Sunday Night Blog, Post 4

It's a belated Sunday Night Blog

Stuff happens when I write; stuff happens more when I don’t write. Ergo: I really should write more, or at least regularly. Will do better.

So, the first thing I wanted to share was my promotion. I’ll save the other things for future blogs (if only to ensure they happen). It had been initially discussed in late summer as a hypothetical “how would you feel if?”. I was all for it, but it had to mature and in a way, so had I. Punctuality was never my forte, but every morning I get up with the intention of being there on time, and every time SOMETHING happens. Mostly me, if I’m honest. Too many snoozes. Can’t find the car keys. Can’t find the house keys. Too much temperature variation in the shower (equalling to too much time spent fiddling in order to repair it). Where are the clothes I wanted to wear. Spend too much time dithering or tidying. And then there’s my usual version of organised chaos. I am a walking contradiction and considering how rigid I can be in many things, it’s amazing how my starting time at work gets translated in my wee brain to a “general guideline”.

Anyways, so now I’m going to be part of the Management team at my place of employment, which is great, as it comes with a rise in pay. I still don’t manage anyone, I get half of a person – and she’s awesome. But I guess I have been able to demonstrate that I can manage myself. It helps that my definition of salaried employee is that I get paid to get the job done, in contrast to an hourly employee who gets paid to do his job. Period. He/She only gets paid from signing in to signing out and everything over is “overtime”. Salary doesn’t quite work that way, but as far as I’m concerned, it all works out I think. I firmly believe it all comes out in the wash anyway, so here’s to laundry day!

Sunday Night Blog, Post 3

Over the course of the week, I had tried to think of a subject to write about this week, but I wasn't having a lot of success. Then I just started looking around me and the phrase "ignorance is bliss" kept popping up. It's not, is it? To be fair, I have a bit of an issue with that particular saying. For the most part it's actually quite an ignorant one. Literally.

Innocence is the blissful state. To not have experienced anything: no loss, no joy. Utterly devoid of anything on the "outside" of one's own self - that's what's blissful: pure, guiltless, harmless (according to Collins). In that same dictionary, the first definition of ignorance is disregard. Disregard is about choice. Ignorance is about choice. Ignorance is knowing better, knowing the right course to take, the right decision to make, but choosing not to. What one turns a blind eye to doesn't need to be anything earth shattering or have global implications. Over time, it dulls the senses of the individual who thinks he/she's protecting him/herself from something they just don't want to see. It's like teaching yourself not to care about anything other than yourself and what you hold dear. That's not a way to live and it's not something I care to pursue either.

Serendipitously, this afternoon I heard someone say: "Ignorance is a curse. It takes courage to do something about it." I couldn't agree more. I challenge anyone reading this to reflect on this, and to at least consider doing something about it.

Sunday Night Blog, Post 2

This past week has been an eventful one. In the vein of “be careful what you wish for”, I received a Games-time offer. I’m to be an NOC assistant for the nation of Ethiopia based in Whistler for the entire duration of their stay in BC: 22 days. Wow. It’s still sinking in. This is major.

I knew Jamaica had a bobsleigh team, so a Saharan country participating in the Olympic Winter Games is not what I would call a shocker. I kind of thought I’d be doing a European country, seeing as I am fluent in German, grew up in Europe, and have a smattering of Italian, Spanish, and French. But Europe tends to mean many powerhouse winter sports nations, most of which are going to be arriving as soon as they are permitted to arrive and leaving on the last possible date. My availability despite linguistic matches didn’t work then, so enter the non-obvious countries. What on earth does Ethiopia compete in? I went to the Vancouver 2010 Web site and there isn’t a list of what sports qualified countries are competing in, that would have been useful. From what I’ve heard, qualifications are ongoing, and will be until late January, so perhaps things are still in flux. I would assume, bearing in mind the larger implications of using the word, that as a neighbour to Kenya, known for their endurance running athletes, that Ethiopia would have a similar focus, so perhaps the endurance events such as cross-country skiing or biathlon. Seeing as both of these are based in Whistler, this would be a logical conclusion.

Then there’s the part about me working for a living, with print deadlines and things. Fortunately, the timing would work so I would only miss a couple of classes at University, because they’re shutting down for two weeks on an extended reading break, and I could take all of my reading with me (note-taking buddy will hopefully get worked out in January). But work-wise, if I’m based in Whistler, then I can’ t go to work on days off, even for a few hours because a good 6 hours of that one day off would be spent in transit, either by bus or whatever other transportation options are available. I don’t have the software on my computer that I would need so I could theoretically do it remotely, so that part is a bit of a mess. It’s weird. Most of what I do has to do with electronic communication and transmission, and yet, I can’t feasibly do it without being on site. Maybe Whistler would have a business centre that has Microsoft Publisher or InDesign available on a computer or something. I’ve been told in no uncertain terms, there will be no one doing my job whilst I’m away. The joys of being a one-woman department without actual department status, I suppose.

I wouldn’t see my apartment (or be able to water my plants for 3 weeks). What if there’s a water leak of some kind? What if the heating blows up or something? What if my PVR melts down? Going to Whistler (I’ve been there maybe 4 times in my life) gets me quite a bit out of my comfort zone. And then there’s me: the pasty white, undertall, blonde-haired pudgy person looking after all of these no-doubt tall, lanky athletes. I’m getting a distinct Laurel & Hardy visual. You?

Logistics and over-thinking aside, I have no doubt this will be an exceptional experience. Truly one-of-a-kind, and I would actually be needed. Smaller teams get fewer Assistants and “my country” would rely on me a great deal. There’s not a doubt in my mind I wouldn’t be welcomed, but not being up on “local knowledge”, I wouldn’t want to disappoint. Any connections or local expertise I have is limited to Vancouver, so I’ll have to let my fingers do a lot of the walking up in Whistler. Or, get a couple of “field-trips” in before-hand.

Sunday Night Blog, Post 1

So, I was looking forward to launching a Sunday Night Blog on the 1st of November. I figured it was about time I got some use out of my blog, and although I truly am not a journal writer, I figured a weekly thing was something I could commit to. Then I had to decide on when and Sunday seemed an ideal candidate. Weeknights are not the greatest for me as I can barely be inspired to do my reading for school – and I pay for that privilege. If I did Saturdays, that’s really no good either because on the odd occasion I do actually have plans. So Sunday – and the first of a new month to boot, well, wasn’t that auspicious. As you can see, not a lot came of it.

I could cite spotty internet connectivity at home as an excuse, because it has been a bit of an issue of late, but, in all honesty, I plum forgot and spent most of the day getting the memory down on my PVR, which concluded with a recent film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. It was my first exposure to Thomas Hardy, and for an English Lit. Major, I thought that was odd, to say the least. Being interested in literature, I have heard the name mentioned many times, and seen the titles of his novels on library shelves and reading lists, and yet, here we are. Obviously Victorian, I wonder how contemporaries felt about it.

In today’s mode of thinking, the poor girl had no chance and one traumatising experience ends up tainting her entire life, robs her of her future, and the past not staying in the past is always the cause of the next chain of unfortunate events. I think it also questions how we view independence as a concept. In the film, Tess’s independence is mentioned many times, but her ability and desire to stand on her own two feet is always at odds with her reality and her environment. I consider myself independent, fiercely independent even, but in Tess’s case, her circumstances, societal amongst other factors, those things beyond her direct control, have a hold on her so firmly, that her independent spirit is how she travels from jess to jess, never actually losing the fetters binding her, regardless of who’s holding them. Breaking free, only to be captured again and again, it’s like she’s ultimate prize bird, because everyone wants to keep her, for differing motives and purposes, and all she wants is...I don’t know. I don’t believe she ever said what she really wanted, other than to be with Angel Clare. Could it really be that simple?

At this point I would really like to read the book. It sounds like a complex story, and there’s only so much a cinematic screenplay can convey and address. Or maybe I just don’t want it to be that simple, so conventional.

More next week - circumstances willing.

The lost is found

So, just to let everyone passing by know, my father was found on Tuesday the 17th of February at Toronto East General Hospital. Turns out he'd been there the entire time, which is a huge relief for the family. Now that he's ready to be released the question arises: Should he go back to the residence where he strayed away from or should something that would keep him a lot safer, but a lot less free, be considered.

It's a big decision and I want to do the right thing; what's best for him and what would give him the best quality of life. At this point they appear to be mutually exclusive.

If anyone has any ideas as to what options are out in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, that would be fabulous. He got kicked out of long-term residence because he was caught trying to climb the fence so he "could go out and get some smokes" and since then he's been at a facility where he can come and go as he pleases, as long as he comes back at night or lets them know where he'll be. He gets taken to classes and programs (he ended up missing his WheelTrans appointment due to the disappearing act) to keep him stimulated, but...what happens the next time he goes missing? He will; that's virtually a guarantee.

Please help find my father!

If anyone reading this is from the Toronto area of Ontario, Canada, please keep a look out for this man. He has been missing since Monday, February 9, 2009 and was last seen at 2:40 p.m. in the area of Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue West.

He is 5'5", 150 lbs, with grey hair. He was last seen wearing a brown leather baseball hat, blue denim winter jacket and blue denim pants.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call 31 Division at 416-808-3100, Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at http://www.222tips.com/.

Thank you!

January 29, 2009 - ARTH reaction

I've just come from my seminar in First Nations art. One of tonight's presenters spoke about the artist Edgar Heap of Birds after critiquing a reading on the indigenous people from the Plains who were incarcerated at Fort Marion (near St. Augustine in Florida) in the 1870s and posed a question relating to freedom - is Edgar Heap of Birds more free than the Fort Marion artists. My response was yes, certainly. Edgar Heap of Birds, by virtue of not being in prison and living in the 21st century and all the accoutrements that come with it, can afford to be more overtly political, than a prisoner under guard, producing art as a kind of social penal reform experiment. A classmate of mine disagreed, but she wasn't able to articulate what she was disagreeing with - that he's not a prisoner or that he isn't overtly political.

My argument was that Edgar Heap of Birds is a contemporary artist who has done billboard-size art and outright says that all "official signs" ought to be questioned, can effectively use the fact that he instantly has a larger audience that way to start a conversation, get people talking. I didn't, for instance, know that he was the artist who did the signs around UBC (Source: UBC Faculty of Arts Web site: article dated 09.11.05 by Robert P. Willis entitled "Renowned artist to donate art installation to UBC"). When I first saw them a couple of years ago, I remember my first thought was WTF?! And then I remembered, Oh, yes, this used to be native land. And that's pretty much where my thinking stopped.

The point I was trying to make in class was that what Edgar Heap of Birds is doing is exactly the kind of dialogue that is useful. In this day and age of political correctness, most of us in Canada, if not North America are a product of this "let's not offend anyone" policy - and it's not a bad policy per se, it's just that as a result of not saying anything bad, you end up not saying anything at all. Edgar Heap of Birds's art is absolutely in your face, unapologetic. His works can spark reaction whereever it is installed, be it beside the Mississipi in the state of Minnesota commemmorating the death of 40 men hanged in Fort Marion between 1862 and 1865 by the presidential orders of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson (Building Minnesota, 1990) or insurgency billboards in downtown Toronto in 2006/2007 with billboards saying things like I've posted here (Source: University of Minnesota's Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies).

The artist crosses the US/Canada border in his art and in my mind it poses a question: does "native" equal "native"? Generally I would say no because there are hundreds of indigenous tribal nations all across North America (and not limited to this continent), but in his art, I think Edgar Heap of Birds can speak of a shared experience by most (if not all) nations: every one of them has been dispossessed of their ancestral lands, if not completely, then in part. And this is a shared experience for all people of First Nations today, irrespective of what side of the 49th parallel they live: they are the descendants of the dispossessed and it is a meaningFULL experience for them. And this brings me back to the idea of political correctness.

People know that the land on which we live was once tribal land ("canada" comes from an indigenous word, "toronto" comes from an indigenous word, "kitsilano", "capilano" - cities, land masses, bodies of water; a part of every aspect of Canada has been influenced/inspired by this country's indigenous people), but they don't KNOW. They haven't experienced this loss and so for the current inhabitants of the land, it is meaningLESS. It is certainly PC to care, or at least give the illusion that one cares that "we" live on conquered, colonialised land, but in tonight's class I also caught myself putting air quotes around the word "issue" as it relates to land. By doing so, I am doing the matter a disservice and perpetuating the meaninglessness; the issue does not deserve air quotes. Land is very much an issue - after our first class during which a Metis classmate said the First Nations longhouse was on unceded land, I actually had to look up that term. And, you know what, I'm thankful to her for having brought that to my attention and to the class. That doesn't mean you'll find me at a protest rally anytime soon, but at least I'm a little more informed, and hopefully a little less ignorant about the issues.