Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 95

Warning: Next Harper Target May Be 2016 Census

Three researchers at Quebec universities warn that the 2016 census may be the cut because of "budget reasons."  In an op-ed piece in Le Devoir they outline the problems that have already arisen due to the Harper government's decision to remove the obligation of citizens to fill out the long form census in 2011.

The reasons give for doing that were that the questions asked infringed on privacy, they note.  But by not asking questions that people were required to answer anonymously about such things as their housing, ethnicity and language spoken at home, it is becoming difficult to make comparisons with previous censuses.  The result is that we don't know where we are and can't make predictions about where we're going or where we should go, the researchers note-.

This appears to be part of Stephen Harper's game plan, as witness the restraints being put researchers in many fields, they add.  Add to this Harper's stated aim of eliminating the federal deficit before the next federal election in 2015, and you get a scenario where it wouldn't be surprsing if the government slashes the $500 million necessary from the 2016 census from the budget. 

For more information about what Statistics Canada is planning to do, check out its website.  Definitely a dossier to watch.

Want to Know about FDR? Read a Book

Friends--Old Lefties like us--suggested we take in "Hyde Park on the Hudson," a film about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a distant cousin and affairs of state. It sounded like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, followed by good conversation over supper.

My one visit to Hyde Park 20 years ago was a very moving experience. I'd grown up hearing from my parents how the New Deal saved the world, and when we were there, Bill Clinton had just been elected president, so our hopes were high for a new day of progressive ideas.

But the movie was a disapointment. It  has far less politics than I would have liked, unfortunately. And if you want to know more about FDR and his amazing wife Eleanor, read Joseph P. Lash's masterful biography Eleanor and Franklin.

There is a certain in irony in mentioning FDR and Clinton in the same post, though: a good part of "Hyde Park on Hudson" hinges on the extra-marital, somewhat sexual relationship FDR had with a number of women.  No one officially knew about them at them at the time, any more than FDR's paralysis was every pubicly commented upon.  But the movie would have us think that what Clinton did was no that much different from what FDR did.  The question, as always, arises: when should a private  life become public.   

Saturday Photo: Bolo Rei a Day Early

Tomorrow is Epiphany or the Kings' Day, when the Magi supposedly showed up with presents for the baby Jesus.  We've never celebrated it, although many of our friends do a little something, involving a cake with a coin or a bean inside.

The person who gets the piece with the whatever is the "king" and is supposed to have a lucky year.  Sounds like a nice prospect and certainly this year when Jan. 6 is the last day of the extended holiday season, finding it in your dessert would be a great way to top the season off. 

This is the excellent Portuguese version of the cake.  Called Bolo Rei, it's a sweet bread with candied fruit and a bean inside.  I bought it at Padaria Coimbra (also known as the Baguette dorée) on Mount-Royal boulevard in the Bairro Português here.  Discovering the bakery was one of the better parts of the 8 months we spent in the neighborhood after our fire.

Lee and I each had a slice last night, despite the fact that Kings' Day hasn't arrived yet. Neither of us got the bean, though: perhaps Jeanne or Elin will when they're by today.

More Good Books: A Classic That Says a Lot about Today

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I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fiztgerals for the first time  decades ago, and was not much impressed.  Too shallow, about people who really don't matter in the great scheme of things, I thought then.  But with time I began to see it as a novel with resonances that run deep in American culture and in capitalist mythology.  Definitely worth revisiting at this time when the extremely wealthy atre trying so hard to make control the world to their advantage.  See Paul Krugman today on the financial deal worked out this week in the US, if you have any question about that.

He writes: "Democrats want to preserve the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — and add to them what every other advanced country has: a more or less universal guarantee of essential health care. Republicans want to roll all of that back, making room for drastically lower taxes on the wealthy. Yes, it’s essentially a class war."

The photos, by the way, are of F. Scott and his Zelda, Robert Redford and Mia Farrow playing Gatsby and Daisy in 1974 and Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan in the same roles in the remake scheduled for release next May. 

More Good Books from Last Year: The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife by  Téa Obrecht can be read as a fable, a memoir or an observation on the wars of belief and self-interest that marked the last several centuries and cast a long shadow on this one. 

Here's the official plot synopsis: "In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself."

Elin suggested it, but I remembered reading an excellent story by Obrecht in The Best American Short Stories of 2010 ,  "The Laugh" which takes place worlds away on the African savannah.  That was more than enough to start the book, but which blew me away was the way this young writer is able to take material which she probably doesn't know first hand and transform it into stories of depth and fascination.

Good Books I Read in 2012: The Green House (with Comments about the Icelandic Model for Banks and Books)

Everybody else has done their lists, but as usual I'm a little behind.  For the next few days, I think I'll share my faves of the year, starting with The Green House by Ava Audur Olafsdóttir ( Rosa Candida in French translation.) The book and the country where it was written both are worth considering in these days of publishing gloom and doom and completely unnecessary "fiscal cliffs."

This novel of a young Icelandic slacker who leaves home to restore an historic rose garden in a monastery only to find love with the mother of his (accidental) child, is a delight on many levelsl.  It can be read as a simple coming of age story, where the difficulties of choosing ones path are vividly depicted.  But there also are marvelous cultural resonances--is it possible that the child is really a female Christ-figure? What about the forest which is anything but dark and evil, even though the people who live there seem to eat nothing but meat?  And what to make of the monk who offers wisdom at every turn, citing film references, not scripture?

Olafsdottir, an art historian, has written several other novels, but this one is the first to make a splash internationally.  It was a best seller in France for months, and has appeared elsewhere in Europe to big success.  But it wasn't picked up by a North American publisher until Amazon.com brought it out last year. As such, it can be hard to find conventional bookstores and hasn't made it to many libraries.  But it's definitely worth seeking out. 

The Icelandic publishing scene is quite amazing too: lots and lots of books brought out each year, and literary talk is king of the airwaves, it seems.  But all writers need day jobs because, unless they break out of the small market like Olafsdottir, they don't make much money from writing. 

Underpaid writers are one  of the eleven reasons for the success of Icelandic publishing, according to  Baldur Bjarnason writing in the British publication, The Bookseller.  But there are others:

1: Expert retail
2: No back catalogue
3: A population of book lovers
4: No paperbacks
5: Intellectualism isn't a dirty word
6: No competing with Amazon
7: Cheap and fast production and design
8: Massive government support
9: Pricing
10: Easier distribution and promotion

Take a look if you're interested in books.  Looking at the way the Icelanders got out of the 2008 financial crisis by letting their banks go broke and not listening to the IMF and the World Bank is also instructive....

And this just in: two former executives in Icelandic banks have just been sentenced to prison for fraud in the financial meltdown.

An Anniversary Unremarked, and Happy New Year

Our house was built in 1912--first permits issued in late 1911, and occupation, it would appear, in the fall of the following year.  I'd meant to make a little bumph about the house's 100th anniversary.

The year 1912 was big one for residential construction in Montreal--lots of attached houses, triplexes and duplexes were built in what is now the center of the city.  It also must have been a good year for building elsewhere in the world: when Elin was studyiing in The Hague the attached  triplex she lived in was built that year also, and was designed along lines that would be familiar to any Montrealer. 

But I forgot to note our houses's birthday in the flurry of ordinary life.  It has gone through some changes since this picture was taken--after the fire next door in November 2010 about half the interior walls had to be pulled down to get ride of smoke damage.  From the outside, though, you'd never know the difference, and the basic plan remains the same and very well suited for urban family living with a small garden in front and back.

So, happy belated birthday, house.  I love you, and I love the many eventful years we've lived in you.  May you shelter us  for many years to come, and afterwards, may you welcome others who will be as rich in the things that matter as we have been. 

And for everybody else, Happy New Year.  May your body and soul find rest and fulfillment in a chez soi that suits you as well as ours suits us.

Saturday Photo:The Storm of the Century,, Trout and Me

Tha's me and our dog Trout Fishing in Canada on March 4, 1971.  The storm in progress was a big blizzard, called by some The Storm of the Century.  It left 43 cm of snow, a record which was broken on Thursday when 45 cm fell,

I'd forgotten about the photo--can't even remember who took it, but I don't think it was Lee since even though he was doing a lot of photography, even then he went for landscapes and not people.

The pix was taken near the corner of Prince Arthur and Aylmer in what was/is called the McGill ghetto which is where we lived then.  Took a long time to clean up the snow, but I don't remember being inconvenienced much.  Part of that has to do with being 28 at the time (28, can you imagine!  Much younger than my kids are now) and also because we really didn't have to go very far for anything.  The advantages of living in the center city is a lesson I've never forgotten and which has guided my choices of where to live ever since. 

By the way, Trout couldn't wait to be let off her leash.  She just loved snow and would go dolphining into snow banks up until the winter before her death at 13.  A wonderful dog, who taught us a lot and who was great with Elin and Lukas when they came along.

Brilliant Sunshine: The Calm that Follows the Storm

When people learn that we came to Montreal from California, they often say what a big, disappointing change it must have been, given the difference in climate.  But I've always liked the difference.  Not only are winter storms frequently exhilarating, particularly if you're in no hurry to go anywhere, the high pressure systems that follow can be marvelous.

Usually the temperature drops after a storm as a cold front moves in from the north.  Today it's not particularly cold for winter, but the sun is out and the light is absolutely fabulous.  I've often tried to capture it in a photo, but it seems to be beyond my skill. 

This photo, taken two winters ago, gives some idea of the pleasures of sunny winter days, though.  Why not take a sunbath, after all?

And what it's like with Brazilian soundtrack...

Muito obridgada para a Immigrercom.