hope springs eternal...

It's happening.

can you clarify that statement?

Iggy set off a firestorm in recent days over his controversial comments on war crimes on both sides of the recent Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon. If he has a proven habit of putting his foot in it at just the wrong time, well, there was another politician with a similar need to show off his supreme sense of bad taste and poor timing, yes our great leader, Stephen Harper, also got into the action. Oy vey.

When the Conservatives aren't defending Canadians against the corrupting force of minority rights they take a bit of time out to make unfounded and inflammatory remarks about an entire party, who just happen to be the Official Opposition, by wading into one of the most difficult issues in international politics, namely the relationship between Israel and the rest of the Middle East.

Both sides have engaged in spin and re-spin, a few of the other Liberal leadership hopefuls have weighed in (Bob Rae's wife and family are Jewish -- I guess nobody briefed the PM on that one), and the whole issue has, in a further twist, become a chance for Ignatieff to clarify his position on the war in Iraq. Umm...

We now have a hubris-filled minority government, strutting about the halls of power as though granted a clear mandate, which by its very definition a "minority government" does not have. And in the other corner are the Liberals, a party in transition to something more coherent (we hope), but still plagued by many of the old gaffes that led to their fall in the first place.

While this whole affair begins to spend itself, and the initial shock cools, the Harper Conservatives continue to press their irresponsible and insulting domestic agenda designed to sell out Canada's environment, natural resources, minority rights and equality-based social safety net.

I remember a little over a year ago when politics in Ottawa was more soap opera than substance, a drama full of betrayals, courtships and nail-biting votes won or lost on the strength of one little "yea" or "nay". Those days are passed. The stakes are VERY high now, and sadly I'm not sure there are many players left who understand the meaning of "peace, order and good government" or the real responsibility to LEAD, something utterly needed if Canada is to keep from slipping into the oblivion of the ranks of unimpressive middle-powers by becoming a handmaid to reactionary foreign policy while ignoring the mess in our own back yard.

I'm waiting for the miracle to come...

note the minimal height difference...

Yes, I haven't written for a LONG TIME in this little blog 'o mine. But I have a good excuse...(refer to image for photo evidence).

I will resume in a bloggerly way in the weeks to come, promise...

don't worry, be canada...

So we didn't make it to the podium, but Canada ranked in the top 10 (just barely) on the recently released "World Map of Happiness." The site features an interactive map of the world, complete with floating 'ranking' info, and a full breakdown of the data used by the researchers at the University of Leicester who put together this rather marvellous piece of socio-cartography. Of course the Northern Europeans top the list, although Denmark, land of mad and semi-suicidal literary monarchs (..."to be or not to be happy"??) is the happiest place on earth. Go figure...

what literary and political journalism requires... (thank you jk)

"It was while working with her (Barbara Epstein, editor of NY Review of Books, died June 16, 2006)) that I learned the most valuable lessons of our friendship. I began to see more clearly how literary and political journalism requires much more than the creation of harmonious and intellectually robust sentences; how it is linked inseparably to the cultivation of a moral and emotional intelligence; how it demands a reasonable and civil tone, a suspicion of abstractions untested by experience, a personal indifference to power, and, most importantly, a quiet but firm solidarity with the powerless." Pankaj Mishra

Thank you to JK, who forwarded this quotation to me.

collective sigh...

It seems I never tire of neglecting this space only to sporadically return long enough to apologize for my absence. Well...here we go again. It's been a busy month, with the start of a new job, a trip to Toronto (sorry if I missed you, it was mostly business), and other personal miscellany. And then there are the more grave matters of world geo-political combustibles, another case of the border-skirmish blues (whites and reds optional), and off we go again, cameras in tow into the crucible of G-d (or God or Allah or whatever).

Cue 'collective sigh'.

I am not competent to weigh in on the specifics of this latest episode in the "never ending conflict," but on a purely human level it cannot do other than deeply trouble me, as I believe it does us all.

I'm not one to go in for organized religion (or any of its dogmatic accessories), but I will offer the only thing I can, a hope for hope in the form of a simple prayer for peace (unsure as I am how to pray in the 21st century).

I don't know what else to write for the time being, and maybe there is little more to say tonight. This is my small offering in place of big ideas. I'd like it to count for more than another exhalation in the collective sigh, because the last thing I want to do is resign myself to the world as it presently is. We are all much better than this.

i blame it on patio season

Hmm...though my name isn't Zillah, and I didn't drink too much gin, I do feel that a major cause of my "virtual absence" has been the sudden explosion of patio-worthy weather in my dear pleasant valley.

Nothing of great weight to share for now, but just wanted to re-assert my claim to this virtual part of the valley, and do promise more worthy entries will follow when it finally hits me that I will be in France in LESS THAN TWO MONTHS!!

The countdown has begun...

...and the number one reason NOT to get married on a public beach...

kurt's words: of chimps and turkeys

As it's been a holiday Monday, which equals "found time," I decided to do a little virtual housekeeping.

I fired up Firefox and opened my burgeoning "Bookmarks" folder -- there I rediscovered well over a hundred items that I'd once found noteworthy enough to tag for a revisit but of which maybe a dozen had since been called upon (and that's probably a generous estimate). Yes, I'm a child of my MTV/A.D.D. generation, and a great procrastinator to boot, which means that many thoroughly interesting and life-enriching, knowledge-building items were at one time briefly scanned before they were summarily filed for a planned revisit that never was... Until today.

I found some great stuff buried in my pile of bookmarks, but of these immaterial treasures, one of the finest was this link to some words written by American satirical novelist and political gadfly Kurt Vonnegut. I offer this as part of the Wry Offensive that may yet save us, the silly race of "power-drunk chimpanzees".

once more to see the forest for the trees...

To those who began to doubt I'd ever return, I'm happy to report that the paper-making/chasing/shredding/filing/etc. madness has, for a time, subsided. It was a rather dense few months in the proverbial forest of a thousand pulped, pressed and bureaucratically processed trees, but I have now divested myself of a large burden of dead-wood and can once more see the light filtering through the dense foliage as the workplace fog thins and lifts. How's that for carrying a metaphor WAY too far?

And now I find myself in Toronto for a few days of mixed work and pleasure to contemplate the bigger picture that has come back into focus. More bloggerly activity is promised in the coming weeks as the gift of time is given back to this tired little lumberjack (now with 100% more beard).

monday missive...

To all those friends and intimates who may start wondering where I've gotten to these past few days, and who will wonder after my whereabouts during the days and weeks to come, please understand that I'm buried under a stack of semi-pointless paperwork and managing inane procedural crises the likes of which are not even worth mentioning in the most banal of small talk. I will return when I've done enough paperwork penance to be released from my temporary bureaucratic purgatory, I promise.

Can you tell the kind of Monday I've just had?

words, words, words...

You stand still for three days

for a piece of wisdom

and everything falls to the right place

or wrong place

You speak

don’t know whether

seraph or bitch

flutters at your heart

and look through windows

for cue cards

blazing in the sky.

The solution.

This last year I was sure

I was going to die

Michael Ondaatje, Secular Love

wednesday is the new friday...

Since I'm currently filling two positions in my office (ah the joys of being overqualified -- they keep giving you more work!), and have found myself increasingly worn-down by the never-ending bureaucratic paper-chase (multiplied by two!), I made the executive decision yesterday that I would take Thursday off, which when added to the four-day Easter long weekend, gives me a wonderful FIVE days of rest!

I won't lie, it's been a stressful few weeks, both on the work front (two jobs!), and on the personal front as I find myself increasingly on the defensive when faced with certain difficult situations. My horoscope told me there'd be days like this...but a five day weekend should provide at least temporary relief from the mania for a little space of time. It's now official: Wednesday is the new Friday.

To kick-off my expanded weekend, I'd like to offer up a touch of L. Cohen (his 'Book of Mercy' has been my meditative companion as I've navigated the recent rough waters...):

I heard my soul singing behind a leaf, plucked the leaf, but then I heard it singing behind a veil. I tore the veil, but then I heard it singing behind a wall. I broke the wall, and I heard my soul singing against me. I built up the wall, mended the curtain, but I could not put back the leaf. I held it in my hand and I heard my soul singing mightily against me. This is what it's lilke to study without a friend.

Couldn't have put it better myself...

a point of contemplation for a monday evening...

Some insightful words written by Thomas Merton, from his collection of essays Contemplation in a World of Action (p. 109-110):

“…man has a responsibility to find himself where he is, namely in his own proper time and in his place, in the history to which he belongs and to which he must inevitably contribute either his responses or his evasions, either truth and act or slogan and gesture. Even his gestures of evasion and withdrawal may unfortunately be decisive contributions to a void in which history can take on a demonic orientation.”

where is sheila when you need her??

This morning I found a tidbit about Canada in the Guardian Unlimited's "Books/Review" section, and was more than a little stunned to learn of our waning cultural standing in the world in such a 'cyber-accidental' way. I'm not sure if this is the work of our new political masters, or if this was a quiet backroom decision by the last regime in its dying days, but either way it's proof positive that the government continues to discount the value of culture both at home and (especially now) abroad. Sigh...where is Sheila Copps when you need her??

Say what you will about the former grand dame of all things CanCon, but she got results and was able to keep culture much more front and centre in a political climate that has in recent years come to favour the technocratic over the creative. Why is it that our government now seems to view culture as a luxury to be championed when economically useful or good for our image abroad, but to be cut at the first available opportunity once its short-term usefulness has passed? You'll note that the Brits have eyes to see the problem, and yet I don't think any Canadian news outlet has reported on this, or likely will. Not a good sign at all...

From the Guardian Website (bold emphasis is mine):

Canada has for a long time considered culture a third pillar of foreign policy. In the UK particularly it has put its money where its mouth is, hiring officers specialising in literature, performing arts, film, TV and visual arts. From a literary point of view, the past decade has seen a massive increase in interest in Canadian writers in this country; three of the six 2002 Booker nominees were Canadian (and a Canadian - Yann Martel - won). Recently an aboriginal writer called Sky Dancer has read in British schools and libraries and been sent on a tour, and at last year's Edinburgh festival there were 17 Canadian authors, including Margaret Atwood, John Ralston Saul, Romeo Dallaire and performance poet Shane Koyczan (who was such a hit he is now going to the Hay festival). Many were brought over with the aid of government money, and as Catherine Lockerbie, director of the Edinburgh international book festival, noted this week, they were writers she would not necessarily have heard of if she hadn't been taken to Canada, and been introduced to them. But the Canadian government seems to have lost faith: this week the four cultural officers, who have more than 50 years of specialist experience between them, were made redundant, to be replaced by two cultural relations officers.

St. Francis was no fool...

I'm posting, unedited, a text a good friend forwarded to me this afternoon. It's from the website Living Compassion, and is a message I find deeply resonant especially at a time in our global reality when it seems nothing but chaos remains to be looked forward to in the years to come.

On the morning after the United States 2004 national elections, Cheri Huber sent these thoughts on peace to the worldwide email list of Living Compassion:

“It is time to reconcile all beings in the world.
Peace is no longer just a good idea, a dream without any real belief.
We can no longer hope that war and violence can defend and protect.
We must choose peace if we are to survive.
We must make a radical turn from the right, and a radical turn from the left.
We must make our way back to center. Not a political center, but the center of our being.
We must become a good friend to those who agree with us and those who do not.
We must invite everyone to the table; we must sit together, share, learn, listen, open our hearts, and, together, move to the place that is the most compassionate to all.”

That radical center, that center of our being, is a place that is not against anything. That is perhaps what is most radical about it. Many of us who are committed to peace, passionate about peace, activists for peace, conduct our quest for peace from a conviction that we are against an adversary, and we know who that adversary is. We wage war for peace, and peace eludes us.

St. Francis said, “Do not try to change the World. Change worlds.” He did not mean escape, write off the world and walk away. He spent most of his life walking into the world, talking with people, engaging them. He did not try to wrench the people or the world into some shape he was convinced they should take. Rather, he greeted all with “Pace e bene”: Peace and Good. He simply lived in a world in which he and everyone else belonged.

T.S. Eliot describes: “A condition of complete simplicity, costing not less than everything.” The radical center. The place lived from by Francis, by Clare, by Gandhi, by Martin Luther King, Jr. Costing us our identity, our righteousness, our separateness, our against-ness. Costing us all the mean victories.

Yet it creates a universe of possibility, generosity and freedom. A woman in Kenya sees the devastating result of deforestation and begins to plant trees. A mother in Washington, DC, befriends the young man who killed her son. Communities around the world rally to support local organic farmers and establish farmers’ markets. Indigenous people in Ecuador seek partners in the United States to save the rainforest that is their home. A group of Zen monks learns that children in an African slum need food, and they say, “We can help.”

To be sure, even when the path of peace seems clear, the work can be demanding and challenging. It takes practice. Peace is a practice. And, it is exciting, rewarding and the most fun a human being can have. We choose peace; it is a matter of survival. We invite you to join Living Compassion at the table of peace.

finally, a comic that reflects the deep truths of my life...

god is an american

It was evident from yesterday's Speech from the Throne that the new Conservative government will make a warming of Canada-US relations a top priority. Below is a list (thank god for anonymous email forwards) that serves to remind us all what we stand to gain by chumming up to the Bush administration and it's ideological base...if you're easily offended by 'tongue-in-cheek' anti-American rhetoric, please click here instead.

Things you have to believe to be a Republican today:

• Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

• Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

• Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

• The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

• A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

• The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans'benefits and combat pay.

• If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

• A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

• Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

• Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

• A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

• Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

• The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

• Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

• You support states' rights, but the Attorney General can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.

• What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

a friend's notes from the frontlines of human possibility...

Below, unedited, are notes taken by a close friend who attended a lecture given by the incomparable Karen Armstrong. I will let her account speak for itself:

Karen Armstrong

St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Toronto
Friday, March 31, 2006

Karen Armstrong gave a 45-minute lecture on her latest book, The Great Transformation, and answered three questions. These are my notes. jk

• The great transformation took place between 900 and 200 BCE, a period known as the Axial Age. (A second great transformation began about 400 years ago and is still in progress.)

• The chief characteristic of the Axial Age was getting rid of religiosity. Theological speculation is a waste of time, it said. A teacher is like a raft: you use it to cross water to get where you want to go but, once there, you do not carry the raft around with you on your back; you get rid of it.

• The Buddha refused to speak about God. He said that silence is the only true response to any divine reality one might experience.
  

• The key to experience of the divine is getting rid of the ego, a reaching into the unconscious world. God is at the opposite pole of ego.

• The WAY to get rid of ego is to cultivate COMPASSION. In this effort, Confucius stands out. He was the first to teach utter altruism or, the golden rule; i.e., do nothing to another which you would not wish to have done to you. All religions insist on this way of encountering the divine. “Love the stranger in your land.”
  

• Love (in the scriptures) was not an emotional term, but a legal one. You didn’t have to like the stranger, but you had to wish the same for her as you wished for yourself.

• The Greeks made a great contribution to this kind of love through their tragic dramas. One of the purposes of a play such as The Persians by Aeschylus was to make the spectators weep out of compassion for their enemies. The catalyst for this kind of drama was revulsion at violence and wars. (It was nothing like the violence that exists in our own times, but it was significant.)

• The development of YOGA was another way out of violence. It was the first attitude to adopt. It gave space for compassion to develop. It brought joy.

• “Religious” people, then and now, prefer to be RIGHT rather than COMPASSIONATE. This, of course, is EGO, whether one is speaking of religious or of secular opinions.

• So, the Axial Age tried to mitigate violence.

• We live in a time of enormous danger. The challenge of the 21^st century is to learn to live together, to have concern for EVERYBODY. We must see other nations as we see ourselves. We already KNOW this, so we do not need great prophets and sages to explain it to us.

Questions and Answers

Question 1: What do you think about “intelligent design”?

Answer: I think it is a red herring. Why does it matter who made the world? The way to live is to bless everybody. As for me, personally, I don’t share in any religious belief but, if it helps someone else to be kind, I think it’s okay. Be wary of strong opinions, be they religious or secular. They are egotistical.

Question 2: Do you have a team of researchers to help you write your books?

Answer: No! Research is the good part, the best part, of writing a book. For me, it’s a kind of prayer.

Question 3: How do you see the future of Christianity?

Answer: ALL religions now have to adapt. The future must lie in a greater pluralism. The scriptures are abused today. We must think about how we use difficult scriptural texts, i.e., ones that glorify war. Christianity must be compassionate to survive. And don’t rely too much on our leaders to show the way!

more dispatches from the random files:

"Jo Jo Melons" has a lot to answer for. This is nothing but unadulterated nightmare-fodder. And honestly, who in their right mind buys melons from a clown??

I stumbled across this and many other vintage melon labels while conducting some google-based research too ridiculous to explain...you can find the fruits of my labours by clicking here.

And, in the news today:

Boy's pancake breakfast delayed the end of WWII

This is 100% true, and truly random! And really, how often do you get the chance to write both "pancake breakfast" and World War II in a headline? Fabulous...

springtime...in my secret life

Thursday early evening, am just settling in and listening to the recurring soundtrack of my recent life: "Leonard Cohen: Ten New Songs".

This was a marvellous gift from a close friend, and I must admit it's been a fixture in my CD player ever since. Cohen's smoke-stained and soulful music (how he makes the synthesizer sound sexy is still beyond me), speaks to my present state of mind. His play of stale-mated passions, occasional moments of communion and constant searching after the nature of love create a perfect storm for my love-fatigued navel gazing...apparently.

Not that I'm so far gone, but when the world begins to thaw and blossom into the full flush of the springtime, our thoughts are suppose to turn to love and all that romantic blah, blah, blah. And because I'm terribly suspicious of that kind of "romantic blah, blah, blah" I need to fortify my defences, and build up some kind of provisional safeguards against being swept away by the season. So I turn to Cohen. He reminds anyone with ears to hear that love is a paradox, a rich contradiction, and that failed love is not defeat if you refuse an easy denial and instead embrace the ending with an equal force of love. Okay, so I've had a few things on my mind...

But to share a little with those who may not be familiar with Cohen, a supremely gifted poet (if not the most classically adept singer), here are the lyrics from my perennial favorite, Alexandra Leaving:

Suddenly the night has grown colder.
The God of love preparing to depart.
Alexandra hoisted on his shoulder,
They slip between the sentries of the heart.

Upheld by the simplicities of pleasure,
They gain the light, they formlessly entwine;
And radiant beyond your widest measure
They fall among the voices and the wine.

It’s not a trick, your senses all deceiving,
A fitful dream, the morning will exhaust
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for this to happen,
Go firmly to the window. drink it in.
Exquisite music. Alexandra laughing.
Your firm commitments tangible again.

And you who had the honor of her evening,
And by the honor had your own restored
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving;
Alexandra leaving with her lord.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for the occasion;
In full command of every plan you wrecked
Do not choose a coward’s explanation
That hides behind the cause and the effect.

And you who were bewildered by a meaning;
Whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

And so there you have it...a small taste of the state of things in the springtime of "my secret life"...

shall i call this retox?

Ah yes, the detox is now over. Farewell penicillin, it was fun while it lasted...

(en)forced detox; willpower optional or, 'how i learned to stop worrying and love the pills'

A farewell to wines, liquors, malts and spirits of all kinds for at least the next few days. This past week has been an enforced detox, thanks in no small part to the temporary residency of a small colony of bacteria in my throat (prime real estate), and the subsequent prescription of antibiotics to evict said unwanted residents. So, my St. Patty's day involved nothing more ambitious than a walk in the windy downtown of Pleasant Valley, followed by the screening of my latest French & Saunders acquisition. Actually, on balance it was a really enjoyable and hugely relaxing night. I may be happily relishing my detox more than is typical or even healthy for a young twenty-something habitually prone to answering the "last call". I think the down-time was much needed, and my body may have invited the unpleasant bacterial guests as a way of forcing me to slow down and take a bit of time to take stock of recent weeks. Man, it's been 'existentially dense' in the 'valley' to say the least...

Did I mention the Prime Minister is becoming a power-hungry tyrant? Okay, I'll admit that sentence was perhaps a mild exaggeration, but the recent consolidation of power in the PMO and the subtle changes to government procedure (think Supreme Court nominees), and policy (there are ONLY 5 important things we must do, as spelled out in the CPC election-winning platform) have got me nervous. Politics in Pleasant Valley used to be fun, dramatic, somewhat foolish, but generally benign. It's been a while since gravitas has weighed down the political scene, and made Canadians aware of the real (not simply latent) power invested in the PM and his Ministers. Now the PM must approve ALL official communications by the Ministers and high-level bureaucrats, and the press shall henceforth be kept at a comfortable arms-length from the halls of power -- it's inconvenient to have to answer questions so soon after major national decisions have been taken behind closed doors, apparently. Sigh. This is a "wait and watch" situation for now. I've just finished reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, so my opinions and impressions are quite deeply influenced by the example of other nations where power consolidation in the name of national security and stability is never a path to social prosperity, but more typically the first stage in the unmaking of democracy.

I'm sorry Mr. Harper (Rt. Hon), but democracy is a little messier than you may have suspected, and in some instances may even require DIALOGUE. Oh, and sometimes dissent creeps into the workings of government too. Just an FYI...

from the "random files"...

This made me laugh today...

a picture's worth a thousand protests

I remain beyond stunned at the continuing outcry against, and simultaneous staunch defense of, the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed published across Europe, in Jordan, and most recently in Calgary (a rare alliance of geography, I admit). About a week ago, I wrote to a friend that I felt deeply that a "critical mass" was about to be reached in global politics, and that I couldn't yet fathom what would be unleashed upon the world when this line was crossed. Last Friday my French instructor, a Muslim, raised this controversy as part of a conversation portion of the lesson and stated in a very plain manner that as a Muslim he felt equal frustration with both pro and con sides of this conflict, and felt quite honestly that the loss of countless thousands of jobs in the North American automotive industry warranted greater attention than this tantrum between the twin toddlers of reactionary politics and extremist religion. It was, I think, a marvelously Canadian moment, to be engaged in Government of Canada paid for French lessons with an African-Canadian Muslim instructor and discussing the cartoon controversy only to bring up the automotive industry. Maybe there is hope yet...

But, I'd like to share with anyone who cares to read this page, an interesting take on the matter by Timothy Comeau, the brainchild behind "goodreads" -- a topical email list serve -- who had these words to share on the matter:

Last week saw a lot of coverage in mainstream media about the protests over some stupid drawings. In the Saturday (11 Feb) Globe and Mail, the editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon argued that they weren't showing them because they didn't feel they added anything important to the story, while justifying the occasional photo of bombed bodies on Israeli buses. (In that case I'm thinking of a 2003 front page). He wrote:

'As one cartoonist said earlier this week, this is not a matter of self-censorship. It is a question of editing. Every day we are faced with similar decisions, particularly in choosing photos. Do we show a naked woman? Do we show a dead baby? Do we show bodies blown apart by a suicide bomber or other samples of the carnage that come our way regularly? Most often the answer is we do not. Only when we feel an offensive photo is absolutely necessary to the understanding of the story do we loosen our restraints.'

'This point makes no sense, given that a full understanding of protests about drawings should require that one see them for oneself. I could take the mainstream media's self-righteousness seriously if this were not the age of the internet and Google. You want to see 'em, go ahead and see them. The same goes for pictures of naked women (naked men aren't offensive?) dead babies, and carnage (orgish.com?). The media has used arguments of self-censorship and editing to draw us a picture of their own obsolesce.

I've been wondering about how many people have actually seen the images on the net. As that's part of what Goodreads is about, I almost sent the link a week ago but on the other hand, I didn't want to be part of the game of offending people. I've been wishing this story would just go away like they always do. Remember two years ago when Mel Gibson was supposedly an anti-semite?

Yet I can relate to being offended by images. In 2002 John Paul II came to Toronto for the World Youth Day and I went and saw him give Mass, since I grew up a Catholic and had seen his photograph at my grandmother's house for as long as I could remember, in addition to it being very popular in the area. There was a feeling of obligation, mixed with nostalgia I suppose. The night before the Mass, I went to an opening at Art System, the Ontario College of Art and Design student run gallery. Their show was about the Pope, and extended to Catholicism in general. As you can imagine, there were plenty of images of priests and popes sodomizing young boys. For one of the few times in my life, I was offended, but I knew where it was coming from (the rebellious young influenced by the scandals in the news) and having grown up in an open and tolerant society, felt no need to staple a placard to a stick and lead a protest, considering it was all just stupid and immature.

Now, one of the arguments with these Muhammed cartoons is that the editors of the newspaper should have known better. These Muslims are rioting and protesting because they feel insulted. I find it all kind of crazy that some people can get all upset over drawings, but as a visual artist I suppose I'm supposed to get all excited by the power of the medium and jump on the iconographic bandwagon, or get on the side of the cartoonists and talk about freedom of expression and denounce this iconoclasm. But I feel I have better things to do. The World has better things to do.

The editors of newspapers in North America would know better than to publish the images I saw at OCAD. They would be able to see how unfair they were. I'm not sure if that's censorship, as much as it's a respect for context. I can well imagine the images published elsewhere - in a show catalogue, in some article critiquing or analyzing the Church's pederast scandals, in some art history book. The show didn't warrant getting shut down by the cops, which still happens sometimes. There were no protests.

In this case, the cartoons violate Islam's prohibition against images, and especially the prohibition in depicting the Prophet. Worse, the arguments made against the images by Muslim spokespeople are that they stereotype Muslims as terrorists. The image by Claus Seidel seems aimed to offend by merely representing Muhammed, whereas the image by Erik Sorensen seems to be as juvenile and ignorant as the shit I saw that night at OCAD.

Further, I have a recent example of being offended by an image. And the image in question is that of an ad featuring Ann Coulter and Robert Novak, featured prominently next to the cartoons here. This webpage thus manages to offend not only Muslims, but secular liberals. And, when I ask myself, 'why do they keep protesting?' I'm reminded by Coulter, who recently referred to them as 'ragheads'.

The best explanation for what's happened over the past week (advanced by Rick Salutin and reported by Simon Tudiver in Maisonneuve's Mediascout) is that Muslims are pissed off for always being stereotyped and caricatured as terrorists, from these stupid cartoons to Hollywood's blockbusters. Tudivier's headline, by the way, 'Protesting the cartoon professor' refers to Peter March, who posted the images on the door of his office at Saint Mary's University. Peter March was a professor of mine in 1998. After Tudivier raises the Salutin article, he adds, 'Had Professor March offered up such an idea, MediaScout would have applauded his contribution. We should be looking to our academics to elevate the debate, not debase it by merely inciting an angry mob.' What's unclear in the reportage about Prof. March was that he teaches philosophy, and I think it's fair to suggest that, instead of merely trying to incite an angry mob (as he waded into a protest on campus last week), he was trying to engage in Socratic debate.

Which should help remind us that all of these easy explanations cheapen us all, and I'm going to go back to wishing the world had something better to talk about (like poverty, aids, hunger, global warming, etc). The way the religious keep hijacking the agenda of human betterment seems to me the best advertisement for agnostic secularism, which is why I'm rather happy to live in a Canada, where that's pretty much the way it is, although we end watching the world's news for entertainment rather than dealing with our own social agenda. A week ago I wanted to send out the link to the Colbert Report video below, under the headline, 'why I'm glad I'm not American' but truth be told, inasmuch as it critiques the American economy, it's true here as well. This type of thing warrants a lot more discussion than drawings, or 'turncoat politicians'. - Timothy

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'Thank You' | The Colbert Report
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/04.html#a7008


Protesting the Cartoon Professor | Simon Tudvier
http://urlx.org/maisonneuve.org/896e


The Cartoons
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/sarticle.php?id=12146


Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy | Wikipedia
http://urlx.org/en.wikipedia.org/b352

Face of Muhammed
http://face-of-muhammed.blogspot.com/
A blog about the cartoons


And so it goes...and increasingly as I walk the peaceful streets of Pleasant Valley I wonder how much longer our bubble of peace will last. It seems an embarrassing richness to live life in such an easy way, without the fear that marks the lives of so many, and drives them to the extremism that has come to characterize Islam (and Christianity for that matter) across the globe as the rule not the exception.

But that is a false image, promoted by media more interested in firing the emotions than engaging the more sober (and difficult) intelligence. I've gone back to reading Karen Armstrong's fine book A History of God, and would highly recommend it to any and all who need some perspective on the current state of latent holy war; a good antidote to the typical mainstream media coverage that relentlessly numbs us with daily contextless soundbytes. Armstrong's book is a dense work, but well worth the trouble if only to add the dimension of history to what feels like an on-going and virtually a-historical struggle for supremacy of the moment, whenever and whatever that may be defined as in the instant the image flickers past us.

finally i have returned...but will Harper drive me to the drink?

Yes, yes, yes it has been a LONG time since I've added words to these pages, and for that I apologize to those at home and abroad (I'm looking at you Taiwan) who've been wondering where my insightful and witty missives have gone. Well, there have been a few changes over here in Pleasant Valley: I've moved to more urban environs (still pleasant, but now with 100% more concrete); I've had a few more scattered adventures in my former home of Toronto (on the Government tab no less!); and a brand new Conservative government has found itself in the halls of power, something of a "wait and see" situation to say the least. Sigh.

For the time being I'm hoping to find good fodder in the unfolding story of our strange new experiment in government, and will otherwise weigh in on the incidental happenings as I find them news and noteworthy.

In the meantime, because I'm still getting my bearings again, I'll ask for patience if the postings are at first sporadic, but promise I'm back and will be much less negligent of my little corner of cyberspace in the weeks and months to come.

A little older...a little hungover

I should probably mention the birthday...well, I'm 27 now! Had a fantastic trip to Toronto to ring in the 'new year,' and am now back in pleasant valley for the last round of the birthday fest, set to take place tonight.

No deep thoughts to share, or great insights had, mostly because my birthday horoscope basically told me to 'stay the course'.

So I leave my fate to the fullness of time, and begin to prepare myself for the oncoming pleasant valley winter -- a much harsher variety of cold than I've had to endure for years (Toronto is practically tropical by comparison). A good friend suggested I pick up some long underwear (!?)...oh dear... Maybe a pair of snowshoes while I'm at it?

one among the many voices: please follow this link

As a post-script to my most recent entry (though technically appearing above it), my good friend Joanne has sent me a link to an exceptional commentary piece by Chris Floyd. I encourage all to read this and reflect.

summer's end

It's been quite some time since I put forward words to fill this space, in a large part because of a busier than usual month of August. A trip to Toronto at the start of the month, a trip to the cottage mid-month, and many mini adventures in the spaces between have filled my time to capacity, leaving little time left to sit back and distill it all into anything approaching coherent commentary...but now, in the spirit of the "back to school" season, I'm having a "back to blog" renaissance.

For the past 5 days we've collectively witnessed the devastation in the Gulf Coast, and quite truly the images now reaching us have been such a raw exposure of what lies beneath our supposed developed world status quo. The poor are the last to be helped. The political will is crippled by its past sins of opportunism and reckless raiding of the treasury for partisan folly. The conversations I've had in recent days with friends have contained a recurring theme: we all watch helplessly, wondering how to begin to do anything for those stranded in a city where society has ceased to mean much. All of our usual coping mechanisms, the means to reach out, seem worth little in the face of such a massive breakdown of humane response. Finally we see the true cost of the current American Administration's policies, the almost limitless capacity for disingenuous sound-bytes, and the sheer ineptitude (callousness, even) when faced with a situation of true consequence, where the needs of the survivors should have been addressed days ago, and instead the buck keeps getting passed in the hopes of averting a political melt-down as opposed to a human tragedy.

And on and on it goes...

There have been many battles waged in recent years by the American Christian right, promoting family values and aggressively fighting against what they have perceived as liberal policies designed to erode 'morality' and faith-based living (abortion, evolution, contraception, homosexuality, etc.). What has been lost in this battle of the moral-right vs. the liberal philistines is the humanism that should be the core of any such belief system (be it Christian or otherwise), that places those least capable of caring for themselves at the centre of any relief effort, that takes care of the poor and dispossessed and that brings neighbours together in times of adversity instead of pitting individuals against one another in a vicious 'state-of-nature' style endgame for dwindling resources. All that to say, if, as many media commentators keep saying, we are to "learn lessons" from this tragedy (as though the news being broadcast were simply an interactive classroom exercise), I'd like to suggest a lesson for the list: HUMANISM. A return to the basics of commonwealth and shared responsibilities, to the respect and rights afforded individuals but within the context of their communities (local, national, international). I'm an idealist at times like these, I know. But with so much will for faith in America there must also exist a balancing force of understanding of the harder side of life: the work you must do not only for yourself but for everyone and anyone around you.

I don't mean to be prescriptive, it's just that watching the recent events unfold as they have has deeply disturbed me, and I suspect much of the world.

I'll end this here, because I detect an overly-preachy tone creeping into my words.

But a final thought: I hope we don't allow ourselves to forget what happened this week, and that once the water recedes and the dispossessed find at least provisional stability (at very least safety), that we ask ourselves the hardest questions and avoid the easiest answers.

My eyes are open...

On one of my regular searches through the alternative news-wires I stumbled upon this fantastic photograph, courtesy of today's NY Times. It's a publicity shot from the original production of Hair at the Public Theatre in New York (where else!?). It's also very much changed the mood of my day...

It's cheeky, and naively political in a 60s sort of way (not that I'm knocking the 60s!), and this evening it has become my little corner of escapism as the world spirals ever-more out of the frame that used to be called "SANE".

I look at this picture, and everything somehow seems better.

It makes me wonder whether we could all use a little more "back to basics" sixties-style L-O-V-E, featuring the transformative power of adorable and tastefully naked people behind cardboard signs (in black and white, of course!).

It's become apparent to me that too much righteous indignation is, well, too much to live with all the time. Sometimes you just have to throw off your clothes, grab a sign and sing anthems about love, war and politics in a celebration of subversion (as opposed to a hammering of serious good intentions).

So I'm turning my computer off, pouring myself a drink and cranking the Broadway recording of Hair tonight, while thinking thoughts of tastefully naked people behind cardboard signs that make a statement with four letter words, none of which spell R-O-V-E or B-U-S-H.

Let the sunshine in...(it's summer after all!).

oh canada, we bbq for thee...

If there's one day when the sometimes starched and straight-laced pleasant valley lets down it's collective hair, cuts loose, and goes wild with Bacchanalian-grade national pride, it's July 1, Canada Day, when Ottawa forgets to be quiet.

Mind you, I was in the mood for something less than the over-the-top-red-and-white-mania on offer downtown, and so found a happy middle-ground in my more intimate celebrations of "Canada's Day".

The afternoon into evening was spent in the mellowing backyard BBQ world; notwithstanding two flash downpours, it was a mojito-licious burger-flipping good time. It was a low-key affair, mostly patio furniture and home-grown mint, which was exactly the best way to celebrate after such a tumultuous year for our great nation: the calm after the storm, after the storm, after the storm...

Of course the real thrill of a C-Day in the valley, and the holy grail of our national celebration, is the magnificent fireworks display on Parliament Hill - something my band of backyard patriots and I managed to witness with some strategic parking, another backyard home base downtown, and a stealthy trek along the canal into the heart of the party.

Yesterday may go down as the best 'fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants' Canada Day I've ever had, because though we were making up our gameplan at every turn (most of which amounted to little more than "maybe I'll have another beer"), we still avoided overpriced drinks, the mad crush of the crowds, congested traffic and limited parking, and finally managed to find a great spot on the Laurier Bridge from which to take in the fire-in-the-sky-show before one last round of backyard beers and conversation. A deep thank you goes out to my backyard hosts, and the good people at the LCBO and Beer Store, without whom the day would not have been nearly so "happy".

Oh, and on another note: am I seeing things, or was Paul Martin sitting in the audience sporting a bright red mini cowboy hat for the opening hours of the downtown stage show? Is this supposed to help the problem of Western alienation?? Maybe on Canada Day all can be forgiven, and it really doesn't matter as long as nobody mentions the dreaded 'E word'.