Newfoundland Artist PAM HALL posts pictures to her Facebook Profile as part of her Small Gestures series: "a daily practice - remembering to BE present". She's kindly consented to show this captivating series on the 48th - Enjoy!

loves morning

Globe and Mail: Nov. 20 The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan "Today, killing a woman is like killing a bird. The situation for women today is as catastrophic as it was under the Taliban. The only difference is all of these crimes are happening under the name of democracy. They cut off noses and ears of women to punish them. Men cut women to pieces." Please read this article about an amazing woman who dares so much, in such an extraordinary situation, that she puts every strong man in the history of the world to shame.

The Nation, October 21, Ann Jones: Remember the Women - "Women are Made for Homes or Graves" Afghan saying
....at this critical moment, as Obama tries to weigh options against our national security interests, his advisers can't be bothered with - as one US military officer put it to me - "the trivial fate of women." As for some hypothetical moral duty to protect the women of Afghanistan--that's off the table. Yet it is precisely that dismissive attitude, shared by Afghan and many American men alike, that may have put America's whole Afghan enterprise wrong in the first place. Early on, Kofi Annan, then United Nations secretary general, noted that the condition of Afghan women was "an affront to all standards of dignity, equality and humanity."

Global News: CALGARY, October 11 -- The Famous 5> - A group of Canadian women who fought to be recognized as "persons" under the law - have received a fitting honour just before the 80th anniversary of their triumph.
Each of the five trailblazers - Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Irene Parlby-- are to become honorary senators.

Tonic: Can Clinton Award-Winner Ruchira Gupta Change the World? Sept 22: She had spent 18 months hanging around the Bombay brothels where they lived, posting up at a dingy café nearby as she tried to catch on tape the horrors she had discovered in this dirty corner of the world’s economy. Ominous men had pulled knives on her. Some of her informants had disappeared. She had begun to call the café “Hotel California.”

That tune might actually be the best metaphor for the world Gupta was inexorably entering. The song famously concludes with the words “You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave.” And this, it turned out, was true both for the subjects of the documentary she was making and for Gupta herself. . .

The IRISH TIMES, Mary Fitzgerald, Islamabad: Nobel Laureate Urges Challenge to Ahmadinejad
Sept. 23: Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi yesterday called on the international community to challenge Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on human rights violations committed during the unrest that followed his disputed re-election when he participates in this week’s opening session of the UN General Assembly.

Ms Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights defender who became the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, also strongly criticised UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for his approach to the crisis precipitated by the June ballot, which opposition leaders believe was rigged. Massive demonstrations against the result were met with violence from Iranian authorities.

The Guardian, Mark Tran - Diplomatic Ambush Threatens UN 'Super Agency' for Women
Protracted efforts to create a landmark new UN "super-agency" for women face a critical weekend as four opposed countries have sprung a diplomatic ambush that could effectively kill it off.

The general assembly was set to ratify the new agency – which would have a budget of around $1bn and consolidate four existing bodies that deal with women's issues – before its current session concludes on Monday. But Egypt, Cuba, Sudan and Iran have mounted a last-minute campaign to delay ratification.

Foreign Policy Review, Khartoum - SHE WEARS THE PANTS
Lubna Hussein, the Sudanese woman found guilty of the crime of wearing trousers, may not have won her case, but she has done one important thing: made the Khartoum regime fear the world's response. Trying to save face, the court played it both ways. The judge decided Lubna was guilty under Article 152 of Sudan's so-called indecency laws -- a nod to the government, which maintains that the law is just and that Lubna simply fell afoul of it. But the court decided to fine her 500 Sudanese pounds (about $200) rather than flog her -- a nod to the sensitivities of the global media watching from outside the courtroom, where Lubna's domestic supporters were once again protesting. But in a stunningly courageous response to her ordeal over the past four months, Hussein refused to pay her fine.....