I am now officially a candidate for Woodstock Town Council. There is one seat available in the byelection on November 15th - and four candidates. I am nervous about my first election but I'm also pleased that there are four people running. It means people care about our town, and that voters will have some susbtantial choices to make.
Here is the long version of why I'm running. If you're the speed-read type just skip to the end.
Woodstock is a beautiful heritage town. And if you said that in a crowded room, most heads would nod in agreement. But I don't think we always believe that Woodstock has the potential to be a great town - a lively town with people greeting each other on the streets, where local businesses are thriving, where local food is served every day, a place where each business, house and street corner show the care and pride people have in their hometown. I love living here, but I think we can do better. And I don't mean that as an insult to the people who volunteer countless hours of time to serve their fellow residents. But if we don't push ahead, we risk falling behind.
Over the course of the next month, I'll be blogging about some ways that Woodstock can go beyond the status quo and build a reputation based on its past, present, and vision for the future. Please leave comments, suggestions, points for debate. If we want to improve our hometown, it's up to us.
My main concerns:
1. The current state of our downtown.
We need all the partners: Chamber of Commerce, Farm Market, Woodstock Tourism, RiVA, and all interested community members. Good solutions come from people participating in a process that respects their intelligence and goodwill. The community is the expert, I've seen processes like this in action already. We have a lovely waterfront. Let's stop driving through it and get people out to enjoy it!
2. Our zoning rules.
This is a super-nerd issue but actually affects almost everyone in our town. We need to be moving towards mixed-use neighbourhoods that are walkable, where people can operate small businesses in their homes. In a small town, small businesses are absolutely vital.
3. Vision for the future.
Woodstock is a very well-managed town. Financially, we're doing well even in the midst of a recession. That is great news, but we can't afford to spend all of our energy balancing books and neglecting discussion about what kind of town we want Woodstock to be in 5, 10 or 15 years. We need to figure out innovative ways to promote Woodstock to our local region/provincially and to bring new people and businesses here, based on the strengths we already have.
Solutions will come from dedicated people working together. It won't be easy and it will take a lot of time. But Town Council has a crucial role to play in leading these processes, and in encouraging people to work together. I care very much about organizing a team of people who want to see Woodstock thrive. It will happen if we all play a part.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Doubt, and Faith
There is a lot on my mind lately. It all seems to swim around in there, enough to keep me distracted but nothing pronounced enough to really put my finger on. Very hard to characterize. Maybe my brain is imitating the seasons, which are hinting at winter but not quite there yet.
One thing I am preoccupied with at the moment is the suffering and lack of resources poor people face. In Carleton County we have lots of individuals and families who don't have warm clothes or food for winter, and who do not have jobs with dignity. I accept that this is 'the way it is' but I certainly don't like it. There IS enough in this world to go around, and the fact that things are so unequally distributed hurts makes me angry sometimes.
At the same time, I had the tremendous fortune to see Jacob Deng speak at Fusion on Saturday night. He is one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan who left during the midst of a civil war. He never saw his parents again, and now as a refugee living in Halifax, is doggedly working to improve the lives of Sudanese in his home village.
Listening to him talk was eerie: he is only two years older than I am, and as he spoke, I tried to picture Debec in the middle of a civil war. I imagined leaving there with the knowledge that my family members would likely be killed. He was seven years old when he left. But he stood in front of the small crowd and talked about how urgent the need is for primary education in his village, how people have the right (and the need) to make something of themselves.
Like people in Carleton County, they need basic resources, training and education in order to be able to build a better life for themselves. Different place, but the same story in many ways. I work a lot with children and I see the tremendous potential in them, like little seeds. I work in community organizing, and I see how progress is made slowly, like a garden that increases in productivity each year. And when I stop and think about the obstacles faced by so many good people the world over, I honestly think it's a miracle we even have a "society" at all. I guess it's a testament that human beings are social, like our primate cousins.
But at the same time, I would like to see a society with more cooperation, with more caring and less materialism. And I'd really like to see laws that keep some people from dominating those who are vulnerable, both physically and economically. Maybe someday. In the meantime, I will do what I can, build peace in my own life and home and encourage others to do the same. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
One thing I am preoccupied with at the moment is the suffering and lack of resources poor people face. In Carleton County we have lots of individuals and families who don't have warm clothes or food for winter, and who do not have jobs with dignity. I accept that this is 'the way it is' but I certainly don't like it. There IS enough in this world to go around, and the fact that things are so unequally distributed hurts makes me angry sometimes.
At the same time, I had the tremendous fortune to see Jacob Deng speak at Fusion on Saturday night. He is one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan who left during the midst of a civil war. He never saw his parents again, and now as a refugee living in Halifax, is doggedly working to improve the lives of Sudanese in his home village.
Listening to him talk was eerie: he is only two years older than I am, and as he spoke, I tried to picture Debec in the middle of a civil war. I imagined leaving there with the knowledge that my family members would likely be killed. He was seven years old when he left. But he stood in front of the small crowd and talked about how urgent the need is for primary education in his village, how people have the right (and the need) to make something of themselves.
Like people in Carleton County, they need basic resources, training and education in order to be able to build a better life for themselves. Different place, but the same story in many ways. I work a lot with children and I see the tremendous potential in them, like little seeds. I work in community organizing, and I see how progress is made slowly, like a garden that increases in productivity each year. And when I stop and think about the obstacles faced by so many good people the world over, I honestly think it's a miracle we even have a "society" at all. I guess it's a testament that human beings are social, like our primate cousins.
But at the same time, I would like to see a society with more cooperation, with more caring and less materialism. And I'd really like to see laws that keep some people from dominating those who are vulnerable, both physically and economically. Maybe someday. In the meantime, I will do what I can, build peace in my own life and home and encourage others to do the same. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Music: An Endangered Species?
I am concerned. Every now and then I hear about 'a study' that says that such-and-such a percentage of species in a certain region is disappearing. The last stat I can remember is 1 in 5 species face extinction in the next generation. Meaning 20% of everything alive in that region will cease to exist, with largely unknown consequences for the natural world.
And that bothers me, make no mistake. But I am also concerned about music and whether live music (and acoustic music in particular) should be on our culturally endangered list. Here are some of the reasons I worry about this:
1. Digital gadgets are so easy to manipulate and offer instant gratification. (think Guitar Hero)
2. Music is 'free' now.
3. Getting good at an instrument requires discipline and time, both of which seem elusive these days.
4. There are less and less venues for live music, that pay less and less money.
5. Our education system no longer supports quality music education for young people.
6. Community choirs and bands are becoming a relic of the past. Even military bands are struggling. So are many symphony orchestras.
7. Ordinary people no longer dance in public.
Of course there are exceptions, with the megastars always shape-shifting into something profitable. But by and large musicians are a disappearing breed.
I do a lot of conducting and it's getting harder all the time to find musicians with the skills needed to play in a pit band. Every church used to have a choir, and now, even in a religious town like Woodstock, to the best of my knowledge only 2 choirs sing every week for the congregation. Now there are lots of guitar heros out there but few people who can tell a trumpet or trombone apart, either by sight or by sound.
It's hard to find the words to explain why these types of situations bother me: maybe because I see the joy music brings to people of all ages and backgrounds, maybe I think about the role music plays in my life and see what a tremendous gift it continues to be, maybe because I believe that music is cultural 'glue' that keeps us connected to each other, and to our past.
And somehow, I don't think that karaoke and Guitar Hero are sufficient substitutes for real people making real soundwaves of their own accord. I worry about the songs we will lose, the times people will spend sitting at home alone instead of with friends, the elders who won't have any musical consolation in their old age. We are losing our native species - not just plants and animals, but tunes and the culture that goes with them.
Many children I teach no longer know the world to "Old MacDonald" or "Three Blind Mice." This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it's hard to build musicians from people who don't even know what their parents' singing voices sound like. And it's even harder to see how this decline can be reversed in an age of drive-thrus and ringtones. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hanging up my musical hat. But I see it, and I worry.
And that bothers me, make no mistake. But I am also concerned about music and whether live music (and acoustic music in particular) should be on our culturally endangered list. Here are some of the reasons I worry about this:
1. Digital gadgets are so easy to manipulate and offer instant gratification. (think Guitar Hero)
2. Music is 'free' now.
3. Getting good at an instrument requires discipline and time, both of which seem elusive these days.
4. There are less and less venues for live music, that pay less and less money.
5. Our education system no longer supports quality music education for young people.
6. Community choirs and bands are becoming a relic of the past. Even military bands are struggling. So are many symphony orchestras.
7. Ordinary people no longer dance in public.
Of course there are exceptions, with the megastars always shape-shifting into something profitable. But by and large musicians are a disappearing breed.
I do a lot of conducting and it's getting harder all the time to find musicians with the skills needed to play in a pit band. Every church used to have a choir, and now, even in a religious town like Woodstock, to the best of my knowledge only 2 choirs sing every week for the congregation. Now there are lots of guitar heros out there but few people who can tell a trumpet or trombone apart, either by sight or by sound.
It's hard to find the words to explain why these types of situations bother me: maybe because I see the joy music brings to people of all ages and backgrounds, maybe I think about the role music plays in my life and see what a tremendous gift it continues to be, maybe because I believe that music is cultural 'glue' that keeps us connected to each other, and to our past.
And somehow, I don't think that karaoke and Guitar Hero are sufficient substitutes for real people making real soundwaves of their own accord. I worry about the songs we will lose, the times people will spend sitting at home alone instead of with friends, the elders who won't have any musical consolation in their old age. We are losing our native species - not just plants and animals, but tunes and the culture that goes with them.
Many children I teach no longer know the world to "Old MacDonald" or "Three Blind Mice." This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it's hard to build musicians from people who don't even know what their parents' singing voices sound like. And it's even harder to see how this decline can be reversed in an age of drive-thrus and ringtones. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hanging up my musical hat. But I see it, and I worry.
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