Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 113
July 5, 2012
Words of Wisdom? I Think Not
Somebody posted a variation of this on Facebook recently, and I'm back to musing about just how destructive this bit of "wisdom" is. I have always thought Yoda is saying here that unless you are sure to succeed, don't bother to try. That, I am absolutely sure, is very bad advice. Failing is not a bad thing, if you learn something from it. The trick is not to give up.
Our Lukas says the quote means that you must put everything you have into your efforts so you won't be doing a simple, wishy-washy "try." I've got no problem with all-out effort (most of the time, there is a great deal to be said about choosing your battles) but I would hate to think that George Lucas was counselling the safe way--only undertaking battles that you know you'll win.
July 4, 2012
Happy Fourth of July in a New Era: Even the DAR Has Changed
The face of the United States is changing, no one can deny that. Recent census figures show that more than half the babies born in the US are non-Hispanic whites, a situation which is going to much impact on the country's future.
But things are also changing within some institutions that have been around for a long while, that, indeed, go back to the founding of the country. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has just inaugarated a new chapter where the majority of members of non-white.
That's an enormous change from 1939 when the DAR barred contralto Marian Anderson from appearing in Constitution Hall. The veto prompted the First Lady of the time, Eleanor Roosevelt, to resign. In response Ms. Anderson gave a grand concert at the Lincoln Memorial
But things are also changing within some institutions that have been around for a long while, that, indeed, go back to the founding of the country. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has just inaugarated a new chapter where the majority of members of non-white.
That's an enormous change from 1939 when the DAR barred contralto Marian Anderson from appearing in Constitution Hall. The veto prompted the First Lady of the time, Eleanor Roosevelt, to resign. In response Ms. Anderson gave a grand concert at the Lincoln Memorial
July 3, 2012
Want to Know What I Think I Do for Living? Canada Writes Asks Me Some Questions
Earlier this year I spent a slew of evenings reading entries in the Canada Writes non-fiction competition. Very interesting, with some sterling entries in the lot I was given. (There were ten of us in the first round of reading, with a hand off to a smaller group who will pick the winners.)
So if you want to know more about me and Canada Writes, check this out.
So if you want to know more about me and Canada Writes, check this out.
Ten Days of Patriot Love: June 24 to July 1
Like to see anybody in the US of A take on "Oh Say Can You See" in the same spirit
And if you're feeling beaten by the heat, here's the Quebec "hymne nationale," mon pays, ce n'est pays, c'est l'hiver" (my country isn't a country, it's the winter."
And if you're feeling beaten by the heat, here's the Quebec "hymne nationale," mon pays, ce n'est pays, c'est l'hiver" (my country isn't a country, it's the winter."
July 2, 2012
M. Aimé Lafleur and His Hens: an Adventure in Urban Agriculture
Jeanne and I have checked out an urban henhouse the last couple of Saturdays, and today I went by to take a few pictures. It's in the heart of Piccola Italia, or Little Italy. right next to a community center that was formerly a church. She's been somewhat interested in the birds, although the swings and slides in the nearby playground have been more of an attraction.
But I wanted to learn more, and luckily I met the man in charge, Monsieur Aimé Lafleur (not his real name, but a nom de poulailler that means something like "Likes Flowers") He tends to the three Chantecler hens (a white heritage breed developed in Quebec) and two red-brown ones whose breed I don't know.
The birds are a great way to show neighborhood children where their food comes from, and indeed they get to help take care of them. M. Lafleur does the cleaning, feeding, watering and tending three times a day, but the kids, including some little ones from the day care centre next door, take a lot of responsiblity.
The project is in its fourth year: the hen house is constructed snugly enough that the Chanteclers can stay there until temperatures reach near the place where Fahrenheit and Celsuis come together, around minus 20. To be on the safe side, though, the hens spend part of the winter in the barn of a retired farmer outside Montreal.
M. Lafleur also runs two community gardens and a project which collects left over food once a week from the Jean Talon Market, just a few blocks away. The idea is to improve available food and eating habits for the folks in the neighborhood.
There will be an open house for neighborhood kids in the next few weeks: "Bring your granddaughter over," he told me.
Sure will...
But I wanted to learn more, and luckily I met the man in charge, Monsieur Aimé Lafleur (not his real name, but a nom de poulailler that means something like "Likes Flowers") He tends to the three Chantecler hens (a white heritage breed developed in Quebec) and two red-brown ones whose breed I don't know.
The birds are a great way to show neighborhood children where their food comes from, and indeed they get to help take care of them. M. Lafleur does the cleaning, feeding, watering and tending three times a day, but the kids, including some little ones from the day care centre next door, take a lot of responsiblity.
The project is in its fourth year: the hen house is constructed snugly enough that the Chanteclers can stay there until temperatures reach near the place where Fahrenheit and Celsuis come together, around minus 20. To be on the safe side, though, the hens spend part of the winter in the barn of a retired farmer outside Montreal.
M. Lafleur also runs two community gardens and a project which collects left over food once a week from the Jean Talon Market, just a few blocks away. The idea is to improve available food and eating habits for the folks in the neighborhood.There will be an open house for neighborhood kids in the next few weeks: "Bring your granddaughter over," he told me.
Sure will...
June 30, 2012
Saturday Photo: When You Haven't Got Much Garden Room, Go Up!
In this neighborhood of tiny front gardens, people have a way of making every little bit of space count. Here one of my neighbors has a f\vine and a climbing rose working their way up one of the street trees. 
June 29, 2012
Appropriation of Voice: Back to That Old Question
There are now 10 stories more or less written for the short story collection I've been working on for the last year, and for which I got that nice CALQ grant. Called
Desire Lines: A Geography of Love
, it is designed to explore the various kinds of love we feel, between lovers, between parents and children, between friends. Only a couple of the stories are ready for publication, but I'm more or less satistifed with the contours of the collection. That's good because I'm supposed to make a report on what I've accomplished with the grant money in a short time.
Because I want to cover a lot of human experience, I've consciously varied the point of view, but yesterday I began wondering if I had given to much of the spotlight to the female one. So I counted: five are exclusively female, two are split between men and women and three are male.
Hmm. Is that good enough? Or is it really possible for a woman to put herself in the skin of a man? Certainly I've tried before with (I think) some success, but echoes of that controversy from the 1990s are bouncing around me. At that point there were nearly physically violent clashes over whether men could write in the voice of a woman, and if a member of one ethnic group had a right to take write from the point of view of another group. The Writers' Union of Canada had several stormy sessions over the issue, while in the US and elsewhere, it was argued that white men couldn't understand and therefore couldn't write about the experience of "others."
The last book we discussed at the Atwater Library Book Group was The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. The French writer successfully (in most readers' eyes) gives us the story of the Roman emperor told in the first person. The Atwater group found the book rewarding for the most part, and several said they had trouble believing that it was fiction by a 20th century woman. "How can this happen?" at least two people asked.
Well, the answer is: anything can happen if the writer is good enough. Obviously Yourcenar was. The question for me now is: how good is Mary Soderstrom?
Because I want to cover a lot of human experience, I've consciously varied the point of view, but yesterday I began wondering if I had given to much of the spotlight to the female one. So I counted: five are exclusively female, two are split between men and women and three are male.
Hmm. Is that good enough? Or is it really possible for a woman to put herself in the skin of a man? Certainly I've tried before with (I think) some success, but echoes of that controversy from the 1990s are bouncing around me. At that point there were nearly physically violent clashes over whether men could write in the voice of a woman, and if a member of one ethnic group had a right to take write from the point of view of another group. The Writers' Union of Canada had several stormy sessions over the issue, while in the US and elsewhere, it was argued that white men couldn't understand and therefore couldn't write about the experience of "others."
The last book we discussed at the Atwater Library Book Group was The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. The French writer successfully (in most readers' eyes) gives us the story of the Roman emperor told in the first person. The Atwater group found the book rewarding for the most part, and several said they had trouble believing that it was fiction by a 20th century woman. "How can this happen?" at least two people asked.
Well, the answer is: anything can happen if the writer is good enough. Obviously Yourcenar was. The question for me now is: how good is Mary Soderstrom?
June 28, 2012
US Plan for Medicare Is Constitutional-!
It was good to learn that the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Obamacare this morning. That's basically good news, even though the plan has great problems. Chief among them is that it is insurance-based and not single-payer.
The former sort of plan integrates all the inefficiencies of insurance run by for-profit companies into the health system. An example of where this sort of system can go awry is Quebec's pharmacare plan. Sure, everyone is protected from the high cost of drugs, but since there is no central body negotiating drug prices, they are going up and up.
In contrast, the single payer provincial health insurance schemes are remarkably efficient when it comes to administration. Most also are able to bargain good prices for drugs used in hospitals.
The adminstrative labyrinth in the US health insurance scheme seems certain to raise costs. Too bad Obama and company weren't bolder when they set out their program. Hindsight is better than foresight, of course, and who would have thought that the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts would have sided with those in favour of Obamacare?
The former sort of plan integrates all the inefficiencies of insurance run by for-profit companies into the health system. An example of where this sort of system can go awry is Quebec's pharmacare plan. Sure, everyone is protected from the high cost of drugs, but since there is no central body negotiating drug prices, they are going up and up.
In contrast, the single payer provincial health insurance schemes are remarkably efficient when it comes to administration. Most also are able to bargain good prices for drugs used in hospitals.
The adminstrative labyrinth in the US health insurance scheme seems certain to raise costs. Too bad Obama and company weren't bolder when they set out their program. Hindsight is better than foresight, of course, and who would have thought that the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts would have sided with those in favour of Obamacare?
June 27, 2012
More from the Copyright Wars: Who Owns a Video?
Everyone seems to think that he or she can use just anything that's out there for private use. A case in point is a video made during a demonstration during a recent by provincial by election north of Montreal where Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois banged a couple of pot lids together. She doesn't do it for very long, and appears to do it only because she's handed the lids.
The clip was slashed from a longer video posted on Youtube and massaged a bit for use in an ad by the Quebec Liberal Party. In it Marois looks clumsy and appears to be playing out of rhythm with the protesters. That's bad enough, but the PLQ's message is that she is supporting violence etc.
I went looking for it this morning, but it's been withdrawn, apparently because the amateur photographer sent a lawyer's letter in protest, saying he never gave permission for its use . Bully for him!
Now, if other people would get the message... The passage of the new Copyright law in Canada, opening up the educational exemption for copying is just another example of the way that creators of all sort are being forgotten in the equation when they are not being simply ripped off.
The clip was slashed from a longer video posted on Youtube and massaged a bit for use in an ad by the Quebec Liberal Party. In it Marois looks clumsy and appears to be playing out of rhythm with the protesters. That's bad enough, but the PLQ's message is that she is supporting violence etc.
I went looking for it this morning, but it's been withdrawn, apparently because the amateur photographer sent a lawyer's letter in protest, saying he never gave permission for its use . Bully for him!
Now, if other people would get the message... The passage of the new Copyright law in Canada, opening up the educational exemption for copying is just another example of the way that creators of all sort are being forgotten in the equation when they are not being simply ripped off.
June 26, 2012
Catch up Time: Holes in the Streets, Severe Storms and Trying to Make up for Past Mistakes
The photo (from the CBC) shows the latest in a series of holes that have developed in Montreal streets over the past few weeks.One opened up on Sherbrooke St. in front of McGill University during the massive protest May 22 against raised tuition fees and the anti-demonstratio law Bill 78. Nobody fell in, thank goodness, but traffic was snarled for a couple of weeks while repairs were done.
Then several other other large holes have showed up in. One, which came to light June 11, wasn't immediately recognized, since the asphalt near the busy interestion of Peel and Ste Catherine streets appeared to be merely sagging. But when city crews looked urther they found a huge cavity where part of a water line dating from 1888 had washed away. The only thing holding up the roadway was the remnants of trolley tracks.
Montreal neglected renewing its infrastructure for several decades, and now cost of that is being totted up. The fact that we've had several heavy thunder storms where more water rushed through storm sewers than they could handle hasn't helped any.
Bottom line: you've got to pay for neglect whether it is a manifestation of denying the need to maintain infrastructure, or--even worse--forgetting that what we're doing to the climate is going to have an impace on us.
