How many can you take 'for the team' ?

Sure, we all take one or two from time to time.  But some of us have a problem balancing self-care and time out with the endless lists and demands.  If you're part of a 'movement' of any kinds - arts advocacy, anti-poverty, environmentalism, you know how easy it is to do too much.

A Meditation for Valentine's Day

"To love is, first of all, to accept ourselves as we are"  Thich Nhat Hanh

Regardless of whether your age or marital status or even if you think Valentine's day is a big pile of hooey, here is a beautiful meditation you can do to practice metta (loving kindness) every day.

Sit still, calm your body and your breathing and recite the meditation to yourself.  Sitting still, you're not too preoccupied with other matters, so you can look deeply at yourself as you are, cultivate your love for yourself, and determine the best ways to express this love in the world.

May I be peaceful, happy and light in body and spirit.


May I be safe and free from injury.


May I be free from anger, afflictions, fear and anxiety.


When you have done this, meditating on yourself, you can repeat it, take out the "I" and substitute someone else - your partner, your family members, your colleagues or anyone.  Spread the love, no purchase required.

What to do when you find out your farmer is retiring

Sheesh.  We just got rolling with Stu and Nancy and their awesome farming and food delivery service.  But it seems Stu's back isn't well so they're retiring from the delivery aspect of the business later this spring.  Talk about a panic when I found that out - I've just got in the habit of re-thinking my purchases around what they can provide.

Luckily, at the wonderful Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase this weekend (hosted by Falls Brook Centre) we met the Livingstones, who have a farm in Pembroke and are doing a weekly food box from June until November.  You should consider getting food there too - here is their website.

It is encouraging to see a sustainable family farm like this setting up around here.  We need more wholesome food grown by people who care about health and the land.  Stu has certainly spent his lifetime in Carleton County trying to encourage this sort of thinking.  Stop by the Speerville Mill website sometime and read the story of how they got started.  Kinda reminds me of a plucky little arts festival I know (not to mention the story of the founding of the Carleton County Historical Society).  Thanks goodness for good people and good food.  I don't want to imagine a world without them.

It's not what they say, it's how they say it.

We saw our third play of 2012 last night, a UNB production of Michel Tremblay's "Bonjour, la, Bonjour."  I've seen three of Tremblay's plays now and I really like them.  He writes primarily about working-class francophones, which aren't too far from the working-class anglophones that constitutes 95% of my extended family.  What could contain more 'drama' than family, youth, identity, and intimacy?


A few years back at Mount A., I saw "Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d'ete," (Solemn Mass for a Full  Moon Summer) and now that I look back on it, the characters perched on Montreal balconies in the heat of summer probably inspired my fascination with that city.


The Mount A. production was in French, and after seeing two subsequent Tremblay plays in English (the other was a TNB Production "For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again"), I will try to see more Tremblay productions in the language they were composed in. Although my French is far from perfect, you can surmise a lot from watching good actors even if you don't get every word. 


And words are important in these plays - Tremblay is known for introducing vernacular Quebecois French joual to the stage - it's analogous to the outback type of "Dooryard" words and phrases we have here in Western NB.  And the characters are defined as much by the way the speak and not just what they say.  As someone who has taken her 'county' slang to wine and cheese receptions and scholarship interviews, I can tell you that how you say 'er really does have some import (wink, wink).


I guess it just goes to show that "English" or "French" are very nebulous ideas in some ways - whose English (London, Caribbean, Carleton County, Mumbai) do we really speak?  I will never forget the story my Acadienne friend told me about her trip to France.  She showed up speaking French, mais oui, only to have French noses turn up at her unrefined accent.  I think she was back on the plane to 'the New World" within days, but I digress.


So, speaking of English and French, next week we're off to - where else? - Mount A! to see Alex Fancy's Tintamarre team present "Camp."  Students help Fancy write these bilingual productions, so it will be interesting to see what they've come up with.  We're also going to see a wonderful friend present a vocal recital in the hall where we studied (and enjoyed) so many excellent performers during our wonderful student days.  Felicitations, bravo and congratulations Jessica! 

Do we have to talk about politics?

Lately I've been involved in a few conversations about politics with people of different ages and backgrounds.  Inevitably, someone will sigh or throw up their hands and voice their disgust/frustration/mistrust of the entire system.  And who can blame them? So many poor (partisan) decisions are made, and so many people are completely alienated from and disenfranchised by our political systems, be they local or provincial or national.

At the same time, standing on the sidelines does nothing to improve the state of things - in fact, it makes it worse.     The young people I talked to at a local pub felt completely uniformed on political issues.  Some of them, well into their twenties, with degrees in hand, have never voted in a single election.  The retired man I talked to at church today told me the story of how quickly a local MLA became disgusted with politics after he was elected.  How can you get involved in politics and be successful in 'playing the game' without getting your hands dirty?  Good question.

I've been interested in politics since I was a kid. My parents used to be card-carrying Liberals. People like my folks used to be the party rank-and-file, who played some role in bringing leaders to power.  And inevitably, decisions about policy will be made, either with the participation of citizens or not.  Mostly it seems that that power has been abdicated to large corporations and power-brokers, who understand the stakes and have their representatives trained and ready.

How do we re-ignite a conversation about the common good?  How do we convince people (and particularly young people) to get involved in decision-making that affects their community?

My personal opinion is "without pressure, nothing changes."  And that pressure can only be created when people work together to achieve specific changes that they feel will improve the community in which they live.
And sooner or later, in some form or another, that means politics.

Living on muscle, guts and luck

So much food, so little time...here's a little round up of what I am learning lately.  First of all, I've had a pretty much 180 degree change of opinion about animal fat. It feels strange after a decade of vegetarianism to be so into meat, but I think the evidence is in favour of high quality organic meat.  I am not talking about feedlot beef here, or claustrophobically caged chickens.  Or fast food.

I am realizing that my health in the future will be largely dependent on two things: exercise and managing my blood sugar.  I have diabetics on both sides of the family so it's a major concern for me.  Plus obesity/diabetes are the number one health problem in our society right now.

I just finished reading a book called "Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food" which was so fascinating.  The author shows how beauty and health are connected, how siblings appearances differ because of the nutrients available to them in utero, and how cholesterol is good for you. It's sugar and vegetable oils that cause illness. Yes, you read that right.  Sugar and veg oil.  Eat the butter, it's good for you.

She also says that we are losing the genetic nutritional advantage that our ancestors gave us, in part because they ate the whole animal - guts, livers, eyeballs and everything.  I know that may not entice you but we aren't living longer anymore, we're aging faster and our children are less healthy.  Shanahan thinks this is one of the reasons why - our food is no longer as nourishing.

Also, here is a podcast with Raj Patel, author of "Stuffed and Starved."  He talks about lesser-known aspects of the 'green revolution' (ie. industrial farming) such as authoritarianism, overpopulation, the Cold War and more.  Patel says we currently produce enough food to feed the entire world, it's just not distributed to people who need it.  He says when capitalism controls food it actually leads to more hunger, because people without money can't eat.

Dark times we live in now.   But we still have a choice, and the more I go to the grocery store, the more I don't want to go there anymore.  So I am slowly working out a way of eating that is best for me and for my loved ones, and that doesn't involve an industrial outlook on life.

Sabbatical: Month 10, Time's Up!

This time last year I felt grumpy and worn out.  So I took a break from RiVA, cut back on my work schedule and made an effort to do less.  It was the right choice and after nearly a year I feel re-charged and ready to go again.

Since New Year's I have also made some major revisions to my diet - adding (quality local, mostly organic) meat to my diet after a decade of vegetarianism and eliminating almost all grain and sugar (except fruit of course).  I feel great and after the sugar binge that is Christmas it's a huge difference. I never realized how much the fluctuations in blood sugar made me anxious (sometimes to the point of hostility) and how much more satisfied and energized I feel now that my diet is higher in fat and protein, and lower in carbohydrates.

For anyone who feels worn down by life, I would highly recommend taking some time to re-evaluate your life and take some time to deliberately be unproductive.  Taking the pressure off myself and being able to put my needs first was very empowering.  In seven more years I fully intend to do it again.

More time for plays

The New Year has arrived and with it, many changes and cause for excitement.  Nick and I have made a goal to see 30 plays this year - yes!  This is the kind of 'work' we can get excited about.  So far we have attended "Screwjob," a new play by Step Taylor and "Chicken Hearts and Baby Onions" which was put on by Theatre St. Thomas.

Step's play was originally slated for last summer's Dooryard Arts Festival but was delayed until January.  This was Valley Young Company's first production at the Charlotte St. Arts Centre in Fredericton.  The TST production was helmed by Woodstock native Ryan Griffith, who gave an outstanding performance as the Croatian trucker Jan.  It was so refreshing to see working people portrayed on the stage, dealing with the drama inherent in politics, family, class and friendship.  Thanks gang, for encouraging us toward our goal.

Upcoming, we will be seeing "Oh What a Lovely War" (also at TST) and then the TNB redux of "The Dollar Woman" by Alden Nowlan and Walter Learning.  This was TNB's first original production and I am looking forward to this slice of New Brunswickana.  Nowlan has been a very inspirational figure for me personally so it will be great to hear his words spoken aloud.

We're also planning to read 20 plays and are currently reading Harold Bloom's commentaries on various Shakespeare plays.  That man is an encyclopedia, in case you didn't know.  So, our play is work and our work is play.  Exciting stuff for those of us who find human stories endlessly fascinating.  If you'd like to be apart of this play reading - which will be done out loud in the living room, beverage optional, feel free to drop me a line.

Cheerio!