Day 212 -- is it true? or is it false?

Today I received a forwarded e-mail from an older relative. She wanted me to look through the message she'd received from a friend and tell me if it was true or not. This was one of those nasty spammy e-mails filled with bizarre, fear-mongering comments about some consumer product or other. The ones that people ask me about most often deal with food and nutrition based on my professional background.

Whenever I get one of these in my e-mail or social media, I think of some research articles I read a few years ago. Science knowledge of the average Canadian or American is not great, even though the majority of people studied had at least a high school education. This revelation led me into another article that also looked at science knowledge. This one determined that many people see science as mystery and magic. If we don't understand something, like science, as humans we go with what seems the best conclusion. I don't understand it, no one can explain it so I do understand it, so it must by something mystical. This is where conspiracy theory thrives. Seems that this is alive and well in electronic communications and not left behind in high school's rumour filled hallways <smile>.

There is another aspect of this that makes me stop and shake my head. Someone somewhere wanted this message to get out to the world -- for whatever reason. Rather than sending it through a SPAM program to millions of unknown people, all they did was send it to a small group of people they knew and those people told their friends and the number of people receiving the message grew geometrically. The time it takes for some messages to travel the world can be almost instantaneous. So -- what gives me pause is the fact that someone is getting all these others in the world to do their bidding to spread the message. Crowd-sourcing, if you will. Also, these messages never die. They continually make the rounds in e-mail or social media so that even if there were a kernel of truth once upon a time, the world has changed and that bit of truth is now a falsehood.

Oh, yes -- we all have the power to determine if a message is true or not before sending it along and inadvertently upsetting someone (like the frightened person who sent the message to me today). There are a number of places on the Web that debunk the internet rumour mill. My favourite is snopes.com.  It takes a couple minutes tops to type in the subject line of the message in question and read the true or false button. Further information is there for people who want to read the specifics.

So, where do I net out for a song to fit this? I kept hearing "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear" so that settled it for me <smile>  Enjoy!

I Heard it through the Grapevine -- Marvin Gaye

Day 211 -- Who's pulling the strings?

Another hot and muggy day but there was a bit of rain in the early evening. We came upon it as we left a performance on campus. It was another show from the theatre festival this year. It was an amazing performance of Rumpelstiltskin with marionettes. The staging was simple, but effective and the manipulation by the team of two was delightful. This is a story they have done for 25 years. After the show they let kids have their photos taken with the character of their choice. Pretty cute.

There were several groups of adults sans children there -- guess we are all just children at heart. I found the story pulled me in even though I know it well. Perhaps this is something that we need to do more often -- remember that wonder of childhood. I've often had this feeling with live theatre and even with movies and books. It may be part of the creative imagination side of the brain that wakes up to create the wonder and enchantment. It is definitely emotional, a sort of empathy with the characters. Isn't it wonderful that we have these forms of entertainment that can help us to see the world from differing viewpoints?

This also made me think about my reactions to the drama of others. Who is pulling the strings? I'm all for living string-free, but some days it seems that the wires are still attached. Where is that Blue Fairy when you need her? I want to be real <smile>. It will take a lot of energy to hang onto the strings myself and not drop them for someone else to pick up.

The selection for today ran through my mind this afternoon as I anticipated the evening's performance. I chose a newer version from a somewhat unexpected singer. Enjoy!


I'm Your Puppet -- Elton John ft. Paul Young

Day 210 -- a new store in town? What's the cost?

I've been working on course prep for September. For the past several days, I've been updating the course that deals with our global food system. There is a lot to discuss for this one -- actually way more than can fit into a 13 week course <smile>. The course begins with an exploration of the global food situation. This involves production through industrial, organic, and subsistence agriculture; distribution through local farmers' markets and multinational grocery chains; basis of the family farm income crisis; environmental degradation due to urban sprawl, industrial mining, water depletion and air pollution; and that is just the beginning <smile>. The course continues to examine the inequities in the distribution of food, food as a basic human right, and food insecurity domestically and globally -- similarities and differences. There is a lot of discussion using current events as examples of the principles covered in class. It is fun to find analogies and metaphors to help people understand the complex issues determining someone's ability to access food.

While working up one section, I found myself thinking of my recent trip to SK. Not only was there a lot of water in the fields where crops should be growing, but there were new subdivisions and big box stores popping up, too. Sprawl may not be as easy to see on the prairie as there is so much unpopulated land, but sprawl does exist. Someone somewhere is making money from this and I'm not convinced it is the farmer. We know that farmers receive a far smaller proportion of the retail cost of food products -- even less with processed or packaged products -- but I fear that when they sell a parcel of land, they receive only a small proportion of what the developer makes. Some see this as progress, and while it may be nice to have new stores to shop in, is the price really worth the cost? 

While pondering some of these economic situations, I thought of a song -- bet you didn't see that coming <smile>. But I really did. It addresses the topic of sprawl well. Enjoy!

Where a Farm Used to Be -- Gord Bamford

Day 209 -- the war to end all wars

One hundred years ago today the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia -- one month after 'the shot heard around the world' -- the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess, in Sarjevo. That same day, Russia began to mobilize, ostensibly against the Austro-Hungarian empire, and thus began the cascade of events that led to a war that would last just over 4 years. This war resulted in the deaths of  about 8-11 million and wounding of 22-24 million combatants along with over 7 million civilian deaths due to combat, crimes against humanity, malnutrition and disease. Making sense of these numbers is difficult.

A forgotten group of combatants, though, are the service animals. With a recent movie and stage play, the plight of horses in WWI has been brought forward again. During that war, 8 million horses and countless mules and donkeys died. That is on par with the number of soldiers killed (8-11 million). Among the animals serving the fighting forces were messenger pigeons, dogs, and others. I've always been struck by the service provided by non-humans. When I was in London last year, one of the first memorials I searched for was the Animals in War Memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane. This is a stunning visual metaphor showing animals working in battle on one side of a large concrete wall and animals walking upright in freedom on the other side. This appeared to me as animals walking through the openings in the wall to the freedom of an afterlife. I am so glad that I found it albeit on the meridian in the middle of a very busy street on a cold and snowy afternoon.

So, today I reflected on those who didn't choose to join the conflict -- conscripts, civilians and animals -- who found themselves thrown into a major conflagration with many not seeing their lives through to their natural ends. Choosing a song for today was not easy. Only one came to mind even though it is from a conflict far past WWI. It is very short and to the point. Enjoy!




Korean War Song -- Father Mulcahy

Day 208 -- "the play's the thing"

A group of us went to a play last night. Our town has a summer repertory theatre festival each year.  There were two actors new to the festival playing the lead characters – and they did an amazing job.  This experience led me to reflect on theatre I’ve attended over the years, and I realized I seek stage plays wherever I travel. I do love live performances.  

I can’t recall the first play I attended. I suspect it was in high school when the arts high school held their annual musical theatre productions. I do recall that the first time I mounted a play was in grade 8. As a group, we were to present a book report of sorts. Our group chose to write a stage play (adapted from the book) and my major role was as writer and director. It was not something that would ever win a prize, but it was a lot of fun. 

Everywhere I’ve lived I’ve attended local theatre productions. It is amazing how much untapped talent there is in a small community. When I lived in larger centres, I was a regular at theatre. In Winnipeg, we went to Rainbow Stage musicals every summer. As part of a research project I was working with, I received a ticket to see The Ecstasy of Rita Joe when it played MTC. Amazing and powerful.  Living in Toronto opened a whole world of plays. Sadly during this year I had very little income as I was still a student. I did see a few things, though and was able to immerse myself in ballet as a story-telling medium. In Saskatoon and Regina, I experienced many wonderful musicals – Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Anne of Green Gables, Camelot, and Grease to name a few. There were some wonderful actors appearing in these plays including Peter Davison, Adrien Zmed, Micky Dolenz, and Don Harron.  Living in Atlantic Canada, I’ve gone to Charlottetown Festival to see Anne of Green Gables and last summer the new musical Evangeline (amazing). In Halifax, I saw the one-man play, Dream a Little Dream, with Denny Doherty.

When travelling for meetings and vacation I always check to see what is playing where I’m headed. At Toronto meetings I’ve made side trips to see The Wizard of Oz, Miss Saigon, Rent and other amazing plays – seeing Lea Salonga and even Patrick MacNee (not a musical <smile>.  In New York, we went to see Mephis -- and there are many more trips needed to see all the amazing plays and musicals there <g>. In Chicago a group of cohorts at an international conference went to see Menopause: The Musical – 90 minutes of uncontrollable laughter <g>. In London I’ve seen The Mousetrap at St. Martin’s Theatre (a highlight for this Agatha Christie fan) and last year the highlight – The Audience with Helen Mirren – stunning.

So – from this it appears that I love theatre more than I’d actually realized <smile>.  Needless to say, I do have plans to see more and make trips just to do that. Today’s selection deals with those working in this genre. Enjoy!

Why?  -- Raul Esperanza

Day 207 -- hot, hazy day surprise

It was HOT today -- over 30C with a bit of humidity raising the 'feel like' temperature even further. I stayed indoors until after supper. As I walked down the driveway to the car, I stopped and stared at the house across the street.  There appeared to be smoke in the air around the house. When I looked elsewhere, I could see this settled all around me. I couldn't smell the smoke, so I wasn't worried about a local fire, though given the dryness of the grass and forests a fire is not outside the realm of possibility.

I met a friend who immediately pulled out a printout of a satellite shot of eastern North America. It is covered with a great grey mass of smoke.  Where did this come from? That outside my window travelled from the fires in the Northwest Territories -- thousands of kilometres!  Some of it may have met up with smoke moving along the jet stream from BC and Alberta fires, too. Amazing that it hasn't dissipated more after travelling so far. This likely has to do with the massive nature of these fires and how long they have been burning. When in SK last month there was a faint haze in the air as the first smoke from NWT made its way south, so it has taken a while to travel east. I've opened the windows to try to cool the house. I do find that my eyes are getting scratchy, so I may have to abandon that idea.

Today's selection was difficult -- a number of song lines came to mind, but I chose one line that best fit the situation outside. Enjoy!

Smoke from a distant fire -- Sanford Townsend Band

Day 206 -- What did you say?

Ever hear something that made you shake your head or gasp? Then when you asked what they meant by that, find out you misheard it?  It happens a lot, it seems. Tonight while out for dinner, the restaurant was very full and got loud at times. We had several instances when we misheard each other and then looked shocked or confused and said 'really?!' or 'what?' Once things were repeated there were peals of laughter.  So silly, but such fun <smile>.

This reminded me of misheard lyrics of songs. There have been some incredibly wild, strange and silly interpretations of words sung. Today's selection has one of my favourite of misheard lines -- "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"  Enjoy! 

Purple Haze -- Jimi Hendrix