51 percent of the population; 1 percent of the landowners

My apologies for getting so serious so soon after the celebrations of The Trials of Benny Swim and the Dooryard festival. But the fact remains that there's still a lot of work to be done in this crazy world of ours. Here is an excerpt from a long article from the New York Times dealing with women's global inequality. It's part of a new book which we should all take to heart, given that women create us, nurture us and inspire us on so many levels.

Bill Gates recalls once being invited to speak in Saudi Arabia and finding himself facing a segregated audience. Four-fifths of the listeners were men, on the left. The remaining one-fifth were women, all covered in black cloaks and veils, on the right. A partition separated the two groups. Toward the end, in the question-and-answer session, a member of the audience noted that Saudi Arabia aimed to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology by 2010 and asked if that was realistic. “Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country,” Gates said, “you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.” The small group on the right erupted in wild cheering.

Read the rest here, then sit still and think about it.

Unfiltered Smoke

Hey folks, just wanted to remind you that Jason's new creative hub is up online: www.unfilteredsmoke.com. He's looking for readers and contributors, check it out!

Best of luck, Jason for your launch at Dooryard next Friday!

No, no, the other Woodstock!

Notice the coincidental date - 40 years next Sunday. Check out the excellent photos here and here. Some hippies sold out, but their organizing model remains influential.

10 Things About Dooryard

Here's what you don't want to miss next week! Schedule is available at www.rivervalleyarts.net.dooryard

10. Tons of free afternoon showcases.

9. Random Saturday artists and Vendors (everyone is invited).

8. Saturday afternoon Beer & Wine Tasting (if that's your bag, baby). Get 5 beer and 5 wine samples for $10.

7. Arts Workshops for young and young at heart.

6. A chance to paint your way across the train bridge.

5. Live outdoor concerts on Friday and Saturday evening.

4. Writers telling tales out of school at Fusion.

3. The Charlie Bomb Marathon on Friday.

2. A classy cocktail party with yummy food on Wednesday.

1. The Trials of Benny Swim. Only the most infamous story in Carleton County

Ben Franklin's Schedule

Early Riser!

The big picture

Is here. So volunteer! Tickets on sale at Fusion and MES. We expect the cocktail party to sell out so get your ticket now!

Dooryard Art and Workshops

Permanent art displays for the duration of the festival will be hosted at MACC OfficeFresh Market FoodsFusion Coffee Co.NBCC Lobby. Make sure you drop in to take a look.

On Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th, artists and and crafts people will take over the down town waterfront from the Farm Market to the Main stage tent on water street. Many works will be for sale, so be sure to take the Dooryard Arts Tour.

Get the message

Found a great site where elementary, middle and high school students made 1-minute videos explaining how proposed budget cuts would affect them. We've just been through this in NB and managed to avoid cuts only because of an across-the-board public outcry. Well done, everyone. Check out these videos - same stuff, different pile south of the border.

Also, the English language version of the AAPNB has been launched, after nearly two years of consultation. Their website is here. Their objectives are very similar to RiVA's . . . .

Why history?

My conclusion is simple: As we can no longer rely on personal memory, or even on the force of personal encounters with this last of the wartime generations, so we need more and better history to be taught in our schools. History brought home with human stories. A good teacher might start with Bronek, Leszek and Ralf.

Some numbers to crunch

Volunteer hours in arts, culture, recreation and sport organizations represent 64% of total work in these organizations, much higher than the overall average of 20% for the non-profit sector.

Other types of organizations that rely more heavily on volunteers than on paid labour include those involved in law, advocacy and politics, the environment, religion, as well as international development, relief and human rights.

The replacement cost value of volunteer work in arts, culture, recreation and sport organizations is estimated at $3.6 billion.

P.S. We've moved the Dooryard mainstage to behind Home Hardware, where the pavement won't have to be disturbed by arts and culture. It's the best we could do.

12 holes or an arts festival

We are planning Woodstock's first 5 day arts festival for August. The schedule is below. Except that we might have to move it out of town because the Town of Woodstock won't let us put 12 holes in the Farm Market parking lot to secure our mainstage tent, which is required to be staked down in order to meet the building code.

Mega frustration, anyone?

I cannot understand for the life of me how the maintenance of a parking lot is more important than bringing residents and visitors together to enjoy a great festival.

Speaking of Guitars

Everyone's talking about Dave Carroll's Taylor Guitar. Here's a great commentary from a marketing blog about how the internet is changing the way consumers deal with customer service complaints.

Get your Dooryard ready...

The Dooryard Arts Festival will run from Wednesday, August 12th until Sunday, August 16th, and will be headquartered in downtown Woodstock. Most events will be free, walkable and open to all ages. Please watch the blog for schedule updates or visit http://www.rivervalleyarts.net/

Wednesday, August 12th
Free daytime art exhibits open in downtown buildings with more than 15 local artists confirmed.
Student music and local musician showcases on outdoor mainstage (King St.)
Cocktail party in the Connell House Parlour. Music by Tracy Anderson Group/Josh Guest (6-8pm; $10) Food by Debrah Westerburg
Evening Music: Singing Bridge Orchestra and Pat LePoidevin, downtown, with art by Adam Atherton.

Thursday, August 13th
Free daytime art and music showcases continue. Art workshops for children and adults
Premiere of “The Trials of Benny Swim” at the Old County Courthouse. (8pm, $15/10).
Ryan Griffith and the writers of Vagabond Trust at Fusion, with music by Colin Brewer. (8:30pm/free)

Friday, August 14th
Free daytime art and music showcases continue, with workshops.
Jens Jeppesen live at the Picaroon’s Garden Party. (8pm; Free)
Outdoor screening of local films including the Charlie Bomb series, NB Heritage Films, Chris Dow, music by Andrew Wiley(10pm; Free)
Midnight Music - Never the Same

Saturday, August 14th
Daytime art and music showcases continue, with workshops.
Food and Wine tasting - 4-6pm, downtown ($10/person with food vendors onsite)
Ross Neilson and the Sufferin’ Bastards live at the Picaroon’s Garden Party with opening act the Debarker Boys (8pm, $10 ticket)

Sunday, August 15th
Closing brunch downtown 10am-1pm. (Bring your own or price TBA)

Update: Workshops

Wednesday Aug 12th (2-4pm) & Saturday Aug 15th: 2 Part Pottery workshop for Kids with Wendy Thomas. Ages 8-11, downtown, weather permitting (rain location-Saint James United Church). Only 8 seats available, so register early by calling 328-2020 or email riva@rivervalleyarts.net

Session 1: build your piece by learning hand building and slab building techniques. Session 2: Glaze your piece. Participants will go home with their very own electric kiln fired work of art. Cost TBA

Friday Aug 14th (2-4pm) Printmaking Workshop with Michael McEwing (downtown). All ages welcome. Cost= $5.00 and there are 20 seats available.Register by calling 328-2020 or email riva@rivervalleyarts.net.

Learn various carving techniques, how to create a print plate and print your very own series of images.

Political wives

Hint: start at the bottom and work backwards. Who are these women?

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.