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.

Welcome to Butt Hole Road

No joke.

The Compassionate Heart of Literature

What does the literary background/orientation of a political leader tell us? And why, in times of crisis, do writers emerge to lead troubled nations?

These questions preoccupy me after watching Barack Obama's transformation from first-term senator to president of the world's most powerful nation - an ascension that would have been impossible without his muscular rhetoric.

His lofty speeches repudiate empty corporate-speak and his elegant elocution is a welcome contrast to George W. Bush's habitual mangling of the English language. Obama is a voracious reader, and has devoured the writings of Shakespeare,Ellison, Nietzsche, Abe Lincoln and hundreds more. It’s no wonder he sounds so sophisticated.

Language is power, and Obama's political campaign was successful despite all odds because of he could envision a 'more perfect union' and convince people that that union was not only achievable, but imminent. As a writer and reader, he expressed the outrage of many marginalized Americans but tempered it with a sense of 'hope' that their country could change for the better.

Subsequently, Obama's two books returned to the best-seller lists, and his astonishing fundraising success relied in large part on his silver tongue. He recruited the support of countless Americans - people who work but can't get ahead, people who are sick of corruption and patronage in government, people who can't improve their lives because of financial hardship, people who are angry at predatory corporations.

Similarly, after the Czech people decided to be rid of their Soviet overlords, they elected Vaclav Havel, poet, playwright and essayist. He, too, properly understood the power of words, and his inaugural address paralleled (and pre-dated) Obama's depiction of a troubled nation, largely run by liars. He began:

My dear fellow citizens,

For forty years you heard from my predecessors on this day different variations on the same theme: how our country was flourishing, how many million tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding in front of us.

I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.

Our country is not flourishing. The enormous creative and spiritual potential of our nations is not being used sensibly. Entire branches of industry are producing goods that are of no interest to anyone, while we are lacking the things we need. A state which calls itself a workers' state humiliates and exploits workers. Our obsolete economy is wasting the little energy we have available. A country that once could be proud of the educational level of its citizens spends so little on education that it ranks today as seventy-second in the world. We have polluted the soil, rivers and forests bequeathed to us by our ancestors, and we have today the most contaminated environment in Europe. Adults in our country die earlier than in most other European countries.

No amount of winking and 'you-betchas' is going to counter the cold reality that people feel when they are being misused.

Although politicians often bully language to meet their ends, rarely does a man or woman with a literary heart seize our attention while maintaining political power. And we might assume that writers are immune from the crassness of politics, but transformative politicians understand that "robust language" is indispensable in rallying people to their side.

So, why do 'literary' leaders appear at the fore during crises? I suspect it's the act of reading, coupled with the critical thinking skills that writing requires.

I'm not normally one of those 'reading, writing and arithmetic' types, but to read fiction is to enter a wrestling match with other people's thoughts, feelings and experiences. Writing calls us to organize our thoughts and justify our opinions. Literature is not merely a pleasant way to idle away an afternoon. It is a method of engendering compassion, which, as Karen Armstrong reminds us, means 'the act of feeling with the other.' Com-passion.

This unity with others is precisely what Obama proposed, and exactly what he needed in order to win in a divided electorate. Contrast his approach with George Bush's divisive and ignorant goverment. Bush lacked compassion, and his non-plussed response to Hurricane Katrina is only the first example that comes to mind. Someone who spends long periods of time training his or her mind to experience the thoughts, feelings, tragedies and celebrations of other people would be more likely to respond quickly to such an immense disaster.

Which brings me to Canada. Stephen Harper is known neither for his love of literature nor for his compassion. His initial reaction to the global economic crisis was not to empathize with people about to lose their homes or retirements or live savings, it was to portray the disaster as a good time to buy stocks. Harper continues to antagonize Canadian artists, and has even provoked the ire of Booker-prize winning author Yann Martel. Martel sends Harper a book every two weeks, and publishes the list on his website.

On the horizon, watching all of this is Michael Ignatieff, author of numerous books and descendent of grandfather and great-grandfather who worked under Russian czars Alexander II and Alexander III. Ignatieff's writings have been called everything from dazzling to arrogant. Whether he is successful in taking a page from Obama's book remains to be seen.

In the meantime, Obama has repudiated the petty cronyism of the Bush years, demonstrating that after eight years of organized cruelty, it is once again cool to be kind. Let's hope he continues to read with ferocity, and to use language to uplift those who need it most.

more on this later...

A study of ten Chicago neighbourhoods using network analysis revealed several key supports that helped artists connect with audiences and other artists. One of these supports was “space resources – which included varied access to live/work space for making art aswell as varied access to public, private and commercial space for art presentations, exhibitions,festivals, parades, murals and facilities” (Grams, 2004, p. 14).

Other assets that were identified as partof some “circuits” were historic sites and public art that helped communities codify their identities,community-based art service activities for local children and families, and employment opportunities provided to local residents by non-profit cultural organizations (pp. 16-19).

This study also showedthat there were three mechanisms through which arts organizations leveraged assets for neighbourhood improvement: 1) by connecting people to local and non-local resources, 2) by enabling local problem-solving, and 3) by building social relationships among the different sectors of the community (Stern & Seifert, 2007, p. 45).

Dealing With Chinese Crowds: A Primer for Canadians

As promised, here's a look at boarding a plane (or waiting in any kind of line), Chinese style.

When a crowd assembles - and it's always a crowd in China - people jockey continuously for position, mostly maintained by elbowing and crowding together in the most advantageous place. Looking at the others in the crowd is likely to be interpreted as a sign of weakness, and while you are busy looking at the other person, they will steal your spot. Lesson learned.

Furthermore, the concept of "personal space" does not exist in a nation of over a billion people. If you are waiting for a subway, bus or train, people will push entirely up against you, especially if you don't look forceful. The only way to move at all is by pushing back. Standing still is impossible because you will be accosted from all sides by people pushing you out of the way. Did I mention there's a lot of pushing? It's a Canadian elementary teacher's nightmare.

People have been asking me - how was China? Strangely, the adjective that comes to mind is Darwinian. Picture this: 240 Chinese people (and about 10 white people, and 1 black person) are waiting for a flight. Fifteen minutes before the plane even calls for boarding, people line up near the door. Rather, they make a large mass near the door because "lining up" doesn't normally occur.

When the doors to the tarmac are opened, people literally run as quickly as possible to board the plane. Why? So they can sit as close as possible to the front. Why? So they can exit the plane as quickly as possible. Why? So they can wait in the next line as quickly as possible. Why? You get the picture. Imagine a group of sugar-starved seven-year-olds at a gigantic Easter egg hunt. Now you get the sense of urgency and lack of social constraint that Chinese crowds exhibit.

They are like those flocks of birds that appear in the fall, weaving and dancing in perfect synchronization, yet seemingly without a leader. I am not saying this to imply the Chinese are uncivilized or to criticize - it goes without saying that we have vast cultural differences from China and experiencing it firsthand was jarring. After a while, however, it becomes just another norm and before you know it, you are pushing onto the bus before the next guy can get in ahead of you.

So. I took a 'real' vacation . . .

As you can tell, the quality of internet access in Thailand as China was not great. That, and I decided to switch off the urge to be productive or efficient. Scary, I know - apparently that's what a vacation is supposed to be . . .

In any case, it's going to take me a few entries to digest my trip; for today I will share some of the immediate reflections with you, in the form of a list.

1. Travelling ain't easy. I did three consecutive days of airports to get to the beautiful tropical island of Koh Samui, Thailand. It turns out the best cure for jetlag is to clear customs repeatedly, get shoved on to a plane with 240 pushy Chinese people (more on that later) and haul your suitcase from here to Kingdom Come. Which was worth it, by the way.

2. Canadians are incredibly fortunate people. In China I saw a number of elderly or disabled people (some missing limbs) begging in public places. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see the lack of care given to these people. I have always felt fortunate but having seen people in the world living in shacks with no running water, I realize how much I have taken for granted. Not that everyone in Asia is poor, but the majority of people are struggling to make it.

3. The Thai people are as friendly as New Brunswickers, and I wish I could speak their language. Everywhere we went on Koh Samui, people smiled, said hello and waved to us. The island is half rural, half tourist, with visitors outnumbering locals 3:1. The people there are so laid back, they laughed when I asked what time the sun sets. Apparently that's a non-starter for them - a fact which was confirmed to me when the European man behind me at Bangkok airport lamented "The Thai people move at a snail's pace." Good on ya, I say. If I lived on a tropical island I wouldn't hurry, either!!

4. There is a difference between mainland China and Hong Kong. My one regret on this trip was not seeing more of mainland China. We were only there for a day or two between stops to Thailand and Hong Kong. Fortunately, I did get to see the Lohuo Market, which is full of dvd hawkers (an endless patter of "missy, you buy dvd movie") and knock offs of western brands. We took the Canadian approach to bartering - laugh when the price is outrageously high. It worked pretty well - I got some good presents.

5. Don't ever fly Continental via Newark. They will screw up and then deny any wrongdoing.

6. Most people in the world have the same basic concerns. Caring for their families, surviving economically, have a good laugh, eating a nice meal with family and friends, enjoying the sunshine - the best things in life are free.

7. I'm glad I went, but I'm glad to be home. See #1 and #5.

Heads up

I am leaving for China and Thailand soon - I'll be gone for two weeks. I am going to attempt to blog parts of the trip. How successful I am depends on the quality of internet access - in the meantime, take time to check out my links. There's a lot of good stuff going on locally, and I'm trying to tie it together. If you know of someone/something I've overlooked, please leave a comment so I can add it.

Happy Holidays!

All hail, the living

It's been an up-and-down week. This dark time of year can be difficult - you probably already know that. On Wednesday I played for the choir and congregation at the celebration of the life of a young woman who recently passed on from cancer. It was a beautiful expression of gratitude, especially considering how easily the tsunami of grief can overcome us.

So I've been giving thanks for the small things - children and their zest for life, chocolate, and quiet, restful time at home. And I've been thinking about how these small things create our lives, make them meaningful, and sustain us when jobs, status and money are strikingly irrelevant.

Then I came across this beautiful slideshow of medieval art. The Met Museum in New York City has recently renovated the gallery containing works of art from the years 1050-1300. Rarely do we rarely study or discuss these "Dark Ages," but the works are so beautiful, using painting, sculpture and every day objects to communicate Biblical stories.

I am deeply moved by things and people that express the mysterious joy of being alive. Such as Elliott Carter's premiering a brand new work at age 100. As the article says, "when Mozart was his age, he had been dead for 65 years." Regardless of how long I live, I hope I'm able to cultivate the qualities that make me most human - curiosity, passion, laughter and compassion for other living beings. To quote the Bard:


What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties,
in form and moving how express and admirable,
in action how like an angel,
in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.

~Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii

The Devil in the Details

Warning: I am about to attempt a nuanced discussion. If you're not the kind of person who likes that, skip directly to the link at the end, and reflect.

Economic stimulus is being hailed as a kind of 'magic bullet' that will save us from the unknown horrors of recession. To be frank, I'm not convinced that a recession in our society would be such a 'bad' event. We are already living well beyond our means and having less might force us to re-evaluate our priorities and live smarter. But that's a digression.

Everyone in the media is talking about infrastructure spending; today the NB government announced its plans. Mostly it consists of building roads with money we don't have. In other words, we are going to pave stuff with money my generation will have to find later. Take a look at this chart from James K Galbraith, grandson of the eminent John Kenneth Galbraith:



It's hard to read, but the chart shows the return for each dollar spent on 'economic stimulus.' The government is the most powerful actor in the economy - they have money and they make the rules, not to mention the power of the central banks they control. So, now they have a choice. They can spend it on food stamps - which would nearly double their $1 investment, or they could issue a corporate tax cut, which would actually take money out of the economy.

You can see that infrastructure spending (such as building roads) is one of the better values, but actually it would be more efficient to extend unemployment benefits. It is highly likely that corporate big-wigs know that this money is about to be shelled out and are lining up to collect their chunk of our tax dollars. The list of projects announced by the NB government will almost certainly be controlled by large corporations - such as those guys at Brun-way, who can't seem to keep the roads around here passable in the winter. The only say regular people will have is whether to apply for and accept a job at a given pay rate. They will have no control over how it is spent.

My question is: wouldn't that money be better spent on addressing poverty issues, such as food, or investing in education? Knowledge is infrastructure, and hiring more teachers, specialists and investing in early childhood education would pay important dividends such as a healthier, better educated citizenry.

It seems bizarre to me - this economic crisis seems to come with the recognition that the government should intervene to help people, but only help people get a job, not help them get a leg up on the things that matter most - education, empowerment and quality of life. The fact that 1 in 6 Canadian children still lives in poverty has been totally lost in the shuffle here, but that's a fact that will be reckoned with as a generation ill-equipped to lead takes the helm. So we've got roads, so what?

And finally, the project list only deals with major cities, in a province that is still almost 50% rural. And in a province where rural industries have taken a pounding in the last few years. What we need is to build rural infrastructure - like a windpower and agricultural co-generation powergrid. Like they've done in Germany, with smashing success. The solution is not to truck all the resources - people and trees and minerals - out of the traditionally rural parts, and send people to work in call centres. We need to find ways to make rural life viable again. And that's going to take creativity and brainpower and dedication.

So, as promised, here's the link for people who skipped the details. Quality of life matters, and in selling out resources and people, we're really selling off our heritage, oftentimes to the lowest bidder. I think we can do better, and we should be trying harder.

Schools: why not creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson gives a great and funny lecture about how we are only educating people in the head, and "slightly to one side." Thanks to Tracy for telling me about ted.com, home of interesting ideas. I tried posting the video to no avail, so here's the link.

Similarly, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the need for "meaningful work," and the fact that we are not maximizing the talent potential in our society.

Once again, the fool speaks the truth

Not that anybody really believes Rick Mercer is a fool. But the funnyman sees the whole picture, that's right b'y.

Peace, Order and . . . Good Government ?

What a firestorm!

In case you were too wrapped up in ho-ho-ho this weekend, you should be aware that Canada appears to be headed for its first coalition government in 91 years. The Liberals and NDP are attempting to form a government with the support of the Bloc. The Conservatives have been asleep at the wheel since the election (or drunk with imagined power, depending on your perspective).

So, my two cents on the whole situation: It has occurred to me many times watching the Harper government that they are very interested in power but way less interested in governing. Their version of government seems to be to eliminate programs and then blame opposition on "partisanship" - witness the arts cuts and the elimination of subsidies to political parties based on vote share.

They have refused to meet with the press, used RCMP officers to keep people away from the PM at political events and ignored their own new "fixed election" law, ostensibly introduced to ensure stability to the governing process. Lots of reports tell of political-type firings where the Harperites are eliminating civil servants not because of incompetence, but because of ideology. Shades of Newt Gingrich, I think.

For some mysterious reason, Stephen Harper can't seem to deal with anything positive. He can say "no" and advertise moral outrage about a lot of things, but when it comes to building a country and cooperating with other people for the good of the country, he's at a total loss. The reality is that Canada is a huge, unwieldy, regionally and linguistically divided country, and running it requires getting along with most of the people, most of the time.

The question is how long Canadians want to put up with a government that cares more about eliminating political opposition than strengthening the country. Harper's tactics border on the delusional and it's time to get back to reality.

View from the balcony: teachers needed

The old Carleton County Courthouse is 175 years old this year, and looking fabulous despite its age. It's amazing to think this stately building was being used as a barn barely 30 years ago.

Perched in the balcony, last night I had the pleasure of listening to three young choirs, conducted by Jen Muir and Will Davidson. Less than ten years ago I was a student of Will's and you probably couldn't have paid people to sing in a high school choir. Now, they line up by the dozens to be in musical productions, join the band, and sing in extra-curricular choirs like Jennifer's. It's very exciting not only to see the numbers but to hear the results.

Luckily, these teachers, along with Sam Arnold and Peter McLaughlin, have been around long enough to see the second generation of their students move into conducting and performing. It's not often we go to events where the generations mingle - church being one of the only exceptions. Now that social institutions are fragmented, we send children to school, young adults to teach English overseas, adults to work, the sick and the elderly out of sight. What a tragedy.

Thankfully, last night this wasn't the case. People of all ages gave and enjoyed performances, and I saw the abundance of talent - perhaps more readily evident here because we lack distracting shopping malls and megaplexes. But, as has always been the case in New Brunswick, we don't have enough teachers to develop the gifts of our young people. Every music teacher I know is maxed to the hilt, running six ways from Sunday.

We need to do a better job convincing skilled teachers in every discipline that they are needed here, and that our students are worth the work. We should retain our capable young adults before they get the impression we're not interested and find opportunities elsewhere.

Looking back on a decade as a community musician, I know mentors influenced my decision to stay here and contribute - because of the training and encouragement they provided, and because of the community's willingness to let me try my hand. If we are serious about keeping young people we must put them to work - frequently and as soon as they are able. Allowing them to lead shows that we value their skills and that there is a place here where they can 'make their mark.'

Young people have an incredible amount of energy and motivation - witness the success of the Valley Young Company and the perpetual motion at Fusion cafe. The question is whether we are content to pass that energy on to other people's benefit, or whether we are creative enough to find outlets here, strengthening our own community in the process.

U.S Trails Cuba in Gender Equality

In a recent United Nations survey comparing gender equality in countries around the world, the United States ranked 27th, above Russia (42nd), China (57th), Brazil (73rd) and India (113th).

But the United States was ranked below Germany (11th), Britain (13th), France (15th), Lesotho (16th), Trinidad and Tobago (19th), South Africa (22nd), Argentina (24th) and Cuba (25th).

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Some surprising numbers, from the supposedly 'freest' country in the world. Looking at the top three countries (Norway, Finland and Sweden) and the bottom three (Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen), one can't help but wonder what role religion plays in all of this. The USA is far more religious than most people care to admit - mega churches make mega decisions there, and have a hold over a large part of public opinion.

The Nordic social democracies are among the least religious countries on the planet, whereas in all of the three bottom countries, Islam is the law. Of course, by that standard China should have done better, so it's more likely a measure of how women are viewed in each country - as a threat to be 'contained' at home, or as humans with potential to contribute socially and economically.

On an unrelated note, I read a great essay by Malcolm Gladwell (author of "The Tipping Point"), arguing that it takes, at minimum, 10 000 hours to be good at anything. Which really makes my 90 hour music-semester classes look ridiculous. But considering the hours a young video gamer puts into his art or how many times a baby falls down before it learns to walk, it seems like a good benchmark.

And now, more thoughts on the 'local'

If you were around last weekend, you might have attended the aRiVA launch at Kerry O'Toole's gallery in Gradton. It was a ton of fun, and the turnout surpassed our expectations. The River Valley Arts Alliance (RiVA) was formed with the belief that local people have real artistic contributions to make, and that people will recognize talent when they see it, regardless of whether it comes from cities or small towns. A major part of the evening was dedicated to redressing the idea that New Brunwsickers are an 'artless' people.

Looking at the more-than-twenty local artists on display, and hearing a fabulous band of happy amateurs, aRiVA celebrated to the joy of being "local" - specific to one place (this place) with concerns that outsiders couldn't quite grasp. To wit, here's James Howard Kuntlser's take on "localism" and the role it will play after peak oil. For Carleton County, a place where people have traditionally been self-reliant crafstmen and women, I think it is an encouraging forecast:

What remains for now is a terrible grandiose inertia among people who really ought to know better: our culture leaders. The cutting edge has become a blunt instrument unsuited to fashioning the patterns of the future. Everything we do from now on will have to be finer in scale, quality, and character. Exercises in irony will no longer be appreciated because there will no longer be a premium paid for declaring ourselves to be ridiculous. The localism of the future will not be a matter of fashion. It will be in the food we eat and the air we breathe, and we’d better start paying attention.

The feminist president?

Bill Clinton was widely touted as 'the first black president,' because he owed his election to the large numbers of African-Americans who voted for him. Now the USA has a real 'black president,' and much has been made of this historic victory. It has been an amazing week to watch. But that being said, the gender undercurrent in this election interests me much more.

The primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Obama was a race to convince women that each candidate understood their issues. Then Sarah Palin entered the picture, and the McCain campaign attempted to convince disgruntled Hillary voters that Barack Obama couldn't be trusted. The issue of who women would vote for was raised repeatedly, largely because the Democrats can't win elections without them.

In his victory speech, Obama thanks his male campaign staff (and running mate) but acknowledges the debts he owes to women in his life. In his victory address, he thanked his wife, grandmother, aunts , mentions his daughters and tells the story of a 106-year old black women as an illustration of how far the USA has come as a country.

In the past, wifes are thanked perfunctorily and daughters look cute and smile for the camera. But I can sense that Obama truly respects women for their contributions and that he sees them as people. This is what feminism set out to achieve - political and economic equality of women.

Michelle Obama was Barack's mentor at the Chicago law firm where he interned after Harvard. He repeatedly asked her out and she repeatedly said "no," on the grounds that it was inappropriate. Now they are moving into the White House, with their two daughters, as partners.

MLK, 1967

This segment of a speech by Dr. Martin Luther is from the documentary series "Century of the Self." The connections between psycholanalysis, war, consumer culture, propaganda and public relations are all there. Check it out free online. Bonus points for anyone who can tie the content of this documentary to the recent Wall Street bailout. But I digress. Here's the quote:

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word: it is the word 'maladjusted.' It is the ring and cry of modern child psychology: 'maladjusted.' Of course, we all want to live the well-adjusted life in order to avoide neurotic and schizophrenic personalities.

But as I move towards my conclusion, I would like to say to you today, in a very honest manner, that there are some things in our society and some things in her world, for which I am proud to be maladjusted. And I call upon all men of goodwill to be maladjusted to these things until the good society is realized.

I must honestly say to you that I never intend to to adjust myself to racial segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, and leave millions of God's children suffocating in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.

Who you calling a maverick!?

Not John McCain, that's for sure!

How about a school for mavericks?

Or mavericks on Main Street?

Hello, October

The MacArthur foundation announced its latest round of geniues - or is that geniui? {Little nerd joke there, for people who enjoy the Latin plurals. Sorry. } On a serious note, these people are engaged in amazing projects, and are now being funded to the tune of 100k per year, for 5 years. I think they should have a MacArthur genius grant for public school teachers. Excellent teachers could be funded by someone other than the government, on the basis of their innovative teaching ideas. Wouldn't that be fun!!

Secondly, read this article in the NewYork Times. Apparently a growing number of French Muslims are sending their children to Catholic schools. It's partially because of the headscarf issue (they're banned in public schools) but also because many Muslim parents want their children to have a quality education away from Muslim extremists.

This is fascinating from a couple of perspectives - consider the bloody hatred inspired by the Crusades, and the ongoing tension between secular western states and Muslims who believe that shari'a ought to be the law of every land. The fact that Muslims are now most free to practice their religion in Catholic schools is pretty mind-bending.

Finally, the scenery in Carleton County is so breathtaking right now that I haven't driven over the speed limit in weeks. Take the 105 between Woodstock and Hartland. It's like watching a lustrous painting come to life, in slow motion. Yes, sir.

Margaret Atwood hits the nail on the head

The post below is not my work (unfortunately!) but expresses thoughts I think she's right about our current government's distaste for arts and culture. The arts are not elitist. They're what keep us from eating grey cardboard cereal and living in grey cardboard houses and painting grey cardboard pictures and worst of all, thinking grey cardboard thoughts.

But enough outta me....

What sort of country do we want to live in? What sort of country do we already live in? What do we like? Who are we? At present, we are a very creative country. For decades, we've been punching above our weight on the world stage - in writing, in popular music and in many other fields. Canada was once a cultural void on the world map, now it's a force. In addition, the arts are a large segment of our economy: The Conference Board estimates Canada's cultural sector generated $46-billion, or 3.8 per cent of Canada's GDP, in 2007. And, according to the Canada Council, in 2003-2004, the sector accounted for an “estimated 600,000 jobs (roughly the same as agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas and utilities combined).”

But we've just been sent a signal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he gives not a toss for these facts. Tuesday, he told us that some group called “ordinary people” didn't care about something called “the arts.” His idea of “the arts” is a bunch of rich people gathering at galas whining about their grants. Well, I can count the number of moderately rich writers who live in Canada on the fingers of one hand: I'm one of them, and I'm no Warren Buffett. I don't whine about my grants because I don't get any grants. I whine about other grants - grants for young people, that may help them to turn into me, and thus pay to the federal and provincial governments the kinds of taxes I pay, and cover off the salaries of such as Mr. Harper. In fact, less than 10 per cent of writers actually make a living by their writing, however modest that living may be. They have other jobs. But people write, and want to write, and pack into creative writing classes, because they love this activity – not because they think they'll be millionaires.

Every single one of those people is an “ordinary person.” Mr. Harper's idea of an ordinary person is that of an envious hater without a scrap of artistic talent or creativity or curiosity, and no appreciation for anything that's attractive or beautiful. My idea of an ordinary person is quite different. Human beings are creative by nature. For millenniums we have been putting our creativity into our cultures - cultures with unique languages, architecture, religious ceremonies, dances, music, furnishings, textiles, clothing and special cuisines. “Ordinary people” pack into the cheap seats at concerts and fill theatres where operas are brought to them live. The total attendance for “the arts” in Canada in fact exceeds that for sports events. “The arts” are not a “niche interest.” They are part of being human.

Moreover, “ordinary people” are participants. They form book clubs and join classes of all
kinds - painting, dancing, drawing, pottery, photography - for the sheer joy of it. They sing in choirs, church and other, and play in marching bands. Kids start garage bands and make their own videos and web art, and put their music on the Net, and draw their own graphic novels.

“Ordinary people” have other outlets for their creativity, as well: Knitting and quilting have made comebacks; gardening is taken very seriously; the home woodworking shop is active. Add origami, costume design, egg decorating, flower arranging, and on and on ... Canadians, it seems, like making things, and they like appreciating things that are made.

They show their appreciation by contributing. Canadians of all ages volunteer in vast numbers for local and city museums, for their art galleries and for countless cultural festivals - I think immediately of the Chinese New Year and the Caribana festival in Toronto, but there are so many others. Literary festivals have sprung up all over the country - volunteers set them up and provide the food, and “ordinary people” will drag their lawn chairs into a field - as in Nova Scotia's Read by the Sea - in order to listen to writers both local and national read and discuss their work. Mr. Harper has signalled that as far as he is concerned, those millions of hours of volunteer activity are a waste of time. He holds them in contempt.

I suggest that considering the huge amount of energy we spend on creative activity, to be creative is “ordinary.” It is an age-long and normal human characteristic: All children are born creative. It's the lack of any appreciation of these activities that is not ordinary. Mr. Harper has demonstrated that he has no knowledge of, or respect for, the capacities and interests of “ordinary people.” He's the “niche interest.” Not us.

It's been suggested that Mr. Harper's disdain for the arts is not merely a result of ignorance or a tin ear - that it is “ideologically motivated.” Now, I wonder what could be meant by that? Mr. Harper has said quite rightly that people understand we ought to keep within a budget. But his own contribution to that budget has been to heave the Liberal-generated surplus overboard so we have nothing left for a rainy day, and now, in addition, he wants to jeopardize those 600,000 arts jobs and those billions of dollars they generate for Canadians. What's the idea here? That arts jobs should not exist because artists are naughty and might not vote for Mr. Harper? That Canadians ought not to make money from the wicked arts, but only from virtuous oil? That artists don't all live in one constituency, so who cares? Or is it that the majority of those arts jobs are located in Ontario and Quebec, and Mr. Harper is peeved at those provinces, and wants to increase his ongoing gutting of Ontario - $20-billion a year of Ontario taxpayers' money going out, a dribble grudgingly allowed back in - and spank Quebec for being so disobedient as not to appreciate his magnificence? He likes punishing, so maybe the arts-squashing is part of that: Whack the Heartland.

Or is it even worse? Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists, because they're a mouthy lot and they don't line up and salute very easily. Of course, you can always get some tame artists to design the uniforms and flags and the documentary about you, and so forth - the only kind of art you might need - but individual voices must be silenced, because there shall be only One Voice: Our Master's Voice. Maybe that's why Mr. Harper began by shutting down funding for our artists abroad. He didn't like the competition for media space.

The Conservative caucus has already learned that lesson. Rumour has it that Mr. Harper's idea of what sort of art you should hang on your wall was signalled by his removal of all pictures of previous Conservative prime ministers from their lobby room - including John A. and Dief the Chief - and their replacement by pictures of none other than Mr. Harper himself. History, it seems, is to begin with him. In communist countries, this used to be called the Cult of Personality. Mr. Harper is a guy who - rumour has it, again - tried to disband the student union in high school and then tried the same thing in college. Destiny is calling him, the way it called Qin Shi Huang, the Chinese emperor who burnt all records of the rulers before himself. It's an impulse that's been repeated many times since, the list is very long. Tear it down and level it flat, is the common motto. Then build a big statue of yourself. Now that would be Art!

Adapted from the 2008 Hurtig Lecture, to be delivered in Edmonton on Oct. 1

So many elections, so little time...

For me, politics is like watching a soap opera, except in real time and with metaphorical deaths and resurrections (for the most part). So, with the Canadian and U.S. federal elections, and soon a new PC leader in NB, I can't even keep up, and that's the way I like it.

The Canadian and U.S. elections could hardly be more different - there is a LOT at stake south of the border, and everyone can sense it. The fact that young people, women and voters of colour will decide this election (between an inter-racial ticket or an inter-gender ticket, no less) shows that slowly, the face of politics is changing. To what end, the debate remains.

In Canada, nobody is particularly fired up. It seems we are always going to the polls, and the choices offered for PM this time are lacklustre. A choice between a fractured Liberal party, the mean-spirited Harper Conservatives or tossing your vote to left-wingers or separatists suggests that most votes will be "protest" votes, but for what or against what, we're not exactly sure. Maybe part of the problem is that few Canadians know where they want the country to go next.

So, a couple of interesting links for the political junkies: an interactive map about female politicians in the world . Canada isn't doing so hot, nor is most of the G-8, for that matter. And New Brunswick is one of the worst provinces for female MP's.

Finally, Paul Well's excellent piece on exactly how calculating Stephen Harper is. He's not the ideologically driven man that a lot of critics would have us believe. He's driven by winning, and holding on to power long enough to change Canada. So read this-I wouldn't be surprised if Harper's people are running Census figures on every riding in the country, figuring out exactly whose votes he needs to gain a majority, and focus-grouping the heck out of those demographics to see what promises will win them.

It's almost like the "market-research" mentality has taken over the PMO. In this respect, Harper's campaign bears a remarkable similarity to the debates over how to win swing ridings in Ohio, Pennsylvani and Florida. Whether McCain's selection of a female running mate will turn that tide, we shall see.

The party that wrecked America

If the whole echoes-of the Great-Depression, who-took-the-capital-out-of capitalism thing is catching your attention, continue reading here. It's hard to believe the meltdown going on south of the 49th parallel, except when you stop and consider how long the system has been corrupt.

Consider the scenario of the last few weeks:

1. We are continually being told that high oil prices are a result of "supply and demand."
2. A major hurricane invades the U.S. refinery coast (Gulf Coast, sorry) and the price of gas jumps. Fine.
3. The week after historic and prestigious banks seek bankruptcy protection, the price of oil goes back down. The justification is, 'we need to keep the economy growing."

So, which is it? Is the price of oil controlled by psychological reasoning (ie. what is supposedly 'good' for the economy) or is it actually controlled by supply and demand?

Answers, please, because this rational economy is looking more schizophrenic every day.

If it's broke, don't fix it

That's right. Because soon, it looks like only the dealer who sold you the car will have the knowledge necessary to fix it. Apparently auto makers are trying to restrict access to diagnostic software and chips necessary to maintaining newer cars. So small garages can forget about working on newer cars.

Boys, my '88 Camry is looking better all the time. Metaphorically, of course.