VYC want YOU to audition

Happy Holidays from Valley Young Company!

We’re working hard to finalize our 2010 Season and plan to announce the full production schedule by the end of the week. In the mean time, we have scheduled auditions in Woodstock and will be running things a bit differently this year.

We’ll be holding auditions for our full 2010 company in one audition this year, to be held at 6:00 January 3 & 4, 2010 at the WHS theatre (you only need to attend one of the two audition dates). The season this year is going to consist of 3 - 4 shows (look for an email with all the production details in the next few days) and we’ll be auditioning all the shows at this time.

Books: the dark side?

I remember yearning to read, and write. One of my best Christmas presents ever was a set of Disney books on tape (yeah, cassette tape, that's right) that chimed when it was time to turn the page. I read those things until the books fell apart, and got to know a lot of great fairy tales.

Now, humour me for a minute and watch this clip from "Good Will Hunting." They're talking about soul mates and Will is giving the list of authors he counts as soul mates. Then read this column by Rick Salutin and you really see where Robin Williams is coming from. Great thinking, great writing.

Too bad I'm not there in person for the dialogue. I think there's something to be said for oral traditions, and I think we have a strong one here. There's no doubt we have problems with literacy and I'm not saying that's not important; however, the flip side is we have people whose skill at storytelling needs to be heard, not read. Old school, campfire-style.

Bach, mein freude

I've been reading a lot about climate change and peak oil. One man was asked what gave him hope in the face of considering the bleak statistics. Apparently he paused for a minute and then replied: Bach.

Read about the first replica of a Bach-era organ on this side of the Atlantic. I've always said, if I could go back in time to one place, it would be mass at Bach's church. To see the master at the keyboard, improvising a fugue or conducting yet another (almost) brand-new cantata, and hear the mammoth machine sing at his behest, now you're talking!

A change is gonna come

These days I am thinking about the industrial way of living - working away from home, driving everywhere, being stressed out, angry and demoralized because of our schedules, eating food shipped across the globe, buying everything instead of making things, standardization, not having time for social relationships, the elevation of 'knowledge' over 'wisdom.' The list of ways industrialism impacts our lives is huge.

At the same time, I am realizing that we are in the twilight of the industrial age - with oil running low, climate change on the horizon, and many people wondering if this hyper consumer state is the 'it' we have been waiting for. We're told we're rich but we don't always feel rich. The human needs below the surface aren't satisfied by the latest greatest gadget.

You had a choice, sir

This is one of the most famous lines in Canadian political history, when Brian Mulroney turned the tables on John Turner during an election debate.

Read this story of the Halifax NDP MP who is using her 'ten percenters' to advertise art exhibits in her home riding. Typically MP's use these pamphlets to attack the 'other guys' and they're usually Rush Limbaugh-type arguments.

It's about time someone used her power for good. We need more creative people like Meghan Leslie in the House of Commons. Good ideas don't need to cost money.

And on the flip side

An anonymous donor gives free Turkey dinner and a concert to 1000 people in need. Good stories deserve to be re-told.

Information is power

Here's a great video from the courageous journalist Amy Goodman. If you haven't heard of her, take some time to check her out. She tells it like it is.

As you have probably gathered, I am watching this NB Power thing very closely. Most mornings I read the Telegraph Journal online and I am disgusted at their editorial pages lately. They seem to think most New Brunswickers are too dumb to 'see the truth' about this deal, and their condescension is nauseating. I find it sickening that they only seem to parrot what the Liberal PR firms are saying, without fact checking or giving print space to other viewpoints, such as the AIMS report.

Amy Goodman says the first credo of journalists should be 'follow the money.' The TJ certainly isn't doing that in this case and they are doing a disservice to all their readers. Super thumbs down to them.

Weekend ahoy!

For those who truly do work for the weekend, two pieces about pirates, and one about thieves.

Enjoy ye olde nerdy choir cartoon below, and read this story about a young man in Ottawa who actually tried to start a pirate radio station. No doubt he would have called it W-R-R-R, get it?Ye blasted permits can dampen the souls of the saltiest of sea-faring men.


And, for those who enjoy a good political duel, the latest gauntlet is here. If you're not into long reports, fast forward to the last page and read the summary. Not to sound like a country song, but they get the transmission lines, we get the shaft.

Don't be a turkey, slow down and eat

I know it's not Canadian Thanksgiving, but I sure do love food. Here's a great little piece from the NYT for you to enjoy. Interesting to note how well the methods of food production would fit in Carleton County...

And take some time to savour these photographs. Metaphorically, of course. Next year's Dooryard Festival is going to be unreal!

I've changed my mind

I am reading a fantastic new book called "Evolve Your Brain." If you are are interested in brain science, how we learn or how our thoughts affect our bodies, you should read this book too. In it, Dr. Dispenza talks about how we create our personalities through habitual thoughts, and the biochemistry and physiology of how that works.

Repeated thought patterns lead to habits, and those are hard to change if we don't acknowledge that we have created them, that they are not innate. I think this has a lot to do with the NB Power deal, for a couple of reasons:

1. NB'ers historically have been a "have-not" province and we are used to that. By selling NB Power, the government is only reactivating that network in our brains that we can't have anything important or profitable.

2. We do not see ourselves as "fighters" so the public is hesitant to speak up and oppose the deal.
As opposed to our francophone neighbours, who probably would have rioted by now if Hydro Quebec was being sold to Ontario Hydro....

In the book, Dispenza talks about how people say they've "changed their mind" about things. What that really means is their brain has been rewired to consider things differently than before. Your mind has changed, along with your opinion.

Interesting to think about how our thoughts create our realities, isn't it?

In defense of faith

I have a small but rotating list of personal heroes. Feels cheesy to use that word, since we're all supposed to be cynical now, and believe only in the power of money and not the power of people. But nevertheless, some people are inspiring, and not because they have the letters after their names to prove it.

I love hearing about people who have triumphed over adversity. There was a book about Martin Luther King Jr. in my grade 6 classroom and I must have read that book once a week all year. Of course, it was the closest thing to my desk, and I was usually done my work early, but it was worth reading again and again because of the courage of the characters.

David Adams Richards is on my list of 'heroes,' mostly because he is an excellent writer, but also because he didn't follow the conventional path in life. He has a new book out called "God Is" and here's a great interview talking about it (fast forward 3/4 of the way, he's at the end). His honesty cuts to the bone. He can see people for who they are, flaws and all, and yet still sees them with such dignity.

I think New Brunswickers have a salt and a sophistication to them that most people will never comprehend (you gotta live here to get it, right...). Talking about hell being his drinking habit and sitting at bars with murderers and realizing that as the start of his faith. Although he doesn't claim to have answers, he gives a very dignified defense of people's right to choose a faith tradition for the right reasons. These dark months are good times to think about this stuff.

The Joy

... is about enabling other people's stories to be heard, at the same time.

Enjoy this video. Then think about what it means for your life.

And one final word of advice, from Ricard Strauss - "never look at the trombones, it only encourages them."

They're still dancing in Montreal

This comment was made yesterday by the leader of a Madawaska union local, outside the legislature.

It was an interesting event, fairly well-attended for a workday. New Brunwsickers are the most polite protesters ever. They don't want to yell because it's rude and they don't want to say mean things because it might hurt somebody's feelings. Which is good at the dinner table, but problematic when your own Premier is selling you down the river.

Apparently the protest could be heard inside the legislature, and everyone who spoke against the deal acknowledged that it's going to be a long battle. Take the time to email if you haven't already - Shawn Graham is going to pretent to consult people and let his PR spin team do the talking instead.

Our democracy at work

So, the legislature resumes tomorrow. The Graham government will introduce its agenda and outside the 'people's house' citizens will protest the proposed sale of NB Power.

Shawn Graham has made it very clear that he intends to proceed with this deal without a mandate, contrary to his own campaign promises, and over the objections of the auditor general and the owners of NB Power, the people of New Brunswick.

I will be going to Fredericton to show my opposition to this deal. Many people are uncomfortable with protests but in this case, your silence will be interpreted as support for the deal. Failure to speak up, either via email or in person, will lend support to this backroom deal.

It is tempting to let apathy take over at times like this, but if you are oppose to this deal it is your responsibility to speak up now. Complaining after the fact will do nothing to absolve our inaction when it counted most. Get in touch with me if you'd like a drive to Fredericton, the rally starts at noon. If you can't or won't go, you can contact all the provincial MLA's at the same time using these addresses:

Liberal MLA's - leglibmla@gnb.ca PC MLA's - legpcmla@gnb.ca

From the air

People out fishing and working in the woods are being sprayed with pesticides. Companies have admitted there are ways to clear brush from tree plantations without using chemicals, but it costs so much money and labour.

Hiding in the "Heritage Pool"

are lots of details that will cost New Brunwsickers continued rate increases, even with the HQ takeover.

Plus more detailed analsyis here and here. Educate yourself, it's your civic duty.

Now There's a Staff Room I'd like to visit!

Found this paragraph is Claude Levi-Strauss' obituary in the NYT this morning:

From 1927 to 1932, Claude obtained degrees in law and philosophy at the University of Paris, then taught in a local high school, the Lycée Janson de Sailly, where his fellow teachers included Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. He later became a professor of sociology at the French-influenced University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Must have been interesting to teach at that school....

Liberals hire Gulf War PR Firm to sell us the deal

Shawn Graham's government is preparing to spend 1 million dollars to convince us that we should let him sell NB Power out from underneath us. There are less than a million people in the province, so that tells you Graham knows that it will be an uphill battle.

Among the PR firms he's retained? Hill & Knowlton, best known for their misinformation campaign during the first Gulf War. Don't be surprised if fake citizen's groups promoting the benefits of this deal start to appear. Here's what they did during GWI:

Hill & Knowlton, then the world's largest PR firm, served as mastermind for the Kuwaiti campaign. Its activities alone would have constituted the largest foreign-funded campaign ever aimed at manipulating American public opinion. By law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act should have exposed this propaganda campaign to the American people, but the Justice Department chose not to enforce it. Nine days after Saddam's army marched into Kuwait, the Emir's government agreed to fund a contract under which Hill & Knowlton would represent "Citizens for a Free Kuwait," a classic PR front group designed to hide the real role of the Kuwaiti government and its collusion with the Bush administration. Over the next six months, the Kuwaiti government channeled $11.9 million dollars to Citizens for a Free Kuwait, whose only other funding totalled $17,861 from 78 individuals. Virtually all of CFK's budget - $10.8 million - went to Hill & Knowlton in the form of fees.

Just thought y'all should be aware of the tactics. One million dollars would put a lot of books on library shelves, provide legal aid to a lot of people, provide social assistance to others who need it. That money could also be used for a referendum or listening tour or meaningful public consultations, however you like it.

Well, I've been doing my homework on this NB Power deal. I read the Wikipedia articles about Churchill Falls and Hydro Quebec, the Memo of Understanding (terms of the deal proposed), and this great commentary from the Gleaner.

My major misgivings:

1. NB'ers will pay to decomission plants Hydro Quebec doesn't want - 4.7 billion won't cover this.
2. The transmission lines will not be open to small producers in NB (ie. wind/tidal projects).
3. Hydro Quebec will not pay corporate taxes in NB.
4. We will have to pay for power consumed (in excess of the "Heritage Pool") after 5 years. This could be a lot of money, nobody knows right now.
5. Our residential rates will be frozen but not taken down to HQ current rates.
6. Does HQ intend to rebuild or decomission the Mactaquac dam in 15 years?
6b.) If they decomission it, what are they going to do with the reclaimed land along the banks of the Saint John River?
7. HQ gets to keep the carbon credits from hydro electricity generated in NB.
8. NB will pay Lepreau cost overruns the feds decide not to cover.
9. There are no guarantees or rate caps on our power after 5 years, and the deal allows for more energy "generation expenses" to raise our rates.
9b.)If HQ wants to expand their reach to Pensylvania or Maryland, will our plants/rates be paying for that?
10. If selling electricity to other jurisdictions is so profitable, why not do it ourselves and make a profit for the shareholders, the citizens of NB?

Frankly, I think an election needs to be called. This deal is a direct violation of the Shawn Graham's"Charter for Change" and New Brunswickers deserve a better democracy than poorly-negotiated backroom deals are going to give us. A rally is being held Nov. 17th at 11am, when the legislature resumes.

All she wants to do is dance, dance, dance

This poem, written by the wonderful Don McKay, is dedicated to my hardworking band of RiVa buddies, you throw one heck of a Halloween partay. And also to Mr. Dancing Dracula, who ever he is. That guy can really cut a rug!

TO DANCELAND

No one is ever happier than when they're dancing
--Margaret McKay

South through bumper crops we are driving to Danceland, barley
oats, canola, wheat, thick as beaver pelt, but late, she said,
late, since June had been so cold already we were deep
in August and still mostly green so it was nip
and tuck with frost and somewhere between Nipawin and
Tisdale finally

I found the way to say, um, I can't dance
you know, I can't dance don't ask me
why I am driving like a fool to Danceland have flunked it
twenty-seven years ago in the kitchen where my mother,
bless her, tried to teach me while I passively resisted,
doing the jerk-step while she tried to slow, slow, quick quick
slow between the table and the fridge, her face fading
like someone trying to start a cranky Lawnboy
nevertheless
step by sidestep
we are driving down the grid, Swainson's hawks occurring every
thirty hydro poles, on average
to Danceland
where the dancefloor floats on rolled horsehair
and the farmers dance with their wives even though it is
not Chicago
where the mirror ball blesses everyone with flecks from
another, less rigorous dimension
where the Westeel granary dances with the weathervane,
the parent with the child, the John Deere with the mortgage
where you may glimpse the occasional coyote lopes and gopher hops
where the dark may become curious and curl one long arm
around us
as we pause for a moment, and I think about my mother and her
wishes in that kitchen, then
we feed ourselves to the world's most amiable animal,
in Danceland.

from Apparatus (1997)

Uncle Sam says: we want your power

A little background from the Globe and Mail on why Hydro Quebec wants to buy NB Power:

This comes as U.S. officials pressure eastern Canadian utilities to merge, a move that would make it easier to co-ordinate production and transmission of electricity to the eastern United States. Given that the region's most important source of electricity is Hydro-Québec, U.S. officials are eager to see it take over its smaller rivals in the Maritimes, the government official said.

Full analysis here. This is a very, very bad move, selling public assets. Contact your MLA and the Premier and tell them they don't have the authority to sell NB Power without a public debate. All it is going to take to stop this deal is for a couple of Liberal MLA's to cross the floor and trigger an election. The consequences are going to be enormous, and shady backroom deals are never in the interest of regular people - our residential rates are not going to decline under these terms of sale.

Let the waiting begin

Packed house for the meeting last night - ten times more than I've ever seen. The proposal for rezoning was put on hold in order for PAC and Council to review the new drawings submitted by Mr. Cronkite. If Council proceeds with the next step and public hearing, they will likely take place in early December. I'll keep you updated.

In other news, Kerry O'Toole won a national sculpture contest at St. Andrew's Kingsbrae Gardens. His flying geese will be installed permanently in the gardens. Congratulations Kerry! Kerry had originally offered this sculpture to the Town of Woodstock for placement downtown but they declined to purchase it.

Speak up for the Weslyan church

Boy, there's a lot going down in the downtown.

The Weslyan church will be torn down and replaced with another vinyl apartment building unless Woodstock Town Council votes "no" on the rezoning next Monday night. October 27th will be the first of three readings necessary to demolish the historic church and establish apartments. Neighbourhood residents are opposed to the demolition.

I will be going to council and I encourage YOU to make time and go, if you're concerned about the preservation of historic buildings in "New Brunswick's First Town." We need a vision for our historic downtown, and vinyl isn't it! Sorry to be so blunt but if this keeps up we are going to be another drive-through town in the drive through province.

Make your municipal democracy work and get out there!

Ahoy, me Canadian pirates

Turns out we host 4 of 5 of the world's best/worst file sharing websites. This is a complicated situation, but three things are for sure:

1. The downloading genie will never go back into the copyright box.

2. Internet file-sharing has changed the role of information and culture in our society.

3. Our "intellectual property" laws and ways of thinking about information sorely need updating.

Over and out.

We're gonna kick it up a notch

So, RiVA is having its first ever membership drive. At the oh-so-obvious risk of appearing recklessly partisan, here's why you should go to Fusion Thursday night at 8pm and buy a membership (or several):

1. Carleton County needs an arts centre and that takes money.
2. It will get you into the Halloween party for FREE, and your name on our VIP list.
3. The more members we have, the more clout we have locally in lobbying for cool projects.
4. You will have a chance to make a cool mask and hear some good tunes.
5. You never know what might happen. Really.

Your support means a lot. We have spent the past six months working, sweating, dreaming, and fighting for this to happen. The parking situation at 702 is coming to a head and whatever happens, we'd love to know you're on our side. Cheers!

Support the library book rate

The library book rate is a partnership between Canada Post and libraries. It helps reduce the cost of sending books and information across our sprawling country. It will expire at the end of 2009 unless the public demands the government support it.

Do your part, take 15 seconds to email Harper here. Happy reading!

Two nightcaps on writing

So, a reporter's paper shuts down, throwing him out of work. His response: buy his own paper, get back to work, double time.

Also, here's an excerpt from an interview with Toni Morrison. She was asked where her ideas come from and how she overcomes the difficulty of the blank page.

TM: It's that being open - not scratching for it, not digging for it, not constructing something but being open to the situation and trusting that what you don't know will be available to you. It's bigger than your overt consciousnessor your intelligence or even your gifts; it is out there somewhere and you have to let it in.

PH: And does being open in that way to your writing spill over into other areas of your life?

TM: I feel more friendly when I am writing, nicer to people, much more generous, also wiser. I am full of a kind of tenderness towards people and all they have to hide, all they have to construct. Not pity, not sympathy, just tenderness. Knowing that the job of being human is so hard, and it is the only job there is left - though we keep on pretending otherwise. If I am in that good place, and I run into someone I dislike, I feel more human and they seem more human.

PH: Connected.

TM:Precisely. I keep telling everyone whenever I get a chance that it took 60 million years to make a human eye. And before that, it was just a little cell at the bottom of the ocean that was sensitive to light. Just think of how complicated and truly magnificent a human being is. When you think of all we are capable of - being able to love each other, and being willing to do something good in the world for no recognition . . . I am not saying there are not people who want to step over each other, who want to maim and kill, but that is a perversion of the beautiful things human beings are made for.

There are all sorts of ways people try to stay connected, try not to live in hate. Religion may be one of them, but for me the central thing is the writing. The art itself. Putting my intelligence and my humanity to the best possible use, and I get better because I am doing it. The writing teaches me that I can't just reach some little plateau and say that's it, this is the place. It is always a search.

PH: And that's the good news.

TM: That is the good news.

The Good Place or No Place

Before you get finished your turkey day, or your Tofurkey day, take 15 minutes to listen to this excellent talk about food and how it should be central to our thinking. My life in large part revolves around food, so of course I liked this talk, but I think when we get back in touch with real food and real human company, we will be on the road to recovering from this industrial hangover.

Bon appetit!

Local Links

Lee and Yolande Clark have a beautiful new pottery website! Read about their process and see the amazingly unique work they produce. What a great gift for that person who has everything . . . hint, hint.

The lady's got brains

This year, four Nobel Prizes were awarded to women. In the history of the Nobel Prize, only 35 have gone to females, including this year. This post is dedicated to my grandmother's father, who encouraged her to get an education and become a teacher, despite the objections of her mother and brothers. My grandmother's education had a tremendous influence on me, so it would be fair to say I owe her father a debt of gratitude as well.

Educate yourself about these hard-working thinkers and their accomplishments. The human brain is a pretty miraculous device.

Stranger than fiction

Bizarre claims from this article in the New York Times:

Researchers have long known that people cling to their personal biases more tightly when feeling threatened. After thinking about their own inevitable death, they become more patriotic, more religious and less tolerant of outsiders, studies find. When insulted, they profess more loyalty to friends — and when told they’ve done poorly on a trivia test, they even identify more strongly with their school’s winning teams.

The theory is exposure to bizarre and unexpected things could actually stimulate creativity. Tim Burton would be a prime example, I suppose.

Also: James P. Johnson gets his propers, finally, after 50 years in an obscure grave in Queens.

Your two cents worth

That pun was for you, KD. The NB government is asking for your "pre-budget input." Click on the link below and say which things you think should be cut or enhanced.

For my part, I said they need to cut executive bonuses at NB Power, enhance legal aid and education, and look into the "creative economy."

Just some thoughts . . . take a minute and pretend you're running this province - where would you spend it?

Give us libraries and librarians

So say the children of South Africa. Sigh. If only Lamrock had listened to them...

Being gay in middle school

I knew when the girl's hockey team won the NB Human Rights award for their anti-homophobia campaign that school culture was changing to accomodate GLBT youth. But I didn't know how much....

Maritime Jazz Mash-up

So, a weekend of mind-busting great musicians, just the way I like it. I've posted a bunch of links to highlight the great stuff I heard at Harvest. After all the work we put into organizing Dooryard, it was a real treat to park myself in a chair and soak up the music.

Although jazz is increasingly removed from the mainstream, listeners are as passionate as ever about the music, and my overall feeling about this weekend's performances was one of gratitude. Improvising musicians have a special place in my heart. They spend years and years and hours upon hours learning to compose music spontaneously - how's that for a paradox?

Every time a politician cut arts funding, they should be sent to see this guy play. I have never seen that much joy in concert. Period. And his band was killing, it was like watching a sailboat turn on a dime. No set list, no predictable arrangements, no cliches.

At the other end of the jazz spectrum, the East Delta Trio played mainly improvised music, with tabla in place of a drumset. Three very talented musicians playing complex but heartfelt sounds. A special Carleton County "yessir" is due to Evan Shaw, raised in Hartland, now improvising in Toronto.

Over the past eight years I've seen Joel Miller perform with several different groups and his compositions are always engaging - he uses a fairly traditional jazz framework, but the melodies are interesting and the playing is fiery.

More great music from Easley, Stevenson and Arsenault, and lots of random one liners from this fine drummer. Because we all know jazz is about guilt. And money. And if you don't get the joke, that means you'll have to check it out in person next year. These musicians are worth every cent and more.

To those who say change is impossible

Ten years ago I heard homophobic comments all the time at WHS. Today the girl's hockey team is the recipient of an NB Human Rights Award for defending their gay teammates. A great example of how small town culture changes so slowly that some people don't even notice. To me, it's a wonderful example of a big change that's happened in a relatively short time. Well done, gals!

Yasmina Khadra

Months ago, I read a commentary by the bibliophile Alberto Manguel, who suggested that many of the world's best author's are writing in languages other than English. Manguel gave the 2007 Massey Lectures entitled "The City of Words," a series which I listened to in podcast form. After my brain finished exploding with his ideas, I bought a copy and read it many times over. So, when I read that Manguel thought English readers overlook non-English novels to their detriment, I started keeping my eyes open.

Enter Yasmina Khadra, who is actually a former Algerian army officer named Mohammed Moulassehoul. He now lives in France and has published several novels in French. His novel "The Attack" grabbed me by the throat in my lovely local independent bookstore.

I know lots of people whose opinions are set when it comes to suicide bombers, religious fundamentalism and the state of Israel vs. the Palestinian diaspora. Reading this book took away the stale political arguments and brought to life the human complexities of the situation, the suffering and blindness on both sides. Very, very interesting read, and I suggest anyone who thinks they know "how the feel about that situation" pick up "The Attack" and then reconsider.

Here's what Khadra has to say about the Arab world:

It's a pity that you do not have access to our culture. The Arab world is not just a postcard with dunes and caravans, nor is it only terrorist attacks. The Arab world is more generous and more inspired than yours. Do you know that El Moutannabi is humanity's greatest poet since the dawn of time? … It's a pity that you do not know anything of it. I was initially inspired by mine. I have had the chance to get maximum benefit from a double culture, Western and Eastern, without ever losing sight of where I come from.

To close, verses from El Moutannabi:

Every day you load up fresh
and journey to glory, there to dwell
And our wont is comely patience
were it with anything but your absence that we were tried
Every life you don’t grace is death
every sun that you are not is darkness.

(Arberry, Poems 5)

Bon appetit!

What's in a name?

You might recall that a couple of years ago the Harper government eliminated "gender equality" from the court challenges program. Now it appears they have taken the same tack on the international level, reversing efforts by previous Canadian governments.

"Canada worked hard and long to include gender-based violence in international documents, in the world of children and armed conflict where Canada is a leader, we've worked very hard to include gender-based violence as a serious violation. So removing that is a serious step backward and I would argue that the Canadian public would not agree with that," said Kathy Vandergrift, chair of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children.

According to this article, the Harper government has also quietly axed "child soldiers" and "international humanitarian law" from our statements on human rights abuses, including sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rape is a routine political weapon. Details are here.

I think this is a major step backward for Canada, and I don't think many Canadians would agree with the government's attempt to sidestep justice for such vulnerable people. This is not how we should be treating people suffering in other countries.

Sorry mom, but Tetris did make me smarter

Here's the study... love that pop science.

51 percent of the population; 1 percent of the landowners

My apologies for getting so serious so soon after the celebrations of The Trials of Benny Swim and the Dooryard festival. But the fact remains that there's still a lot of work to be done in this crazy world of ours. Here is an excerpt from a long article from the New York Times dealing with women's global inequality. It's part of a new book which we should all take to heart, given that women create us, nurture us and inspire us on so many levels.

Bill Gates recalls once being invited to speak in Saudi Arabia and finding himself facing a segregated audience. Four-fifths of the listeners were men, on the left. The remaining one-fifth were women, all covered in black cloaks and veils, on the right. A partition separated the two groups. Toward the end, in the question-and-answer session, a member of the audience noted that Saudi Arabia aimed to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology by 2010 and asked if that was realistic. “Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country,” Gates said, “you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.” The small group on the right erupted in wild cheering.

Read the rest here, then sit still and think about it.

Unfiltered Smoke

Hey folks, just wanted to remind you that Jason's new creative hub is up online: www.unfilteredsmoke.com. He's looking for readers and contributors, check it out!

Best of luck, Jason for your launch at Dooryard next Friday!

No, no, the other Woodstock!

Notice the coincidental date - 40 years next Sunday. Check out the excellent photos here and here. Some hippies sold out, but their organizing model remains influential.

10 Things About Dooryard

Here's what you don't want to miss next week! Schedule is available at www.rivervalleyarts.net.dooryard

10. Tons of free afternoon showcases.

9. Random Saturday artists and Vendors (everyone is invited).

8. Saturday afternoon Beer & Wine Tasting (if that's your bag, baby). Get 5 beer and 5 wine samples for $10.

7. Arts Workshops for young and young at heart.

6. A chance to paint your way across the train bridge.

5. Live outdoor concerts on Friday and Saturday evening.

4. Writers telling tales out of school at Fusion.

3. The Charlie Bomb Marathon on Friday.

2. A classy cocktail party with yummy food on Wednesday.

1. The Trials of Benny Swim. Only the most infamous story in Carleton County

Ben Franklin's Schedule

Early Riser!

The big picture

Is here. So volunteer! Tickets on sale at Fusion and MES. We expect the cocktail party to sell out so get your ticket now!

Dooryard Art and Workshops

Permanent art displays for the duration of the festival will be hosted at MACC OfficeFresh Market FoodsFusion Coffee Co.NBCC Lobby. Make sure you drop in to take a look.

On Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th, artists and and crafts people will take over the down town waterfront from the Farm Market to the Main stage tent on water street. Many works will be for sale, so be sure to take the Dooryard Arts Tour.

Get the message

Found a great site where elementary, middle and high school students made 1-minute videos explaining how proposed budget cuts would affect them. We've just been through this in NB and managed to avoid cuts only because of an across-the-board public outcry. Well done, everyone. Check out these videos - same stuff, different pile south of the border.

Also, the English language version of the AAPNB has been launched, after nearly two years of consultation. Their website is here. Their objectives are very similar to RiVA's . . . .

Why history?

My conclusion is simple: As we can no longer rely on personal memory, or even on the force of personal encounters with this last of the wartime generations, so we need more and better history to be taught in our schools. History brought home with human stories. A good teacher might start with Bronek, Leszek and Ralf.

Some numbers to crunch

Volunteer hours in arts, culture, recreation and sport organizations represent 64% of total work in these organizations, much higher than the overall average of 20% for the non-profit sector.

Other types of organizations that rely more heavily on volunteers than on paid labour include those involved in law, advocacy and politics, the environment, religion, as well as international development, relief and human rights.

The replacement cost value of volunteer work in arts, culture, recreation and sport organizations is estimated at $3.6 billion.

P.S. We've moved the Dooryard mainstage to behind Home Hardware, where the pavement won't have to be disturbed by arts and culture. It's the best we could do.

12 holes or an arts festival

We are planning Woodstock's first 5 day arts festival for August. The schedule is below. Except that we might have to move it out of town because the Town of Woodstock won't let us put 12 holes in the Farm Market parking lot to secure our mainstage tent, which is required to be staked down in order to meet the building code.

Mega frustration, anyone?

I cannot understand for the life of me how the maintenance of a parking lot is more important than bringing residents and visitors together to enjoy a great festival.

Speaking of Guitars

Everyone's talking about Dave Carroll's Taylor Guitar. Here's a great commentary from a marketing blog about how the internet is changing the way consumers deal with customer service complaints.

Get your Dooryard ready...

The Dooryard Arts Festival will run from Wednesday, August 12th until Sunday, August 16th, and will be headquartered in downtown Woodstock. Most events will be free, walkable and open to all ages. Please watch the blog for schedule updates or visit http://www.rivervalleyarts.net/

Wednesday, August 12th
Free daytime art exhibits open in downtown buildings with more than 15 local artists confirmed.
Student music and local musician showcases on outdoor mainstage (King St.)
Cocktail party in the Connell House Parlour. Music by Tracy Anderson Group/Josh Guest (6-8pm; $10) Food by Debrah Westerburg
Evening Music: Singing Bridge Orchestra and Pat LePoidevin, downtown, with art by Adam Atherton.

Thursday, August 13th
Free daytime art and music showcases continue. Art workshops for children and adults
Premiere of “The Trials of Benny Swim” at the Old County Courthouse. (8pm, $15/10).
Ryan Griffith and the writers of Vagabond Trust at Fusion, with music by Colin Brewer. (8:30pm/free)

Friday, August 14th
Free daytime art and music showcases continue, with workshops.
Jens Jeppesen live at the Picaroon’s Garden Party. (8pm; Free)
Outdoor screening of local films including the Charlie Bomb series, NB Heritage Films, Chris Dow, music by Andrew Wiley(10pm; Free)
Midnight Music - Never the Same

Saturday, August 14th
Daytime art and music showcases continue, with workshops.
Food and Wine tasting - 4-6pm, downtown ($10/person with food vendors onsite)
Ross Neilson and the Sufferin’ Bastards live at the Picaroon’s Garden Party with opening act the Debarker Boys (8pm, $10 ticket)

Sunday, August 15th
Closing brunch downtown 10am-1pm. (Bring your own or price TBA)

Update: Workshops

Wednesday Aug 12th (2-4pm) & Saturday Aug 15th: 2 Part Pottery workshop for Kids with Wendy Thomas. Ages 8-11, downtown, weather permitting (rain location-Saint James United Church). Only 8 seats available, so register early by calling 328-2020 or email riva@rivervalleyarts.net

Session 1: build your piece by learning hand building and slab building techniques. Session 2: Glaze your piece. Participants will go home with their very own electric kiln fired work of art. Cost TBA

Friday Aug 14th (2-4pm) Printmaking Workshop with Michael McEwing (downtown). All ages welcome. Cost= $5.00 and there are 20 seats available.Register by calling 328-2020 or email riva@rivervalleyarts.net.

Learn various carving techniques, how to create a print plate and print your very own series of images.

Political wives

Hint: start at the bottom and work backwards. Who are these women?

Darwin's lesson: abundance

Diabolical corn has hatched a plot to take over the world, says Michael Pollan.

For a long time I have been thinking about that rascal Hobbes and the idea of scarcity. You might remember Hobbes and his "nasty, brutish and short" view of the world. This fear-based perspective on the political and economic world (and for some people, their inter-personal world) has done great damage, causing us to brutalize other people, steal their resources, and generally be mean and selfish.

Combine Hobbes with Descartes' ideas that nature is separate from culture and that human are superior because we have consciousness, and you get the great disgrace that humans have done to the biosphere and to our place in the cosmos. Sounds like hocus pocus, I know, but how often does a modern human truly experience his or herself as "at home" among all the species of the natural world? Not nearly often enough.

In any case, Pollan takes a look at the world with humans as one species of many. He shows how this perspective erases the antagonism between culture and nature. All species can flourish by sharing in Earth's natural abundance, if we allow the other species to play the roles they have evolved to fulfill. Great news for a rainy June day.

The triumphs of the father

I'm usually a Father's Day cynic but here's a great article about one Chinese Dad's sacrifices during the Cultural Revolution. Thanks to my dad for showing me how to work, laugh, and be a generous and decent human being.

School or not school: that is always the question

Came across a great podcast about education. Two excellent educational heretics take on the notion that learning is memory, and that testing and data are the measure of learning. Here are some random excerpts:

“School should be the kind of place where you can have [growth] experiences that you very probably wouldn’t have in the world outside school.”

“There are a number of basic physiological differences between things in short term memory and things in long term memory. Short term memories seem to be bioelectric activity and long term memories seems to be chemical change, an actual change in the structure of the brain.”

"I think the first thing that happened, and it didn’t just happen in education, the first thing that happened in about the 1850’s was that people decided that education and agriculture and manufacturing needed to be systematized. It wasn’t a question of changing the machinery to fit the individual, but of changing the individual to fit the machinery."

In fact, in the early 20th century, one adovcate of mandatory schooling wrote "Plans are underway to replace family, community and church with propaganda, education and mass media."
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I have been doing a great deal of thinking about education, what it is, how it works, and what our system chooses to do and not do, who they empower and who they disenfranchise. A few thoughts:

1. We need to get back to raising adults. Fully capable, autonomous adults. And I don't mean this in the "we should spank 'em more and make 'em pay attention" kind of way. We ought to be teaching people from their earliest days how to take care of themselves and others, how to behave responsibly and make independent decisions without being bullied.

2. Children are inherent learners. We should get out of their way and let them learn. Most of them will teach themselves or others if they get interested at a young enough age.

3. Children deserve to be taught by people who know about the discipline they are teaching. Not by people told to "follow the textbook."

4. Educating the next generation shouldn't be the sole responsibility of schools. Everyone in the community should assist in raising fully capable adults.

Marches continue in Tehran

The debate is going global - see the Iranian football team wearing pro-Mousavi wristbands in Seoul.

This is not a CGI Crowd

It's Tehran, today.

You say you want a revolution

But are you willing to go here to get it? Scary stuff.

I recognize that t-shirt

Dan Weiss is the only drummer I'm familiar with in this article. And I'm pretty sure when I saw him play with David Binney in '07 that he was wearing the same t-shirt in this picture. That tells you what the average income of a jazz drummer is - sad, isn't it, for musicians who are gymnastic mathematicians with the brainpower of Buddhist monks.

Seriously, modern jazz drumming is one of the most complex and riveting phenomena of our time. If you have a hard time clapping your hands on the "off beats" these guys really are rocket scientists. Can you tell I have some major respect for them?

In any case, this article also shows a lot of the connections between jazz drumming and the whole gamut of music - metal, indian, funk, you name it. Anybody who thinks labels can define music accurately is kidding herself. The era of genres is over.

There's plenty more plans where that came from . . .

From the Times and Transcript:

Chiasson said there are already a number of plans in place and these must be brought together. These include the new municipal plan, the heritage plan, the recreation master plan, the energy audit, a strategic plan, a downtown revitalization plan and the tree inventory, among others.

Possible topics within the overall plan would be transportation, energy conservation, renewable energy, water quality, wastewater, waste management, human health, community planning, poverty reduction, housing, green spaces and climate change.

The town? Good ol' Sackville, NB.

Leave your favourite line

Neil Young doesn't edit his songs after writing them, which leads to some pretty interesting lyrics. What is your favourite line from Neil? It's a hard choice, there are so many good ones!

Homework assignment: "Geologian" Thomas Berry

"A line from the Kentucky poet, James Still, is also a tribute to Thomas: 'I was born humble, at the foot of mountains, my face was set upon the immensities of Earth, and stone, and upon the oaks full-bodied and old. There is so much writ upon the parchment of leaves, so much of beauty blown upon the winds. I can but fold my hands, and bend my knees in the leaf pages.'"

Micheal Moore's Elegy for GM

Last night I heard GM was about to file for bankruptcy and that they taxpayers in Canada and the US will assume a large part of the debt, and by extension, a stake in the company.

Here are Michael Moore's surprisingly practical and inspiring suggestions for how shareholders can transform the company. Coast to coast in 17 hours - unreal...

Naomi Klein suggests that hyper-capitalists use disasters to make changes to the public system for their own gain. Why can't citizens do the same, and put people to work at building an equitable and sustainable transportation system? The time has come, methinks.

Don't Think About It

What do torture, a major recession, and two debilitating wars have to do with our educational system? My guess: plenty. These are the three most immediate realities of a system that fails to challenge, or even critique, authority in any meaningful way. They are bills that are now long overdue thanks, in part, to that system's technocratic bias and pedagogical shortfalls -- thanks, that is, to what we are taught to see and not see, regard and disregard, value and dismiss.

The Deadly Poetic Weapon

Globe: What is a poet laureate?

RP: I'm thinking of it almost [as] a town crier. Basically, they see it as a chronicler of events, but to me I also want to be a representative of my arts community, which I feel is underrepresented in the mainstream press ... I want to be a springboard for other people.

I'm jealous, Edmonton.

Give it away now

I've always felt bad for poor people in the USA. Not to minimze the poor that we have here in Canada, but in the U.S. it seems they face greater hardships: no healthcare, pitifully underfunded public education, very few labour protections, no legally mandated vacation and a regressive tax system.

Ironically, these same people are the most generous givers as a proportion of their income.

Speaking of underfunded public education, today's the big day in District 14. I don't understand how the government thinks struggling children can learn without access to books, teaching assistants and behavioural intervention. Since when does economic stimulus not include maintaining jobs in the school system? Is it election time yet?

The joy that you make on your own

Think the recession is going to kill creativity? Not so much.

And read this bit about a plucky group of small town citizens who decided to save the historic buildings in their area.

Video might have killed the radio star

but the modern internet was built by music file-sharing. Read this.

A powerful little book has gone to press about the Agent Orange spraying in NB. This should be mandatory reading for Canadian History classes. The more I think about it, the more I see how New Brunswickers are treated like people in developing countries - as expendable guinea pigs, in many cases.

The internet can't save our history

Remnants of our history are slowing deteriorating because there is no money available to maintain museum collections.

My vote for the first exhibit in the 702 Gallery.

We should do an NB version of this! It might explode people's perception a bit.

Shameless Community Self-Promotion!

The River Valley Arts Alliance (RiVA) is hosting an “Art Walk” on Saturday, May 23rd, from 2-4 pm. This event is part scavenger hunt, part card game and will begin and end at the Woodstock Farmer’s Market. Participants will be sent to various historic houses in the downtown area to gather information and the grand prize winner will take home a special work of art donated by a local artist.

The cost to participate is $5, with all proceeds going to support RiVA’s efforts at transforming 702 Main St. into a community arts centre. This event is open to all ages and we hope you and your family will join us for an art adventure in beautiful downtown Woodstock. For more information, contact Amy Anderson at 328-2020 or email amandrs@mta.ca

Like a conservatory for cool people...

Living in an apartment building with all musicians . . . awesome!

Also, since I posted about hockey last month, I might as well forward you this piece about American Idol. Which I've watched for a total of ten minutes in ten years, but still, it's hard to ignore.

Piano link for my bandmates

Word on the street is we're looking for tunes. Check out this site, it's got a great mix of stuff. Including Bohemian Rhapsody, Katelin!

Working for the weekend...when we get to eat and sleep

New study today shows that Canadians spend very little time on food and leisure compared to other citizens worldwide. We are working too hard, and it's making us tired, obese and generally grumpy :) That part wasn't in the study but I'm not a pundit for The National so I can say that instead of just thinking it.

One last thing - all of those tax-cutting types pretend that life in the Nordic democracies is terrible - everyone is overtaxed, the government interferes with everything, it's hard on business. But from this perspective, it looks like they have lots of time for hobbies, visiting, eating and relaxing. I hate taxes as much as the next person, but that seems like a pretty good deal to me . . .

Swine Flu: it's what's for dinner

Apologies to my meat-eating friends, but you should read this article that ties the rise in factory farming to the increase in super-viruses such as swine flu. Makes that pig from Centreville look better all the time...

The A-train, revisited

I love the Ellington tune, "Take the A Train." I would have loved to be on this memorial subway car yesterday, with the Ellington orchestra. Happy 110th, Duke!

Not the yellow submarine

Apparently Colombian drug cartels are now shipping drugs into the USA via homemade semi-submarines. Manufactured in the jungle and packed with cocaine, they navigate via GPS and are very hard to detect. I know this isn't a good thing for the US, but you have to admire that kind of ingenuity....wow.

Disappearing women

Well said, Heather.

U.S. Christians take a long hard look in the mirror

It seems like the Republican defeats in the last election have led to some soul searching, not just among politicians, but among evangelical organizers who helped elect them.

Two links today: the first a transcript of the grand poo-bah of evangelical orthodoxy, James Dobson. He admits the religious right has lost the major moral battles of our time, and foresees a growing secularism in American society, much like Britain.

The second is an article from the Christian Science Monitor, where an evangelical minister from Kentucky theorizes that American Evangelical Christianity will be under major financial, logistical and theological pressure in the coming years. From the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Organized Christianity is a major force in the USA and many Canadian Christians follow the lead of what goes on 'down south'. Furthermore, Prime Minister Harper has well-documented ties to Canadian evangelical groups which coordinate with their American counterparts.

But beyond politics, these articles capture the conflict between the priorities of political and religious leaders (the elite, some might say) and regular Christians who hear one thing coming from the pulpit or the stump speech, only to see their neighbour starving.

Dobson demanded unflinching acquiescence from his followers, longing for a return to a time when everybody believed and obeyed, no questions asked. The trouble with this view is that I'm not convinced that even when churches were full every Sunday morning everyone necessarily believed everything and felt hunky-dory. Karen Armstrong has a lot to say about this. The point is not always belief, it's that religion should allow a space for us to have a conversation about what we believe and our moral obligations to one another.

Religious faith is a mode of understanding the world, and religious (and political) organizations that emphasize compliance over compassion are bound to burn out sooner or later. People need to have genuine connections with their fellow humans. It's in our nature, more than following orders.

The Canadian situation is slightly different, gay marriage having been legalized by the Supreme Court and most Canadians being generally less religious and more politically moderate. But organized Christianity will face major challenges here as the older generation passes on.

I often wonder what this post-Christian era might look like. Although organized religion certainly has many pitfalls (and boy, it's easy to generate a list), it remains one of the few institutions that helps people because it's the right thing to do, and that connects people of all ages and backgrounds in a given community.

Newspapers: beautifully informative

Polish newspaper designer Jacek Utko says re-designing newspapers to marry function and form can increase circulation up 100%.

And he says it's not about budgets or location, it's about high standards and getting designers involved from day 1. Good news for those of us in "the provinces."

More on the kids in jail story

A couple of months ago, I posted a story about the 500% increase in kids being thrown in jail. Well, it turns out two of the judges sending the kids to for-profit jails have been convicted of taking kickbacks to send them away. The good news just keeps rolling in...

One for the Sabbath

Here's a great little talk from TED, about the journalist from Esquire magazine who attempted to follow ALL of the laws in the Bible for a year. Including the attempted stoning of an elderly adulterer, including out-talking a Jehovah's witness, including a stint as a shepherd. Enjoy!

How about a real history lesson?

Concert: young Palenstinian refugees play for elderly Holocaust survivors. Reflect.

Another good choice for Lieutenant Governor?

Apparently Shawn Graham has recommended to PM Harper that Graydon Nicholas be appointed to replace Hermenegilde Chiasson when he completes his term this summer. I had the privilege of hearing Nicholas speak at an event two years ago and he was awesome.

He obviously has a deep sense of history and culture, and a deep attachment to the landscape - he referred to the Saint John River many times as "the aboriginal highway." He also has a love for learning, and most importantly, for justice. Although it would be a fine line to walk, being Abenaki and representing Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Nicholas seems to be a man who can tell the truth in a way that everyone can respect. A rare find, indeed.

He spoke about the numerous times the provincial government refused to deal with educating native people in the 1960's and 1970's, and how successive governments basically ignored native rights to natural resources such as forestry. He has a deep knowledge of the legal history of colonial struggles between Aboriginal and European people and giving him a wide public platform would be a breath of fresh air. Graydon Nicholas is a great role model for all New Brunswickers and I hope he gets the job.

Kypreos has a heart

This may well be the only time in my life I blog about NHL hockey, but I just watched a great program on CBC's The Fifth Estate about fighting in hockey. The debate for and against fighting has intensified since the death of a 20 year-old hockey player in Brampton last January.

I have to say, I watched a lot of hockey in the 4th and 5th grades (saw the Penguins win two Stanley Cups) but have lost interest in the game since. I think it's largely an icy version of Ultimate Fighting - the emphasis on skill and speed has declined in recent years. I think this is one of the reasons for the increasing interest in women's hockey; it's more like "the old game."

In any case, I was watching Don Cherry and others defend fighting and what stood out was former 'enforcer' Nick Kypreos' response when asked whether he would want his son to play that role on the ice. He was very upset and almost unable to speak. He obviously understands that he built his career on being a fighter, and yet he was visibly shaken when imagining that fate for his son.

It was a very similar response to war veterens who go to great lengths to describe the inhumanity and brutality of war, and who emphasize how unglamorous it actually is. I was very heartened to see someone of Kypreos' status in hockey have the bravery to stand up to bullies who insist that bashing heads makes for a better game.

The more I look around, the more people my age become parents, the more I see how being responsible for vulnerable people changes our perspective on what is right and wrong. I think creating a life and bringing it in to the world transforms people, even someone like that who used to bust heads for a living.

Kypreos' also commented that the physical part of the violence was the easy part - it was the psychological toll that was difficult to confront. I remain very concerned about the level of violence sanctioned by the NHL, the culture that surrounds it, and the lessons it teaches young people. Let's just say that if I ever have children, they will be playing pond hockey only.



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On a completely unrelated note, did you hear about the new White House Vegetable Garden? How do I get an invitation for dinner?

Why not a newspaper bailout?

The doom-and-gloom stories about newspapers just keep coming. Soon major US cities such as San Fransisco might be without a daily paper. This concerns me for a number of reasons. First, because newspapers traditionally have more in depth coverage than television "news," which is usually a bunch of cliches laid end-to-end. (with some exceptions of course, but CNN, I'm looking at you).

Secondly, newspapers are one of the last local forms of media we have. Where else are you going to fund out about a variety of things - classified ads, concerts, public notices and tenders - all in once place? The internet is great if you know where to go looking, but not everyone does.

Which brings me to the third issue, access. Poor people often don't have computers or their internet access is so slow as to make it practically useless. A newspaper is much more available, and even an illiterate person can look at the pictures and make some sense out of what is happening.

It makes me sick to see all these greedy bankers getting bailed out when newspapers employ a lot of people and are far more vital than hedge funds, investment banks and 'derivatives.'

Newspapers are experiencing what record companies went through when downloading made buying cd's unnecessary. The newspapermen have yet to unleash any creative responses to the challenge posed by online journalism - it's hard to compete with the internet, which can publish in real time.

I think this is a reflection of how fragmented we have become - a city no longer has a voice in its newspaper, which is supposed to be a collection of facts, stories and debates about the future of that place.

Carleton County seems to be behind the times in that respect. Not enough people here live online so a newspaper is still an important source of information, and a viable business. If we could create one that is entirely local, we'd be ahead of the curve.

Thoughts on theatre, new links for writers

So, I heard people talking about plays twice today, on cbc radio. The 40th anniversary of TNB is on this year, with a big gala celebration planned for Fredericton in two weeks. I'd love to see them hit the road again; it's a shame the teevee and youtube make that so difficult financially.

This morning Walter Learning recounted a great story of being thanked by a farmer in Sussex for staging a play that "changed his life." The show? Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? Who says farmers from Sussex don't get the big picture....

In any case, check out the new links - they're mostly Fredericton based but they have good taste in beer so I guess we'll overlook that for now. Cheers!

Re-establishing a food 'ecosystem'

Here's a great article about a city in Brazil that has eliminated hunger. Completely. Everyone now has access to quality food as a matter of course, and it's been great news for farmers too.

When we count our blessings, we should reflect on how much goes to people who don't need it, and how little it would take to nourish those in need.

me, the bowl of shreddies, fulfillment, and the middle east

So, today was "double band" day, plus 1. Thursdays are always tough - I'm staring down rehearsals at 7:30 a.m., 9:15 a.m., teaching all morning and afternoon, and then beginners after school until 5pm. At times it can be a very long day.

I overslept a bit this morning and didn't have time for breakfast and decided to take my cereal in a ziploc bag and soymilk in a little container, to eat after the 7:30 practice. In the teaching world, that would be considered a little odd, as the day arrives like a cyclone at 7:45 and never stops all day. But I was feeling weary and decided above all to meet my needs before proceeding for the day. It felt great to take 10 minutes for myself and be not running on empty all the livelong day.

Tonight (after a nap to recharge by music-addled brain) I came across this great talk by Tony Robbins, about why we do what we do. He maintains we are motivated by emotion and that our biggest need is making a contribution beyond ourselves - but that we focus so much on achievement we rarely take time to think about fulfillment.

At the end he tells about a seminar he was conducting on Sept. 11th where a confrontation occurred between a radical Jewish man and a radical Muslim man. You need to hear about what happened - watch the talk, it's 21 minutes. Plus he tells Al Gore why he lost the Supreme Court and the 2004 election.

A sort of therapist for the human soul.

Today, I wrote the first 57 bars of my part of "The Trials of Benny Swim." I wasn't sure how I felt about them, until I read this post, courtesy of my old Mount A. friend, Doug Leblanc. It's long but read it all, it's worth it.

Welcome address to freshman at Boston ConservatoryGiven by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at BostonConservatory.

"One of my parents' deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn't be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother's remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school-she said, "you're WASTING your SAT scores."

On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was.And they LOVED music, they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren't really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the "arts and entertainment" section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it's the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.

The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you; the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the studyof relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces insideour hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us.

Let me give you some examples of how this works. One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany.He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940, sent across Germany in a cattle car and imprisoned in a concentration camp.

He was fortunate to find a sympathetic prison guard who gave him paper and a place to compose. There were three other musicians in the camp, a cellist, a violinist, and a clarinetist, and Messiaen wrote his quartet with these specific players in mind. It was performed in January 1941 for four thousand prisoners and guards in the prison camp. Today it is one of the most famous masterworks in the repertoire.

Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water,to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn't just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art mustbe, somehow, essential for life.

The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, "I am alive, and my life has meaning."

On September 12, 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. That morning I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the world. I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my daily routine; I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted the cover onthe keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys and took my hands off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even matter?Isn't this completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given what happened in this city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent,pointless. Why am I here? What place has a musician in this moment in time?Who needs a piano player right now? I was completely lost.

And then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I contemplated briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. Andthen I observed how we got through the day. At least in my neighborhood, we didn't shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn't play cards to pass the time, we didn't watch TV, we didn't shop, we most certainly did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, that same day, was singing. People sang. People sang around fire houses, people sang "We Shall Overcome". Lots of people sang America the Beautiful.

The first organized public event that I remember was the Brahms Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic. The first organized public expression of grief, our firstcommunal response to that historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning of a sense that life might go on. The US Military secured the airspace, but recovery was led by the arts, and by music in particular,that very night.

From these two experiences, I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words,a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds.

Some of you may know Samuel Barber's heartwrenchingly beautiful piece Adagio for Strings. If you don't know it by that name, then some of you may know it as the background music which accompanied the Oliver Stone movie Platoon, a film about the Vietnam War. If you know that piece of music either way, you know it has the ability to crack your heart open like a walnut; it can make you cry over sadness you didn't know you had. Music can slip beneath our conscious reality to get at what's really going on inside us the way a good therapist does.

I bet that you have never been to a wedding where there was absolutely no music. There might have been only a little music, there might have been some really bad music, but I bet you there was some music. And something very predictable happens at weddings-people get all pent up with all kinds of emotions, and then there's some musical moment where the action of the wedding stops and someone sings or plays the flute or something. And even if the music is lame, even if the quality isn't good, predictably 30 or 40 percent of the people who are going to cry at a wedding cry a couple of moments after the music starts. Why? The Greeks. Music allows us to move around those big invisible pieces of ourselves and rearrange our insides so that we can express what we feel even when we can't talk about it.

Can you imagine watching Indiana Jones or Superman or Star Wars with the dialogue but no music? What is it about the music swelling up at just the right moment in ET so that all the softies in the audience start crying at exactly the same moment? I guarantee you if you showed the movie with the music stripped out, it wouldn't happen that way. The Greeks: Music is the understanding of the relationship between invisible internal objects.I'll give you one more example, the story of the most important concert ofmy life. I must tell you I have played a little less than a thousand concerts in my life so far. I have played in places that I thought were important. I like playing in Carnegie Hall; I enjoyed playing in Paris; it made me very happy to please the critics in St. Petersburg. I have played for people I thought were important; music critics of major newspapers,foreign heads of state.

The most important concert of my entire life took place in a nursing home in Fargo, ND, about 4 years ago. I was playing with a very dear friend of mine who is a violinist. We began,as we often do, with Aaron Copland's Sonata, which was written during WorldWar II and dedicated to a young friend of Copland's, a young pilot who wasshot down during the war. Now we often talk to our audiences about the pieces we are going to play rather than providing them with written program notes. But in this case, because we began the concert with this piece, we decided to talk about the piece later in the program and to just come out and play the music without explanation.Midway through the piece, an elderly man seated in a wheelchair near the front of the concert hall began to weep.

This man, whom I later met, was clearly a soldier-even in his 70's, it was clear from his buzz-cut hair, square jaw and general demeanor that he had spent a good deal of his life in the military. I thought it a little bit odd that someone would be moved to tears by that particular movement of that particular piece, but it wasn't the first time I've heard crying in a concert and we went on withthe concert and finished the piece. When we came out to play the next piece on the program, we decided to talk about both the first and second pieces, and we described the circumstances in which the Copland was written and mentioned its dedication to a downed pilot.

The man in the front of the audience became so disturbed that he had to leave the auditorium. I honestly figured that we would not see him again, but he did come backstage afterwards, tears and all, to explain himself.What he told us was this: "During World War II, I was a pilot, and I was in an aerial combat situation where one of my team's planes was hit. I watched my friend bail out, and watched his parachute open, but the Japanese planes which had engaged us returned and machine gunned across the parachute cords so as to separate the parachute from the pilot, and I watched my friend drop away into the ocean, realizing that he was lost.

I have not thought about this for many years, but during that first piece of music you played, this memory returned to me so vividly that it was as though I was reliving it. I didn't understand why this was happening, why now, but then when you came out to explain that this piece of music was written to commemorate a lost pilot, it was a little more than I could handle. How does the music do that? How did it find those feelings and those memories in me?"

Remember the Greeks: music is the study of invisible relationships between internal objects. This concert in Fargo was the most important work I have ever done. For me to play for this old soldier and help him connect, somehow, with Aaron Copland, and to connect their memories of their lost friends, to help him remember and mourn his friend, this is my work. This is why music matters.What follows is part of the talk I will give to this year's freshman class when I welcome them a few days from now.

The responsibility I will charge your sons and daughters with is this:"If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you'd take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you're going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.You're not here to become an entertainer, and you don't have to sell yourself. The truth is you don't have anything to sell; being a musicianisn't about dispensing a product, like selling used Chevies.

I'm not an entertainer; I'm a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You're here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we cancome into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well. Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; Iexpect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don't expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation.

I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to havebrought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that's what we do. As in the concentration camp and the evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us withour internal, invisible lives."

Mapping the Recession

For those of you who miss John King's 'magic wall' -and don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about - here's a map showing the Unemployment rates in all counties in the U.S.. Interestingly, you can also change it to reflect manufacturing centres, rural areas. Lots of fun for those of us who like to look at the big picture. Just don't expect me to appear via hologram.

And here's an excerpt from Kunstler's ever-cheery website, where he prophesies that the next major meltdowns will involve both farming and oil markets. I hadn't really thought about the link between tight capital markets and corporate farming, but here's what he says:

The net effect of the failures in banking is that a lot of people have less money than they expected they would have a year ago. This is bad enough, given our habits and practices of modern life. But what happens when farming collapses? The prospect for that is closer than most of us might realize. The way we produce our food has been organized at a scale that has ruinous consequences, not least its addiction to capital. Now that banking is in collapse, capital will be extremely scarce. Nobody in the cities reads farm news, or listens to farm reports on the radio. Guess what, though: we are entering the planting season. It will be interesting to learn how many farmers "out there" in the Cheez Doodle belt are not able to secure loans for this year's crop.

My guess is that the disorder in agriculture will be pretty severe this year, especially since some of the world's most productive places -- California, northern China, Argentina, the Australian grain belt -- are caught in extremes of drought on top of capital shortages. If the US government is going to try to make remedial policy for anything, it better start with agriculture, to promote local, smaller-scaled farming using methods that are much less dependent on oil byproducts and capital injections.

Last year, most farms in Canada lost money. So, if lending guidelines tighten, are farmers going to be able to borrow more? It makes you wonder. The other thing is, I don't think we've seen the end of layoffs yet, and I think Canada is just beginning to feel the effects. Let's just say I will be doing some hard thinking about my food supply and whether or not to fill up that vacant cold-room in the basement. Panic or not, prices are only going to rise this year.

But, before you get all depressed, here's a great video of Willie Nelson and Ray Charles singing "Seven Spanish Angels." Just because I like it.

The right tool for the job

I've been feeling a little skittish about the blog lately, which is unusual for me. I normally blog out of a need to organize my thoughts in print (virtual print, I guess), and because I love sharing interesting bits of information. I've got a few larger ideas mulling about but I am having difficulty getting them to speak....we'll see if the March break can alleviate the malaise.

In the meantime, here's a snappy little piece about the cultural, historical and technological differences between ballpoint pens and fountain pens. I don't know about you but when I am writing (and I still love the sensation of putting pen to paper, despite this blog) I need a good pen. Not necessarily an expensive pen, but one that writes with ease and discharges a relatively equal amount of ink. I hate that blotchy, clotted writing that's the product of a Bic gone bad. I would much prefer a good sharp pencil to a lousy pen.

But then again, the story goes that in the 1960's, NASA spent millions of dollars engineering a pen that would write upside down in space. Apparently the Russians took pencils. Go figure.

The real disturbia

Check out this story on the 500% increase in prison construction in the USA. Apparently the new economic stimulus bill contains $800 million in funds for more jails, but cuts the money allotted for schools. And it turns out many of these prisons are housing children - some of whom are tried without lawyers. Freaky.

Not a very good year, I'd say.

This photo of a sherriff in Cleveland was recently named photo of the year for 2008. He is checking a foreclosed house to make sure the owners have left.

The insignificant cosmic overlap

I don't know if you read that long post below (about literature), but I checked to see which book Yann Martel sent Harper this week and here's what he had posted:

It turns out Barack Obama is a reader, a big reader. And the books he has read and cherished have not only been practical texts that someone interested in governance would likely favour. No, he also likes poetry, fiction, philosophy: the Bible, Shakespeare’s tragedies, Melville, Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, the poets Elizabeth Alexander and Derek Walcott, the philosophers Reinhold Niebuhr and St. Augustine, and many more. They’ve formed his oratory, his thinking, his very being. He’s a man-built-by-words and he has impressed the whole world.

I would sincerely recommend that you read Gilead before you meet President Obama on February 19th. For two people who are meeting for the first time, there’s nothing like talking about a book that both have read to create a common ground and a sense of intimacy, of knowing the other in a small but important way. After all, to like the same book implies a similar emotional response to it, a shared recognition of the world reflected in it. This is assuming, of course, that you like the book.

Apparently Martel and I read that same article in the New York Times and reached similar conclusions - that Obama's worldview and eloquence owe a lot to his literary heritage. Of course, this coincidence has me creeped out and thrilleded all at the same time.

Have you seen the movie "Waking Life?" There's this one scene where two characters are talking about how similar intellectual events in history seemed to happen simultaneously on opposite sides of the world. In a time before airplanes and email. This makes me wonder if that could still be possible, and I hope that it is. I don't know if that's where the 'collective unconscious' might come from, but if sure is interesting to think about!

Did somebody say breakfast?

Apparently a campaign is afoot to appoint an official "White House Farmer." I think this is a splendid idea, especially after listening to the first two parts of Gwynne Dyer's "Climate Wars" series on CBC Radio. Ahh, Ideas, what would I do without thee?

Dyer says some frightening and enlightening things about how our changing climate will affect food supplies and political stability around the world. His explanation of climate change denial is pretty interesting, too.

In any case, North Americans are out of touch with their food supply, and any of these worthy nominees would improve the current situation. Here's the bio of Alice Waters:

Alice Waters was born on April 28,1944, in Chatham, New Jersey. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967 with a degree in French Cultural Studies, and trained at the Montessori School in London before spending a seminal year traveling in France. Alice opened Chez Panisse in 1971, serving a single fixed-price menu that changes daily. The set menu format remains at the heart of Alice's philosophy of serving only the highest quality products, only when they are in season. Over the course of three decades, Chez Panisse has developed a network of mostly local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures Chez Panisse a steady supply of pure and fresh ingredients. Alice is a strong advocate for farmer's markets and for sound and sustainable agriculture. In 1996, in celebration of the restaurant's twenty-fifth anniversary, she created the Chez Panisse Foundation to help underwrite cultural and educational programs such as the one at the Edible Schoolyard that demonstrate the transformative power of growing, cooking, and sharing food.

Food is one of life's greatest joys, in addition to being a key part of national and global security. It's also one of humanity's foremost needs, and no amount of wishful thinking will create peace and progress if people go hungry.

Letting the fox guard the henhouse

Did somebody say JDI? Apparently Premier Graham has taken to heart Mr. Irving's suggestions for New Brunswick's "wood supply issues."

This is really just a fancy way of saying that one of our country's richest men (whose family is technically not headquartered in Saint John, but in Bermuda, where they pay no corporate tax), has just told us how to run our Crown Lands. The amount of protected areas is down, and the amount of tree plantations is up.

Be outraged, in this place.

The last report on Crown Lands included a survey saying over 90% of New Brunswickers want more input into forestry policy and management. Then the government cancelled the public consultations to follow-up on those recommendations. There was never any explanation for that cancellation - it appears now that some recommendations are more equal than others.

Does the government really think this is going to be good for New Brunswickers? The reality is we already have the most mechanized forestry industry in the country. We have a lot of people working in forestry, but in terms of the volume of wood processed, we employ the least people per unit produced. More tree farms aren't good for small woodlot owners, or small mills.

Guess whose bottom line they might actually improve?

Winner of today's quiz gets a free copy of the Telegraph Journal.