Testing Technology Takes Time

So here is a new tool to blog with. I am using BlogPress on my Touch to post here and macblaze.hopto.org Let's see what happens when I add a pic..


L and C getting literary in Paris

--Post From My iPhone

Thought for the Day

"All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry." — G.K. Chesterton

It's a gorgeous September Sunday and there are still raspberries in the garden.

Lots of work to do — I'd better get at it.

L

...later that same day...

Done most of what I'd hoped to accomplish today, although never everything. Tried to post the outline to my online course, resulting in this kind of experience.

Happy New Year

For so long my life has been organized around the academic calendar that Labour Day has come to represent the real new year to me. This is the weekend I make my resolutions for better behaviour, change, improvement, etc. (Already several of my resolutions/changes have been tossed aside, but that's another story.) Wonderfully, this year Labour Day has fallen on September 1, creating a rather polished beginning to the school year ahead.

I did some necessary work at the office yesterday and finished some more earlier today. Another student has been launched as a graduate — hooray! Another is starting her second workplace term, while a few others are just beginning workplace study officially today. And I moved offices over the weekend, too. Can't wait to see what response that elicits tomorrow.

I am teaching second-year grammar again this year — yay! — and my print culture history class is running too. Unfortunately, I may also be teaching a third course, research skills. I was supposed to have course release this term, but it looks like my release is going to be snatched away. But the class doesn't start for another week, so if I can find someone else to teach it before September 8 I'll get to keep my release time and my scheduled Mondays off. I remain hopeful (although there's no reason on record that I should).

Am listening to good music this weekend, thanks to kind friends. Am reading good books, too. Now if only I were doing some good writing. Sigh.

Enjoyed a handful of late raspberries this morning, and may enjoy more over the next few days if we avoid a frost. There are also hundreds and hundreds of apples in the garden — if you want some apples, please let me know!

Oh, and since no-one else has said it, France was amazing and fantastic and marvellous — and I'd love to go back right now. Squamish was also super, especially climbing Dierdre. Wow!

I hope the new year treats you well. Cheers!

L

Looking back to understand the present

According to Naomi S. Baron, "in the medieval English scriptorium, punctuation was generally added not by scribes but by proofreaders, who were the most learned monks in the monastery. Sometimes the abbots themselves filled this role."

Does this historical fact provide a greater understanding of the cast of contemporary editors? Hmm.

From Banff in the rain,
Leslie

Talent or practice?

According to neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, "ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a week, of practice over ten years."

Hmm. Here I am at the Congress of Learned Societies with some ten thousand other people, most of whom are exceptionally well educated and highly intelligent; and yet of these ten thousand, only a very small number are truly "world-class" in their field. So perhaps the ten-thousand hour thesis does not apply to intellectual pursuits?

It's interesting that ten years is roughly the duration of an undergraduate degree plus graduate studies that typically churns out a PhD — assuming the student studied full time (which would be at least twenty hours per week of reading, writing, researching, discussing, and thinking). Does the diversity of tasks involved in becoming an academic preclude true expertise except rarely? (How many academic writers spend at least twenty hours a week only reading or only writing, for instance?) Because simply getting the PhD, while a great accomplishment, is insufficient to put one on the world stage, as the many, many underemployed graduates here will attest.

But then again, many of you reading this blog are inveterate readers who likely do spend some twenty hours of an average week reading. (I do, on average.) Does that make us world-class readers? (Levitin would argue that it would not, because reading is not a socially valued activity.) How would one evaluate world-class achievement in reading anyway?

Such strange thoughts ... but such is my brain early on a Sunday morning.

L

Live from Vancouver...

... and finally awake, c'est moi!

Here in my favourite city, the temperature is currently lower than it is at home. Seems I'm missing the best weather of the spring in Alberta. Sigh. But the sky is finally clearing here and I am watching the early evening sun from the east tower in the Gage residence. The prediction for tomorrow is not very good, but then again I'm supposed to be in sessions all day so it really shouldn't matter.

But I am very lonely! Would love to have e-mail from any of you -- or find me on Facebook. That's good too.

The room I'm staying is "modest" but not quite as spartan as the U of T residence I stayed in a couple of years ago. No tv (but there is tv in the common room if I want to watch something). No bathroom -- it's down the hall and better organized than the shower situation at St Mary's. (And fortunately, here's one place where my habit of waking up in the night will be valuable -- no need to fight for a shower if you take it at 4 in the morning!) Had no internet until about 6 pm local time -- sigh sigh sigh... -- but I have it now, finally!

I have my session book at last and am now planning my attendance for the next few days. There's a great plenary tomorrow with Severn Cullis-Suzuki that I'm hoping to attend (although it's at one of the more inaccessible locations on campus). There's also a breakfast talk on Monday with a young publisher and professor from SFU -- must try to get to that.

Today I had planned to get out and explore the city, but my body had other ideas. I worked for a few hours on my computer and then fell asleep for several hours. Oh well -- there will be time for sight-seeing, etc., tomorrow and next week.

Breakfast is included with our accommodation fees -- except not today. I hope there's something I can eat...

I hope you're well. See you on Wednesday!

L

Summer days

We're going to France! We're going to France!

That's right: our summer holiday involves a quick trip to France to drive a canal boat through Burgundy.

Then we're headed to Squamish for another week of climbing, hiking, jet-boating, and other miscellaneous fun.

Between now and then, I'm going to spend a week in Vancouver, a week in Banff, and a weekend in Montreal.

Pretty fab, huh? Think I'll go rest now and get ready. Summer begins in just a few days. I can hardly wait.

L

Now reading: Dr Delicious: Memoirs of a Life in CanLit by Robert Lecker; You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn; and The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability by Laura Kipnis

Happy birthday, B!

Here's hoping your day was fabulous. And remember, in the words of the fine folks of Squamish:

Who needs big jugs when you've got a great crack?

love,
L

Because she did it first...

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put your player on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every scene, type in the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new scene, press the "advance" button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool - first songs only

The Life of Bruce
Opening Credits: "Please Mr Please" by Olivia Newton John

Waking Up: "Breathe" by Collective Soul

First Day of School: "I'll be There in a Minute" by Gowan

Falling in Love: "As Lovers Go" by Dashboard Confessional

Fight Song: "My Girl" by Chilliwack

Breaking Up: "Drive My Car" by The Beatles

Prom: "We are the Champions" by Queen

Life is Good: "The 59th Street Bridge song (Feeling Groovy)" by Simon and Garfunkle

Mental Breakdown: "Smoky Mountain Rain" by Ronnie Milsap

Driving: "Layin' Pipe" by David Wilcox

Flashback: "Hitch A Ride" by Boston

Getting Back Together: "Holding Out For a Hero" by Frou Frou

Wedding: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band

Paying the Dues: "I'm Just a Kid" by Simple Plan

The Night Before the War: "Go Down Gamblin'" by Blood Sweat and Tears

Moment of Triumph: "Good Day Sunshine" by The Beatles

Death Scene: "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC

Funeral Song: "Knocking On Your Backdoor" by Deep Purple

End Credits: "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette

*****


Hmmmmmmm....

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Let's try this again...

An iteration of the MP3 game that I was playing earlier this year finally made its way to the Ecto mailing list that I'm still on after ten years. Here's another set of answers — plus instructions for those who were confused the last time around.

What this round tells me is that I listen to way too much pop music — and mostly songs I should be embarrassed to admit having in my library!

***

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put your player on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every scene, type in the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new scene, press the "advance" button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool - first songs only

Opening Credits: "Dirty Water" by Rock and Hyde

Waking Up: "Dance of the Clowns" by Berlioz

First Day of School: "Fame" by Irene Cara

Falling in Love: "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" by Jet

Fight Song: "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard

Breaking Up: "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell

Prom: "Fox on the Run" by Sweet

Life is Good: "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin

Mental Breakdown: "Have You Never Been Mellow" by Olivia Newton-John

Driving: "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin

Flashback: "Monster Hospital" by Metric

Getting Back Together: "The Visitors" by ABBA

Wedding: "Take One Away" by Burton Cummings

Paying the Dues: "Mr Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan

The Night Before the War: "What About Love" by Toronto

Moment of Triumph: "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin

Death Scene: "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton

Funeral Song: "China Grove" by The Doobie Brothers

End Credits: "Elegie" by Massenet

Thought for the day

"In hindsight, it seems evident that a guerrilla group started by middle-class men and women who name their group from a Bob Dylan song will likely be their own worst enemies." — Mark Kurlansky, referring to The Weathermen, later the Weather Underground

Turning Japanese!

In honour of Zak's imminent departure. Unfortunately, I still cannot read the kanji, but I can sound my way (badly) through Romaji. Nihongo has a very different linguistic structure from Ego ... I have a lot to learn!

Ichi — ni — san .... ikimasho!

Asa desu.

Haha to chichi.

Aka to kuro to shiro

Hai! Ie! Zenzen!

Sushi o tabemasho.

San-ju-hachi sai desu.

Gomen nasai.

Anti-erotic poems lifted from the NYT

These lines are taken from a review of an anthology of American erotic poetry. The anthology sounds awful, but the review was brilliant!

1) "Their Sex Life" — A.R. Ammons

One failure on
Top of another.


2) "On Reading Poorly Transcribed Erotica" — Jill Alexander Essbaum

She stood before him wearing only pantries
and he groped for her Volvo under the gauze.


Happy Easter!
L

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 95

Like many of my "Lost" picks, this song didn't chart in Canada's Top 40 (it peaked at #68, according to online sources), but it displays the somewhat paradoxical, subjunctive style of writing that I particularly enjoy in pop music. You probably don't remember it, but if you do, enjoy your synth-enhanced nostalgia trip.

**

"When Time Turns Around" (as recorded by The Spoons)

When all the clocks stop in my heart
Will you still be there to take me
Back to the start?

When time turns around
We'll do it all over again
One more time
When time turns around
We'll take all the chances we missed
The first time around

When the world stops outside my room
I know you'll take me to a place
Where everything comes true

When time turns around
We'll do it all over again
One last time
When all the clocks unwind
We'll take all the chances we missed
The second time around

There's something in this room
Scattered in the airwaves
Bouncing off the ground right to my head
The pictures on the wall
Shadows of a replay
Of things that should have happened long ago
Now no-one else will know

When time turns around
We'll do it all over again
One more time
When time turns around
We'll take all the chances we missed
The first time around

When time turns around
We'll do it all over again
One last time
When all the clocks unwind
We'll take all the chances we missed
And never turn around

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 34

Technically not "lost" lyrics since you've likely never heard this song, but still a beautiful track.... donne-moi, donne-moi, donne-moi...

**

"Pour ton sourire" (as written and recorded by Jorane, violoncelliste suprême)

Donne-moi tes lèvres
Donne-moi ton coeur
Donne-moi tes yeux
Donne-moi ton sourire

Pour ton sourire, j'veux donner une belle bague
Une belle bague pour ton sourire

Pour t'embrasser, j'veux donner une tasse d'amour
Une tasse d'amour pour t'embrasser
Pour tes yeux et pour tes lèvres
Pour ton sourire

Pour ton sourire, j'veux donner toutes mes nuits
Mes jours et tous mes rêves
Pour tes yeux et pour tes lèvres
Pour ton sourire

"Welcome to Alberta's century!"

This morning I am ashamed to be an Albertan. In the spirit of change, we have elected 72 of 83 Tory MLAs.

Here is the breakdown, pending any recounts, with percentage of popular vote in parentheses:

PC: 72 (52.67%)
LIB: 9 (26.36%)
NDP: 2 (8.53%)
WAP: 0 (6.76%)
GRN: 0 (4.58%)
OTH: 0 (1.1%).

Only 41 percent of eligible Alberta voters bothered to go to the polls.

To friends who ran, congratulations on your efforts to try to change the political landscape for the better. I admire your conviction and dedication.

As for me, I'm hanging my head. Why don't we just save the money and do away with elections in this province? Who needs democracy when you're rich, after all? I am so, so disappointed in Alberta.

For Leslie & Editors Everywhere...

Hmmmmmm, Poofreading...sound slightly 17th century

Embedded Video

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Blogging with Flock

This is just a bit of a test of some new software. Flock is what they are calling a Social Browser. It includes links to Facebook, YouTube etc as well as built in RSS and Blogging utilities. I can also upload pictures to Flick'r  but not to Picassa (which is what I have been using).

Theoretically I can link to an image like this:

One of L's favorite Demotivators

Guess that works. As well you can poke people right from the browser without going to Facebook or check status etc. It also supports media streams, but since I don't know what that is  I'm not too thrilled yet. You can post to multiple blogs (see here at MacBlaze) either on standard services like blogger or LiveJournal or self hosted one like mine which is totally bonus. It links to del.icio.us and magnolia. It's cross platform as well.

It also has all the latest browser features like tabbed browsing, search capabilities etc. All in all is seems like a real gem.

Blogged with Flock

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 85

Such a sweet and wistful little song. And though we may be cynical now, isn't it comforting to remember simpler days?


**


"A Good Heart" (as recorded by Feargal Sharkey)

I hear a lot of stories
I suppose they could be true
All about love and what it can do to you
High is the risk of striking out, the risk of getting hurt
And still I have so much to learn

I know 'cause I think about it all the time
I know that real love is quite a vice

And a good heart these days is hard to find
True love, the lasting kind
A good heart these days is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

My expectations may be high
I blame it on my youth
Soon enough I learned the painful truth
I'll face it like a fighter, then boast of how I've grown
Anything is better than being alone

Well I know 'cause I learn a little every day
I know 'cause I listen when the experts say

That a good heart these days is hard to find
True love, the lasting kind
A good heart these days is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

As I reflect on all my childhood dreams
My ideas of love weren't as foolish as they seemed
If I don't start looking now, I'll be left behind
And a good heart these days, it's hard to find

I know it's a dream I'm willing to defend
I know it will all be worth it in the end

And a good heart these days is hard to find
True love, the lasting kind
A good heart these days is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

I iz aliving noobz

Yeah. I just am.

L

"If I ever lose my faith in you"

The challenge: Set your digital music player to random/shuffle. Use the title of the next song to play to answer each question.

These are the real answers that came up! It's uncanny — and a little unnerving!

1. If someone says, "Is this okay?" you say?
"It's All Right with Me" (Tom Waits covering Cole Porter)

2. How would you describe yourself?
"Wrong" (Lindsey Buckingham)

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?
"Sexual Healing" (Kate Bush)

4. How do you feel today?
"You Oughta Know" (Alanis Morissette)

5. What is your motto?
"Love Is Love" (urm ... Culture Club)

6. What do your friends think of you?
"Jump Around" (House of Pain)

7. What do you think of your parents?
"Laying Down the Law" (INXS w/Jimmy Barnes)

8. What do you think about very often?
"And So Is Love" (Kate Bush)

9. What is 2 + 2?
"The Crucifixion" (Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack)

10. What do you think of your best friend?
"California" (Sarah Slean)

11. What do you think of the person you like/love?
"Give Peace a Chance" (John Lennon)

12. What is your life's purpose?
"Love Will Find a Way" (Pablo Cruise)

13. What is your life story?
"Waterloo" (ABBA)

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Lucky Me" (Sarah Slean)

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like/love?
"Walk like an Egyptian" (The Bangles)

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
"Spark" (Tori Amos)

17. What will they play at your funeral?
"I Put a Spell on You" (CCR)

18. What is your hobby/interest?
"Don't Go" (Yaz)

19. What is your biggest fear?
"On My Own" (Les Misérables soundtrack)

20. What is your biggest secret?
"Look What You've Done to Me" (Boz Scaggs)

21. What do you think of your friends?
"Fame" (Irene Cara)

22. What will you post this as?
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" (Sting)


Try it yourself — and be sure to post the results!

L

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 132

Probably one of the strangest Christmas singles ever, and likely also one of the most histrionic — and yet it still gets me every time.

**

"The Power of Love" (as recorded by Frankie Goes to Hollywood)

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door

Feels like fire
I'm so in love with you
Dreams are like angels
They keep bad at bay
Love is the light
Scaring darkness away

I'm so in love with you
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
Flame on, burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door
When the chips are down I'll be around
With my undying, death-defying
Love for you
Envy will hurt itself
Let yourself be beautiful
Sparkling love, flowers
And pearls and pretty girls
Love is like an energy
Rushing inside of me

This time we go sublime
Lovers entwine, divine divine
Love is danger, love is pleasure
Love is pure, the only treasure

I'm so in love with you
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
The power of love
A force from above
A sky-scraping dove
Flame on, burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door

2008

As a post for 2008 (it seems I only get around to one a year or so) I think I will dedicate it to Leslie's teaching, Carmen's studenting and Bruce's stand-around-observingness. The first issue of Enjoy Gardening hit the shelves at Hole's today and will be populating magazine racks across the country in the coming weeks. Not quite a magazine, similar to a book, sort of a journal and not at all a serial, I believe this is a new form of publication that I intend to call a Moosh.

Long live the Moosh and may she fly high and true.

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 123

Contemplate the unity between la belle et la bête. Who doesn't love a bit of drama in his life?

**

"Beauty and the Beast" (as recorded by Stevie Nicks)

You're not a stranger to me
And you are something to see
You don't even know how to please
You say a lot but you're unaware how to leave

My darling lives in a world that is not mine
An old child misunderstood out of time
Timeless is the creature who is wise
And timeless is the prisoner in disguise

Oh who is the beauty ... who the beast
Would you die of grieving when I leave
Two children too blind to see
I would fall in your shadow, I believe

My love is a man who's not been tamed
Oh my love lives in a world of false pleasure and pain
We come from different worlds ... we are the same
I never doubted your beauty ... I've changed

Wondering...

What does the aspect of this line imply about the speaker's imminent actions?

"You have been the one,
You have been the one for me."

Since I first heard this song (by James Blunt), I've been writing its story in my mind, and I'm really puzzled by the tense. Any ideas?

L

Welcome to 2008

Happy New Year! I hope your entry into 2008 was bright and beautiful. Here's wishing us all a joyous, healthy, and satisfying twelve months. Whee!

L

What would you call...?

Whew, it's been a while, huh? I'll try to get back to blogging more regularly in the new year. They say power has its privileges ... one of which is not an abundance of spare time. : )

In the meantime, here's something to think about: What would the title of your biography be? Here are some suggestions:

For Zak: Stuff I would have blown up ... if I'd gotten around to it ...

For me: Stuff I found on the floor of my office

OK, maybe these aren't titles of biographies so much as archeological dissertations. Speaking of which... Back to cleaning up.

Have a marvellous holiday season!

L

Beautiful passages

"My own father, who had great respect for nature, had dropped each of us into the river soon after we were born, before our ties to the amphibians, so he claimed, were cut completely. ... I'd like to think that I would have done it differently. I would have held my son in my arms. I would have told him, Once upon a time you were a fish. A fish? he'd have asked. That's what I'm telling you, a fish. How do you know? Because I was also a fish. You, too? Sure. A long time ago. How long? Long. Anyway, being a fish, you used to know how to swim. You loved the water. Why? What do you mean, why? Why did I love the water? Because it was your life! And as we talked, I would have let him go one finger at a time, until, without his realizing, he'd be floating without me."

Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 27

July days, July evenings...

**

"Summer Breeze" (as recorded by Seals and Crofts)

See the curtains hanging in the window
In the evening on a Friday night
A little light shining through the window
Lets me know everything's all right

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind

See the paper laying on the sidewalk
A little music from the house next door
So I walk on up to the doorstep
Through the screen and across the floor

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind

Sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom
July is dressed up and playing her tune
And I come home from a hard day’s work
And you're waiting there
Not a care in the world

See the smile waiting in the kitchen
Food cooking and the plates for two
Feel the arms that reach out to hold me
In the evening when the day is through

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind…

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 38

Simple and sweet, and slightly melancholy. Don't you have those contrary days too?

**

"Hello Goodbye" (as recorded by The Beatles)

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why, and I say I don't know
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Do you say good bye
Goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye

Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello
Hello

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 69

Maybe you remember Streetheart's cover instead of the original. Either way, it makes a fine singalong on those retro days.

**

"Tin Solider" (as recorded by The Small Faces)

I am a little tin soldier
That wants to jump into your fire
You are a look in your eye
A dream passing by in the sky
I don't understand
And all I need is treat me like a man
'Cause I ain't no child
Take me like I am

I got to know that I belong to you
Do anything that you want to do
Sing any song that you want me to sing to you

I don't need no aggravation
I just got to make you
I just got to make you my occupation

I got to know that I belong to you
Do anything that you want to do
Sing any song that you want me to sing to you

All I need is your whispered hello
Smiles melting the snow
Nothing heard
You eyes are deeper than time
Say a love that won't rhyme without words
So now I've lost my way
I need help to show me things to say
Give me your love before mine fades away

I got to know that I belong to you
Do anything that you want to do
Sing any song that you want me to sing to you

I just want some reaction
Someone to give me satisfaction
All I want to do is stick with you
'Cause I love you

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 94

One of the best songs for remembering sunny summer days.

**

"At the Zoo" (as recorded by Simon and Garfunkel)

Someone told me
It's all happening at the zoo
I do believe it
I do believe it's true

It's a light and tumble journey
From the East Side to the park
Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo
But you can take the crosstown bus
If it's raining or it's cold
And the animals will love it
If you do, if you do

Something tells me
It's all happening at the zoo
I do believe it
I do believe it's true

The monkeys stand for honesty
Giraffes are insincere
And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum
Zebras are reactionaries
Antelopes are missionaries
Pigeons plot in secrecy
And hamsters turn on frequently
What a gas! You gotta come and see
At the zoo...

Breast cancer versus prostate cancer

October is breast cancer month in Canada. You likely already know this because of the pink ribbons in magazines and newspapers, in stores and businesses, and on various products, or because you're supporting a run to fund breast cancer research.

Did you know September was prostate cancer awareness month?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women, while prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men. In fact, prostate cancer accounts for almost one in three cancer diagnoses among Alberta men.

In 2007, an estimated 22,300 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 4,300 will die of it. In 2007, an estimated 22,300 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of it.

These figures mean that, on average, 429 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every week and 83 Canadian men will die of prostate cancer every week. At the same time, an average of 429 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week and 102 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week. (In the United States, more black women die of breast cancer than white women do.)

At a local level, an estimated 2,400 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 430 will die of it in Alberta and the Northwest Territories, while an estimated 2,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 440 will die of it in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Breast cancer tends to be a more lethal cancer and tends to develop earlier in life than prostate cancer. One in eight men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime, for most after age sixty. One in 27 will die of it. One in nine women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime, and one in twenty-seven will die of it. (An estimated 170 men are diagnosed each year with breast cancer and 50 will die of it.)

However, breast cancer death rates have declined in all ages combined and in every age group since at least the mid 1990s. Incidence and death rates for breast cancer have declined since 1969 in women aged 20 to 39.

So research does make a difference, and your donations to fight cancer are important. But don't be swayed to buy pretty pink products that you wouldn't otherwise buy, and don't be coerced into donating just because it's October. The pink ribbon is appealing, but advances in all areas of cancer research are needed now.

You can make your money make a difference. Donate directly to organizations that fund cancer research rather than buying products that direct a portion of their profits to funding cancer organizations. Support products and organizations that generate funds and awareness year-round rather than just once a year. Cancer organizations are happy to receive your donation throughout the year, whether it's breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, or general cancer research that you prefer to support, and most donations to registered charitable and nonprofit organizations are tax-creditable.

Cancer is an ugly disease, no matter who gets it. It is tragic when a beautiful woman in her twenties or thirties learns she has cancer, but it is also tragic when a brilliant man in his fifties or sixties learns he has cancer. This month, join the fight to end ALL cancers.

All statistics are from the Canadian Cancer Society, www.cancer.ca.

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 49

A little-known song from the late eighties: sweet, simple, and a tiny bit sad.

**

"I Wish U Heaven" (as recorded by Prince)

Doubts of our conviction
Follow where we go
And when the world's compassion
Ceases still I know
4 your every touch I
Thank U so much
4 your every kiss I...

I wish U love
I wish U heaven
I wish U heaven

If I say 11
U can say it's 7
Still I wish U heaven

I wish U love
I wish U heaven
I wish U heaven...

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 46

Someone somewhere is thinking of you right this minute.

**

"Losing My Religion" (as recorded by R.E.M.)

Life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 97

Ideally, this song is playing while you're flying down the highway, headed for happiness...

**

"Magic Carpet Ride" (as recorded by Steppenwolf, 1968!)

I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near, to the stars away from here

Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me, little girl
On a magic carpet ride
You don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes, girl
Look inside, girl
Let the sound take you away

Last night I held Aladdin's lamp
And so I wished that I could stay
Before the thing could answer me
Well, someone came and took the lamp away
I looked around
A lousy candle's all I found

Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me, little girl
On a magic carpet ride
Well, you don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes, girl
Look inside, girl
Let the sound take you away...

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 89

Always reminds me of the auto-percussion selection on my mother's electronic organ!

**

"Steppin' Out" (as recorded by Joe Jackson)

Now —
The mist across the window hides the lines
But nothing hides the colour of the lights that shine
Electricity so fine
Look and dry your eyes

We —
So tired of all the darkness in our lives
With no more angry words to say
Can come alive
Get into a car and drive
To the other side

Me, babe — steppin' out
Into the night
Into the light
You, babe — steppin' out
Into the night
Into the light

We —
Are young but getting old before our time
We'll leave the TV and the radio behind
Don't you wonder what we'll find
Steppin' out tonight

You —
Can dress in pink and blue just like a child
And in a yellow taxi turn to me and smile
We'll be there in just a while
If you follow me

Me, babe — steppin' out
Into the night
Into the light
You, babe - steppin' out
Into the night
Into the light ...

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 31

Another great one-off — perfect for your morning commute!

**

"Ah! Leah!" (as recorded by Donnie Iris)

Leah, it's been a long long time
You're such a sight
You're looking better than a body has a right to
Don't you know we're playing with the fire?
But we can't stop this burning desire

Ah! Leah! Here we go again
Ah! Leah! Is it ever going to end?

I see your lips and I wonder who's been kissing them
I never knew how badly I was missing them
We both know we're never going to make it
but when we touch, we never have to fake it

Ah! Leah! Here we go again
Ah! Leah! Is it ever going to end?
We ain't learned our lesson yet

Baby, it's no good
We're just asking for trouble
I can touch you but I don't know how to love you
It ain't no use, we're headed for disaster
Our minds say no but our hearts are talking faster

Ah! Leah! Here we go again
Ah! Leah! Is it ever going to end?

The vault of lost lyrics, chapter 17

Turn up your mental speakers and sing along!

**

"Turning Japanese" (as recorded by The Vapors)

I've got your picture of me and you
You wrote "I love you"
I wrote "Me too"
I sit there staring and there's nothing else to do
Oh it's in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when there's no one else around

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of you all round my cell
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
And turning in and turning 'round

Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so...

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of them all round my cell
I want the doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
and turning in and turning 'round

Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so...

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
That's why I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so...

A Book to Avoid

I'm sure few of you would ever be moved to read Ann Brashares' new novel, The Last Summer (of You and Me) . But for those who might be tempted, let me say this: don't bother.

Brashares, in case you don't know, is the author of the outrageously successful Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series for young adults. The series is chock-full of annoying, low-grade YA clichés: genre-bound, simplistic, predictable exchanges that follow a high-key Hollywood arc. Nothing truly bad happens, the risks the protagonists face are minor and non-threatening, and the books invariably resolve happily, with renewed commitment to friendship forever (a commitment that strangely ebbs away by the beginning of the next book). Earlier this year Brashares brought all her Travelling Pants heroines to the cusp of adulthood, perhaps thinking her readership would then graduate to the new novel she's written for adults. And while readers might buy the book because they recognize the author's name, I can't imagine any but those who like badly written, formulaic storytelling enjoying it.

The Last Summer tells the story of Alice and Riley, sisters in their early twenties, and their best boy pal, Paul. After several years apart, the trio reunite at their summer homes on Fire Island. Preposterousness then ensues: a secret romance, a fast-moving tragedy, a protracted misunderstanding, and a final tearful resolution. Despite more than 300 pages of plot and exposition, real characters never arrive to flesh out Brashares' sketches. Her prose is bloated and occasionally pedantic — there is no doubt readers will understand the deeper philosophy the writer means to communicate, if only because the writer underlines it in triplicate. Brashares' technique alternates between stilted, extremely formal constructions and vapid, throwaway sentences. When the copyediting started to fall apart, about 100 pages into the novel, I was convinced the editor was having as much trouble taking the book seriously as I was. Not only could I predict the plot from chapter one; at no point did the writer make me care about the story or the characters. Even the sex scenes are coy and cool, as they would be in one of Brashares' YA books, and the serious problems of young adults living in an increasingly complex world are waved away, deferred for contemplation some vague time after Labour Day.

I'd been hoping that Brashares had more promise than her Travelling Pants premise permitted her to express — I was looking forward to a breakout book. Sadly, this is no breakout; it isn't even good summer reading. Clichéd, trite, underdeveloped and overwritten, The Last Summer (of You and Me) is a book to avoid.

Thirty Days in the Summer of 07

I took off 31 days from life to enjoy myself this summer.There are a bunch of pics here and hopefully an ongoing blog of the trip here.

Suffice it to say I was very relaxed upon my return...

Happy Birthday, Zak!

Hi Zak!

Happy Sixteenth! We hope your birthday is fun and wonderful, and wish you a successful and enjoyable year ahead. Oh, and lots of exploding. That too. : )

Lots of love,
Mom and Dad

They say you can publish documents from Google docs staright to your blog. Well if this works I guess it means you can. Thus all your bold or italics are then translated and colours too. Interesting.

In other new, it is 11 days till I and Zak head off on our adventure. I will try and keep a blog going over at macblaze.hopto.org. We are heading off to Canmore to take a climbing course (Intro to Trad) with Leslie and then she's back to work while Zak, Doug and I head to Lake Louise for a couple of days and then off to Waterton for a couple more. After that its catch as catch can until we hit Squamish on the 31st. Doug will take th train back and then Zak and I will meet up with Leslie in Vancouver on the 4th.

Then follows 8 days of sailing on this boat before we meander our way back home via Skaha oand maybe the Ghost Wilderness.

11 days...

Beautiful Sunday

Anyone remember that song?

Hi, hi, hi beautiful Sunday
This is my, my, my beautiful day
When you say, say, say, say that you love me
Oh, my, my, my it's a beautiful day

It's been a while since I've sat down to write. Lots has been happening, too. I remain chair of my program and have a mentor for my "practicum" year of leadership training. And now I must get busy writing my candidacy proposal, with the aim of taking my candidacy exam by Winter Solstice. A little faster than I had expected to do things, but probably in the realm of the possible. Tomorrow I begin a course on the work of Paulo Freire — lots of reading on the horizon!

To that end, here's a quotation from Gadamer:

To participate with the other and to be part of the other is the most and the best that we can strive for and accomplish ... We may perhaps survive as humanity if we would be able to learn that we may not simply exploit our means of power and effective possibilities, but we must stop and respect the other, whether it is nature or the grown culture of people and nations.

And further:

We live in separate realities, but we live with each other.

And from Freire himself:

I have the right to be angry and to express that anger, to hold it as my motivation to fight, just as I have the right to love and to express my love for the world, to hold it as my motivation to fight, because while a historical being, I live history as a time of possibility, not of predetermination. If reality were what it is because it was written so, there would be no reason to be angry.

Must fly — really must clean my office, and other stuff, before the house gets too warm. I hope to talk with you soon!

L

Rock On

Went climbing outside for the first time this year and visited Hogwart's and Waterknot Wall. Everyone did their fair share of leading (even Leslie) although she did comment that she considered coming down her reward for having to go up. Kind of makes her more of a descender than a climber but I guess everyone has their own schtick.




Opening day

Bruce starts the day off with some warmups on the easy Hogwart's Wall. It was a lovely day if a bit windy.


Zak follows up with some moves of his own.


Lelsie shows here moves with a couple of lead climbs of her own. She generally doesn't like to lead and that goes double for outside. She really rocked and pushed through a couple of difficult moments...

All this with an audience! (check out the spot below the wire-like shadow on the road and spot the sheep!)


Moving up the hill to Waterknot and a few tougher climbs, Zak shows off his safety-concious fashion sense. Only a 5.6, but the crux is below the first clip.


Zak moves on to the 5.11b...HARD! He pulls off the first three bolts before his fingers give out and he bails to give Dad a chance.


Bruce takes up the challenge and after a few attempts, finally dials in the next two moves but can't make the clip. After a couple of tries apiece, Zak and Dad bail and slink off to climb easier stuff.


Meanwhile Leslie is content to pummel the 5.8 into submission and work on her style points.


After a long day, we look back up the hill to the small cliff band (indicated) that makes up Waterknot Wall.

Seven big ones

A list compiled many, many years ago: seven phrases for ending (or at least redirecting) discussion, as identified by a master evader.

1. OK.
2. Right.
3. Sure.
4. So...
5. Anyway...
6. Whatever.
7. Never mind.

Of course, intonation is everything. Don't try this at home!

L

My youth...

I got this Corb Lund video off a friend's blog and it really reminds me of being young again...sigh...

Almost makes me a teary as Toby Keith's "I Love this Bar"...

For Mom

A pre- mother's day gift...

Thought for today

I can live for two months on a good compliment. — Mark Twain

Climb on,
L

Bricolage

Found in passing. Work, school, and technology conspire to keep me from resting. No, no, I do that to myself. Anyway, here are some kibbles and bits to keep you entertained and inspired. Stay well!

Leslie

**

They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum. — Tallulah Bankhead

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. — Jennifer Yane

The double agent looked up from his lunch of Mahi-Mahi and couscous and realized that he must escape from Walla Walla to Bora Bora to come face-to-face with his arch enemy by taking out his 30-30 and shooting off his nemesis's ear-to-ear grin so he could wave bye-bye to this duplicitous life, but the chances of him pulling this off were only so-so, much less than 50-50. — Source unknown

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work. — Pearl Bailey

A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things. It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down. — Buddha

Oh MY F'n GOD!

I have discovered GodTube.com and I am now officially scared...

I thought it was a joke...but nope, he's serious.
More here

Where's Terry Eagleton when you need him?

Just finished flipping through, grazing on, and generally musing about last year's collection 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (a companion volume to 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die). If you haven't already seen it, you may want to spend some time with this book.

The collection presents an amalgam of high culture and popular titles, beginning with the ancients and continuing right up to 2005. The pre-nineteenth-century sections are quite thin; the twentieth century forms the essence of the book. It was produced in England and betrays some British favoritism alongside a strong American presence; interestingly, there are very few Canadian, Australian, or postcolonial authors included — there is, as we would have said in the 1980s, a clear Anglo-American axis. The bulk of the authors are male and white, and the listings make routine observations about those inclusions who are not male or white.

I truly wonder about the purpose of a collection such as this. It certainly evokes class-based standards for cultural knowledge and participation. Many of the listings use theoretical and formalist explanations for the selections, suggesting that only a reader with a thorough literary education will be able to appreciate the full meaning of the text. Many texts are glossed with information about their adaptation to the stage or screen — an access point for those unable to cope with the literary apparatus, perhaps? There is certainly more than a whiff of canon building in this book — and aren't we through with that yet?

I have an MA in English, the follow-up to an undergrad honours degree in English. While I'm not exceptionally well read, I had believed I have a reasonable literary background and a fair knowledge of major texts in English and world literature. This book has proved me wrong, wrong, wrong. I have read perhaps twenty percent of the "must-read" titles — and appallingly, I read at least half of those after receiving my MA. While I know where my weakness exists (primarily in concentrating on reading books by women and Canadians), I'd be interested to know how others fare when comparing their prior reading history to this prescription.

But this book has got me thinking. Perhaps one of the reasons I am no longer interested in completing my doctorate in English — why I am in fact completing a doctorate involving the deconstruction of English by way of another faculty — is that the class mechanism of English is simply too obvious for me now. The Department of English at the University of Alberta, my alma mater, is so interested in its self-construction as radical that it rarely stops to consider its own site of privilege or its complicity in oppression. Even decades after telling itself that reading literature doesn't really make us better people, the Department continues to chant the liberal motto of better living through literature. (Well, why not? It's the same bill of goods the rest of the schooling enterprise is selling.) And if you don't have access, you're really not one of us after all, are you? Of course, it's not all high modernism and the Leavises today; now the badge of admission is the mindless iteration of post-colonialism, identity feminism, and theoretical Marxism. Yet the song remains the same.

Where are the working-class poets? Somewhere in China, or Africa, or Southeast Asia, assembling your next DVD player, sewing your new lululemon leggings, or answering your calls at an international call centre. They're not here: the North American working class lives elsewhere now — and that whole notion of class is so out of date anyway!

And what has three decades of identity-based literary criticism given us? A powerful belief that individual identity trumps collective needs every time. A liberal embrace of the marketplace of ideas. A vague sense of dread that can be diffused only by consuming faster and faster the digital enhancements of a mediocre age.

So why should we read those 1001 books? There's no need, really. They'll be coming to you soon enough on Google Books, digested into their essential fibres for those with the means to buy them — or for the truly pixellated (and perhaps the pixillated too), on YouTube. Will civilization as we know it come to a lurch if we all don't stop what we're doing and read? We can only hope so...

L

Thought for the day

The people united will never be defeated...

Playing...

Made a few changes using the new template system. I'll have to put some thought into it. I used Adobe Lightrooms flash gallery to upload some Rip & Grip images. Have a peek. They are on the iMac at home so don't expect super fast response. Speaking of which I got the iMac back so be sure to swing by and visit macblaze.hopto.org. I turned the shaw space over to Zak and he's been busily uploading Halo pics. I made him hand code the web pages so they don't have the polish of packaged stuff, but overall pretty darn good...

In other news after viewing this clip, I now suspect EJ Woods has a second career. If ever there was a devious, anti-pet mind that would invent this contraption under guise of being helpful, Mr Woods is such a villian...

All that is old is new again

I still don't have my computer back from the shop and I still don't have my blog up again. In other news, we've updated to the new and improved google blogger... I'm not sure I like change. I think its bout time I look into a domain for myself.

Anyway L is home, only 55 minutes late... I guess that makes her almost early...

Tah!

86 It

A new custom playlist. Those who were there will understand. Those who weren't will simply be puzzled....

Video Killed the Radio Star, The Buggles
Goodbye 70's, Yaz
Relax, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Kids in America, Kim Wilde
Brand New Lover, Dead or Alive
I Ran (So Far Away), A Flock of Seagulls
Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper
Young Guns (Go For It!), Wham
Too Shy, Kajagoogoo
Let's Go Crazy, Prince and the Revolution
Self Control, Laura Branigan
Hyperactive!, Thomas Dolby
So Alive, Love and Rockets
Father Figure, George Michael
The Ecstasy of Flight (I Love the Night), Chris De Burgh
Hungry Like the Wolf, Duran Duran
The Look of Love (Part I), ABC
Gloria, Laura Branigan
If I Had You Back, The Rubinoos
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Kate Bush
Running with the Night, Lionel Richie
Billie Jean, Michael Jackson
Hazy Shade of Winter, The Bangles
Call Me, Blondie
Love Shack, The B-52's
Living in a Box, Living in a Box
You Spin Me Round (Like A Record), Dead Or Alive
I Did It for Love, Harlequin
4 Ever 2 Gether, ABC
Rebel Yell, Billy Idol
Der Kommissar, After The Fire
Geronimo's Cadillac, Modern Talking
I Drove All Night, Cyndi Lauper
Don't Go, Yaz
Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson
I Got You, Split Enz
Too Much Time on My Hands, Styx
It's My Life, Talk Talk
Sunglasses at Night, Corey Hart
Love Becomes Electric, Strange Advance
Faster than the Speed of Night, Bonnie Tyler
Safety Dance, Men Without Hats
Windpower, Thomas Dolby
Dancing with Myself, Billy Idol
Come On Eileen, Dexy's Midnight Runners
(Nothing But) Flowers, Talking Heads
First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes
Time (Clock Of The Heart), Culture Club
Like a Prayer, Madonna
I'm Your Baby Tonight, Whitney Houston
You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde
Hold On, Ian Thomas
Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper
This Is the World Calling, Bob Geldof
If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Here Comes the Rain Again, Eurythmics
He's a Dream, Shandi
Open Your Heart, Madonna
Cruel Summer, Bananarama
Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles
Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Pet Shop Boys
Sister Christian, Night Ranger
1999, Prince
Wham Rap!, Wham!
Situation, Yaz
On the Loose, Saga
Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Ultravox
Controversy, Prince
I'll Tumble 4 Ya, Culture Club
Goody Two Shoes, Adam Ant
Venus, Bananarama
The Glamorous Life, Sheila E.
Stand Back, Stevie Nicks
Maniac, Michael Sembello
This Wheel's on Fire, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Like Flames, Berlin
Run Runaway, Slade
Something About You, Level 42
Obsession, Animotion
Our House, Madness
Road to Nowhere, Talking Heads
Walk of Life, Dire Straits
Twist in My Sobriety, Tanita Tikaram
Sign O' the Times, Prince
Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds

Enjoy! - L

**

Q: What do you do if you're attacked by a troupe of circus performers?
A: Go for the juggler.

Are You a Grizzly Bear?

Perhaps you are a grizzly bear and don't know it! Take this simple quiz to find out.

Are you loud?
Are you hairy?
Are you big?
Are you strong?
Are you scary?
Do you like berries?
Do you like salmon?
Do you sleep a lot in the winter time?
Are you irritable when you first awake?
(females only) Are you protective of your offspring?
Do you roar?

If you have answered yes to all of these questions, you are a grizzly bear.

I am.

Eeks!

Happy New Year!

Hello all!

I hope you had a warm and wonderful holiday season and the new year is finding you optimistic. I'm simply procrastinating right now, so I'll keep this short. This year I resolve to write more often. Writing is a good way to achieve many of my goals.

Meanwhile, here's a thought (agreement error notwithstanding), courtesy of the delightful little book The Five Hole Stories by Dave Bidini.

"... once you've found a goalie's five hole, they're yours forever."

Sigh...

Anon,
L

Mad World

This is the kind of week it's been...

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

— Tears for Fears

See you on the other side!

L

BLAZE

My computer is fried so my website is down so I have no platform for my muse. Thus I present to you...Daily Doggerel The Blogspot Edition

For car(men) wherever you may find them
Toyota, Dodge, Datsun, Ford
A metal machine, a macho overlord,

Insensitive drivers, uncaring, obscene,
Driving us crazy, cursing their genes

Noisy, obnoxious, expensive and careless
Pervasive technology, quintissentialy worthless

Automotive desires are driving our days,
Credit ratings balloon, consuming our pay.

But I want that car, that awesome machine,
Oh and this one as well, and that one I mean,
Off road and on track and highway carousing
With 350 horsepower, I'll do without housing.

I love my cars mercury and subaru,
Such a pity, you know, I can't afford you.

B

From the mouth of Zak

"Hugo A Go Go, leggo my Eggo!"

Open heart

The book you need to read will be there when you need to read it.

L

A modicum of taste, a minimum of time

Hi-ho,

Your intrepid reporter is overwhelmed at the moment. In my place, please accept the following far more talented substitutes...

There is no O or U in "team", either. — source unknown

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but couldn't find any.

If we want our world to be different, our first act needs to be reclaiming time to think. Nothing will change for the better until we do that. — Margaret Wheatley

You can say this for ready-mixes — the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make. — Earl Wilson

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. — George Bernard Shaw

Never confuse movement with action. — Ernest Hemingway

Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand. — Ezra Pound

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
— Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. — Bertrand Russell


Tra-la! Keep passing the open windows...

L

For Leslie

...and anyone else who's slightly stuck in the not so pleasant past...

For Zak

"History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever."

And from Chekhov: "Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice."

Tra-la!

L

Deadhead sticker on a Sunfire

1) How can it possibly be September 17?

2) Frost warning issued. Sigh. But at least we didn't get snow in Edmonton.

3) Meetings: the practical alternative to work.

Thought for the day: "One repays a teacher badly if one remains only a pupil." — Nietsche

L

How I spent my summer vacation

I welcome your comments! — L


An Inquiry into Curriculum

Sexuality is a vexing question in contemporary Canadian classrooms. Our students are bombarded by sexual messages in their extra-curricular lives: sex sells products of all kinds, drives fashion, underpins the plot of television programs, movies, and novels, creates the punch line of jokes, and provides a fascinating turn in conversation for almost every peer group. The presence of sexuality in the classroom, however, is eminently fraught. We are afraid of pedophiles and sexual predators, be they teachers, volunteers, or strangers, entering the school building. We are forbidden to discuss certain topics, be they same-sex relationships, birth control, abortion, or non-normative behaviours. And we are especially afraid of our students' own sexuality, emerging polymorphously into a galaxy of competing and conflated texts, voices, and selves.

As I write this paper, the CBC is reporting that a former high school drama teacher from British Columbia has been deported from Washington state to answer charges of possession of child pornography. News of a sex offender in a classroom is extremely disturbing and casts a wide suspicion upon all teachers: those who spend time outside of school with students, those who make casual physical contact with students, those who seem unusually friendly with students. But where are the students in all this? Are they merely objects in the grammar of sexuality? Where is their sexuality, and how is it inflected by factors such as gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, and class?


My Destination
I am interested in the way the educational community deals with expressions of sexuality — desire — in the high school classroom. Specifically, I want to understand how — or even whether — we can discuss the embodied desire of young women whose sexuality is revealing itself day by day as it is shaped by both biological and sociological forces. These expressions of emerging sexuality may be directed at other members of a class or other students in the school, at teachers in the school, or at individuals outside the school. In every case, society seeks to control young women's desire (and simultaneously, though to a much lesser extent, young men's desire) through several strands of discourse.

As Michelle Fine observes, the topic of girls' sexuality is taken up in curriculum discussions in several treacherous ways. "Sexuality as violence," a view taken by some feminists, assumes that heterosexuality is inherently violent and destructive to women (169); girls, therefore, must be taught to survive. "Sexuality as victimization," a view taken by other feminists, assumes that all young women are vulnerable to men's sexual aggression (but not necessarily violence) (170); girls, then, must be taught to resist. "Sexuality as individual morality," typically a more conservative view, assumes that all self-respecting and self-controlled women will refuse sex outside of marriage; to have sex outside of marriage is to admit a personal failure (170–71) and thus girls must be taught to overcome. In no case is a young woman's sexuality situated within her subjectivity and agency; rather, her sexuality is situated outside herself, inflicted upon her, and she is seen as ductile, pliable.

Yet anyone who observes young women in the high school classroom must know that their relationship to their individual sexual identities is much more complicated than such reductive discourses would suggest. Although many of us try to de-sex the young women in our classrooms, these girls are resolutely not sexless; indeed, many of them are terrifically aware of — if not always in control of — the power and potential of their sexuality. And why wouldn't they be? They can turn to literally thousands of cultural texts, from classic literature to commercials, that demonstrate the apparently wide-reaching, near-irresistible lure of the female sex. What girl wouldn't want to put on such power?

The de-sexing strategy that many teachers — particularly male teachers — adopt in the classroom is dangerous. Teachers may insist that their students are neuter, neutral, sexless; insist that they themselves are neutered and sexless. As a society we require that teachers see but not look at their students, and we tend to silence suggestions that students may be attracted to their teachers — or worse, that teachers may be attracted to their students. Perhaps this is a socially necessary fantasy, one that allows male and female humans to work together closely and trustingly. Yet the neutering, de-sexing strategy invites complicity with silence. We create the conditions for sexual predation by refusing to acknowledge that we are human, gendered, and embodied. When we don't talk about things that frighten us — such as pedophilia, exploitation, and sexual abuse — we impair the ability of those who are experiencing these things to speak of them: we take away the language to articulate their experience. We mystify these happenings, make them abnormal and alluring; we place them in the shadowy realms of the unconscious, where live our greatest loves and deepest fears.

My project, then, is to find a way to discuss attraction, flirtation, desire, and developing sexuality in the high school classroom, to drag these issues out of the shadowlands and into the light of open, honest discussion. I do not propose to solve the problems of child exploitation through pornography and pedophilia, as these are illegal acts in Canada and no single person has the expertise to address all the complexities of this issue. Rather, I seek to open up a conversation about the presence of sexuality in the classroom — after all, it's always-already with us.

This topic is important to me because every day I observe the distorted and disfigured selves of girls — myself included — who have grown up in Western ideologies. Female sexuality is frightening to so many people, and we can see all around us the forces that would repress, suppress, and oppress this vital aspect of women's selves. It is important to me because several women in my group of friends have had an intimate relationship with a teacher or professor and, while they did not feel at the time it was wrong or bad, have since been made to feel they committed a "dirty," "sinful," "repugnant" act in doing so. And it is important to me because the legacy of silence around sexuality and education causes such unnecessary suffering, such needless confusion and pain. Through this investigation, I seek to begin a conversation about how we can speak about real — and sometimes really messy — human lives.


My Method of Inquiry
This investigation would be best addressed through psychoanalytic method, informed by feminism and critical pedagogy. Post-structuralist feminists have spent a great deal of time thinking about desire and pedagogy at a theoretical level. Ursula A. Kelly's book Schooling Desire: Literacy, Cultural Politics, and Pedagogy, for instance, declares that "the territory of education is the body, and education territorializes the body" (1) and announces that "my concern is with how any utopian inclinations of desire, on any and all cultural sites, might forward emancipatory practices" (2). Jane Gallop's collection Pedagogy: The Question of Impersonation explores similar terrain, as have many other texts. In the last few years, however, theorists have moved away from the entwined questions of sexuality and texuality, as a chill has set in around these topics before we have fully understood the application of theory to the lived realities of bodily experience. We need only look at our media to see how hysteria has beset sexual expression in the classroom.

Psychoanalytic theory argues that we may repress desire but it does not go away; instead, it emerges in other ways. These may be creative forms, such as dance, music, or visual art; these may be destructive forms, such as anger, depression, or violence. Perhaps, then, one of the most productive sites to begin a conversation about sexuality in school would be in the English classroom. If we believe as some post-structuralists do that our sexuality is inscribed in our cultural texts, then the classroom where we learn to decipher such texts seems a likely place to open a discussion. Literary scholars have been working productively with psychoanalytic theory for several decades; Mark Bracher and Jeffrey Berman, for instance, provide two deeply ethical models for students to learn about themselves and others through literature and composition. Openly discussing the way we learn to read our selves and our desires may be one way to approach the larger issues of sexuality.

Psychoanalytic theory is the necessary mode of inquiry for this issue because most people find sexuality, particularly in the context of schooling, so threatening. Thinking of teachers inhabiting sexed, desiring bodies, thinking of students inhabiting sexed, desiring bodies, is extremely irruptive in our society; it threatens our sense of self as whole and stable — and this perception of threat is precisely why this inquiry is so important. Shoshana Felman explains that "Teaching...is not the transmission of ready-made knowledge, it is rather the creation of a new condition of knowledge, the creation of an original learning disposition" (603). She explains further, "Teaching, like analysis, has to deal not so much with lack of knowledge as with resistances to knowledge. ... Ignorance, in other words, is nothing other than a desire to ignore: its nature is less cognitive than performative ... it is not a simple lack of information but the incapacity — or the refusal — to acknowledge one's own implication in the information" (602, italics in source). The silence that descends when one speaks of sex in or around the classroom reveals our resistance to a particular kind of knowledge: a resistance to the knowledge of our selves as sexed, desiring bodies.

In this inquiry, I am not particularly interested in traditional domains such as biology and sex education, although they may be a starting point. These discourse tend to the normative and repressive — exactly the trajectory I seek to avoid. Deborah Britzman comments, "when the topic of sex becomes like a curriculum and stuck to the underaged (and here, I mean the legal categories of children and youth), one can barely separate its objectives and fantasies from the historical bundles of anxieties, dangers, and predatory discourses that seem to render some sex intelligible as other sex is relegated to the unthinkable and the morally reprehensible" (90). When we apply value labels such as "abnormal" and "unspeakable" to human acts, we willfully ignore parts of ourselves we recognize in the Other. Felman explains this process through transference: "In human relationships, sympathies and antipathies usually provoke — and call for — a similar emotional response in the person they are addressed to. Transference on 'the subject presumed to know' — the analyst or the teacher — may provoke a counter-transference on the latter's part. The analytic or pedagogical situation may thus degenerate into an imaginary mirror game of love and hate..." (606–07). To interrupt this dangerous game, we must first be aware of it, acknowledge it. Only then can we begin to comprehend it, to counter it.

Critical pedagogy, however, reminds us that our discovery is not our doom. All human being is human construct; it is not supernaturally imposed from without. Teresa Ebert remarks that "Since it is constructed, it is thus transformable" (810), and thus our deeper understanding of ourselves may help us to achieve a deeper understanding of others. Here my investigation begins to reveal its ethical underpinnings:

To let go of the desire to cure or rescue, to sit with the pain that compels us... to articulate and reflect on what we are feeling and experiencing, to face the terrors that gnaw at us, and to work through the fantasies that structure our thinking, to do these would be to begin to act ethically. (Taubman 31)

It will be risky, yes; it may be frightening, even terrifying, to look at our monsters and admit they are part of ourselves. Yet how can a just and ethical person do otherwise? Peter Taubman observes that "any ideology of hope, conservative or radical, diminishes the irreducible specificity of each situation and imprisons us in overdetermined scripts or fantasies" (27); the same may be said of hope's other, fear. An ideology of fear — silencing — keeps us from dealing with the present, from dealing with what is, and locks us into a repetition of deadly and destructive habits. No teacher consciously seeks to harm her students. With greater understanding of what an enacted pedagogy of desire could mean, our unconscious habits might be addressed by our conscious processes.


My Needs for This Journey
To undertake this project I need to learn much more about feminist revisioning of basic psychoanalytic theory. In my latest course I have been reminded of psychoanalytic inquiry, which I've largely strayed from in my recent emphasis on feminist cultural materialism. Certainly, my critical theory foundations and my inherent suspicion of large institutional structures will help me to examine the field and to identify some of the traps we set for ourselves; but I need a broader understanding of the ways in which labels such as desire, pedagogy, sexuality, and education have been taken up in order to understand how they circulate in contemporary curricular discourses.

One of the important outcomes of working through psychoanalytic method is that the researcher gains insight into herself and her own position and practices as she explores her research questions. This outcome is important for me to keep in mind during the process: I have as much to learn from the inquiry as anyone else. Opening a conversation about such a fraught topic is sure to meet with resistance, but as I noted earlier, such resistance, such terror, is the reason this discussion is so important. Rather than turning away from the tension and conflict a frank and open discussion of sexuality in the classroom is likely to evoke, I must anticipate, acknowledge, and welcome them. I must draw them out, make them part of the discussion itself — and here I lean on the critical tool of praxis. Acknowledging tensions and conflicts does not necessarily mean acting on them, but it does mean reflecting on them and trying to understand them. If I think of these moments of resistance through transference, they become part of the conversation, part of process of learning about myself in others. As Peter Taubman explains in a very different context, "if one were to give up hope [or fear] and the striving for control and cure, a space might open up in which one could more closely hear or sense what was happening in a classroom or in one's teaching or in one's own life. One could live in the problems one saw and by living in them, find ways to live through them, ask oneself how one relates to these problems, find new questions that may well solve old problems" (31). The repressed and repressive discourse of silenced sexuality is certainly one of our society's oldest problems; letting go and opening up are crucial steps to solving this problem.

Our sexuality is a vital part of our human being. It does not turn on when a student graduates from high school; it does not turn off when a teacher walks through the school doors. It is with us as early as we are differentiated male and female; it follows us to our graves. Michelle Fine posits "a genuine discourse of desire" that would "invite adolescents to explore what feels good and bad, desirable and undesirable, grounded in experiences, needs, and limits. Such a discourse would release females from a position of receptivity, enable an analysis of the dialectics of victimization and pleasure, and would pose female adolescents as subjects of sexuality, initiators as well as negotiators" (171). This is the groundwork: acknowledging that our students are also sexual bodies. From this place we all — students, teachers, parents, friends, lovers — may begin to speak together of the "painfully beautiful, impossibly complex" beings we are (Taubman 26).

An Ode to O

Odee Odee Oh.
Odious osprey overtly ogle otters,
Oppulent Orangatans offering odds.
Opiates of orientals offend Ottoman oligarchs,
Ocelots obey overreaching octogenarians
Oedipus...Oh?

(for Carmen whever you might find her)

Esculent

So, Bruce has revealed my purported secret blogging identity. But little does he know my countervailing charm: teaching from life. I'm pretty sure I'm much weirder in person than I've ever managed to be in type.

And if not...

Hi, Carmen!

So we're back from our lovely trip to la belle province. Too much history and culture for me to articulate. We'll make you watch the pictures if you come within 40 feet of us, though. I tried maple syrup. J'ai pratiqué parler francais. And I was drawn as a cat. What more can I say?

In the News

Wood bison have returned to the area around Fort Providence, a community 210 kilometres southwest of Yellowknife. Trouble is, some of them have moved into the hamlet. For much of the summer, seven bull bison have been hanging around, causing damage and generally scaring people with their aggressive behaviour. See the full story here.

Courts have declared the dubious practice of "scrubbing" films a violation of copyright (and in Canada of moral right): See more here.

Humans produce an estimated 60 billion tons of plastic material every year — and much of it is ending up in our oceans, where it is increasingly troubling — see here.

Kansas is one of twelve American states in which sex under a certain age is always presumed illegal, regardless of consent or the age difference between the partners. A new interpretation of Kansas' reporting law, however, makes it the only state requiring that doctors, nurses, counselors, and all other care providers report as abuse any sexual interaction between teens under sixteen. Yes, including that awkward first kiss and full-frontal snogging: see this.


Kibbles and Bits

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once. — Cyril Connolly

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect. — Owens Lee Pomeroy

Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out. — Italian proverb

Since I first gained the use of reason my inclination toward learning has been so violent and strong that neither the scoldings of other people ... nor my own reflections ... have been able to stop me from following this natural impulse that God gave me. He alone must know why; and He knows too that I have begged Him to take the light of my understanding, leaving only enough for me to keep His law, for anything else is excessive in a woman, according to some people. And others say it is even harmful. — Juana Ines de la Cruz, 1691, in a reply to the Bishop of Puebla, who had attacked her scholarly work as inappropriate for her sex


Last week I finished reading Gone with the Wind, at last, and watched Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. Personally, I was cheering for the Phantom. Then tonight we watched Brokeback Mountain. People walked out of the theatre?!? Really??? Sigh. But Kananaskis looked very climbable. Next week's movie: Lost in Translation.

Yesterday I started yet another grad course, this one on curriculum inquiry. Please remind me, whenever you next see me, to be very very quiet. I tried averting my eyes from the professor, then sitting on my hands, then biting the insides of my cheeks. It was like being in grade two again. It's very hard not to talk in class.

Note to self: Things not to do: call the voicemail of the person whose job you're filling in his absence.

Speaking of work, it's pleasant once again. I'm SO SO SO looking forward to September. In my other other life, I have worked out a tutoring schedule for Zak's English 10-1 program. IF we can stay on schedule (and with my involvement, that's quite a big if), he'll be finished by the Christmas break and will write a final exam in January. Nothing like putting one's non-existent credentials to the test, hmm?

Now reading: A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell (fascinating!), A Feeling for Books by Janice Radway, The Merchants of Venus: Inside Harlequin and the Empire of Romance by Paul Grescoe, The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg, and many, many articles on curriculum theory.

And I have papers due on August 25 and 28.

So there.

Must sleep now.

Leslie

And then Carmen said...

During an intimate moment, when I was revealing all Leslie's secrets to our new apprentice-intern-student-work experience writing slave (Carmen in case you haven't guessed) she made the comment that blogs were private.

Uh?

Apparently according to current Carmenological theory, if one finds a blog as a random occurence or are invited by the author (or perhaps just someone who isn't me) then it is fine to peruse the pedantry, otherwise it is a gross invasion of privacy. While I could easily turn this into an examination of our current society's bizarre notions of personal and private or perhaps a critical critique of one women's journey to refute the age-old definition of "under-the-pillow," "back-of-the-drawer," "It's private dammit!" I will refrain... starting now...

Instead I will paraphrase a very wise man (or "person" for you sticklers). It ain't private if more than two people know about; and pretty sure more than two people are on the internet. Either that or the other guy is pretty creative about keeping me fooled.

So... welcome Carmen. I encourage you to read on. I especially enjoy Wednesday, March 24, 2004 or Friday, January 14, 2005. And if Leslie kills me then you won't have to put up with me any more...

Culture moment

This moment brought to you by Langston Hughes:

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore——
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over——
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Now reading: Gone with the Wind (still, sigh); A Feeling for Books by Janice Radway; and Me and the Blondes by Teresa Toten.

A bientot.

July? July!?!

So it seems it's July. How did that happen?

Not much is new here. I've been on vacation for the last week, but I haven't really started to relax yet and actually had to go in to work today (so I get another day off in lieu). The remarkable hot weather has broken and we've had delightful storms on and off for the last 36 hours. Haven't been climbing for weeks! But perhaps that will change next week...

Meanwhile...

If you've been following the spate of plagiarism cases in the US this year, you're probably already aware of the Ann Coulter controversy. If you follow this link, however, you'll get a fuller picture of exactly what Ann Coulter is about. (For an especially rich experience, click on the Quicktime movie box at the right-hand side on the page.) Scary!

I continue to read lots of YA and discipline-specific texts, but one book I especially enjoyed recently is The Story of V: Opening Pandora's Box by Catherine Blackledge. Here is the synopsis from Amazon.UK:

It is the seat of female sexual pleasure, the passage for both the creation and the birth of humankind, and the channel for menstrual blood. Yet we know less about the vagina - its structure and function - than we do about any other organ of the human body. Why? THE STORY OF V explores how female genitalia have been conceived and misconceived over the centuries and today. A new look is long overdue. More than two millennia of misinformation has resulted in a western culture where we hold back from mentioning or showing the vagina; where this organ when seen publically is most commonly viewed as pornographic; and where, of all the organs of the human body, the vagina remains the most clouded in mystery, myth and biased, out-dated beliefs. In the past, medicine has misrepresented female sexual anatomy, reducing its remarkable complexities to the notion of a passive vessel. But, as this book shows, science is at last beginning to reveal the true structure and function of female genitalia, and the dynamic nature of the vagina's role in both sexual pleasure and reproduction. The result is nothing less than a vaginal revolution. With a wide-ranging perspective that takes in prehistoric art, ancient history, linguistics, mythology, evolutinary theory, reproductive biology and medicine, Catherine Blackledge unveils the hidden marvels of the female form.

A fascinating read, although most people I've discussed it with have been rather squeamish about the topic — and the dread colour-plate section. I'd recommend this book highly. It's amazingly readable, with a chatty style, and packed with disarming information. Regrettably, it's difficult to find locally — but I have a copy if you're interested!

I've also been engaged by Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, and Something Rotten. If you like literature and speculative fiction, you'll probably love these novels. Fforde's now started a new series about Nursery Crimes. The first book, The Big Over Easy, is sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me to finish ... wait for it ... Gone with the Wind! The second book, The Fourth Bear, is due out next month. Excellent summer reading, if you don't mind big (silly) books.

Well, the sky is getting dark, so that's enough from me. I'll try to get back here again soon. As always, if you have book recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Wishing you well,
L