Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 97

Marriage and anxiety in the USA

Yesterday I was interviewed by Garima Singh for her documentary-in-progress on the nature of love and our attitudes to it. Garima is a wonderful person, and was born in India so she brings a double-culture perspective to the topic that is fascinating. India still has a high number of arranged marriages, for example, and even though this is a custom that has run into some resistance of late it still carries the weight of accepted tradition.

One of the things that came up was that in a world such

Art - busting out all over

For the past few weeks I’ve found myself going to art events; openings, open studio events, and so on, with more on the calendar. Most recently I’ve been to SoWa (south of Washington) to see the wonderful studios in the converted red-brick factory buildings there which a couple of years ago were desolate and ruinous. They seem to have no trouble filling the converted spaces with artists of all kinds.

There are so many, in fact, that I’m not even sure where all the artists have come from. They ce

Tell the sex of yor unborn child - after just ten weeks!

Today’s news brought me the snippet that there is now an over-the-counter test, called Intelligender, that can tell the sex of the fetus a mere ten weeks after conception. The manufacturers are careful to point out that the test, which measures hormone levels in the mother’s urine, is about 70% accurate, and that major life decisions should not be based on the test’s accuracy.

‘Major Life Decisions” presumably means aborting a fetus if the sex is not what one wishes, rather than simply decoratin

Pedestrian push-back

When I walk down to my local post office I usually pick up litter along the way to dispose of it properly later. Today I was trying to cross the road at a designated pedestrian crossing - you know, the kind with a day-glow florescent bollard in the middle of the road and a sign that says ‘State Law: Cars Must Stop For Pedestrians’. The cars didn’t stop, no, not even the police cruiser, and one vehicle came so close it knocked the bag of litter I had collected out of my hands.

So this was not g

Birds….an apology

A few days back I wrote about the robins nesting right next to the backdoor of my house. At the time I thought they’d been spooked by all the activity and left. It turns out I was wrong. I’d made some comments about how, they, like us, tend to keep on doing things as always in the face of change, and how that may not be a good idea.

Well, it seems the robins haven’t left. The hen is sitting on the eggs, today, and every so often the male appears and they trade places. What astonishes me is th

The Tipping Point

There is a time, a moment, when the tide, after pounding the shore, is at its point of change, and begins to ebb. There’s second when, as you push something heavy like a car stalled by the roadside, you feel it start to move and then to roll, and you find you can keep it rolling by just leaning against it and walking. These are all tipping points. Something difficult gives and becomes easy.

So where are the human tipping points? What is the moment when ignorance becomes open-ness, when bigotry

There’s something about Leonard….

Every concert has its concession stand with over-priced merchandise, and although Leonard Cohen’s merchandise people were no different the prices were neither grossly inflated nor were the tee shirts the usual rather crass offerings. My favorite was one that read ‘Beautiful Loser’.

Think about that for a moment. We’re all capable of being beautiful - no matter what we look like. Our souls can be beautiful. And, from the age of about fifteen onwards, we’re all losing things; teeth drop out, hai

Leonard Cohen

Last night I went to see Leonard Cohen, the man who helped transform the 1960s and 1970s, at the Wang Theater. The old stager was every bit as good as ever, and, once again, he turned our hearts inside out.

Perhaps part of his appeal is that he doesn’t just sing about events, or things, or love, he sings about all these things in terms of what it means to be an artist who can’t be anything else. Indeed, as he approaches 75 we might ask why would he do these gruelling tours? The answer is evide

Take my car….

Yesterday I had my car towed. It was my own silly fault. A sign that was obscured by the branches of a tree told me that every fourth Thursday the street would be swept, and I thought it was Wednesday (the Memorial Day holiday threw me off stride).

A very cheery gent on the end of the phone told me where I could find it, so I walked a mile or so home, got out the bicycle, and pedaled off to reclaim the fifteen year old Buick in question. I got quite a lot of exercise that day. During the phone

Birds of a feather…?

I was painting the deck the other day when I noticed a certain amount of activity in the wisteria that rampages around one end of it. Robins were dashing to and fro. I continued to paint, aware that this was not a good place for a nest as this door is heavily used. The Robins were building a nest, there was no doubt about it now. We had tea after a while, and the female Robin was getting her nest just right about three feet from where we sat. The painting continued, and so did the nest constr