Back to the Heart of Things

One of the final projects of this sabbatical is a group undertaking, where five friends and I will be creating works of art based on six photographs by another friend.  Some of the photographer's other work is here.

So now I am attempting (with fear in tow) to write 6 poems, and realizing I want these to be much better than my skill level will allow.  Hence, research.

Here is a great little article about blank verse, what it is and how it is "at the heart" of much good English poetry.  I like the idea of putting words on paper with 'a minimum of excess.'

We'll see how this goes.  At some point after the visuals, words, music, stories and drama are created, I will post some of them for you to consider.  I am not expecting perfection from myself on this, but I am looking forward to 99% perspiration.

Maybe, baby

I was just reading a post about women pictured on television and how far those female characters have (and in some cases haven't) come in the past 40 years.  I am not a regular tv watcher, but I found it interesting nonetheless.


It concluded with the thought that "the realities of rape, women's ability to choose abortion without shame; the fact that not all women are hungry for marriage and babies; and women's genuine experiences of having passion for their work" are still not comfortable scenarios for writers/broadcast networks/corporate advertisers/audiences -or whoever controls these televised situations.


I read that and I thought "that's true," because I know so many ambitious, talented, caring and capable women in their twenties and thirties who could be wonderful moms, but are deeply ambivalent about whether they should or will ever have children someday.


For some women, it's partner issues - they haven't met a good man (mostly) or they can't see themselves parenting with the person they are with (value conflicts) or they like their lives as-is and are not sure if they are ready for the lifetime commitment that parenthood entails or they can't afford to have kids because of their financial situation. Lots of varied reasons, a spectrum of doubt.


So, I just wanted to put it out there that there are lots of fine ladies on the 'maybe, baby' train.  And I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

My exceptional friend

It's not often I dedicate a post to singing the praises of an individual, but after getting our local paper today and finding out that one of my wonderful friends is going to China in an attempt to break a few Guinness World records involving a frisbee, I think it's time.

His blog is here, I will be adding it to my links (which you should check out if you're into the 'best of local' around these parts).

Let me tell you a little story about this guy.  He was on the high school hockey team but hung out with the rest of us nerds and misfits.  Fittingly, his blog is called "Odd and Misunderstood."  Boy, can I ever relate to that some days.  Instead of being a standard-issue jock, he once told me he liked listening to Gregorian Chant before hockey games because it helped get him pumped up.  Now he says that throwing a frisbee is "his favourite form of mediation,"  and I believe it!

Hats off to you Rob, for listening to your inner voice on a slightly 'odd and misunderstood' journey that involves an immense amount of practice and perseverance.  World records or not, I am astounded at what you've accomplished and I know the best is yet to come.

An endlessly varied recombination of age-old components

How's that for a headline?  Yowzers.

I am reading Carl Jung's 'memoir,' which is called " Memories, Dreams, Reflections."  Rather than recalling chronologically the events in his life, Jung recalls how he came to understand the psyche, the unconscious and the formation of human personality.

Here is an excerpt which I find totally fascinating:

Our souls as well as our bodies are composed of individual elements which were all already present in the ranks of our ancestors.  The 'newness' in the individual psyche is an endlessly varied recombination of age-old components.  Body and soul therefore have an intensely historical character and find no proper place in what is new, in things that have just come into being.  That is to say, our ancestral components are only partly at home in such things.  We are very far from having finished completely with the Middle Ages, classical antiquity, and primitivity, as our modern psyches pretend.

Nevertheless, we have been plunged down a cataract of progress which sweeps us on into the future with ever wilder violence the farther it takes us from our roots.  Once the past has been breached, it is usually annihilated, and there is no stopping the forward motion. But it is precisely the loss of connection with the past, our uprootedness, which has given rise to the 'discontents' of civilization and to such a flurry and haste that we live more in the future and its chimerical promised of a golden age than in the present, with which our whole evolutionary background has not yet caught up.  

We rush impetuously into novelty, driven by a mounting sense of insufficiency, dissatisfaction, and restlessness. We no longer live on what we have but on promises, no longer in the light of the present day, but in the darkness of the future, which, we expect, will at last bring the proper sunrise. 

We refuse to recognize that everything better is purchased at the price of something worse; that, for example, the hope of greater freedom is cancelled out by increased enslavement to the state, not to speak of the terrible perils to which the most brilliant discoveries of science expose us.  The less we understand of what our fathers and forefather sought, the less we understand ourselves, and thus we help with all our might to rob the individual of his roots and his guiding instincts, so that he becomes a particle in the mass, ruled only by what Nietzsche called the spirit of gravity.

Reforms by advances, this is, by new methods or gadgets. are of course impressive at first, but in the long run they are dubious and in any case dearly paid for.  They by no means increase the contentment or happiness of people on the whole.  Mostly, they are deceptive sweetenings of existence, like speedier communications which unpleasantly accelerate the tempo of life and leave us with less time than ever before.  Omnis festinatio ex parte diaboli est - all haste is of the devil, as the old masters used to say.

Reforms by retrogressions, on the other hand, are as a rule less expensive and in addition more lasting, for the return to the simpler, tried and tested ways of the past and make the sparsest use of newspapers, radio, television and all supposedly timesaving innovations.

In this book I have devoted considerable space to my subjective view of the world, which, however, is not a product of rational thinking.  It is rather a vision such as will come to one who undertakes, deliberately, with half-closed eyes and somewhat closed ears to see and hear the form and voice of being.  If our impressions are too distinct, we are held to the hour and minute of the present and have no way of knowing how our ancestral psyches listen to and understand the present - in other words, how our unconscious is responding to it.  Thus we remain ignorant of whether our ancestral components find an elementary gratification in our lives, or whether they are repelled.  Inner peace and contentment depend in large measure upon whether or not the historical family which is inherent in the individual can be harmonized with the ephemeral living conditions of the present.

A lesson from someone else's 90 years

Sometimes I am tempted to think I am a pretty hip person - I've been to 'free school,' I helped start a mixed arts festival with my friends, I like the idea of open-source everything, and I am not afraid to eat sushi or spicy food or dance in public.

But then there are other days when I am pretty sure I was born in the wrong generation, and that I am secretly an old lady inside.  Case in point:  I love stationary and letters, I know how to make bread and baked beans from scratch, I don't have a cellphone, I sew on buttons and mend clothes that aren't ruined, I like to read actual books, sing hymns and play the piano. I realize this much of this is tragically unhip but I can't be bothered to hide it.  And I don't put pictures of myself doing these things on facebook.

Today after church we had a 90th birthday party for a lady in our congregation - you only turn 90 once and she is a lively lady despite the year on her birth certificate.  What a lovely time: lots of small tables set up, a nice bowl of unpretentious soup for everyone, cake and ice cream.  Conversation, smiling.  Kids, old people and everyone in between.  Another lady played the piano intermittently while we ate.  We all sang happy birthday together, whether we felt we were excellent singers or not.

Which brings me to the point:  this generation (the one that lived through the Depression and WWII) knows how it's done.  They can enjoy the simple pleasures that truly matter: a meal with friends, lighthearted music, kind words spoken and time well spent.  Nothing flashy, no pressure to participate by buying stuff (who really needs more stuff now anyway!!).  What a nice change from the emotional ambiguity of text messages, the narcissism of the online world and the lack of human contact that makes us all retreat too far into our own heads.

Thank you elders for reminding me what really makes life wonderful.

Meat or no meat: still a big question (for me)

We live in a consumer society, there's no escaping it.  Even after ten years of consciously attempting to avoid giving my money to multi-national corporations (as much as I can in this economy), I have to admit, I still get a little thrill out of buying things.  I don't imagine this will ever go away - whether it's the Mad Men and their effect on me, on the evolutionary thrill of getting something new, I am not certain.

But today our household signed up for a food box delivery from Speerville Farms (Stu Fleishaker and Nancy Cantafio and their lovely girls).  Every two weeks we will get bread, eggs, cheese, meat, and veggies delivered to our door.  The price is excellent and everything is organic.

About ten years ago, I quit eating meat.  Lots of people ask me why.  They also ask me how I get my protein, which really bugs me, but that's another story.  Here is a handy reference chart, in case you were wondering:

Food                  Amount of protein (grams)
Dried Parsley    1 cup       31
Lentils, cooked 1 cup       18
Black Beans, cooked 1 cup15
Tofu, firm 4 oz               11
Quinoa, cooked 1 cup     9
Peanut Butter 2 tbsp      8
Almonds 1/4 cup            8
Sun-dried Tomato 1 cup  8
Brown rice, cooked 1 cup 5
Broccoli, cooked 1 cup   4
Potato 1 med.               4
Lambsquarters 1 cup     4

I quit eating meat because I didn't trust where it was coming from - this is the system that gave us listeria, mad cow, swine flu and has increased antibiotic resistance.  I don't have a beef with farmers, but I didn't want to give my money to the corporations who have made it impossible for small pork farmers to make a living.  I also think ten years as a vegetarian has allowed me time to really think about killing and take responsibility for my ethical decisions.

However, in the past year I have noticed an increase in local meat offerings, and I have also noticed that soybeans - which I consume in the soymilk I drink - are driving the destruction of the Amazon rainforests.  So, although I am not ready to go hog-wild just yet, when the food box comes on Monday I will see if I am ready to take on a bit of animal protein.

So, buying feels good.  But buying something that helps a local family make a living feels better.  We live in one of the most food insecure provinces in Canada.  I think we would see a big change in our families, our schools and our economy if more people supported local food.

Word of the day: mendacity

Until today, I had no idea who Chris Hedges is.  My bad.  You can find his bio here but you should really watch this interview with him in Times Square. He is talking about the similarities between the Occupy movement and the people's movements that brought down totalitarian governments in Eastern Europe.  Hedges was a war correspondant for 20 years overseas so he brings a lot of experience to the table.

Mendacity: unthruthfulness; the act or process of lying.

Hedges makes lots of insightful comments about this movement but it's his remarks about the consensus decision-making process that I think most people don't understand.  In our working lives (and in our school experiences) we are told what to do by a 'superior' and we do it, or else.  This is how governments and corporations exert control over massive numbers of people.

In the case of the Occupy movement, the decisions are taken by consensus, where everyone is informed, the terms of engagement are completely transparent, people have the power to amend, support or block motions, and the discussion can't be shut down at will by the chair (or any other party).  It's slow, it can be very frustrating but it is also rock solid when the group finally reaches consensus.

Hedges says that he has written about why the corporations that control the global economy need to be taken out, but never thought about how.  When ordinary people reach a consensus about what to do - whether withdraw their money from mainline banks and put it into credit unions, or something else - that solidarity will be real.

Here's a great video of the people's mic in action.  Blogger won't let me format the link so here's the address to put in your search bar: vimeo.com/30513599

Global Women

I'm halfway through this great podcast about how women are in the process of claiming their rights and standing together for greater equality all over the globe.  It's hard to hear their suffering, but it's so uplifting to know that half the world's population - nearly 3.5 billion people - stand a better chance than ever of being healthy, equal and productive citizens.  It's well past time that happened, and we owe our thanks to all the women and men who struggled to make this happen.

One interesting point they make in this podcast is that policy makers, economists and politicians all around the world have concluded that to make progress on poverty, health, violence and the economy, you have to give women an equal place in society. 

In New Brunswick, we all know our economy could use some improvement (so could our health, not to mention poverty).  This makes me wonder what we are and aren't doing to include girls and women and to ensure that they flourish.  Neglecting to deal with women's issues here only serves to put us a greater disadvantage.

The past is never entirely over

If you're interested in the history of New Brunswick, or forestry or the Irving Companies, you really should go to the CBC.ca/nb site and read the story - and the comments - about the closing of the Deersdale sawmill and the debate about wood from Crown Land vs. private woodlots.

It encapsulates so much of the issues we are facing (and have faced) here in New Brunswick.

The 'Crown Lands' are a creation of the British colonial government - part of the empire of the 1700's and 1800's.  The private woodlots are predominantly in Western NB, which was settled by American Loyalists after the war of independence from the British, and in Miramichi, where more prominent Irish and Scottish immigrants were able to buy or be granted large tracts of land.

I often think about how NB is like a developing country - very concentrated wealth and land ownership in the hands of a few - brain drain - largely disfunctional government - bright people but lacking education.

It's all there on the comment boards, if you're interested.  As for me, I say history lives.

Back to the Forest

I wrote about the opening shots here and here.  This week JDI announced that it is closing the Deersdale sawmill due to lack of wood supply. Deersdale is in the middle of NB, east of Juniper.  Here is a handy dandy map of where the Crown Land is in our fine province.

The Supreme Court of Canad holds that New Brunswick's Crown lands are held by the Province of New Brunswick for the benefit of the people of New Brunswick, not as their owner but as their trustee.  The "public trust doctrine" handed down to us through English Common Law says that resourced of the commons are "gifts of nature's bounty" to benefit present and future generations."

Here is a handy dandy map from JDI's website about their operations.

The NB Federation of Woodlot Owners, which represents 30,000 people in New Brunswick, says that the price JDI is willing to pay from private woodlots is too low.  The Federation says its members are harvesting 72% less wood and revenues have fallen from a combined $100 million to a combined $30 million.

Here's what Ken Hardie has to say about Crown Lands and private woodlots in NB.

"Essentially Crown land is our biggest competitor in the marketplace, which fundamentally has been our fight for many years, is the fact that we're in competition with our own land, pubicly-owned land," he said, noting that they have been in discussion with the Department of Natural Resources on the issue.

"At this time there is some positive.  The department seems to be recognizing that in order for private woodlots to survive, maybe some Crown land needs to come off the market."

You Deserve Good Things

Once I had a conversation with a very wise woman whom I respect very much.  We were talking about why people who are in bad relationships stay there.  She said that it's because they don't feel they have options, or because they are attached to the people who are mistreating them, or because they're not ready to leave. 

I related a conversation I'd had with one of my extended family members, who always seemed to blame himself when someone else treating him poorly.  I asked him if he thought he deserved good things in life.  He avoided the question.  So I asked him again, if he thought he deserved good things.  You mean like, nice stuff, he asked me.  No, I said, like being happy, and being treated with love and kindness by the people around you.  He did not want to answer this question.

The lady looked me squarely in the eye and she said "many people - most people - do not believe that they deserve good things in life.  They don't feel they are worthy." 

I didn't grow up in a Jungian family where my parents told me I was entitled to good things.  But I did grow up in a family where people (inevitably) screwed up, owned up, made it right, and moved on.  I think this was an important lesson that there can be justice in families and relationships, even if it is difficult.

Now that I'm older, and I've seen so many people in bad relationships - and I don't just mean romantic relationships.  I mean with their friends, or siblings, or co-workers, bosses or whomever.  And I see them stick around and I think back to the conversation I had with that woman. 

I wish I could tell people that they deserve good things in life, and I wish they would believe me.  Overall, I think people are much tougher and resilient than they think they are, and when fear keeps them from moving forward I wish they could sense that better things await, and that they are worthy.

Sabbatical: Month 7

Somehow, time crawls by so slowly and I look away - only to look back and find it's been weeks.  A friend of mine mentions she's been reading my blog and I think to myself "my blog?! there's nothing on there to read..."  Which may or may not be true, depending on your perspective.

All around me, I can sense that people's relationships are struggling - word of breakup after breakup reaches me, and other people who normally seem so together seem a little unhinged.  Personally, I feel okay, I feel like things have settled down tremendously after a turbulent and financially stressful summer.  But almost every day I see evidence of how people are equally capable of hurting or supporting each other.  Sometimes it seems like a fine line and I wonder how anyone survives into old age with a positive outlook.  Maybe it's willful ignorance, or wishful thinking, or luck or grace, depending on how you look at it.  I'm not sure. 

The elegy of fall is hard to bear sometimes, and this year since I've been on 'sabbatical' I feel wasteful.  I feel like normally I would be working harder, investing time and energy in projects and seeing them come (hopefully) to fruition.  This year I am not investing in anything, I am watching the time pass. I feel idle sometimes, and guilty as a result.  At the same time, I can feel my inner battery re-charging and I feel much more resilient and joyful than I have in the past few years.


We also have less money in the household, which has been a very interesting process. Since the spring, we are eating a lot of stored food that previously would have gone to waste, altering or repairing clothes that would have gone unworn, visiting people and generally just slowing down the pace of life.  It's been good.

Sometime I wonder about human generations in years past - without the iPhone, with less 'options' but more time for making bread and visiting family, less 'wordly' but more connected to the earth.  I think everything in life is a trade-off and this sabbatical has really made me wonder what I am trading.  Overall, I feel immensely thankful for the gentle and kind people we seem to have in abundance here in New Brunswick.  I realize without a doubt that human relationships are so complicated and difficult, yet so rewarding, and I am thankful for my tiny place in the midst of this great cosmos.

Happy or not, here life comes

Time and time again, I hear people talk about being happy - as in "he makes me so happy" or "I just don't feel happy" or the ubiquitous "do whatever makes you happy."  And then, of course, there is the infamous reference to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in the US Declaration of Independence.

Lately happiness has become a major topic of discussion around here - with some projects completed we have time to reflect on what might be next.  As I work further into my adult years (indeed, the big 30 is just around the corner) I can see why people get worn down and start to lose touch with the joy in their lives. Being an adult is tough and sometimes I wonder if my generation is prepared for the realities of adulthood - the necessity of working, whether it be for financial gain or in relationships with those around us, and the realization that bad things often happen to good people.

In any case, here is a great podcast called "Just Say No to Happiness."  It begins with an interview with the author of "The Happiness Project," which has been on best-seller lists since 2009, and concludes with great discussions about suffering, the psychology of morality, the necessity of faith and how ultimately, depth and meaning are more important than 'happiness.'  So if you're wondering if you'll ever be happy, check this out.  It may re-assure that there is much more to human existence than yellow smiley faces. 

What to do with two gigantic zucchinis

It's the most wonderful vegetable time of the year!  Late August and September are when I revel in being a vegetarian - so much to eat, so little time.  This year our garden hasn't been the greatest but I have been getting some local produce from George at Uphill Garden and also bought a decent supply of winter garlic from my friend RW.  Delicious!!

My mom also gave me two gigantic zucchinis - so now everyday we are trying to eat it so it won't go to waste.  Below are a couple of recipes I've been using.  Maybe you are also faced with a glut of zucchini and don't know what to do with it.  Enjoy and happy Labour Day weekend.

Zucchini Bruschetta

Make or buy a pizza dough. 

If you make it from scratch (which I like to with 50% Speerville Red Fife Flour), pre-cook it about 15 minutes so it will crisp up better.

In the meantime, thinly slice 2 cups of zucchini and grill them in the oven to eliminate some of the water (big zucchinis are bad this way).

In a bowl, mix:  fresh or dried basil, (1/4c fresh or 1 tbsp dry), 1 tsp. dried oregano, 2 tbsp. dried parsley, 1-3 cloves of garlic depending on your love of garlic, 1/4 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup chopped tomato, the zucchini from the oven, 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, salt and pepper.  Mix well so oil and spices coat toppings.

When the bread comes out of the oven (or if you bought the dough) cover with toppings and spread out evenly.  Add feta or mozzerella cheese to taste.  Bake in oven for 15-20 mins. @ 375 degrees.  Cool and slice.  Great as a group appetizer (makes enough for a 14-16" dough) or with a meal.

Zucchini Muffins - today's project

•2/3 cup vegetable oil

•2 large eggs
•2/3 cup granulated sugar (I will use less)
•1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•2 cups all-purpose flour (I will use 50% Red Fife)
•1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1 1/2 cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
•1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
I will also add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Grease and flour 12 muffin cups. Heat oven to 375°.


In a mixing bowl, beat the oil with eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract.

Combine the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; add to the wet ingredients; stirring until blended. Fold in the shredded zucchini and carrots.
Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or granulated sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes.  Makes 12.

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If all else fails and my zucchini are still around on Monday, I will make a big veg lasagna and could freeze it for later.  Enjoy!

A Learning Farm

This interview on CBC's Shift tells the story of a 114-acre farm near Woodstock that will become a learning centre for marginalized people.  Very exciting, especially considering all the problems I was reading about yesterday.  Thank goodness for practical people who actually attempt to solve problems.  What a debt we owe these guys. 

Never forget that a farmer wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Food, jobs, debt

Debt seems to be a topic-du-jour around here lately.  Not only personal debt, mortgages and student loans, but also national debts ceilings and 'bailouts.'  We watched "Inside Job" again, which you really need to see. It does a great job explaining how Wall Street bankers made a system 'too big to fail,' pushed it off a cliff, and then collected a huge payout from taxpayers.  But I digress.

On the topic of debt, this afternoon on facebook, my friend Dru shared an interview with British activist David Graber entitled "Debt, Slavery and Our Idea of Freedom."  In the article, Graeber talks about how we now use the same langugage to talk about debt and morality - for example, that we have a moral duty to be financially responsible and pay our bills, and if we don't, it's because we're 'bad' people.  Now, I'm not calling you bad but if you've ever had a phone call from a collection agency, you know what I'm talking about.

Graeber also talks about how very wealthy people often write off each other's debts, and very poor people often give each other 'loans' that are actually gifts, but when the transaction is between a rich person and a poor person, then it becomes a question of 'moral obligations' for the repayment to be made.  He also points out that "Sanskrit, Hebrew and Aramaic all use the same words for ‘debt’ as for ‘sin,’"  which was interesting, but maybe not too surprising. 

Knowing you are highly in debt - or "highly in sin" as Graeber might say, is mentally exhausting. It has a tremendous impact on your day-to-day life and stress levels.  Many people are struggling to juggle bills and make ends meet, and when another person posted a link about how school breakfast/nutrition programs are not fixing the problems with child hunger and food insecurity in Canada, I was very disheartened.

The author says that movements towards local and organic have overwhelmed the discussion of policy changes needed to eliminate food insecurity in Canada - that we should also be focused on "housing, employment, childcare, and the protection of staples."  She echoes what I have read elsewhere - that gainful employment is increasingly hard to find.  Apparently many people who are food insecure are not welfare recipients, they are working poor.  In her words:

There are some very important issues emerging now with our working poor, such as the precariousness of employment, the notion of employment protection and eligibility for employment insurance. This means the vast majority of those who are food insecure in Canada are those whose income is almost exclusively from earnings and salary, and not from income support.


It concerns me that we have a system that pays corrupt and morally bankrupt bankers, but working people cannot earn enough to keep an warm apartment and food in the fridge.  These are not people laying around watching reality television all day, they are people serving coffee at drive-through windows and caring for the elderly. I couldn't help but think of those famous words from the King James version of the Lord's Prayer.

                                    Give us this day our daily bread.

                      And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

As much as I love to trash facebook sometimes, the links people post really do make me think.  Frank McKenna famously stated that in his opinion "the best social program is a job" but you've really gotta reconsider when that won't pay the rent and put food on the table. Methinks this song is due for a revival. 

Not so fast, funny girl

I used to read the Globe and Mail a lot.  A major part of my Saturday student routine involved getting some take-out curry and German pastries, and hunkering down with the massive Saturday paper, to read all afternoon.  What luxury!  When I was at Mount A., I read some excellent features about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and women, a great piece on Jean Chretien's wiles as a Shawinigan schoolboy, Mark Miller's eminent jazz reviews, not to mention an entire section devoted to book reviews.

Occasionally, I would read Leah McLaren's column, and although sometimes her sarcasm directed at people who take themselves too seriously made me laugh, I never was into her 'cool girl' vibe.  I am too much of a nerd at heart, go figure.

So, when I came across this article in Maisonneuve Magazine - which I love, love, love for its intelligent eclecticism- I wasn't too surprised tolearn that Leah McLaren had written a column about why women aren't funny.  Turns out she was opining about a piece by Christopher Hitchens ( here it is too ), who basically says that women aren't funny because we have ovaries, which lead to babies, which leads to a one-way ticket to no-funny-land.  How about that.

But although I do think parenting must inevitably make your life more serious, I think that women are funny.  I have seen many gatherings of silly women who laugh until the tears stream down their faces.  My sisters and I have done this on many occasions - and not just because we were being wooed by a man (do men today still woo?  hmmm).  And I know some funny, funny girls who have a way of just putting the truth out there, in a roarious, pants-down, how do you like me now kinda way. 

So although many of the standard forms of humour may have been originated by men, I do think women use them, and I am thankful for anyone and everyone who can make me laugh.  Sometimes it's the only defence I have against this grim world.

It doesn't fall from the sky, you know

I love watching elections, and I stayed up til the bitter end for the last federal election.  Now I am glad, because although I was maddened by the majority government the Conservatives achieved with a minority of the popular vote, I did get to see Jack Layton's speech as incoming Leader of the Opposition. Watching Layton, Harper and Ignatieff that evening (not to mention the jubliant Elizabeth May), it wasn't hard to see why the voters did what they did.

So it's heartbreaking to see Layton's passing without him ever having the chance to put the heat to the PM, in Parliament, as the Leader of the Opposition.  There are no guarantees in life, are there?  But beyond elections, when I watched Jack Layton speak I could tell that he was a 'man on the move' and that he was the rare sort of leader who pushed his staff, not the other way around.

Here's what Paul Wells said about Jack Layton:

Today everyone will be writing and talking about his last campaign, the one he fought with a cane and a smile, as sustained a feat of physical courage and political agility as any I’ve seen in all my years covering this business. But I think it’s important to recognize that his party’s final breakthrough was no fluke. It was the product of a lifetime’s preparation and a decade’s effort, concentration and adaptation. It was the work of a man who won over his party, then his caucus colleagues, then his party’s traditional voters, then hundreds of thousands of new supporters. Jack Layton promised to build, and he was as good as his word.

So here's to you Jack - well done, good and faithful servant.  Thanks for reminding us it can be done.

"Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope

It has taken nearly 20 years to complete a monument in Washington, DC, in honour of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Over the summer, I read an excellent biography of Thomas Jefferson.  The book details Jefferson's many intellecutal accomplishments: the writing of Notes on Virginia, the Declaration of Independence and Jefferson's remarkable intellectual strengths and his depth of feeling for fellow human beings.

This biography also dealt with the issue of him being a slave owner and maintaining a life-long relationship with his slave Sally Hemings (after the death of his first wife).  Since then I have been reading a bit about the British colonization of North America and their attitudes towards the slave trade, all of which has given me a much greater perspective on the struggles of a.) Americans to gain their democratic freedom b.) the descendants of African slaves and their generations-long attempt to win justice and equality for themselves.

Oftentimes, we who are involved in movements for change are too impatient and we sell ourselves short.  We think we have not succeeded because tomorrow things will be largely as they are today.  But reflecting on the 'long train of history' - from 1948's "I Have a Dream" until today's reality, that a black family lives in the "white house,"  we see that culture does change, and that individuals do make a difference.

So when I heard they carved on the side of the monument "With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope" - which comes from the "I Have a Dream" speech, it reminded me that human beings have the remarkable capacity to change the world for the better. 

It's hard to believe that it took so long for a man who did so much for so many to be memorialized (rightfully) among Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.  But some things do change, after all.

Thanks, kids!

The subject of children seems to be everywhere in my life right now.  We can't decide if or when we might want to have our own children but people ask me all the time - people at work, relatives on both sides of our family, even strangers.  I love kids and I always have - they are so interesting in the way they look at the world.  I find their observations to be so clear at times, they have a way of getting right to the truth, and it's not always the truth we are looking for.

Recently my friend Richard Wetmore completed an album of songs about food and food production.  He is an organic farmer and works at Speerville Mill, where you should be buying your grains, if you aren't already.  Although Richard's songs have a lot of strong statements about the dangers of industrial agriculture, it is his attitude towards children that stands out for me.  When is the last time you saw a fitysomething man state (sing) in public that "childcare should be at the top of our list, because what's more important than that?"  Not lately....

I had a wonderful childhood - despite my mom being sick with cancer and despite my family not having a lot of money.  But we weren't 'hurried' and we weren't medicated and we ate food straight out of the garden and were very close with our extended family.  So looking back I do miss those sunny days of bike rides and swimming and playing on our grandparents farm.  And I look at what some kids have to contend with these days (lingerie lines for 8 year olds, princess culture, bullying, etc.) and I don't feel too good about our society.

Here's a great article on the need to protect children from big business and here's a link to a great CBC podcast about the trend towards turning 2 year olds into academic stars.  Not kidding, unfortunately.  Something to chew on just in time for back to school.

One of the best parts of the Dooryard Festival was watching the kids go nuts with the sidewalk chalk at the mainstage on Saturday.  They had that place as vibrant as could be, and they told me they were making a dance floor.  Now that's a world I can enjoy.  Thank goodness for kids, the world would be a terrible place without them.

Always building

On days like this, I know I am obsessed.  I can't stop thinking about all the possibilities: a great start for our business expansion - now renamed the Centre for Culture and Creativity, a bigger profile for the Dooryard Arts Festival, and better local co-operation on markets and small businesses, among other things.

I did plan a short culture vacation for next weekend - we'll take in a few sites in southern NB (agricultural and cultural), then on to a new production in Parrsboro (Ship's Company Theatre) and Halifax (Shakespeare and Bill Murray on the weekend).  When we go on vacation, we are always looking for great ideas we can emulate at  home. 

One thing I have noticed many times is that we have all the building blocks here to welcome cultural tourists, but we're not organized enough.  And we're too damn modest, pardon my backwoods language.  The scenery here is absolutely stunning, the people as friendly as any self-respecting Maritimers, the B&B's equally elegant, the concerts just as affordable.  But we don't brag about it and we don't use media/advertising properly.

This fall I would like to host a get-together to strategize for next year's summer season.  Over 30 million vehicles drive through this valley in a year.  New people are moving here and they have great ideas about how to enjoy living in one of the most beautiful parts of North America.

Check out the Golden Unicorn Arts Festival - run by some people from BC who are getting into organic/local food production.  Also, I've tested all the links to your right and eliminated the out-of-date or broken links.  Take a look, there's more going on here than meets the eye.

Hope you're eating locally!  Stay tuned as the craziness of fall unfolds.

Charmed, I'm sure

Usually, at this time of year all I can think about is the Dooryard Arts Festival.  When you spend a whole year planning something, it's natural to be mildly obsessed when it actually comes to pass.  This year, I've taken one year off from the RiVA Board of Directors in order to take care of some house/home/heart projects. 

It's been good, but it feels kind of surreal to see the festival I helped begin take place entirely without my input.  It's good - it gives me hope that the model we've created will have some longevity, and it feels good to see the broader community taking ownership and even getting excited about having music, art, film and theatre take over their downtown for four days.

Seven years ago, when I moved home from Sackville, there were barely any musical/artistic events to speak of.  No exhibits (except at the library), few concerts (attendance was poor), and no drinking outside in public (except at the occasional beer garden or fundraising dance).  Young people ages 18-35 were completely invisible in the town landscape - there was no place to hang, and nothing to do. Sometimes things change so slowly we don't perceive the difference.  Today ,Woodstock is different, and tonight, on the eve of Dooryard's third edition, it's clear that our little festival has taken on a strength of its own. 

It is easy to get depressed about New Brunswick - why don't we have a cultural identity?  why are we so poor?  why does everyone leave? . . .  but on the other hand, if you really observe a place and listen to the things people say, it is possible to create a new culture where people can contribute to something that makes them proud. 

Let's face it, it's easy to get depressed about practically anything, given the state of the world today.  But it's a heck of a lot more fun to go downtown, celebrate being in the Dooryard for another summer, with people who actually understand what a Dooryard is.  And having been 'away,'  I can tell you that not everyone has a clue about what a Dooryard is.

So, in honour of the Dooryard Arts Festival's third edition (which starts Wednesday, schedule is here) here is my customary 10 Things Not to Miss at Dooryard 2011 list.  Enjoy and see you in the Dooryard!

Ten Things You'd be Foolish to Miss at Dooryard 2011 - the completely biased and subjective edition

10. Free noontime showcases in the Town Square.  

9. The return of Charlie Bomb, Ricky 6 and more great NB films at the Dooryard Film Fest (Wedneday, 10pm)

8. 8 FREE Wokshops from makeup to pottery, to t-shirt painting, to ukulele.  That's right, ukulele

7. Valley Young Company premieres Step Taylor's new play "Screwjob" Wednesday night at WHS.  VYC will take this show on tour across NB after Dooryard is over.

6. Tracy and the Hurtin' Hearts (Wednesday at Connell House).  My sister debuts her new CD with a sizzling 5 piece band in a great venue!

5. 5 hours of FREE mainstage music on Saturday (11-4pm)

4. Sally Dibblee with Andrea Dickson (Thursday at Connell House). Two of the most talented classical musicians ever to emerge from Carleton County.  Guaranteed to be a stunning collaboration.

3.  Longtime Woodstock favourites Transatlantic Zodiac Ensemble close down the Mainstage Thursday evening.  Some of the best players I've heard in years are in this band, don't miss it.
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2. Meghan Smith with Chris Kirby (Saturday 6:15pm). Two of the brightest up-and-comers on the East Coast and Canadian music scene.

1. The Saturday Dooryard Market.  A little slice of city, with food, music, vendors and all right here at home.

We're our own boss

Haven't been blogging much because we've been too busy working - on the house, on the business, and on Tracy's new live project "Tracy and the Hurtin' Hearts."  CD's have arrived, if you haven't heard!!

But do not despair, here's a fabulous piece by my friend Dru, who attended a conference in Baltimore about "Workplace Democracy."  He talked to dozens of people who are building co-operative businesses - businesses that are owned by the people who work there.  An excerpt:

      Finally, an interest of mine that seems to be lurking beneath the surface of a lot of discussions is our societally-limited sense of self which seems to interfere with non- 
     hierarchical cooperation. At least one other person is having similar thoughts:

          I think worker co-ops need to change mantra from "I'm my own boss" to "we're our own boss"" - throw off the mantra of individualism.

 As a (north american non-indigenous) rule, we're trained culturally to be either subservient automatons or ego-visionary individual celebrities. A major obstacle to collective management is that there's an empty space where the in-between option of cooperation should be. The lack of positive examples of building trust in a collective vision and the accompanying day to day practices seems to be one of the main impediments to building workplace democracy. I've recently been privy to some experiences that are both inspiring in terms of people's ability to overcome these issues, but which have simultaneously confirmed the need for significant steps in terms of addressing this cultural deficit.

Dru paints a great picture of the types of work people are doing in co-ops, from dog-walking to brush manufacturing, to IT work.  Check it out!

You won't read this on the TV news

A rising star of Quebec journalism quits his job and reflects on his despair at where Canada is headed politically, at home and internationally.

My real major? Student loan repayment!

Finally, an article about student debt in the Globe and Mail.  I cannot tell you how many hopeless conversations I've had when the "how am I ever going to repay my student loan?" remark comes up at parties.  It is one of the most instantly demoralizing topics to discuss with people between the ages of 20-40.

I think student debt is the unifying issue for young Canadians right now.  The current interest rate on my loan is prime plus 2% if I let it float (ie. 4.5%) or prime plus 5% (7.5%) if I lock it in.  For some people with large loans (and I know people who owe 40-50k plus), the daily interest alone is more than gas or groceries.  I know some people who don't even open their student loan statements because it is too demoralizing.  I wouldn't recommend this but it's true. 

With real wages in decline and good jobs harder to find, it's no wonder many young people can't afford to leave their parents' nest.  I can't see how many people afford to buy a house, car or condo without their parents' financial assistance. People wonder why the Canadian birth rate is so low, but who could afford to have kids when they haven't even finished paying for their first degree?

As a result, there are a lot of semi-employed, highly educated young Canadians out there right now.  Which might be good for the "teaching English abroad" companies, but isn't doing much to better Canadian society.  It's a shame more adults don't encourage high schoolers to consider a skilled trade, when a university degree is no longer a guarantee for a good job.

The number one reason I chose not to apply to grad school was the uncertainty of landing a job afterwards.  Five more years, then slug it out to become a university prof and live far away from my family?  Non, merci.

As a result, I moved home and spent three years walking before I got a hand-me-down car when my grandmother passed away.  During those mornings when I would walk in the freezing cold to work, I would tell myself, "you're walking off your student loan, you're walking off your student loan."  I'm not whining, there are many people in the world who deal with much worse on a daily basis. 

But I find it disheartening that a society which claims to value 'education' would place such a tremendous financial burden on young people seeking to get an education.

Berries on the web

Haynes' berry farm is now on the web.  I was there yesterday and there were lots of berries to be had.  $1.75 for U-pick berries and $3.00 for all picked.  Forget those California golf balls dressed up like strawberries and go get some of the real thing.  They freeze well too and are delicious in smoothies all year long.

The pressure's on

The government was going to reduce the amount of wood allowed to be cut from Crown lands.  Then the forest industry (I won't say Irving because they're not the only ones) started lobbying for more wood.

Read about it here.  Apparently the forest hasn't been regenerating as quickly as the computer models predicted. 

Sound Off

The forestry battle is on again - though it's so quiet, you can't hear it if you aren't listening closely.

I noticed in last Friday's edition of the Bugle (our local Irving-owned paper) that there was a press release dressed up as an editorial from a JDI spokesman.  The spokesman was accusing David Coon of the Conservation Council of NB of manipulating the amount of wood that was cut from Crown Land last year.

I don't know enough about the documents to weigh in, but the Irving attack dog was clearly trying to put conservationists on the defensive, with the old line that we need to cut as many trees as possible in order to keep people working.  Omitted from this line of reasoning is that NB employs steadily less and less people working ''in the woods" because of large forest-clearing machines favoured by companies such as JDI.

In the same edition of the paper (which isn't online so I can't link to it!), Jean Arnold of the Falls Brook Centre cited government figures that the Province of New Brunswick actually lost money on Crown Lands last year, by compensating companies for wood they were not allowed to cut.  That's right, our largest collective resource actually cost the taxpayers money.

There is a constant conflict over Crown Land in New Brunswick - about which companies get to cut it, and how much, and for what price.  And most of what really goes on is never fully explained - the story is told in cancelled press conferences, recommendations on 'wood supply' and commissions whose reports may never be implemented.

Here is a story from the Telegraph Journal (which this morning was trying to change the channel on the repeated calls for a shale gas moratorium, and instead encourage the peasants of NB to think about the royalties our government will get) about the debate over forestry in Millinocket, Maine. 

People there are debating about whether to take land formerly used for logging and convert it to a national park.  The thinking from the conservation side is that eco-tourism could potentially be a bigger economic boost than continuing to try your luck in the race-to-the-bottom of the global wood industry.

Signed, sealed, delivered

I have mixed feelings about unions, probably because I hate beauraucracy and unnecessary rules with a passion. However, I think in general that unions are a big step forward for workers, who used to be bullied into taking whatever they could get for wages and forced into working in unsafe conditions.  Lots of people seem to be of the opinion that the Canada Post workers, who are getting legislated back to work soon, are 'lazy' and 'spoiled.'

Like many, I have never enjoyed the (lack of) service that I have received from Canada Post.  They've lost some things I shipped and are generally slower than slow.  The Canada Post Corporation has been trying to take away the mailboxes of rural Canadians (claiming they are unsafe) and my parents had a particularly frustrating time dealing with an unnecessary change to their postal code - at an address they have lived at for more than 25  years.

This being said, I find the whole strike/lock-out and accompanying public debate is really missing the point.  Whether letter carriers for Canada Post get paid x amount or work x amount of hours is a sideshow compared to the fact that Stephen Harper and his majority government are about to eliminate the right to collective bargaining in this case.

I never really understood what was going on until I read this column.  Imagine the government being involved in your wage negotiations with your boss, and then telling you you must accept less than what your boss offered to begin with.  Read the comments too, if you're inclined.  Very interesting stuff.

Fail again and fail better

My sister loves Tavis Smiley - and I love this video.  Tavis is right, that failure is unavoidable, and it makes us who we are today.  I think this is a message young people need to hear, and a message our school system ought to think long and hard about.  I read once that nobody in Silicon Valley takes you seriously until you've had at least three failed businesses - by then you might know what you're doing.

Here is a radio doc my friend Geoff made, about the failed project at 702 Main Street in Woodstock.  Someday I plan to 'fail up' and see the creation of a community art space in Woodstock.  Thanks Tavis! 

Tarring us all with the same brush

I couldn't believe my ears this morning when I found out that the Vancouver Police Chief has described the Stanley Cup rioters as "anarchists and criminals who appeared to be the same people involved in the pre-Olympic demonstrations and noted police saw many equipped with goggles, gasoline and other tools to create damage."

It is incomprehensible to me that the police chief would associate these drunken, testosterone crazed young men with people who had legitimate grounds to protest the Olympics. Protesting a decision to displace poor people and spend billions of dollars on militarizing the city of Vancouver is not the same as trashing a police car because your team lost the final hockey game of the season.

So far, the charges stemming from the Vancouver riot include: 101 arrests, with 85 charged with breach of the peace, eight charged with public intoxication and eight charged with Criminal Code offences including theft, mischief, assault with a weapon and breaking and entering.

I have been to legitimate political protests.  As I wrote here, I think protest has a very legitimate place at the heart of our democracy. 

When police shut down a hockey riot and then attempt to confuse the public by stating that hockey rioters are 'the same no-good types' as G20 protesters and anti-Olympic demonstrators, they are attempting to dis-empower people and manipulate honest, law-abiding people into viewing all protests as events 'like those hocket riots in Vancouver."  What this does is de-legitimize protests, leaving people to conclude that all protesters are 'thugs', and that mass demonstrations are 'dangerous.'

The other reason I find this offensive is that many of the hockey rioters are obviously white and middle-class.  The story of the privileged athlete lighting the police car on fire is one easy example.  But, as one commenter on this newspaper story pointed out, anarchists don't buy $150 trademarked NHL jerseys.

Then when the police chief comments, he doesn't (accurately) point out that the people arrested were mainly middle-class kids who probably don't even know who the current leader of the Liberal Party is.  Instead, he tars them with the 'anarchist' tag, implying that rioters are probably lower-class rabble who don't deserve Charter rights anyway.

Take for example a group of cyclists arrested during the Toronto G-20 protests. As you read this, ask yourself if hockey rioters were treated this way:

About 80 people were detained and some were seen being strip-searched in front of Parkdale Community Legal Services on Queen Street West. About 40 of them had been preparing to board a bus bound for Quebec when the police surrounded them, freelance journalist Rebecca Granofvsky-Larsen told CBC News.


The police even arrested people for having a peaceful pro-cycling demonstration.

Over the weekend, I attended the Richard Olmstead Sustainable Living Tradeshow here in Woodstock.  The keynote speaker was David Coon of the Conservation Council of NB. He spoke about whether it was possible to live 'sustainably' in a world that is ecologically unsustainable.

The crux of his speech was that meaningful change can only be achieved through politics, and that our democracy is in a sorry, sorry state at present.   Looking at the lack of initiative shown by our current local, provincial and national governments, I am inclined to agree with him that we have to get our politics re-assembled into something functional before we can fix our problems. 

The difficulty with this is that some people benefit from a broken system, and I think we need to challenge statements like "people who were part of the Vancouver hockey riot are the same as anarchists and anti-Olympic demonstrators."  In addition to being factually incorrect, statements like these lead to a further erosion of the democratic rights and process that so desperately needs revitalizing.

Coming Soon

A post about the differences between last summer's G-8 protest in Toronto (which resulted in the larges mass arrests in Canadian history), and last week's hockey riot in Vancouver is in the making.

Here's last summer's post if you want to read it.  Feel free to post comments in advance.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

A word, please

Lately I am getting a bit bored with the internet.  Or rather, with my stale internet habits - always visiting the same websites, too much facebook, not reading enough insightful-type stuff.  I realize the internet is an infinite wealth of information; however, it can also be a giant conflagration of spam, robo-sites, uninvited pornography and other such things.  It's a little tiresome sometimes, when all you really want is to read something interesting.

So, lately, I've begun a slow return to print media.  For those of you under 25, print media includes newspapers, magazines and other physically printed items such as books.  Now, I never left books - that's probably going to the biggest love of my life, but magazines and newspapers are making a serious comeback in my household. 

Right now on the kitchen table we have the Dominion - a cooperative grassroots newspaper that tells the stories the corporate media won't, the Walrus, Canada's most award winning magazine (think New Yorker, but Canadian), and my personal favourite, Maisonneuve.  Check out these publications - they are great.
There's also an issue of Scientific American kicking around here somewhere, but I haven't gotten around to that one yet. 

Mostly, I like that these magazines are written - by a real, thinking person with some devotion to the crafts of interviewing, thinking and writing, and that they are edited - allowing for the removal of sloppy thinking and needless words.  You also get to read about things beyond "Osama Bin Laden is dead" or the latest Harper scare tactics (and subsequent Liberal bumbling).  This I also like.

Finally, I like getting into bed with my magazine, away from the glowing screen that seems to suck as much time as I will give it.  I like putting it down when I've had enough and being able to find my place quickly and easily the next day.  But most of all, I like that the magazine contains stories I didn't go looking for - such as painted portraits of every Canadian killed in Afghanistan, or an article about Canada's newest sketch comedy group, now famous on the internet. 

It's interesting stuff, it's made in my neighbourhood, relatively speaking, and it doesn't require pushing buttons or a screen.  Sign me up.

An honest day's work

When RiVA and the Dooryard Arts Festival first got started, one of the things I was trying to do was create an economic 'node' for the arts in Carleton County. 

Sounds fancy, but basically I was looking for ways for artists/musicians/craftspeople to do their work and get paid for it.  This may seem obvious but if you work in the arts, you know it isn't.  Requests such as "Could you play for free?  It's a fundraiser," or "We're asking artists to donate a piece of their work," are more common than you might realize.

When you have an entire sector of the economy that works but don't get paid, this is a problem.  First of all, it creates inequalities - people whose work is not valued are more likely to a.) become bitter b.) stop doing that work or  b.) move elsewhere.  It also sends the message that the things these people do is a 'hobby' which literally has no value. 

In Carleton County, where we have a small economy to begin with, leaving people out only gives us less leverage with larger economies such as Fredericton, Halifax, Montreal etc..  We need more people contributing - not just so money changes hands but so those people have some measure of economic security.

But even as I have my arts axe to grind, I think that the issue of working and getting paid is becoming more and more of a sticking point for everyone in the workforce.  I know people who have gone from working in IT to working in the trades.  The IT worker gets paid by the hour, regardless of productivity.  The tradesman gets paid by the project, regardless of how many hours it takes to do the job properly - and that time is always underestimated. 

Looking at the Canada Post and Air Canada strikes, it seems that nobody wants to pay anybody a living wage, which is what I'm really trying to get at here:  people are raised into debt but good jobs are disappearing. 

In many cases, young men and women graduate high school, get a student loan, are forced to buy a car (at least in the Maritimes) attempt to buy a house and then all of a sudden, look around for a job that will pay for these things.  And those jobs are disappearing.

Real incomes have been in decline for 30 years and the rich and poor are way farther apart than you think.  Check out this graph from a great Mother Jones magazine article you should read.

This morning I read an article about "zombie consumers" - how people are dangerously financially over-extended, yet government wants to find a way to get us spending again.  I don't see how this is possible - they can't borrow any more money, and it's unlikely they have a job which supports their spending habits.

Ultimately, I guess this is what capitalism means - in order to create profits, some work must be undervalued, and in order for the economy to "grow," some things must remain cheap (ie. oil, foreign labour). 

Will we ever get past this to an economy which values putting people to work, building societies instead of fragmenting them?    In real terms, what would that even look like?  Sometimes I think the biggest challenge in all this is just to see it in our mind's eye.  If we can't imagine it, how will we ever get there?

Planting the seeds

My sister Tracy and I have a lot of projects on the go.  Her cd is in the finally final stages now, with photographs and graphics being gathered, mastering nearly complete and liner notes written.  She hopes to have it in hand by July 1st - this 'baby' is getting a little overdue.

Tracy and I also work together, teaching piano, voice and guitar lessons.  Now we are re-vamping our business as "The Centre for Culture and Creativity" - a place where people of all ages can go to develop their artistic and creative skills.  We will be offering a youth theatre program, Music for Young Childen, and are very excited to welcome three additional instructors - Laurel Green (visual arts), Jens Jeppesen (advanced guitar) and Nickolas Lawson (playwrighting and acting).

Our eventual goal is to have a building dedicated to 'everything arts.'  We see the tremendous talent in the children of Carleton County - they are expressive, and they deserve creative and cultural opportunities. 

These additional programs will mean a few changes for our house - sealing off the studio from the rest of the house, getting a new piano (hurray!!), knocking out the leaky chimney and updating the bathroom.  Between this, the garden and a few gigs, this will keep me busy over the summer months.

It is so exciting to be planting a new generation of seeds.  I can only imagine what kind of harvest we will reap in the years to come.

Sabbatical: Month 3

Lots of people have been asking what I'm up to.  Not the sabbatical  per se, that's too much to get into in a small-talk conversation, but more likely because I am not out in public like I used to be.  I feel like I am being very greedy with my private time, it's true, but I am also a lot more focused on being home. 

The past few summers have been absolutely consumed with organizing.  Looking back on it now, I can't fathom how we did it.  The first Dooryard Festival was a massive and almost impossible undertaking - we spent the days on emails and telephone calls and the evenings trying to avoid our despair.  But luckily, we made it, and now it's well on its way to the best incarnation yet. 

So, this spring - wet though it has been - I have been at home, organizing our music teaching business for spring concerts (June 14 and 15th), digging weeds, planting food, visiting my folks, dreaming, reading, practicing the accordion, accompanying fabulous choirs, and generally thinking about the next phase of life.  It's good. 

It's amazing how quickly life blurs past while plans are always being made.  I felt lost in the busy-ness lately and now that I have taken some time to hear the inner voice again I can see that I feel very compelled to live a simple life, full of real food, family, projects, friends and conversation.  I am really relishing privacy (as much as one can have in a small town) and being on my own schedule during non-work time.

It also feels good to finally give my (our) home its due.  I have lived in this house for seven years now and it needs some love - landscaping, insulation, bathroom and kitchen updates.  Not only for appearance sake but also to make it truly serve our needs and embody our artistic ambitions and philosophy about life.  So as we approach the chimney-removal project and the seeds start to sprout, I am thankful for the tasks at hand.

The Master's voice

" It was not mystery or the divine touch that got them where they were, but labor, discussion, thinking, study, trying, failing, trying again."

Great article on why we never hear from modern composers anymore.  It's hard to imagine members of the general public running out to music stores to buy batons.

Deliciousness abounds

This'll be short and sweet - see the recipe below for how to make a creamy fiddlehead soup.  I am not really enthusiastic about fiddleheads, actually, but I figure I can learn to like almost anything at this point.  Hence the recipe.  Also, fiddleheads are local and in season and I am trying to eat locally more often.

Creamy Fiddlehead Soup
Two large potatoes,peeled and diced                               
A half cup celery,finely diced                                            
One medium onion,chopped                                             
One small clove garlic,minced                  
One cup water
One tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
Two cups fiddleheads, fresh or frozen
1-2 cups cream (heavy or half and half)*
1cup chicken or vegetable stock

Bring potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, water, stock and salt and pepper to a boil. Cover and simmer about 20 min or until vegetables are tender. Add fiddleheads and simmer until tender. Cool slightly. Puree in blender or food processor in batches. Return to pot and stir in enough cream to desired consistency. Heat just until boiling point. Season to taste.

* I used 1/2 cup heavy cream (whipping cream left over from Mother's Day dinner) and 1c water, plus 1/2 cup milk. I also wanted some texture, so after I pureed the soup I added 3/4 cup diced mushrooms.

Tasted like cream of broccoli, but fresher and not as  'mealy' in the mouth.  Yum yum.

This one's for you, Dr. Evil

A tremendous debate is taking place south of the border right now because the USA is approaching its "debt ceiling."  In other words, the US government can't owe more than $14.294 trillion dollars. For a handy reference on what a trillion is, click here.   Currently, the government owes $14.243 trillion dollars.  When did that happen?

Well, it started at the end of Eisenhower, grew during Nixon and the Vietnam Wars, and has been growing like a bad weed ever since.

However, this is where is gets really interesting: because of the old-school series of checks and balances in US democracy, politicians have to vote to raise the debt ceiling.  If they don't, the USA will be in default - the world's largest economy will be unable to pay the bills that are due.  Which means that conceivably, creditors like the Chinese government, the Saudis or the Japanese could come knocking.

So where has Uncle Sam been spending other people's money? Have a look!

Mostly on wars, preparing for wars, and intimidating other countries not to start wars.  Somebody tell Edwin Starr that war is good for something  - escalating a nation's debt beyond its capacity to produce wealth.

The craziest part of all this is that the Republicans are saying the only way they will vote in favour of raising the debt ceiling - remember, this money pays for veterans, what little Medicare they have, and for Social Security - is if Obama agrees to massive spending cuts. 

The crazy part is, nobody is talking about the giant Kevlar elephant in the room.  Nobody is talking about cuts to military spending, or closing bases in foreign countries (they have dozens). They are talking about cutting Medicare.  Without getting too apocalyptic, I can't even imagine what a US default would do to the Canadian economy.  I can't imagine what would happen if the US government runs out of money, especially when that same government has been printing money in an attempt to maintain the dominance of the US dollar abroad and spend its way out of a recession.

Something tells me that if those chickens ever come home to roost, we're going to see the ugly shadow of globalization, all over the world.  Instead of the 'rising tide' the big spenders keep promising us, it's going to be a debt tsunami that wipes away most of the material progress of the post-industrial age.

Makes 100 million dollars seem quaint, doesn't it?

Sabbatical: Month 2

The backstory is here for people not up to date on how the Old Testament can help decrease your stress level. I am now minus two fairly large time committments, with several others tapering off in the months to come.  It's getting interesting.  So, what have I noticed so far?

1. Less crises.  I don't inadvertantly double book myself as much now.  I am getting my short-term memory back a bit.  When something important comes up, I usually have enough flexibility to deal with it.  As a result:

2. More time and patience for people.  Now I'm not in such a hurry all the time, I can take time to chat and listen to a person's reply.  I have time to remember family occasions and I actually stop in and visit my parents/friends/relatives to say hello.  I'm able to cook better food and have lost a small but of weight.

3. Practicing!  I spent a lot of time learning piano accompaniments for the Music Festival so now my fingers are in semi-decent shape again.  And I'm working on some Beethoven and some Schumann.  Plus I've got a good start on my accordion playing - Hey, Good Looking, Red River Valley, and of course, Olive's Ghost.

Don't get me wrong, life isn't suddenly perfect - I also now have more time to obsess over stupid stuff that probably shouldn't matter.  But I do have time to reflect on my life a bit too, which is nice. 

One thought that has me pre-occupied is what the "pre-facebook" me was like.  I think I was happier.  I think I worried less about other people and what they were up to, since it was just idle speculation, and I think I felt that my friends were friends, not "friends."  So I'm trying to cut back on that too, in the hopes of spending time where it counts.

Looking forward to summer and getting to food production underway.  Just a friendly reminder to buy local this summer - our economy needs the support and everything tastes so gosh darn good when it arrives fresh!

Failing to pass, passing to fail.

Not going to blog about the new majority conservative government, except to say that I found the result very disappointing.  I really cannot believe that so many people hit the snooze button and returned a PM to Parliament who was twice voted in contempt. I digress . . . although I am not a stickler for rules, certain principles of respect and decency are incredibly important to me, Parliament being one.

Below is a letter I wrote after witnessing the final concert of the Carleton County Music Festival.  The Premier was there, opera singer Sally Dibblee presented the inaugural Roberta White memorial award (good work, Bragdon!), and the choirs really blew 'em away.  WHS choir currently has 70+ kids and they know a thing or two about the 'big sound' and Jen Muir's Corner Studio Choir was also right on the money.

So then I got to thinking about why our kids aren't allowed to do the Music Festival.  That's right, not allowed.  And then it made me indignant, which resulted in this letter.  I would encourage you to write, call or email the Superintendant and challenge her decision to take music away from kids.  They need the music.  Much more so than the tests.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Last night the Woodstock High School theatre came alive with the sounds of guitar, trumpet, piano and singers of all ages. One past performer remarked, “it just melts my heart.” Rightly so. Music is the birthright of every human being – our brains are wired for music and our hearts long for it.

What does a student learn in preparing for the Music Festival? They learn the self-discipline of practice, they learn to face the fear of performing in public, they learn to accept constructive criticism, and they learn the technical skills necessary for their particular piece of music.

But most importantly, the student attempts to give an emotionally expressive performance, one that moves us to joy, sorrow, laughter or celebration. What better experience could children have in today's world?

Today, schools in District 14 are occupied with the sounds of students preparing for year-end assessments – standardized tests. Our Superintendent will not allow students in Carleton County to participate in the Music Festival, unless they are in Grade 1 or Grade 3.

Why? The tests are more important to the School District than what the child learns from the process of preparing for and performing in the Music Festival. What a short-sighted position for our educational leaders to take.

There is a mountain of scientific educational research that proves that a quality music education makes kids smarter. Parents should challenge the District's decision not to allow all K-5 students to sing in the festival.

We need to stand up for kids – they love music, and they value the lessons it teaches. Our world needs more music, not less. Our kids deserve an education that teaches the brain, the hands, the voice and the heart to work together.

Amy Anderson

Tracy Anderson

I was bored out of my mind

I just finished listening to a very good podcast of Michael Enright's program "The Sunday Edition."  He was discussing university education and whether students today are forced into university degrees so they can get the credential and move on to professional schools or graduate degrees.

At one point Enright is interviewing an English prof from U of T, and asks if the professor was a good student in high school.  The man replies: "I was a great student in elementary school." In high school he became pre-occupied with illicit substances, girls, and furthermore, he says he was 'bored out of his mind.' 

The prof also stated that he dropped out of high school, later went back to complete a few credits, and went on to university, eventually getting his Ph.D., and was now rated one of the best professors in Canada.  The prof also said that he knew Michael Enright was a high school dropout.  So, then I got thinking - how many people who couldn't stand high school went on to lead very successful lives? Google, google, on the wall, who's the most successful droput of them all?

Here's a good sampling of names, if this list is to be believed:  Shakespeare, Einstein, William Faulkner, John D. Rockefeller, Oscar Peterson, Peter Jennings, Bobby Orr, Sarah Polley, Henry Ford, etc. etc.
 
I think it's a real shame we have an education system that legally mandates that kids be in school until they're 18 years old (you can thank McKenna for that), and that these kids are lumped together into classrooms without any regard for common interests.  Most of the teenagers I know are real obsessive types - whether it's bands, sports teams, staying in touch with their friends, acting, decorating their rooms, cars, whatever.

So why are we making them wait until they're young adults before they have the opportunity to develop their skills and passions?  By then, their brains are not as keen and they have learned to be complacent and 'just get by.'  Is it any wonder we have so many problems with bullying when we have a bunch of kids cooped up together without any positive outlets?

Kids self-identify their interests very early in life.  If we would let them take the lead, they would be learning night and day.

I would go out on a limb and say that I think our present education system probably wastes as much human potential as it develops, because it is so focused on a narrow definition of 'knowledge,' to the utter exclusion of everything else.  What a shame, especially for a place like New Brunswick, where we have so much unrealized potential.

The other thing I would like to point out is that we have loads of educational research that shows people learn best when they are fully engaged (ie. brains + hands working together on real situations).  And yet we have classrooms that immobilize people and beauraucrats positively obsessed with standardized testing.  No wonder our kids are bored out of their minds.  I know I was.