Books: A Jest of God

Continuing with my journey through the literature by and about Margaret Laurence, I read her second Manawaka novel, A Jest of God.

In this novel, about a thirty-something 'spinster' named Rachel Cameron, a desperately lonely school teacher. Like her previous protagonist, Hagar Shipley, Rachel is trapped in a web partly of her own doing, party of circumstance. Living with a mother whose honey-covered barbs are almost painful to read, she is caught by the conventions and restrictions of obligation and societal norms. She is also self-conscious and critical to the point of being paralyzed into an uneasy stasis.

The narrative is intimately told from Rachel's perspective and while Laurence herself said it was slow to get moving, she felt she had to allow Rachel her own time and way to tell her story. Rachel's gradual transformation, from solitude to companionship, from constraint to cautious freedom, is a gradual process - and one that she does not earn without heartache and pain.

The ending of the book has one of the most beautiful and timeless passages of freedom I know.

"I may become, in time, slightly more eccentric all the time. I may begin to wear outlandish hats, feathered and sequinned and rosetted, and dangling necklaces made from coy and tiny seashells which I've gathered myself along the beach and painted coral-pink with nail polish. And all the kids will laugh, and I'll laugh, too, in time. I will be light and straight as any feather. The wind will bear me, and I will drift and settle, and drift and settle. Anything may happen, where I am going... I will be different. I will remain the same. ...  I will ask myself if I am going mad, but if I do, I won't know it."

As I've mentioend before, not only am I enjoying re-reading Laurence's novels, I am also reading her memoir, letters and a bio about her. Although she does not discuss much of a book while she is writing it, she admits to her fears and doubts about its viability. She struggled for months to find a way in to the novel - in fact she wanted to write about two sisters and for a long time worked on Stacey's story (which was to become The Fire Dwellers), but eventually realized that Rachel's story had to be told first.

These discoveries reveal just how closely connected Laurence was to her characters - and how real they were to her. It is this strength of connection and depth of understanding that enables her to write in such a memorable and honest voice.

Senate Committee on Bill C-10

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Senate Committee meeting regarding the review of Bill C-10 - the Omnibus Crime Bill I've been following for months. I was there to write a blog for the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. Here's what I wrote:

During a 7-hour long meeting today, the Senate Committee heard from 13 individuals speaking to various aspects of Bill C-10. While most of the witnesses addressed the Bill’s immigration-related aspects, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo and AFN senior strategist ,Roger Jones talked about the negative impact the Omnibus Bill will have on Aboriginal Peoples.

Atleo spoke via video conference from his community on the west coast of the Vancouver Island. He made it clear that the AFN is very concerned about the direction Bill C-10 is headed in and that this legislation will not make Aboriginal communities safer. Unfortunately his testimony was cut short due to technical problems, so Jones fielded the Senators’ questions.

Jones told the Committee that the AFN searched high and low for elements within Bill C-10 that would improve the situation for Aboriginal Peoples – and couldn’t find anything.

He said the Omnibus Bill will compound the existing over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, such as through Manditory Minimum Sentences (MMS) for drug offences and the removal of judicial discretion with regard to such things as the Gladue principles.

References to the Gladue decision were frequent throughout AFN panel discussion. Gladue principles, based on a 1999 Supreme Court interpretation of Section 718.2 of the Criminal Code, provide that reasonable alternatives to imprisonment should be sought and particular attention should be given to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.

Senator Mobina Jaffer suggested that the Senate could recommend an exemption clause in Bill C-10 so as to preserve Gladue principles. 

Senator Fraser questioned how often these principles are applied. (Not often enough, Jones replied.) Senator Lang challenged Jones as to why MMS for such reprehensible crimes as child sexual exploitation should have exceptions for Aboriginal offenders. Jones replied that nature of the crime should never negate the need to look at the offender’s circumstances.

In contrast to the AFN’s detailed concerns with the Omnibus Bill, University of British Colombia Law Professor, Benjamin Perrin, noted his strong support of “all” aspects of the bill, suggesting it balances criminal law by enhancing the accountability of offenders and increasing the rights of victims.

He argued that more people charged with cultivating marijuana should be imprisoned and that 89% of marijuana production comes from organized crime groups and the majority of what is produced is destined for the United States, fueling serious border problems. This argument relies on the assumptions of supply suppression and drug probation which have actually made drugs more available and cheaper, and have undermined the public health system.

Indeed, all criminal justice legislation relies on certain assumptions – such as incarceration as a tool of deterrence and segregation as punishment – but as the AFN repeatedly pointed out today, these assumptions and their outcomes have resulted in a sustained failure to address the systemic roots of crime or how the justice system continues to fail First Nations Peoples.

Books: The Stone Angel

The Stone Angel is Margaret Laurence's most well-known book. Compulsory reading in most high schools, it is undeniably part of the CanLit canon. It was also one of the first books I fell in love with. I still remember being deeply affected by the proud, stubborn character of Hagar Shipley and in reading about the dying seagull, recognizing that this poignant metaphor of the desperate struggle for life.

I love my copy of The Stone Angel - well-loved and worn. It's shown in the photo beside a postcard I have of a real stone angel in the graveyard of Margaret Laurence's home town of Neepawa, Manitoba (where she was born in 1926).

The Stone Angel is one of the five books that Laurence set in the fictional prairie town of Manawaka. It was the first book she wrote about Canada - her previous works being about Africa.

When she began working on the novel in the early 1960s, Laurence seemed almost surprised by the story and unsure of how to manage it. "This daft old lady came along," she wrote to her friend, Adele Wiseman, "and I will say about her that she is one hell of an old lady, a real tartar. She's crabby, snobbish, difficult, proud as lucifer for no reason, a trial to her family, etc. She's also - I forgot to mention - dying."

But while Laurence was very sure of the character, she was not so sure about the novel. "The whole thing is nuts," she went on to Wiseman. "I should have my head examined... Sometimes I feel so depressed about this, I think I will take up ceramics."

Unlike her other books, in which she invested a lot of time and revision in crafting stories and descriptions about colonial relations and such issues, she seemed take aback that this book was "written almost entirely without conscious thought... I simply put down the story as the old lady told it to me."

Yet this book, and the voice she found as a writer through it, marked a profound change in in Laurence's career. It also marked a very personal transition for her. For her African books, Laurence had relied a great deal on her husband - for his editing and his approval. When she showed him her draft of the Stone Angel, he didn't like it. She tried to re-write it to suit him, but realized in the end that she had to be true to her original voice. Though not the only factor, this decision was part of the ending of her marriage.

Reading The Stone Angel again for me is like meeting an old friend again - I'm filled with memories, yet struck with new insights. I never cease to marvel at Laurence's rich language and brilliant character portrayals - just as I never cease to feel a strong mix of frustration and affection for the character of Hagar.

As an interesting side note, the book was almost called 'Old Lady Shipley' and it was only just before it went to press, as both Laurence and her publishers were fretting over the title, that Laurence re-opened the book and recognized the image that is in the first sentence and which occurs throughout the book - the stone angel.

Karma in a loaf

I've always believed that if you do something nice, somewhere down the road, you'll get something nice back. This isn't exactly my motivation for doing good things, but it's nice to believe in.

And if I doubted before that the good does come back, I no longer can.

On Saturday, Miya and I stopped at the Bagelshop to pick up some bagels for lunch. It was a bitterly cold day, with a windchill driving the temperature down to around -30. A man was standing outside the Bagelshop asking for spare change, his bare hands chaffed with cold.

On our way out with a warm bag of a dozen fresh bagels, I asked him if he wanted one. He accepted and thanked us.

We were parked just around the corner and as I was pulling up to the main street, I saw a loaf of artisan bread in a plastic bag, lying on the middle of the street. It was still warm enough that steam clouded the bag. I looked around to see if anyone was coming back to pick it up - but there was no one around. I thought of just leaving it, but knew the next car to come around the corner would likely crush it. So, I opened my door and scooped it up.

Give a bagel, get a loaf of bread. Now that's some tasty karma.

The Price of Sex

This afternoon I went to the Library and Archives Auditorium for the screening of a rather grim documentary called 'The Price of Sex'.

This feature-length documentary is about young Eastern European women drawn into sex slavery - tricked into becoming prostitutes, imprisoned in brothels, abused and discarded. It is narrated by Mimi Chakarova, a woman who grew up behind the Iron Curtain in Bulgaria and later emigrated to the United States. She returns to Eastern Europe to find out why so many women from Eastern Europe were become victims of sexual trafficking. Her story is deeply personal and very courageous. Working for over a decade, filming undercover and risking her own safety to gain access to people and places controlled by sex traffickers, she pulls back the curtain on the horrors of human and sex trafficking.

It was an honour to have the filmmaker, Mimi Chakarova, there at the screening today. After the film, after the applause had died down, she spoke a little about the film and then fielded questions from the audience.

After hearing theses stories (like that of a woman who fell more than 3 floors trying to escape her brothel prison, only to be returned to her pimps half-paralyzed, still forced to service clients), the audience not surprisingly wanted to know what we can do. How can we fix this problem? How can we stop this travesty??

Sadly, there are no clear answers. A rep from Human Rights Watch spoke about the challenges faced in addressing sex trafficking, such as the economic depression which has left many young women without any options to earn a living, and the corruption among police and intergovernmental agencies. There is no simple thing that we could go home and easily do in  order to feel better and forget that women as young as 10 are taken from their homes to become sex slaves in foreign countries.

Yet while there is no easy solution, there are things we can do, such as support the work of those NGOs who help trafficked women and lobby our own governments to effectively address human trafficking. But to be honest the problem is much bigger than all of us. It will take many hands and many voices to make real and lasting change.

But I, for one, want to be part of it.

Letter #1: Myself, 2013

My goal for 2012 is to write 100 letters.

The first letter, oddly enough, is written to myself, one year hence. When I was about 12, I began writing letters to myself which I would write in the early days of a new year, seal up and open the following year just after midnight. I wrote about this last year at the beginning of the 365-blog challenge.

Although I diligently kept up the annual letters throughout my teens and twenties, sadly in recent years I've let it slip. I didn't have a letter to myself to open on the dawn of this new year. But there is one sealed and ready for 2013.

I'm going to also create a sort of new year's letter with Miya for her to open a year from now. Perhaps I will sow the tradition with her. 

In writing these letters, I don't try to capture or sum up the whole year - I have journals (and this blog) for that. Instead I write about where I'm at in the moment and some of the things I hope for myself in the coming year.

When I was young, these letters were often full of dreams and longing. I had many new horizons to explore, places to discover. As I get older, these dreams change. But no matter how old I get, I don't ever want to stop dreaming.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go. - Theodore Roethke.

Challenge complete

So here I am, the 365th day of the year, writing the last 365 words of my daily 365-word blog. Glad this day has finally come. I had no idea what I was signing myself up for when I made the bet with V a year ago.

As a writer, I’m always looking for ways to express myself in the written word. I thought blogging would hone my skills and give me more opportunities to do this. But while I have a new respect for blogging and those who are able to build successful blogs, I’m still not convinced it’s the right medium for me. Although perhaps it was the daily aspect, forcing half-thought-out posts and late-night rambles, which has made me so hesitant.

Yet for all my embarrassment over the typo-filled, rambling blogs I’ve posted over the last year, I have had some fun – like writing the early Waiting for Wii blog based upon Beckett’s play, or retelling an account of a night spent with friends based upon the request for more action and flair. I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I’d often put in random links, like to the Karma Sutra or an on-line photo. Such small things amuse me, and it’s nice to wonder if someone else might get in on the joke as well.

I’m sincerely grateful to everyone who has read this blog. I honestly don’t think I would have made it to the end if I did not know that there were people following me. It’s odd enough to send out words each night into the void without hearing a deafening silence in return.

I have decided that for next year’s challenge, I’m going to write 100 letters. I appreciate the suggestion of monthly public art installations – but on thinking about it, that is much like what I have been doing this last year – sending things out into the faceless void. For next year, I want to get personal. I want to connect one-on-one with people. (So if you would like to receive a letter, just send me your address and I’ll write!).

But I will keep up the blog as well, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

Year in review quiz, part 2

Here is the rest of my year-end quiz. I should have said yesterday that you have until Jan 5 to submit your answers in a comment.

6. What CFL player did I run away from?
a) Tracy Ham
b) Anthony Calvillo
c) Doug Flutie

7. What type of news story most depresses me?
a) tough on crime
b) global warming
c) rape in the Congo

8. Where did I meet a Haberdasher?
a) Earnscliffe garden party
b) Reach silent auction
c) Amnesty Write-a-thon

9. On which subject has the library educated me?
a) wine
b) felting
c) penguins

10. Who said, “Don’t tear up the pages of your new book”?
a) Adele Wiseman
b) Margaret Laurence
c) Gabrielle Roy

11. If I lend you a book, what would I like in return?
a) a bookmark
b) one of your favourite books
c) $5

12. NNTR
a) WTF
b) LOL
c) EOM

13. What did V give me for our last anniversary?
a) silk yarn
b) iPod touch
c) Nordik gift certificate

14. About which piece of legislation have I most blogged about
a) Bill C-233
b) Bill C-10
c) Bill S-4

15. Who assesses democracy based upon how women fare?
a) Margaret Laurence
b) Marjane Satrapi
c) Peggy Nash

16. Where did I write the PSEE?
a) at home
b) government office
c) university campus

17. How many days did it take me to walk 1,600 kilometres?
a) 64
b) 72
c) 86

18. The charity which my husband raised money for this year was
a) Amnesty International
b) Prostrate Cancer Canada
c) Canadian Red Cross

19. What group seeks to “inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music”?
a) One World
b) Little Princes
c) Playing for Change

20. What kind of car does Santa drive?
a) Chevrolet
b)Volkswagen
c) Cadillac

21. Who is Miya’s favourite band?
a) Cornflower Blue
b) Sharon, Lois and Bram
c) Hey Buster

22. Who is Tomina?
a) a prairie writer I admire
b) my great-grandmother
c) V’s aunt

23. What breed of cow once licked Miya’s hand?
a) Jersey
b) Brown Swiss
c) Holstein

24. My guest bloggers wrote about
a) politics
b) gardening
c) princesses

Year in review quiz

Well, my year of daily blogging has almost come to an end. I can’t say I am proud of all that I have written over the course of the year, but I am happy to have made good on the challenge (and hoping V will make good on his promise to give me a nice gift for the accomplishment).

I’m also grateful to all those who have been reading my blog. When I started this challenge at the beginning of the year, I had less than 20 views on my blog per month. This month I’ve had over 1,700! I know some of you who have been reading these entries – but can’t help wondering about the others those of you whose paths have crossed mine through this strange medium.

As a way to wrap up this year, and to thank all of you who have been reading this blog, I’ve devised a little challenge. Today and tomorrow, I will post some multiple choice questions about my 2011 blog and invite you to try and correctly answer all the questions. The person with the most right answers will win a knitted coffee cup warmer or a felted owl (your choice).

As the comments in this blog are moderated, you can submit your answers by posting them as a comment. I will see your comment but will not make it live (so no one else will see your answers). But I will post a comment with your name (or nickname if you prefer) and the number of correct answers you got. On the 31st I will reveal the winner.

Let’s begin.

1. Who bought the convent site across the street?
a) Richcraft
b) Ashcroft
c) Domicile

2. What is special about Chilly?
a) she can fly
b) she has colourful feet
c) she is a penguin

3. Who said, “who’s going to pay to drive around and see beavers?”
a) Senator Nicole Eaton
b) National Post illustrator Steve Murray
c) Professor Andrew Derocher

4. How old was I the first time I worked as a carnie?
a) 13
b) 14
c) 15

5. What did we buy in Carp?
a) garlic
b) corn
c) our Christmas tree

Books: This Side Jordan

Margaret Laurence’s first novel, This Side Jordan (published in 1960) is set in 1957 on the eve of Ghana’s independence. The story revolves around two young couples, African – Nathaniel and Aya Amegbe – and English – Johnnie and Miranda Kestoe. Although narrated in the third person, everything is seen from the perspective of the two men – with more interior dialogue accorded to Nathaniel than to Johnnie. Even Laurence herself did not think this novel was entirely successful. In 1969 she admitted that “the novel contains too much of Nathaniel’s inner monologues” – a criticism I agree with.

The wives are important characters, but seen through the lens of their husbands. This is interesting choice given that Laurence was to become later known as the creator of some of our strongest literary female characters (Hagar in The Stone Angel and Morag in The Diviners). Perhaps her decision to write from the perspective of men demonstrates her uncertainty about her own voice as a writer.

In 1956, as Laurence was finishing her manuscript, she wrote to her friend Adele Wiseman, “who am I to write about Africa? I don’t know a damn thing about it, relatively speaking. I’ve had the nerve to write half the thing from an African’s point of view.”

There is a vivid authenticity in her descriptions – the crowded markets and bustling streets of Accra, the fading clubs where Europeans gathered to cling to their former glory. But the voices of her protagonists don’t quite ring true for me.

Her audacity in adopting their point of view speaks to her imaginative and creative abilities, and there is no doubt that she has incredibly keen powers of observation and literary talent. But I kept getting the impression that she was interpreting, as perhaps she could not help but doing, all that she so studiously observed through her own foreign point of view.

As I read this book I recalled reading a memoir by Malian author Amadou Hampâté Bâ and being swept up in a narrative and perspective so culturally different from my own. While Laurence is able to masterfully convey the exterior aspects of a culture foreign to her own, ultimately she could not enter interpret it authentically.

23 1/2 hours

If you’re looking for a new year’s resolution, here’s one that is deceptively simple: limit your sitting and sleeping time to 23 ½ hours.

(Disclaimer: I am shamelessly building this blog from a youtube video called '12 and ½ hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health'.)

The author, Dr. Mike Evans, argues that we spend most of our day sitting and sleeping and the best thing we could do as far as preventative medicine goes is get up and be active for at least half an hour each day. This basic approach has been shown to be successful in treating a variety of problems such as arthritis, diabetes, depression, and dementia.

This isn’t new. I don’t know how many times I’ve told a doctor about some health concern, only to be told to ‘get more exercise and sleep’. (Helpfully, it has been suggested to me that the cure for insomnia is to get more sleep.) It’s common knowledge, but perhaps so common that we’ve forgotten its worth.

What I like about this little re-framing of the time-worn advice is that Dr. Evans argues that the amount of activity doesn’t have to be extreme. You don’t have to start running marathons if you want to reap health benefits – a daily 20-30 min walk alone will bring you plenty of positive benefits. For example, a study in Japan found that every increase of 10 minutes in your daily walk to work can result in a 12% reduction in cases of high blood pressure.

As a big fan of walking, it’s not surprising that I would be a fan of the advice to walk 30 minutes each day. Hippocrates said that ‘walking is man’s best medicine’ and Nietzsche said, ‘all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.’

So here is one goal for 2012 (not the only goal – about which there will be more in the coming days): limit my sitting and sleeping time to at most 23 ½ hours. V gave me a lovely moleskine day-timer for Christmas in which I can record my daily activity. I don’t think it will be hard – allowing me plenty of time for other challenges...

Watching Anne

One of the things that I remember about the Christmas holidays from I was growing up was watching the Anne of Green Gables movies which used to air on CBC in December.

The Emmy- and Gemini-award winning first- movie, which tells the story of Anne’s arrival at Green Gables and how she wins the hearts of her Prince Edward Island community, was filmed in 1985. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it over the years – I’d keep coming back to the familiar story and its loveable heroine.

This year for Christmas V bought me the DVD set of the trilogy and tonight I twisted his arm into sitting down and watching the first part of the first disc. He tolerated it well enough – and for me, it was like stepping back into my childhood memories.

I grew up reading Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books and loved her Anne and Emily heroines. They were imaginative, independent, feisty and kind-hearted dreamers and I would lose myself in the pages of their stories.

In making the Anne movies, director Kevin Sullivan managed to stay perfectly true to the character of Anne, even while changing the story’s timeline and events. He captured the strong, emotional friendship between Anne and her ‘bosom friend’ Diana, Anne’s stubborn refusal to let herself fall for Gilbert, and the deepening bond between Anne and her foster parents, Marilla and Mathew. Apparently the film has been studied in American universities’ communications courses on how to successfully adapt literary material for the screen.

Of course, to have such a successful movie, the acting has to be solid – and the central actors are all fantastic, especially Megan Follows (who plays Anne and who was only 16 when first cast in the role), Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla) and Richard Farnsworth (Mathew). And an interesting bit of trivia, Schuyler Grant who plays Diana is the great niece of Katherine Hepburn who recommended Grant for the part of Anne – but as Sullivan was determined to have a Canadian play Anne, he chose Follows.

Watching part of the Anne trilogy tonight has been a lovely walk down memory lane – a lane of cherry blossoms and idyllic vistas. A perfect holiday tradition.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

When I was a kid, Christmas was something magical that happened. Presents, dinners, cookies, parties – all of these things magically appeared as if Santa came down the chimney and with a nod of his head, filled stockings and cookie tins.

As an adult, Christmas runs the risk of becoming a long to-do list. Gifts to buy, cards to send, meals to plan, baking to do, rooms to clean, presents to buy and wrap... And yet, in the hustle and rush of it all, there is still some magic to be found.

It’s been a busy weekend. Hosting a party with friends and loved ones means baking, cleaning, shopping, and prepping. Wanting to have a special Christmas breakfast meant leaping out of bed to get coffee brewing, a quiche cooking and snowman biscuits baking. But it's the doing of these things that makes the holiday extra special.

Today we had a picture-perfect white Christmas. Wanting to get out of the house and away from plates of cookies and crackers, my plan had been to give Miya a sled for Christmas as the last present with the hope that she would want to take it for a spin outdoors. It worked perfectly.

As soon as she saw the sled, she wanted to sit in it. She contentedly sat in the sled, munching on a biscuit, while we got ready, then was happy to get bundled up in layers (it was -16 after all) and head outdoors. Snow was softly falling and the air was crisp as we took her through a park to deliver a Christmas card.

Other families and children were out in sleds and on skis. A little boy slid down the hill and into the trees, wailing for his mommy the whole way down. A 4 year-old neighbour girl was learning to glide down a hill and climb back up. Dogs bounded through snow drifts, tails wagging.

I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. And in looking back at this Christmas, it has been lovely. We create the magic and watch it sparkle in our daughter’s eyes, we gather with friends and create the memories and moments to cherish.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Twas the Night before Christmas (retold)

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the houses
Women were bustling and nagging their spouses
Cookies were baking, turkeys were roasting
There was still much to do before the dinner we’re hosting.

The children had finally been coaxed to their beds
With wish-lists for Christmas rattling ‘round in their heads.
I with my to-do list had just send my man
To rush to the store for a bigger roasting pan

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang to the door to see what was the matter
In the cold night of winter as I opened the door
Frosty air swirled around where I stood on the floor

Street lights on the crest of the new-fallen snow
Sparkled and glistened as though the ground was aglow
And what to my wondering eye should appear
But a Cadillac sedan with red shiny veneer

With a little old driver, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick!
My, the times are a-changing, I mused to myself
As he climbed out of his car with the aid of an elf

He was dressed all in fur, from his tips to his toes
With a chuckle of laughter, he struck a comical pose
As a bundle of gifts he pulled from the trunk
Some tumbled to the ground with a resounding clunk

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his task
What I had been baking he didn’t bother to ask

With a nod of his head and a wink of his eye
All cooking was finished, dishes washed and dried
At our Christmas tree then he scattered some presents
And filled all the stockings with wondrous contents

I offered him milk, but he chuckled in decline
And instead offered me a bottle of wine.
With a nod and smile, he turned to depart
And I thanked him profusely, with my hand on my heart

Then I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Next year's challenge?

The year end is approaching and while I’ll be so happy to be done with this daily blogging – and admittedly proud that I’ve made good on the challenge – I am fool enough to be looking for the next new year’s project.

I asked for ideas a couple of days ago and agree with the observation that I’m looking for an on-going project with measurable targets. And since I found the daily aspect of this blog the most difficult part, I also want something for which the targets are spread out more, like over a week, month or even the whole year.

Ideas I’ve been given, or have toyed with, thus far:

1) Go green – either by reducing household energy consumption by 15% compared to 2011 or by producing zero waste.
These ideas appeal to my values – but what makes them difficult is that I’m not the only person consuming energy and producing waste in this household.

2) Raise a certain amount of money for a charity of my choice.
Again, this one has a certain appeal. But I’m not so sure about the financial target because raising money for charity often means hitting up friends and families – and I usually feel guilty about doing that. If I could raise the money through some feat or performance – like a guy in Ottawa this summer who ran an impressive 7 marathons in 7 days – that would be different. But I can’t think of anything right now that I could work toward. Maybe for 2013.

3) Get a golf handicap under 18.
Given that I had to ask V what a golf handicap means and that I’m more likely to be found protesting the environmental travesty of golf courses than swing a club (sorry Doug), I don’t think this one’s quite right.

4) Write 100 letters.
This is one that I’m seriously considering, especially given my love of snail mail and my mission of saving our postal system. It also seems a nice counter to a year of internet writing.

3) Deploy one public art project per month. Public poetry and yarn-bombing most certainly count.
This is the other top contender (and V’s pick). Love it.

Decisions. Decisions.

Spa en nature

Get really hot, so hot that you’re dripping sweat from every pore in your body, then step out into the brisk winter air and walk under waterfall that spills from a bank of snow and ice above. Your heart pounds and blood races through your body. It is the epitome of invigorating.

As you might guess, V and I spent several lovely hours at the Nordik ‘spa en nature’ today. This is one of my favourite places in the region – a little paradise I love to visit a few times a year.

For anyone who has not had the luxurious pleasure of visiting Nordik, they use the Nordic techniques of hot and cold baths. For the hot, you can sit in a sauna or a steam room – feeling your pores opening and your muscles relaxing. From there you plunge straight into one of the icy-cold baths.

It’s recommended that after the hot-cold experience, you rest awhile so your body can resume its normal temperature before beginning another sequence. For resting there are plenty of options – whirlpools, fireside seats, hammocks (in the summer), quiet rooms... When you’re ready, you go back into the heat.

This morning I felt like I was coming down with a cold. I hadn’t slept well, was sneezing and had that slightly headachy feeling. But after a few hours of steaming and relaxing – and breathing in plenty of eucalyptus – I’m feeling better than fine.

This was the second time that V has come with me to the Nordik. The first time I think he was a little unsure about going to a ‘spa’ – but he was curious to see what it was I’d been raving about since I first went there as part of a birthday outing for a girlfriend of mine. You’d think I’d just discovered chocolate the way I was carrying on.

It didn’t take him long to appreciate it too – and while the clientele is predominantly women, there are plenty of boyfriends and husbands accompanying their fairer halves. And it was nice to go there together today, to take a few hours to sit and breathe deep. So tonight I’m feeling rested and grateful. It’s been a lovely day.

Winter Solstice

A freezing rain is falling on dark, icy streets outside. It’s fitting weather for Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. We in the northern hemisphere are now at the furthest point away from the sun. After tonight, the days will start to get longer – although the temperatures will continue to get colder for several more weeks.

There are candles burning around the house tonight, marking this long cold night and signalling hope for the lengthening days.

Solstice and the approaching year-end have me thinking a lot about endings and beginnings, and about change. As Heraclitus said, ‘the only constant is change’, yet as we get older, sometimes the change is harder to see, harder to realize.

When I was in my 20s, change was my constant. I was much better at starting fresh than I was at planting roots. I don’t regret that – and often miss the freedom, spontaneity and discovery of travel and new beginnings – although I do value what I have gained by learning home and community.

Indeed, the two biggest changes in my life – marriage and parenthood – have made a different sort of constant out of change. These changes are permanent and all that I do, all the changes I make, for the rest of my life must include and accommodate them. Change has now become more complex, an interconnected movement and dance, no longer a solo show. How do the changes I make as an individual affect my partner, my child? What does it mean to dream and create the possibilities of change and discovery when my life is not solely my own?

Sometimes I look at my daughter and imagine the endless possibilities before her. It’s exciting to know that there is so much she will do, be and discover. While we get glimpses of her personality, she is still growing and changing at such a rapid pace it’s almost dizzying. But for myself, I’m no longer so certain what it means to plan and hope for change.

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time” - T.S. Eliot

Losing steam as I near the end...

It’s 11:50 and I’ve spent over an hour looking around on the Internet, hoping to find something to inspire a blog topic. I’m still at a loss.

While there are many news stories which interest me – the death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, the on-going crisis in Attawapiskat, the funding of health care – to none of them can I offer any new insight or angle. I don’t also know enough about these issue to have informed opinions so haven’t anything to add to what you could read for yourself.

Getting nowhere on the news sites, a few clicks and I soon find myself lost in the quagmire of youtube.

Youtube just released their listing of the most popularvideos of the year. Curiosity got the best of me and I ended up clicking on a few – cute babies, funny pets, wanna-be pop stars, the usual semi-amusing, semi-depressing collection. Youtube is one of the reasons why I have little faith in democracy.

The internet depresses me.

Over dinner tonight with some new friends I bemoaned a little too long the loss of letters and letter writing. In my defense, one of the people we were eating with works at Canada Post and was commenting that it is a bit of sinking ship. My audience was receptive enough – but I know that I’m arguing a losing case as I try to bring back the dying art of letter writing, as I try to convince people to write personal greetings in letters and cards.

Our society keeps looking for shorter and quicker ways to communicate, to get more information more quickly. And here I am trying to slow it all down. Just because we can send something quicker doesn’t mean it’s better – in fact, grammar, manners and tact are flying out the window as fast as missives into cyberspace. One recent study even found that people are more likely to lie in text messages than they are in person. Shocker.

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do for next year’s challenge. It has to be something not blog or internet related. As you can see, I sorely need a break from this. Any ideas for me?

In defense of Christmas cards

As I was checking addresses for sending off Christmas cards the other day, a comment was made that mailing out cards was a rather environmentally unfriendly choice. So today I present my arguments for the old-fashioned in-the-mail Christmas card.

I’ll admit, a Christmas card sent in the mail has a larger carbon footprint than an e-card or email newsletter. However, as one who still wants to hold a hardcopy, printed and bound book when I read, my strong affection for print is not new. And I firmly believe that tangible hold-in-your-hand, string-up-on-your-wall cards are much more meaningful to send and to receive.

You’ve got to admit, getting a card in the mail is so much better than opening an e-card (no matter how cute the jingle) or downloading an annual letter. And it doesn’t even compare to a post on facebook.

A card in the mail says, we’re thinking of you – and we took the time to get a card, address, stamp and mail it.

Cards can be decorated, coloured and signed. Miya likes to add her flair of stickers and scribbles to the one for her classmates and friends. Even if she doesn’t help with the card, I’ll often tuck in a photo or sample of her artwork. Such cards can become keepsakes or at least share a tangible glimpse into our lives.

Also, the Christmas cards we receive are a key part of our festive decorations. Although they may not get the same focus as a tree or the string of lights, they stand on the mantle as a reminder of our friends and loved ones. Unlike the ornaments we unpack from the box this year, the familiar things we hang from tree branches and window sills, we never know what we’re going to get.

I remember as a kid we’d have so many Christmas cards that we couldn’t possibly display them all. Instead, my mother would put out a festive bowl or box into which the cards would pile up. I recall looking through the pile, seeing photos of old friends, updates from far-flung relatives.

But as of today, we have received 5 cards, one of which is from our local MP. 

Top news stories of 2011

A year is a long time. A lot can and has happened. But in looking back at 2011, these are some of the news events that stand out the most for me:

Arab Spring. Demonstrations in Tunisia toppled the regime of Ben Ali and sparked revolutions in Egypt which ousted Hosni Mubarak, fuelled a civil war in Libya which lead to Moammar Gadhafi’s death and spurred civil uprisings in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. Protests were also launched in Algeria, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. This movement brought the world’s attention to political and cultural clashes in the Arab world, demonstrated the power of social media and may bring about real and lasting democratic change for millions.

Jack Layton’s Death. Jack Layton led his party to unprecedented success in the spring federal elections as millions of Canadians turned to him and his party in hope of positive, progressive leadership in Parliament. Yet after achieving the goal of leading Canada’s Official Opposition, Layton lost his life just when his political future had never been brighter. His last letter to Canadians fuelled a nation-wide outpouring of grief and admiration.

Japan’s tsunami and nuclear meltdown. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast in March triggered a tsunami which devastated much of the country, killed nearly 20,000 people, and triggered the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. This crisis was significant not only for the devastating toll on human lives, but also because it raised questions about the safety of nuclear energy.

Omnibus Crime Bill. The Conservatives won a majority government in the spring and their absolute, ideological rule of our federal government is only too apparent in the muscling through of the of omnibus crime bill – a ‘tough on crime’ legislative package whose passing required curtailing evidentiary hearings and informed debate, and disregarding both democracy and reason.

Occupy Wall Street Protests. The disparate voices of the 99% came together in a cacophony of frustration, anger and solidarity. What began as a September protest in New York has since become a global movement which remains leaderless and vague, yet persistent in bringing forward the complaints of those who feel betrayed and abused by the rich and the powerful.