000 residents.)
• Traditional town house blocks have as many as 36 homes per acre.
• New Urbanist suburbs weigh in at an average of 15-30 units per acre.

2.675 homes per acre; All too sad. Talk about standing still. These numbers are not even back to the future.

The Forest City or how London took a negative and made it into a positive.

Some quibble over whether or not London can call itself  The Forest City.

The London Free Press is running a series "about figuring out who we are as a city." The paper sees this as "a  difficult but worthy task."

As part of the series, the paper looked at the possibility of rebranding London. According to the reporter doing the majority of the writing: "(The Forest City) means little outside London. Never heard of it before I came here and is so generic it describes nothing. Plus it’s not true." (As you can see by my photo, blurting out "it's not true" is a little extreme, but admittedly London could do better.)

Once I would have readily agreed with the reporter but having lived in London for more than three decades I have come around. The Forest City name has a long history; It goes back more than a century with roots deep in the early years of our southwestern Ontario city. The city has a trademark tree logo which they stick everywhere. Talk about branding.

The London tree symbol on the roundabout/overpass at Hale and Trafalgar.

What do the numbers say about London and trees?

• Estimated number of trees in London: 4.4 million (source: The London Free Press)
• Number of trees per London resident: 12 (source: The London Free Press)
• Forest City's approximate woodland cover: 24.7% (March 2011 report)
• Species of trees growing on City-owned land: 120 (City of London)

When the paper recently interviewed some Londoners, one of the participants in the panel discussion said:

When I'm in a different town I notice — they don't have the mature core or, like, where's the trees?

We are The Forest City, of course, and you notice that when you're not in The Forest City that we really do have a beautiful downtown. And I've noticed that with family that come into town. They say, "Look at the trees. I can't believe there's trees down all these streets and it's gorgeous."

London has lots of pastures and farmland on its outer edges.

I'm surprised that the woodland cover for London hits 24.7 percent. London contains a lot of farmland and pasture. I'd have thought that all the open land would have dragged down the city's coverage number.

In Ontario, London has a larger tree canopy than Brampton, Kitchener, Mississauga and Toronto. When it comes to cities in the States, the London coverage is just below the American average. Clearly we can do better but we aren't bringing up the rear with our tree coverage numbers either.

Oh well, I prefer to believe my eyes. This city has a lot of trees: Tall trees, twisted trees, green trees, red trees, flowering trees, broad-leafed trees, evergreen trees . . .

The Forest City: It's a beautiful name for a beautiful city.

Tall trees, twisted trees, green trees, red trees, flowering trees . . .

* Check the numbers. We are a Forest City!

One last thing on branding: It was pointed out to the local paper that no one this blogger spoke with in Brighton & Hove, England, knows a thing about the rebranding of Hove with the snooty "Hove, actually."

Even reporters at the local paper in Brighton & Hove say it never happened. "Hove, actually" is still interpreted as somewhat snooty and uppity and better left unsaid, unless you laugh as you say it. You must make your humorous intent clear or risk coming across as an upper-class-wannabe twit.

In defence of the paper's story the reporter said: "The point was how Hove took a negative and made it a positive." But Hove didn't! London did! In the beginning The Forest City label was not said as a compliment but over the intervening years London successfully put a new spin on those words and now owns them.

The Forest City was once home to a Canadian version of a Carolinian Forest.

Hove to, actually

The London Free Press is pushing the benefits of branding to successfully market a city or a town. As an example of successful branding the paper is using Hove, England. The paper tells us visitors to the area often confused Hove with its larger and very close neighbour, Brighton.

"Oh, you live in Brighton," the visitor would say. The Hove resident would invariably reply, "Yes, well, Hove, actually." That phrase - Hove, actually - became the town's brand and identity. At least that's the story according to The Free Press. It's a good story, but possibly not so true today.

The paper based its report on an interview with Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at the Schulich school of business at York University. Middleton grew up in Brighton with his parents who later moved to neighbouring Hove. The paper could not have picked a better source to gain insight into the branding of Hove.

Still, I questioned some of the stuff in the story. For instance, why does the movie Love Actually enter into this discussion? Why would a film that has nothing to do with the little coastal town give the branding phrase a bit of a pop? Not one person I contacted in my investigation saw any connection between the Hove response and the romantic-comedy set in London.

I decided I must contact Alan Middleton. He was very gracious and answered my e-mail immediately. He wrote: "the basis for the phrase had nothing to do with the movie (no idea where that reference came from)."

My guess is that the reporter asked Mr. Middleton a question linking the movie and the Hove phrase. Mr. Middleton being very gracious simply made a reply based on the reporter's question. When I worked at the paper I watched many a skillful reporter coax supporting quotes from an unsuspecting people during interviews.

Randy Richmond, the London Free Press reporter, has argued that London, Ontario, would benefit from a rebranding exercise. London needs to find a clear identity and boldly brand itself. Of course, this would be an official branding exercise. Was this ever done in Hove? Mr. Middleton told me he didn't know whether the phrase 'Hove, actually' was ever used officially. It did appear on a postcards, he said.

Using the Internet and social media, I was able to talk directly with people living in the Hove area. I asked them about the success of the phrase "Hove, actually" in promoting the small, English city. I was told the phrase is not used to promote the area. The response carried, and still does, a bit of nasty "we're better than they are" baggage.

I talked by phone with senior reporter Anna Roberts at The Argus, a newspaper in the area. She made it clear to me that today Hove is no longer a town or a city but simply part of the English coastal town of Brighton & Hove — the two communities effectively merged in 1997.

When asked about the use of the phrase "Hove, actually" in the sense of branding, neither she nor anyone else in The Argus newsroom could recall any official use of the phrase. When read the part of The London Free Press story referring to Hove she said emphatically, "That's not true." When I brought the movie Love Actually into our conversation, she was puzzled. Contrary to what was reported in The Free Press, the "Hove, actually" phrase got no boost from the movie, she said.

Today there is a free monthly paper that reflects today's municipal reality and usurps yesterday's separatist catch phrase. It's the Brighton & Hove Actually monthly community and business directory .

I received an e-mail from Ruth Allsop, marketing officer for Brighton & Hove. She confirmed that the phrase is not part of a branding initiative but "a bit of an in-joke among residents" who see Hove as being slightly more up market than Brighton. Allsop assured me that "this isn't the case."

Today, if the area has an official branding phrase, it's "London-By-The-Sea", a name that goes back some two and a half centuries according to the Capture Project launched by Eurotowns in 2004. This is a network of 19 towns and cities from 11 EU countries formed to stimulate the economic development of its members, with a particular focus on the knowledge economy. Through their membership the Brighton & Hove City Council aims to expand the knowledge economy and create better local jobs. Today, the twin city is an important educational centre with two universities and many English language schools.

Actually by Brighton artist Amanda Taylor.

I was also able to reach Brighton & Hove area artist Amanda Taylor who has a Website Illustrious Brighton showcasing her work:

Hi,

"I live in Brighton and both my mother and daughter live in different parts of Hove. We've all moved here within the last 4 years.

I had no idea that Hove had tried to use the 'Hove, actually' phrase officially. So I guess the public attempt at branding, as you call it, has been abandoned.

But it is a phrase used all the time. I guess it started along the lines of  'Do you live in Brighton?' 'No, Hove actually.'

We are joined now . . . Brighton and Hove needed to merge . . . the larger community has both areas bringing their strengths to the table."

She confirmed that the 'Hove, actually' response is felt by many to be tainted by a tone of aloofness, of superiority. Another person told me it is always best to follow the phrase with a laugh to ensure not being misunderstood.

Oh well, Brighton & Hove are at least booming through the global economic downturn: Right? Wrong! You see, despite the glowing story in The London Free Press about attracting employment through branding, The Brighton and Hove Free Press reported last December:

"Unemployment remains a key issue in Brighton & Hove:

A new report from the Office of National Statistics shows unemployment levels in Brighton & Hove are the highest in the country, with four people unemployed for every job vacancy in the city."

For rebranding purposes, the phrase "Hove, actually" appears to be dead in the water; Hove to, actually, you might say.
_____________________________________________________

Hove to: a sailing term indicating a boat's sails have been set in such a manner that the boat is no longer sailing forward, it is no longer making headway; It is almost stopped, drifting sideways.