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.