Merry Christmas

Editor, DL Mullan
Religion / Holidays
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We here at the VDP Gazette wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Bless Us, Everyone...

and Stop Stealing our community's Xmas Lawn Decorations while you are at it.

A Brief History of Mother's Day

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Mother's Day / Commericalization
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Is Mother's Day a day of celebration for the sacrifices of mothers or a cheap, commericalized holiday? If you said both: you're right. 

Mother's Day in one incarnation or another is celebrated the world over. In the United States, Mother's Day is celebrated with dinners, flowers, and cards. Most of which the founding mother of Mother's Day found repugnant. Anna Jarvis lobbied for the holiday after her mother died in 1905. By 1915, Woodrow Wilson was signing the day into law:

Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.

As soon as her holiday for motherhood was official, the holiday became one of money and greed. Jarvis was soon disenchanted by her own achievement because others had ruined it with commercialism. 

While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies. Jarvis eventually resorted to an open campaign against Mother’s Day profiteers, speaking out against confectioners, florists and even charities. She also launched countless lawsuits against groups that had used the name “Mother’s Day,” eventually spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees. By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

As you spend your Mother's Day remember: it's the thought that counts, not the cards, the gifts, or the pies. Those materialistic things are not what the holiday is about and never was to the founder Anna Jarvis. 

It's about celebrating family.

Source: History Channel 

A Violation of Life

Guest Writer, MJ Christian
Food Democracy / Opinion
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As we make our way through this maze of life we must come to the realization that we are entangled in the web of creation. Everything we do or do not do has its effect on all life. It is said that our inaction is as bad as being the one who is contributing to the destruction of our planet and society.

As we make our way through the grocery store aisles the decisions we make with our purchasing power not only affect our health but also the entire ecosystem. Our choices affect the health and well-being of our families and our future. When we as parents come to the realization that our purchasing power has far reaching affects, then we can be a powerful force in changing the way our food is grown and the way it is packaged as well as the way the household products we use are created.

Now more than any time in our lives do we have the choice to purchase products that are life empowering or life destroying. It is our choice to decide whether we want to empower our children with knowledge and good health or choose to be lazy and accept the poisons created by corporations who are only interested in their bottom line.

As consumers when we band together to do the best for our families we are forcing the change we need for overall survival on this planet. The foods that are poison to our bodies are highly subsidized by our government through heavy lobbying by major corporations. It is our responsibility to hit them in their pockets the way they have done to us. These corporations that have forced their poisons on us have caused us all great harm to our health as well as to our environment. They have caused the real food that is grown by farmers who honestly care about our future to be burdened with proving their crops are clean. 

 

Organic farmers are forced to prove their products do not contain GMOs, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides while “conventional” and GMO farmers have the right to poison our food, our environment and our entire eco-system. We are now at the most critical juncture of our lives. We cannot sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to take action for us. We must act now and be proactive in every buying decision we make today.

 

 

If you would like to read more of MJ Christian's writing, please visit her blog: The Christian Weigh. 

Villa de Paz Triumphant in the Face of Adversity

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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After a disappointing ruling by the Phoenix Hearing Officer back in December, Villa de Paz residents did not falter but instead circled the wagons for a huge comeback. That rallying cry forged the outcome seen today.

In a letter to Phoenix's Planning and Development Department, Maple Leaf International Properties via their lawyers, Lazarus, Silvyn and Bangs, officially withdrew their application for rezoning of the Villa de Paz golf course effective January 7, 2014.

Great news for a community that has come together against the odds and triumphed over the Goliath of big business.

One night of celebration will fade into the next phase of this community's commitment to keep their golf course intact. In the coming weeks, Villa de Paz residents will know what they will face in the ever dramatic battle for their golf course, wildlife, and way of life.

Thank you, AZ State Senator Steve Gallardo for your outreach and support of our beautiful community as well as those members of the Phoenix City Council who see value in maintaining family, faith, and community.

Happy Thanksgiving! Be Good to Each Other

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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Everyone in the Villa de Paz Community and Gazette want to wish our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We're taking today off and maybe even tomorrow because holidays are about family and friends, not shopping. 

It is one thing to want to increase your store's revenue; it is another to do it at the expense of families.

If you want to return to American values then vote with your dollar: stop shopping on holidays and give someone else a break. We do not need Black Friday. We have the internet to shop until we drop. We do not need to do in-store shopping, retailers can offer their discounted wares on the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving and also not on Christmas Eve or Christmas itself. 

I for one cannot wait for the American culture to switch back to help your neighbor instead of today's selfish: ME, ME, ME. 

So take these next four days to unwind and unplug... and help your wife/mother around the kitchen and house. She is your wife/mother, not your servant. The game on tv or via a console can wait. 

Remember we are only here for a finite amount of time. Use it wisely. Be with family and friends, not the TV or cashier's counter.

Some friendly advice from someone who does not have a lot of time left on this Earth. 

I'm going to go share my holiday with my feline associates whom I love very much. These little friends have become my family and rightfully so, they take as good of care of me as I do of them. Synergy is a wonderful lifestyle.

Have a great and wonderful holiday!  

Editor and Writer,

DL Mullan ;)--=