All she wants to do is dance, dance, dance

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

TO DANCELAND

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

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

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

from Apparatus (1997)

Uncle Sam says: we want your power

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

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

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

Let the waiting begin

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

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

Speak up for the Weslyan church

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

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

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

Make your municipal democracy work and get out there!

Ahoy, me Canadian pirates

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

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

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

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

Over and out.

We're gonna kick it up a notch

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

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

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

Support the library book rate

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

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

Two nightcaps on writing

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

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

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

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

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

PH: Connected.

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

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

PH: And that's the good news.

TM: That is the good news.

The Good Place or No Place

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

Bon appetit!

Local Links

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

The lady's got brains

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

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

Stranger than fiction

Bizarre claims from this article in the New York Times:

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

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

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

Your two cents worth

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

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

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

Give us libraries and librarians

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

Being gay in middle school

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

Maritime Jazz Mash-up

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

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

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

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

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

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

To those who say change is impossible

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

Yasmina Khadra

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

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

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

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

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

To close, verses from El Moutannabi:

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

(Arberry, Poems 5)

Bon appetit!

What's in a name?

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

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

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

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

Sorry mom, but Tetris did make me smarter

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