Blog # 151…March 2024

To go back to February for a moment, I’m happy to see Jen Gunter’s book Blood jump to # 1 on the non fiction best seller list. And I forgot to mention an interesting find at the McMichael…a wall of paintings by Frederick Banting, that’s right one of the founders of insulin.  Science and art together again!

In December, I wrote about Medical Assistance in Dying. It's front and centre in the news again with the controversial issue of an extension to include intractable mental illness. In January I mentioned Good Grief, a film about the death of a loved one. And I wrote a piece on death for Moods Magazine in 2011 which began “When we’re born we’re issued with a return ticket” and went on to list the ways we avoid saying die or death…passing on, kicking the bucket or, for sports fans, the final inning. I’m starting to rest my eyes sometimes with audiobooks and just finished listening to Foregone, Russell Banks' final novel, the protagonist a dying man. Banks died in January 2023 and the book came out later last year. It's the first of his book's I've read  (although I remember Atom Egoyan's film made from The Sweet Hereafter) but it won't be the last! Not that I’m preoccupied with death exactly but I am trying to desensitize myself to the thought as I move through life. 

International Women's Day is coming up on March 8, we'll be celebrating online again so we can reach many people far away. Sorry to miss the tasty dishes we used to share but hope everyone can enjoy some yummy food and maybe get together with a few friends in your own corner.  On Zoom here in the studio (my kitchen) we'll have Mary Newberry in conversation with BettyAnn Mckenzie about the book she edited on disability activist Beryl Potter, followed by Maria Meindl talking about her experience with Heart to Heart, an agency that brings groups of Israeli and Palestinian teens for a week of summer camping together in Ontario.  I'll be sending some loving and supportive thoughts to Yulia Navalnaya who is bravely taking up her late husband's work, feel free to join me.

And while we're in that part of the world, there's a new book out about the amazing Volodymyr Zelenskyy who said, when someone compared him toWinston Churchill, that  he felt more like, Charlie Chaplin.  Reminding us of how Chaplin used the power of his art to demean fascism...both Zelenskyy and Navalny bring tears to my eyes with their humour and their bravery.

So Happy Birthday to any of you who are Leap Year people and we're moving towards spring, see you again in April.









 Blog #150...February 2024

When the new year begins, as it just did, there's a sense of change in the air, often targeting our behaviour, frequently to do with eating and exercise. Makes me remember using a formal stress scale to launch cognitive groups when I was in that business. Top of the list was death of a spouse, no surprise there, but there were some seemingly positive events further down ..like a work promotion, or a marriage. What they all shared of course as well as stress was change.

I sometimes think of what's not changed or what seems to be a similar situation. Is it too much of a stretch to compare the multitude of cruel scams afoot these days - online, at the bank machine or in a car - to the sharp teeth of animals our ancestors feared if they stepped outside their cave, or even stayed inside?  But back to what has changed.

Changes come in many forms - from beginning, or leaving, a relationship or job to the more subtle changes that can emerge slowly in attitudes. The wonderful Canadian gynaecologist Jen Gunter points out in her latest book -  Blood: The Science, Medicine and Mythology of Menstruation - how, as recently as 1974,  Britain's medical journal The Lancet published a piece speculating that menstrual blood could wither plants. I know 1974! She does a great deal for women btw, with The Vagina Bible  in 2019, The Menopause Manifesto in 2021 as well as Blood in 2024.

We all had to change quickly and pretty drastically when the pandemic struck, and I was reminded yet again how important friends are. Dan Levy has just released his first feature film, pivoting from his TV success with Schitt's Creek. In Good Grief  Dan blends the sorrow brought by the loss of a loved one with the life saving support of friends. It's set in the gay community and although it portrays that community as unique, the feelings connected with grief and with the importance of friends is universal.

 And Mathew R Morris in his first book Black Boys Like Me shows how topics to write about have changed since, say 1974 (when women were wilting plants). A teacher, Mathew brings his own experience at school to share with black students in his classroom, pointing out their individuality within the stereotypes of sports and music...or crime. Good for the white kids to hear too - lots to think about here.

And finally, I was lucky to visit the McMichael Gallery outside Toronto last week - how I adore that place!  I love stepping away from appreciating Canadian art to the large windows to appreciate the beautiful Canadian landscape outside. I say lucky because the Gallery is not accessible without a car, except for a once weekly bus in the summer. And the only opportunity to eat is a rather pricey and definitely not family friendly restaurant, no spot to eat a packed lunch in the winter other than a couple of benches in the lobby.  This is such an important collection of Canadian art, including thousands of indigenous pieces celebrated in a wonderful new book, that I'm always disappointed it isn't accessible to more people.  Maybe that'll change?   And, the show I enjoyed was the work of Marcel Dzama, a Winnipeg artist influenced by Federico Garcia Lorca and Tom Thomson... I know, weird, but the resulting work is beautiful and interesting.

So, this month's blog is a bit of a pot pourri, like life these days. See you in March.



 

Blog #149…January, 2024

I’m starting 2024 with a suggestion: to replace the acronym STEM, which has flooded the field of education in the past few years, with STEAM.  So the important foundations necessary for innovation, problem solving and critical thinking would be Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. Seems obvious doesn’t it?

I’ve just read something that unleashed a flood of nostalgia -  one of the great things about books - and this may prompt memories for you too, I hope so.

When I was a kid, my best friend Barra's backyard sloped invitingly into the Don Valley. Our parents warned us not to go ‘down the Don’ as we called it, but of course we started drifting down to see what was there, being content at first to go as far as the path that stretched a couple of hundred yards through green and perfect woods, maybe originally an Indian trail.  Pretty soon, we started venturing further and further, to the railway bridge, down to the River, there was no Don Valley Parkway to get in the way, and along to the Brickworks - in full production then. We’d occasionally see a solitary shabby man and know to take off even without any street-proofing. Our little gang spent hours running, hiding, discovering plants and small animals, laughing,  poking each other and playing games we made up. Someone’s dog called Skipper was a good sport about being part of the games. I’d arrive home for supper, not feeling it was important to mention to my parents where I got so dirty.

So when I heard Lucy Black on the CBC talking about her novel The Brickworks,  I immediately got on the phone to Ben McNally and ordered a copy. Historical fiction isn’t usually on my list, but this promised to be close to home, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Alistaire and Brodie are a couple of Scotty guys who meet up at work  building bridges around Buffalo. The time is late 1800’s and Lucy Black captures the times with its differences and similarities, totally drawing me into the lives of a couple of working class immigrants more than a century ago. They become friends through a common love of fishing and on a trip over the border, they discover a place in southern Ontario with an abundance of shale and clay - the ideal materials for bricks. The story unrolls with misfortunes, adventures and ultimately their success at building a business - The Brickworks - and finding love.

 Maybe it was my Scottish roots that piqued my interest in this, or maybe the word brickworks triggered a visit to memories of running through the Don when it was wild and beautiful, and with the sense of being somewhere I wasn’t meant to be, which still has a certain appeal. Losing myself in the world offered by a book is a great way to end this difficult year.

Here's hoping for some relief from the pain and suffering of so many people in the world - abroad, here too. I'll keep blogging along, it helps me make sense of some of it and tolerate the rest. 

Wishing you health and happiness in the new year that arrives in a few days...I'm off the grid for a bit to regroup after the holidays, back in February when the afternoons will stretch out and spring will be just down the road.

 

Blog # 148…December, 2023

 

Another November’s come and gone, this year bringing an added depth of darkness - both real and existential. We’ve turned the clocks back and put poppies on our lapels to honour fallen soldiers from old wars. Meanwhile, new wars rage in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza killing civilians against all laws of war and decency. Hard as it is to avoid despair, it’s not an option.  My glass is still half full (not sure of what) and I manage to find the occasional bright spot, or pony as the old joke about optimists and pessimists goes. 

I met Emily Armour several years ago  after she'd discovered a profile of Phyllis Carleton I'd writtten on a University of Toronto alumni website and she contacted me in hopes of finding some connection with her grandmother. Phyl had been  a physiotherapist  practicing in England during World War Two, as had Elizabeth Carroll, Emily’s grandmother...it seemed possible they had met, maybe even worked together. I asked Phyl shortly before her death (at almost 101) and examined various physio contacts but wasn't able to find any evidence of Elizabeth Carroll and the search seemed over. But in the many messages back and forth with Emily, I discovered something wonderful about her passions and her creative talents. 

She’s  a musician and teacher of music in Victoria,  British Columbia and, as well as a curiosity about her grandmother, she has an interest and reverence for other individuals who served in WWll. She searched out some surviving soldiers in and around Victoria and introduced them to her students (aged 8 to 18). Each student was assigned an individual to interview and then compose a  piece of music reflecting the veteran’s experiences during the war and since. Presenting the pieces to the larger group was a poignant experience for both the aging veterans and the young students - and Music for Veterans was born.

The project began in 2021 and most of the original students remain involved, with the addition of some new youngsters. This November they produced their first public event, held in Victoria’s Royal Oak Burial Park, the beautiful spot where Elizabeth Carroll is buried.

Music by the young composers commemorated the lives of eleven local airmen who died in training exercises during the war, never seeing active service and often not recognized in memorial services. Four of the older students then travelled with Emily to Ottawa to perform at a Remembrance Day ceremony on Parliament Hill, where they honoured Indigenous soldiers killed in battle as well as Romeo Dallaire.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Emily's persistence in searching out traces of her grandmother had led her to discover the obituary of another physiotherapist, Helen Metcalfe who had also served in England. Emily contacted her daughter Sue in Ottawa who remembered her mother mentioning Betty Carroll and even found a photo of Betty treating an injured soldier to send to Emily. While she was in Ottawa for the Remembrance Day event, Emily met Sue and they shared memories of  their beloved grandmother and mother… and the circle closed. 



Since Canada brought in Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) in June of 2016, more than 40,000 individuals have chosen this way to end their life.  Many family members and friends have participated in conversations about the decision making and other arrangements involved in this important social phenomenon  - new to us all.

Three of my friends have chosen to die with MAID in the past few months, the first sent a message with the reason for his decision and the fact that it would take place in a few days  - giving us a chance to express our affection and what his friendship had meant to us...sad but comforting. As individuals make different choices about their lives, they also do so about their deaths...and maybe the conversations that emerge in discussing MAID will lessen our avoidance of this sensitive topic. 

This starts the holiday season and finishes off 2023. I'm wishing peace and joy to you and for the rest of the world. We'll be back in 2024.





 Blog # 147...November 2023

 "Oh Canada, our home on native land," I love Jully Black's tiny one word switch in our national anthem that corrects the picture from  coast to coast to coast. Since I flew east recently, my thoughts are moving first in that direction - to Suzanne Stewart in Nova Scotia, then to Manitoba with Wab Kinew and out to Naomi Klein in British Columbia...and finally to a great Arctic/Amazon collaboration in Toronto.  November brings its own darkness, this year we're already drowning in serious difficulties at home and brutal horrors abroad, so we need flashes of brightness to keep us afloat.

When I was in Halifax I was pleased to have the ideal gift to take to friends who made me enormously welcome. Although it was a bit like taking coals to Newcastle, I gave them Suzanne Stewart's book The Tides of Time. A long time resident of Antigonish where she teaches at St Francis Xavier University, Suzanne began to think of our relationship with time and with the seasons, and has produced a contemplative book centred around the rural labours unique to Nova Scotia taking place each month. Starting in September (the beginning of the academic year) she meets and tells stories of tuna fishers, apple growers, beekeepers, sheep farmers, cranberry farmers, maple syrup producers, concluding in August with wild blueberry harvesting. It's a quiet, calm book, just the thing to neutralize the crowded, noisy and worrisome lives we lead...even in Nova Scotia.

And a few weeks ago, we rejoiced in the result of the election in Manitoba that gave us our first Indigenous provincial premier. Wab Kinew's first act in the legislature was to introduce a bill to formally recognize Metis leader Louis Riel as the province's first premier and to modernize the education curriculum to accurately reflect his life and accomplishments. Faced with corrosive criticism about his troubled past during the campaign, Wab was forthright in turning it into a wish that  people whose situations were not so good right now could see in his life, hope for their own.  Coming from a background somewhat different from most politicians (as well as being Indigenous, he's been a CBC journalist and broadcaster and a successful writer) gives Wab an edge on relating to Manitoba citizens. His memoir - The Reason You Walk, a story of reconciliation with his father who had been a residential school survivor, is both candid and moving. We'll be watching him with hope. 

A few years ago, Naomi Klein moved to British Columbia to be close to her parents. By this time, she had begun to realize that she was frequently being confused with Naomi Wolf: Same first name - not just them but their husbands - both Jewish, similar hair colour and style, and, perhaps most confounding, similar views early in their careers. Naomi Wolf wrote The Beauty Myth attacking the beauty industry in 1990; Naomi Klein wrote No Logo in 1999 poking at the "brand bullies".  Naomi Klein (our Naomi) continues to examine aspects of our world from the left while the other Naomi has swung to the far right, become an anti vaxxer, conspiracy theorist and frequent guest of Steve Bannon on Fox News.  In her highly personal Doppelganger, our Naomi examines how easily doubles can confuse our  thinking and upset our perception of reality...I hope it clears up who she is! 

The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University is home to a clever Arctic/Amazon project, an outside mural that brings together artists from two Indigenous groups, one from Nunavik,  the other from a remote area of Peru. Intending to unify the traditions and cultural legacies of these two regions and honour global indigeneity, the mural appears on the west wall of Kerr Hall, on Gould Street and Nelson Mandela Way, near Yonge and Dundas.


And since we're in the realm of Indigenous culture, this year's ImagiNATIVE, the annual celebration of media arts was bigger and more inclusive than ever. Since its founding by Cynthia Lickers-Sage in 1998, they've brought Indigenous film and video makers and other visual artists from around the world to present their creative excellence and innovation to each other and to us. Ten programs of shorts on different themes, animated programs for the "grandbabies", feature films, an art walk to gallery shows and a gala finale at the Art Gallery of Ontario are some of the attractions to whet our appetite for next year.

And as I write this, my heart aches for all the Indigenous people harmed by the immensely complex controversy over legitimacy and the damage to our progress towards reconciliation. 
With all that's going on in the world there's still lots of good and we need to relish it to cope with the awful stuff.  See you before Christmas to put the lights on for that season.


 Blog # 146...October 2023

BMO's new corporate headquarters, in Nordstrom's former space in Toronto's Eaton Centre, is an extraordinary example of a worker focused workplace, maybe a taste of the future and - dare we hope - an encouragement to other employers.


Work - what occupies us, all the different kinds of work we do, from looking after ourselves and other people to earning money or goods to live, has always fascinated me. In the 5 years since I published a piece about that sector of the world, it's changed enormously, leaping ahead - and sideways. I'm taking a look at the huge and fairly sudden changes that have happened since then, and what we may see down the road.

Let's start with the work of daily living in our surroundings: masks, vaccines, tests, consciousness of our elder friends and relatives, staying in, when and where to go out, smoke in the air, maintaining interests and engagement, maybe stresses of paying bills and finding housing and dealing with anxiety and/or depression.

Then there's what's involved in the work we do for money: contract, shifts, part time, permanent, temporary, at home, in an office, store or factory, more independence, time with family, loss of collegiality, tenuous, risky, satisfying, valued, too much, not enough, lost offshore, multiple jobs, too far away, stressful relationships, and on and on.

Outside factors come into it too: artificial intelligence supporting some sectors, threatening others; labour shortages in some fields, and the rallying of the union movement as workers gain influence and increasing strength and people who sell groceries, make cars and write Hollywood shows strike for their rights.

Many workplaces look different these days, more casual clothes (flip flops in the boardroom?) and many vacant spots as people sit at their kitchen tables or curl up on the sofa. Sone workers are being ordered back while other employers are paying more attention to the physical environment with art and colour schemes or coaxing staff back in with pickle ball courts or gourmet lunches. 

So back to BMO and the environment it's created for its employees...lucky them to have their wants and needs considered and even anticipated! Maybe some of the ideas and intentions will spread and be adapted in other settings.

Such a large project involves the talent and work of many individuals, and since I write about art, and because I love what she's done, I'm concentrating on Panya Clark Espinal's spectacular piece Ring True that's central to the space.

To create a project in a financial centre  Panya was inspired by the rings on the Canadian ten dollar bill which celebrates our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Four circles of different colours are rendered on a monumental scale on the escalator's banks, integrating into multiple planes as the passenger moves upwards, sometimes distorted, at other times in perfect alignment. In a playful way, Panya suggests that aligning one thing with another can help us gain clarity and wonders if what we claim in our Charter actually does ring true in our lived experience.

What's coming in the future? One thing is sure, with rights and freedoms, come online scams...the latest appears to come from a friend with "pictures" in the message line, as a way to enter your system. DELETE if you're suspicious and check the email address of the sender to see if it matches your legit contact. Be vigilant, the www is a bit of a wws (wild west show). 

And hello to the thousands of AI trollers from Singapore who visit my blog  every month, should I be flattered?

I'll be back in November, hope you will be too. 

 Blog # 145...September, 2023



My friend Marilyn took this photo for me on a recent trip to Paris. As well as recognizing my birthday, it also marks the founding of the 3rd French Republic in 1870 - stretching for 70 years from Napoleon to WWll.  





Birthdays make me think of transitions, the inevitable ones involved with aging - diminished hearing, sight or mobility but others like changing gender...or minds. All demand adjustments to how we think and act. 

It's uncomfortable to change, and many of us are struggling with adapting our attitudes towards our Indigenous fellow citizens. We deserve some background and history to be able to decide how to form our thoughts.

I was lucky to have a short trip to Manitoulin Island in July...staying at a lovely hotel /conference centre, a short lakeside walk from the main street of Little Current. Built in an Indigenous style and staffed by Indigenous folks, it's a great place to launch a visit, and feast on the local Georgian Bay whitefish. We also had a tour of the Island with a settler and time spent on unceded territory with an Indigenous elder.

For people not able to do that, there are a couple of books I read afterwards that gave me food for thought.  Michelle Good, who wrote the beautiful and anguished Five Little Indians, has given us Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada. It made me angry which I'm sure she intended.

And The Valley of the Birdtail is an unusual hybrid (maybe that should be trybrid) part history, part journalism, part novel...most of all a good story. It's set in a valley in central Manitoba - one side has the village of Rossburn, the other, the reserve of Waywayseecappo. The two lawyers who wrote it - one Indigenous from Manitoba, the other not - introduce a family from each place, real people living their present day lives set against the backdrop of the settlement of the valley.  A central figure in the early 1900's is Clifford Sifton, the federal minister responsible for importing hundreds of farmers from Ukraine giving them land that wasn't theirs(ours)to give!

It's an unusual form but works well to give us a look at two close communities, historically separate and tentatively testing ways to come together. A call out to Janice for suggesting I read it.

August was Emancipation month, certainly a time to recognize some progress on the road to equality, maybe also freeing up some of our thinking, looking for new ways to process the world and to care for the earth.  There's a cruel irony in the fires devastating Maui and our own British Columbia and North West Territories  - much of the land occupied by Indigenous people who have respected and done their best to preserve it... not the only case of the people doing the most to pollute suffering least.

So, we lurch into September, trying to do the best we can to keep our own small world in order, helping out when we can and comforted by the kindness and generosity of people in a position to do more.

And wait, don't go yet - another fine Canadian film:  North of Normal -  Carly Stone adapts Cea Sunrise Person's story of her unconventional life growing up in the north of Canada.

See you back here in October, as the leaves begin to fall.