dwot (99.55)

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Amazing artists - silent auction

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December 06, 2008 – Comments (7)

Anyone that has followed my blog knows that I live in a tiny native community with about 600 people. One of the things that is critically important for our students is that we try to arrange opportunities for them outside of the community. Things that we take for granted that young people learn doesn't necessarily happen in a small community.

For example, when you drive past a school, you see a school sign and know that you are supposed to slow down. Well, our maximum speed limit in town is already 30 km/h. Heck, I am planning a trip to Vancouver for a few of my students and I am scared to death they'll get hit by a car because they are not trained to be road safe here. And that is one of the trips our school has planned. There is also a second trip. Together we have to raise about $11,000 for the trips.

So, we have these students that are amazing artists and the picture featured below is part of our silent auction on Sunday.

This community has fairly close to half the average income in the NWT. A walk through the back trails of this community left me feeling like I needed a kick in the butt. We have people in this community that still use outhouses, many do not have phones, water gets delivered by truck and is expensive and it isn't uncommon for families to not be able to afford water delivery, things we seriously take for granted. I could not image having to use an outhouse at the peak of the cold, which was -59 last winter.

So, I am doing some fundraising and if anyone wants to commission some artwork, or send me a bid for our silent auction, email me at debwot@gmail.com.

I do not have a lot of trust in keeping my job. The economy has shown me that jobs are temporary so many times in my life, well, I really want this trip to happen this year for my students this year just incase we have severe enough cuts that I find myself moving on next year.

Niel art

7 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On December 06, 2008 at 10:07 AM, dwot (99.55) wrote:

PS, we already have a bid of $50 on that picture.

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#2) On December 06, 2008 at 10:09 AM, dwot (99.55) wrote:

Oh, and that picture is about 10 by 16 I think, or maybe 11 by 17. I forgot to read the canvas package. And we do have some of the larger canvas paper as well.

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#3) On December 06, 2008 at 11:00 AM, dwot (99.55) wrote:

This post, The Velocity Factor, has important stuff.

Low interest rates are only a good thing if, for example, maximum mortgage terms are 15 years. At this 6% rate we've seen no mortgages ought to have been issued for terms longer then 20 years max. Instead, they extended terms, when terms need to contract with declining rates if you want economic health.

Today's younger people have a double trap, the incredible loss of empowerment to control debt because of the low rates, but the wage cuts are going to be a reality.

Ultimately, being conserative about debt, and driven to reduce it has made me comfortable today, and that is what I was taught was the best way to manage your life and I still believe it.

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#4) On December 06, 2008 at 11:25 AM, dwot (99.55) wrote:

Here's another very good post by Mish. It is discussion on how to define the difference between recession and depression and he's talking about using 10% unemployment the way it is measured today, which is very different then how it was measured in the 80s when unemployment reached 10.2%. By the old method unemployment is in the 12% range right now.

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#5) On December 07, 2008 at 9:55 AM, dwot (99.55) wrote: