We love to hear from you! Send your questions and comments to voice@ausu.org, and please indicate if we may publish your letter in the Voice.

I offer a heartfelt thank you to the undergraduate students of Athabasca University. You have given me the greatest gift – a three-year gift, actually – of allowing me to serve as the AUSU Vice-President. The time spent on AUSU Council has been the most personally fulfilling three years I have experienced.

University is an educational experience, and in some ways serving on student Council was even more educational than learning from books. Every person or situation I’ve encountered during my time on Council has taught me something. I learned that when representing students their interests should not be compromised in the face of opposition, and that opposition sometimes comes from unexpected sources. I’ve learned that you can’t solve every problem students may have, but being there for them with a caring attitude goes far in helping them through difficult times.

I’ve also learned that AUSU is in capable and caring hands led by the Executive members, Mac, Teresa, and Karl; Council members Joy, Cindy, Stacey, Lisa, Shannon, and Lonita; and staff, Mark, Tamra, and Christine.

My thanks to all those with whom I served on Council over the last three years. You’ve taught me much, and for that I’m grateful. My appreciation to those who are taking AUSU to greater heights and uncharted adventures over the next two years. May your time on Council be as pricelessly fulfilling as mine was.

Shirley Barg

Thanks Shirley. On behalf of The Voice I wish you the best of luck with your future plans. On behalf of AU students, thank you for three years of service as a student representative in the often taxing and difficult job as VP of our students’ union!

Here are a few memorable letters sent to The Voice this past year. We’d love to hear from you. Send your letters to voice@ausu.org.

Nimra brings up some excellent points that I’d like to build upon (Nimra’s letter can be found here: http://www.ausu.org/voice/articles/letterdisplay.php?ART=1535).

Tutors often teach more than one course, and if you’re a student in any of the AU Admin or Management programs, you’re likely sending your course questions and assignments to the Call Centre, which oversees many different courses. The Call Centre highly recommends putting the following information in the subject line of any email you send, either to a tutor or to the Call Centre:

Program – Your Full Name – Your Student ID Number – Reference to Your Message

For example, if I’m sending an email asking questions about Chapter 7 material in FNCE 370, my email subject line would read:

FNCE 370 – Shirley Barg – ####### (My 7-digit ID number) – Ch. 7 Questions

In a conversation I had with a Call Centre staff person, she told me how horribly delayed responses to students’ assignments and questions can get because no references have been given as to who sent it or what it’s pertaining to. Call Centre employees have to try to find the information based only on the student’s email address.

It’s nice to know that we, as students, have ways to make sure we get responses to our questions or assignments marked and returned in the quickest time possible simply by putting the right information in the subject line of our emails to tutors and the Call Centre.

Shirley Barg

Thanks for the information, Shirley. It’s important for all students to remember that when you send an email you must always assume that the reader won’t know who you are or what you are writing about, so make sure to provide enough information to clarify your identity and purpose. It might really speed up response times!

I’m a little surprised to hear that the call centre will spend time looking up student information, when it is so time-consuming. It might be a better if they simply replied to e-mails that are ambiguous and asked for clarifying information so that students know in the future how to properly format their queries. This is what I try to do, as it greatly reduces confusion and prevents me from providing irrelevant answers. We all play a part in making communication effective:

The best news coming out of the amendments is that tuition for distance education students will remain under the control of the Tuition Fee Policy, although Athabasca University will still be able to charge an out-of-Alberta differential fee as it has been doing. Institutions will also be required to beef up their budget consultation process with students’ unions on tuition increases. Other pieces of good news for Athabasca University students is provision for increased undergraduate student representation on Governing Council and Academic Council, and formal government recognition of Athabasca University Students’ Union as a representative body of AU students. In the past we’ve been incorporated under the Alberta Societies Act.

While the amendments make Bill 43 more palatable for students, they don’t address two critical issues. The main issue of contention for students is the government’s removal of its stated fair balance between a student’s personal investment in his or her education and the public’s investment. For the last few years the ratio has been 30 percent student contribution to an institution’s net operating expenses and 70 percent public contribution. The percentage of student contribution, with the passing of the Bill, will go higher–but only at some institutions, making the disparity of students’ financial obligation between institutions even greater. Student groups in Alberta have been fighting against the lifting of the 30 percent cap, but it with the passing of the tuition amendment last night it appears we’ve lost the battle–for now.

The other contentious issue is on the auditing of students’ unions. Amendments will correct a number of concerns students had but the one remaining issue is that the Learning Minister himself will be the one to trigger an audit if “financial irregularities” are found. Students’ unions and associations have been pushing for financial accountability to our members to be written into the legislation with student petitions being the trigger for an audit, but the way the amendment is written it appears the Minister can trigger an audit on his own or even at the request of a school’s board of governors.

The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) has been working hard on behalf of the students at Alberta’s universities to get the best deal possible for students. We’ve met with success on some points in the Bill, but we’ve kept the fight going on others. The Alberta Liberal and New Democrat parties have been staunch supporters of student concerns throughout the Bill 43 process, as have other provincial groups, including faculty associations.

The Post-Secondary Learning Act will soon be passed and proclaimed. We know we’ve influenced some of the changes to the Act. We’ll continue working on your behalf to effect other positive changes.

Shirley Barg
Chair, Council of Alberta University Students
Vice-President External, Athabasca University Students’ Union

We love to hear from you! Send your letters to voice@ausu.org, and please indicate if we may publish your letter in the Voice.

RE: The Voice, October 30, 2003

Avast ye!

Twas indeed interestin’ t’see Karl Low go on account in last week’s Fed Watch. For ye lubbers, t’go on account means turning t’the lusty livelihood of pirateer. Great costume, Karl! I was somewhat disappointed, though, to see no reference to “scurvey bilge rats” in your column.

My heartiest thanks to Karl Low for his entertaining and informative weekly FedWatch column.

Shirley Barg

Bravo to the Voice Editor for speaking out on the sensitive issue of the relationship between a university and its students’ union (http://www.ausu.org/voice/articles/featuredisplay.php?ART=1854). It’s important to forge and maintain good working relationships between the two whenever possible. Those relationships, however, should not be what drives the actions of a students’ union. Building the relationship between a students’ union and its members must always be the ultimate goal.

I have to admit that during my term on Council, I’ve been guilty of sometimes putting the interests of AU ahead of the interests of the members, rationalizing it to myself by saying that if its good for the university it will then be of benefit to our members. This was the result of my initial contact with AUSU Council coming at a time when there had been some erosion of the working relationship between past Councillors and a handful of AU admin staff. But, as I grew more confident in my role as a Councillor, an AUSU Executive member, and a representative of AU students at provincial level, I came to fully recognize that I am a voice of students and that I must never compromise that trust they have placed in me–even if it meant setting the AU/AUSU relationship aside to deal with crucial issues for students.

Shirley Barg

We return to the continuing drama of Bill 43. In this episode, four students”?members of CAUS”?supported by two policy researchers and a note-taker ascend to the 11th floor of the downtown Edmonton offices of Alberta Learning. In their satchels, the CAUS emissaries carry important documents that outline the locations of dead ends, blind curves, and dark corners contained within the innocent-looking white pages of Bill 43. The CAUS mission: to have a frank discussion with a top Alberta Learning representative about the pitfalls of Bill 43.

All right, it wasn’t really all that dramatic. But in reality, no other government action in at least a decade has had the potential for such broad reaching negative effects on students’ organizations as has Bill 43. It’s not only Alberta students who are concerned about the implications. National student groups like the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) are keeping an eye on Bill 43, knowing that if it passes without amendments in Alberta, other provincial governments may follow suit.

On May 29, CAUS members met with Connie Harrison of Alberta Learning to go over the proposed Post-Secondary Learning Act. This Act amalgamates the Universities Act, the Colleges Act, and the Technical Institutes Act into one piece of legislation. The Act received first reading earlier in May and was then tabled until the fall session.

One of the key areas of concern with the Act is that a good deal of critical detail, such as the tuition fee policy, and purpose and structure of students’ associations has been removed from legislation and will, instead, be captured within regulations. I realize this doesn’t sound like cause for alarm; however, while changes in legislation are done publicly with opportunities for public debate, changes in regulation can be made with or without consulting with stakeholders.

The usual reason for moving something from legislation to regulation is to give it more flexibility. CAUS strongly believes that areas such as the tuition fee policy, which is the government’s commitment to accessible and affordable post-secondary education, should not be subject to the whims of government. Accessibility and affordability should be chiseled into stone.

Another dark corner that CAUS pointed out to Alberta Learning is that of the mandate of students’ associations. In the new Act, the mandate has been downgraded from being the “official medium of communication between the students of a university and the board” (Universities Act, section 57.1) to that of “maintaining appropriate communications” (Bill 43, section 95.1). Unfortunately, “appropriate communications” is such an ambiguous term and can be interpreted so many different ways.

CAUS also discussed the auditing of students’ associations, and when we asked why this section was included, we were told that some politicians wanted it there in the event that a students’ organization “runs amuck,” and that the section was added late, just days before the Act was printed. It appears that some politicians aren’t aware of the extensive accountability practices already in place within students’ unions’ constitutions and bylaws that have been effective in reprimanding and removing negligent councillors and executive in the past. It also appears that little forethought on the organizational implications went into the inclusion of this section. Students’ unions have a mandate of representing the voice of its members and being fully accountable to them. If a students’ union is put into a position where, on one hand, it’s accountable to the students, and on the other hand, it has to be accountable to the board, the students’ union could find itself in a position of severe conflict. Which masters should they serve?

Besides the areas of concern I’ve mentioned, there are numerous other ones, such as the proposed Act giving universities the power to delegate authority to any committee or sub-committee, including the authority to develop and implement additional mandatory student fees. CAUS has brought all these problematic issues to the attention of Alberta Learning and will continue to do so through informal and formal submissions and meetings.

In spite of, or more accurately, because of Bill 43, there have been some positive happenings. For the first time, CAUS has teamed up with its counterpart, the Alberta Colleges and Technical Institutes Students Executive Council (ACTISEC) to develop and propose amendments to the Act. The resulting alliance represents the voices of 150,000 Alberta post-secondary students, and thousands more Athabasca University students across Canada and around the world.

Another positive is that the President of Athabasca University, Dr. Dominique Abrioux, is pushing Alberta Learning for more student representation on AU’s Governing Council. AU administration has also expressed its opposition to the auditing section.

I invite any AU student who would like more information about Bill 43 or about CAUS to email me at sbarg@ausu.org.

Shirley Barg
AUSU VP External
Chair, Council of Alberta University Students

The Council of Alberta University Students provides a combined provincial voice for all students of the four Alberta universities: University of Alberta, Athabasca University, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge. Post-secondary education decisions made by the Alberta government affect all Athabasca University students. Shirley Barg, Chair of CAUS, is the Vice-President of the Athabasca University Students’ Union

Nimra brings up some excellent points that I’d like to build upon (Nimra’s letter can be found here: http://www.ausu.org/voice/articles/letterdisplay.php?ART=1535).

Tutors often teach more than one course, and if you’re a student in any of the AU Admin or Management programs, you’re likely sending your course questions and assignments to the Call Centre, which oversees many different courses. The Call Centre highly recommends putting the following information in the subject line of any email you send, either to a tutor or to the Call Centre:

Program – Your Full Name – Your Student ID Number – Reference to Your Message

For example, if I’m sending an email asking questions about Chapter 7 material in FNCE 370, my email subject line would read:

FNCE 370 – Shirley Barg – ####### (My 7-digit ID number) – Ch. 7 Questions

In a conversation I had with a Call Centre staff person, she told me how horribly delayed responses to students’ assignments and questions can get because no references have been given as to who sent it or what it’s pertaining to. Call Centre employees have to try to find the information based only on the student’s email address.

It’s nice to know that we, as students, have ways to make sure we get responses to our questions or assignments marked and returned in the quickest time possible simply by putting the right information in the subject line of our emails to tutors and the Call Centre.

Shirley Barg

Thanks for the information, Shirley. It’s important for all students to remember that when you send an email you must always assume that the reader won’t know who you are or what you are writing about, so make sure to provide enough information to clarify your identity and purpose. It might really speed up response times!

I’m a little surprised to hear that the call centre will spend time looking up student information, when it is so time-consuming. It might be a better if they simply replied to e-mails that are ambiguous and asked for clarifying information so that students know in the future how to properly format their queries. This is what I try to do, as it greatly reduces confusion and prevents me from providing irrelevant answers. We all play a part in making communication effective:

The Post-Secondary Learning Act, also known as Bill 43, received first reading in legislature last week before being tabled until fall. The Act is an attempt by the government to combine the Universities Act with acts governing other post-secondary institutes in the province. In putting forward Bill 43, the Alberta government seems to have found one more way to undermine democratic process in this province.

Alberta Learning invited students’ groups and post-secondary institutions to submit comments on what should be in the new act; however, Bill 43 contains several clauses that seem to have been written for the sole purpose of raising the eyebrows and ire of the organizations it most affects”?post-secondary institutes and their students’ organizations. For example, one section of the Act gives the Learning Minister the power to dissolve any students’ council at any college, technical institute, or university.

Here’s how Bill 43 says that can happen: students’ associations will have to provide audited financial statements to their institutes’ governing board or council. If any “irregularities” are noticed, the school can call upon the Learning Minister to appoint an investigator. If the investigator confirms the appearance of “irregularities,” the Minister can oust an entire Council. The Minister will then appoint an administrator to handle all the affairs of the students’ association until another Council can be elected. The administrator’s costs must be paid from students’ association funds. The Act omits any guidelines on what would constitute an “irregularity.”

The Learning Minister, as quoted in The Edmonton Journal (May 15, 2003) said this process was proposed to protect students in case their membership fees are misappropriated. Premier Ralph Klein suggested that the government might need to step in if students’ organizations act irresponsibly or use students’ membership fees in inappropriate ways (The Edmonton Journal, May 16, 2003). Perhaps the government does not trust that we, as post-secondary students, have the maturity or ability to responsibly manage our own affairs and our own funds. Do we need government intervention to protect us from student representatives we have elected and whom we have the right and power to impeach if they’re not doing their jobs? Who protects the tax payers in this province if the government acts irresponsibly or uses our tax dollars in irresponsible ways?

If students’ associations received funding from the provincial government, I could better understand the need to provide proof of fiduciary responsibility to Alberta Learning. But students’ associations do not get funding from the government, nor do they get funding from the universities. Students can access their associations’ financial records at any time and have the right to question whether or not funds were used appropriately. As not-for-profit organizations, students’ associations already submit annual financial statements to the government. Why, then, is it necessary to implement such draconian measures on students’ associations?

It’s been suggested that this section of the proposed legislation was included to distract students from other aspects of the Act we find quite concerning such as the omission of the Tuition Fee Policy. The Government’s intent, in taking the Tuition Fee Policy out of legislation, is to bring it forward as regulation; however, regulations can be changed without discussion in the House, without input from opposition, and ostensibly behind closed doors.

The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) will be submitting amendments to Bill 43 on these two issues and on other sections of the Act that concern us. We intend to fight hard to ensure that democratic processes are maintained, and that tuition policies remain in a position to be publicly debated. Students are one of the greatest renewable resources of Alberta, and student leaders work hard to make sure that all post-secondary students get the best treatment possible by the provincial government. We won’t let Bill 43 undermine our efforts.

Shirley Barg, Chair
Council of Alberta University Students

The Council of Alberta University Students provides a combined provincial voice for all students of the four Alberta universities: University of Alberta, Athabasca University, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge. Post-secondary education decisions made by the Alberta government affect all Athabasca University students. Shirley Barg, Chair of CAUS, is the Vice-President of the Athabasca University Students’ Union

Nimra brings up some excellent points that I’d like to build upon (Nimra’s letter can be found here: http://www.ausu.org/voice/articles/letterdisplay.php?ART=1535).

Tutors often teach more than one course, and if you’re a student in any of the AU Admin or Management programs, you’re likely sending your course questions and assignments to the Call Centre, which oversees many different courses. The Call Centre highly recommends putting the following information in the subject line of any email you send, either to a tutor or to the Call Centre:

Program – Your Full Name – Your Student ID Number – Reference to Your Message

For example, if I’m sending an email asking questions about Chapter 7 material in FNCE 370, my email subject line would read:

FNCE 370 – Shirley Barg – ####### (My 7-digit ID number) – Ch. 7 Questions

In a conversation I had with a Call Centre staff person, she told me how horribly delayed responses to students’ assignments and questions can get because no references have been given as to who sent it or what it’s pertaining to. Call Centre employees have to try to find the information based only on the student’s email address.

It’s nice to know that we, as students, have ways to make sure we get responses to our questions or assignments marked and returned in the quickest time possible simply by putting the right information in the subject line of our emails to tutors and the Call Centre.

Shirley Barg

Thanks for the information, Shirley. It’s important for all students to remember that when you send an email you must always assume that the reader won’t know who you are or what you are writing about, so make sure to provide enough information to clarify your identity and purpose. It might really speed up response times!

I’m a little surprised to hear that the call centre will spend time looking up student information, when it is so time-consuming. It might be a better if they simply replied to e-mails that are ambiguous and asked for clarifying information so that students know in the future how to properly format their queries. This is what I try to do, as it greatly reduces confusion and prevents me from providing irrelevant answers. We all play a part in making communication effective:

My father, Peter Kutsak, turned 83 last January. Eight years ago, he sat down in front of a computer for the very first time in his life and taught himself how to use Word Perfect. Over the next four years he typed up pages and pages of notes, written with his age-wobbly hand, of his memories and life experiences. To him, it was a labour of love for his family. He had left school after completing the eighth grade and as he says, “In comparison to today’s standards of education, I rate my status as nearly illiterate.” Although he struggled at times for the right words, before his book was printed, those doing the editing changed very little of what he had written. Peter Kutsak’s words and stories reflect him as a man. They’re full of life and spirit, honesty and humour, hardship and elation.

As a storyteller, Peter’s words come alive on the pages and through them the reader is transported back to homesteader days in eastern Saskatchewan, to the front lines in World War II, and to post-war life in Saskatchewan.

Over the next few weeks, with his permission, I’ll share some of his stories with the readers of The Voice.

From Echoes of my Past by Peter M. Kutsak
Copyright 1999

The Poverty Years

In our world a family’s fate hung directly upon the whims of Nature: drought, blizzard, hail, fire, frost, and yes, even gophers and grasshoppers. Some people could cope with their losses; they would be able to pick up the pieces and carry on. But my vision of our dear Mama is of one whom never took a loss with heartbreak.

In my memory I see tears. I see Mama sobbing after each and every tragedy that befell our family. Whether it was a frozen garden, hailed-out crops, or the death of a horse or cow, she took it bitterly. It would sometimes be days before she removed her tear-soaked apron and counted her blessing that at least the family was all well.

It bothered her terribly that her children had no shoes and few clothes to wear. On cold winter days, we supplemented the shortage of warm socks by wrapping our feet with strips of blanket or other cloth material, which we called “onuchi.” We then topped that with a pair of socks that had been darned numerous times. Mama was relieved when any of us managed to earn whatever we could to help out.

In 1928, Tato got some sheep. He handcrafted a spinning wheel to convert the raw wool into yarn so that each of us could knit our own socks and mitts. Mama took it upon herself to spin the wool into yarn. Two years later Tato bought an old knitting machine that brother John, who was the most mechanically inclined, put in good working order. John then became the official knitter of all the socks our family would need. Mama, of course, still spent countless hours spinning the wool to supply John with the large amount of yarn he required.

We were self-sufficient in producing all our food with the exception of salt and sugar. Even sugar we attempted to produce ourselves one year by growing some sugar beets. We tried to extract the sugar by condensing the sugar beet pulp into syrup. The experiment failed to produce a good enough result so we scrapped it. The venture, however, was not a total loss. Our pigs for a time had the sweetest diet in the entire neighbourhood.

Our meat requirements were mainly met by wild game. Besides moose, deer and rabbits, we had an abundant supply of prairie chickens and partridges. With the addition of our own pork, beef and mutton, plus eggs from our hens, we were on top of the list of the well-fed.

Tato tried to satisfy his smoking desires by growing his own homestead tobacco. He put his whole heart into it. The leaves had to be picked in their prime, then laced on a string of binder twine and hung from the attic rafters. Care had to be taken to ensure ample air space between each leaf. When the leaves had reached the proper dryness, Tato would remove the leaf core, stack the leaves in a shoebox-sized container and weigh the leaves down with a heavy object to form a solid block. He would later slice the block very thinly with a straight razor. The sliced tobacco was sprinkled with brandy and various other additives. I must admit that after being cured in a glass jar, the sliced tobacco smelled almost good enough to eat.

As a substitute for coffee we used toasted rye, wheat or barley with some added chicory. The coffee tasted like Postum. It makes me wonder if this beverage Postum is a carryover from the pioneer era. The tea we had would be our present day chamomile that was homegrown. It grew like weeds everywhere in the yard. We also used rose hips, wild rose stems or branches from the wild raspberries. No one bothered to plant raspberries as they were already plentiful everywhere. Only on special occasions would we be treated to store-bought tea or coffee.

Nowhere in any of the stories of the past have I seen any document revealing that we developed our own Popsicles, in spite of the fact that Popsicles themselves had not yet been invented. Our version of a Popsicle was to pour some sweetened coffee into a metal container like a cup then stick a teaspoon in the middle. It was placed outside in the winter to freeze, then used as a special treat, just as Popsicles are used today.

In earlier days, there was no such thing as a weekly allowance or spending money for the children. Youngsters had to earn their own. This was not always possible, as there just wasn’t much money to be had. Children earned their money through various projects.

There was a bounty on gophers paid by the government to eradicate the infestation of these rodents, which were detrimental to the efforts of making a living in farming. The government paid a bounty of one cent for each gopher tail. Gopher tails could be sold at any store, but only a few would pay cash, which is what most of us required. The stores preferred to accept them in trade for store goods. At that time there were also bounties on crow and blackbird eggs.

We did some trapping of weasels, muskrats, and mink. It was more difficult to trap the elusive mink, which could detect the scent of a steel trap from a distance of three or four feet. We hunted squirrels and muskrats for their pelts and sold them for cash to fur buyers.

Another opportunity for making some money was by digging seneca roots. These did not grow just anywhere; they grew mostly in the open fields where there were no trees or shrubs. To find them we had to go to Peepaw and Rhubarb Plains, which were about twelve miles from where we lived. Some seneca roots could be found along the Swan River, but they were scarce and far apart.

Seneca is actually a low-foliage weed that grows in the open fields. A person with a keep sense of smell could locate them by their scent, but I was not gifted in that way. We sold seneca root to the stores in exchange for store goods, or sold them to the fur buyers for a better price. Seneca root was used for medicinal purposes.

The money we earned was ours to spend as we saw fit. However, the list of priorities was far too lengthy to do it justice. Number one on the list would be clothes, although we, of course, would look forward to a bicycle. A guitar was on my list of wants for a long time. A .22 rifle, the newer model featuring a repeater action was also on my list of needs. I must have wanted things beyond my means because I never did buy a repeater rifle until the 1970s. By then, automatic action was the fashion.

In the early thirties, poverty was the word of the time. Relief was available, but only for those people who were in the most dire need. Who was to dispute that we were not in that category? We applied for relief and hoped to receive some funds to buy clothes, or some flour or sugar. Two weeks later a huge parcel came from the Red Cross. The contents of the parcel were mostly army uniforms, some suits, coats, sweaters, shirts and dresses. Only very few items fit anyone in the family. But my sincere thanks go to the Red Cross. The package was gratefully received.

Now Mama, busy as she always was, had even more work to do. She ripped apart the relief clothing and retailored it to fit. Nothing of the relief parcel was wasted. Mama was happy that, for once, we did not have to resort to Buckeye Flour bags to make all of our clothes.

I cannot forget a period during the hard times when none of us boys had suitable boots or shoes to wear for the winter. What little wheat we had threshed had to be sold to buy the winter supply of flour. Tato was quite industrious, though. To him, there was never a problem that couldn’t be solved. He took a moose hide and tanned it. In spite all the detailed information he got from the Indians about tanning hides, something went wrong. The tanned hide didn’t measure up to his expectations.

“Just a minor problem,” he said as he proceeded to cut the hide up for moccasins for himself and for each of us boys. Because of the stiff leather, he couldn’t roll the front of the moccasins into a curve to fit into the low-cut rubbers. So he altered the pattern to form a rib on the front tip to sweep into an upward point like a ski. The finished product he called “postoly.” The ankle wrap was one piece, with flanges to wrap around and overlap in front. He cut lacing from leather and soaked them in harness oil to make them pliable. The ankle wraps had thirty-six inch long leather laces to be wound round and round then tied together.

How did they wear, you ask. They had an equal balance of pros and cons. They were strong and snug around the feet with plenty of ankle support. Fitted with insoles, which were handfuls of hay and plenty of socks, they were very warm and snow-proof. On the other hand, they had no heel and were very slippery to walk with.

They also were ugly. When we wore them to school the children would stare and laugh. But my main objection to wearing them was that I was in the habit of kicking a frozen horse turd down the road as I walked to school. Wearing those ugly postoly, I was totally handicapped. As you can imagine, with the front being pointed, there was no predicting what direction the turd would travel when I kicked it. But wear them I did, and liked it. It sure beat walking around with cold feet.

In the summer months we all walked barefoot, unless we were lucky enough to have a pair of running shoes. Running shoes did not last long before the tips of our toes protruded through the canvas. Most of the time we wore running shoes with no socks. If you wore socks you would run into problems of mud or dust messing them up. With runners and no socks you could walk through a puddle and wash them off. The only advantage over bare feet was the protection of your feet form thistles, thorns and sharp stones.

Photo credit: Shirley Barg