the dangerous mathematical formula of finance

This is not an inkblot test but if it was a Rorschach Test what might this waterscape on a misty morning say about your emotional state? Calm? Depressed? Dismal? Soft? What? I took this photo from the overpass looking down at the breakwater in Lake Superior.

People see different things in the landscape around them, and read things differently. Some read way too much into what's before them. For example, in Toronto, an artist's mural on a railway underpass wall, which he was paid by the city to paint, was erased this Monday by the same city, which "used grey and white paint to completely blot out the mathematical formula incorporating Morse code symbols and grim-faced businessmen with yellow halos" because, because why?

Because one person complained that it was a political message with an anti-Stephen Harper message:

Elyse Parker, a director in [Toronto] city’s transportation services department, said the artwork was erased after a resident complained it was political. City records suggested the older north wall mural was commissioned, but not the one on the south wall, she said.

“This was not approved by the city and we would not endorse any kind of mural with political messaging,” she said. “There was some discussion that the mural referred to Stephen Harper. That’s the suggestion, that’s what it looked like to us.”

Richardson [the artist] says the mural “had nothing to do with Stephen Harper” — while it is “subversive and anti-freewheeling capitalism” — and his friend Benjamin Blais was the model for the businessman.

Good grief. What sort of censorship is this? Isn't art supposed to provoke reactions? Get people to think? Shouldn't we have MORE art like this that challenges people to think about what they're living inside of? Participating in?

This over-reaction says something about the conservative mindset that is in power in Toronto's municipal government. See the "offensive" artwork below:
which now looks more like this:
Seriously, I think some folks working for Toronto City Hall need to have their heads examined. Either that or someone needs to make some art about it.....maybe Joel Richardson, the artist of the dangerous math of capitalism will get paid to make more art now thanks to the city's really stupid move that's sure to create quite the buzz........

I ain't lost, just wandering

Each day brings something unexpected to our routine of life. You only have to open the door to find the magical just below your feet. Or up in the sky. Or right before your eyes. A gift given to you, unasked. All we need to do is walk into our days with our eyes and hearts open.

Sometimes, I wake up and say to myself, should I go on my walk this morning? I hem and haw. I don't feel too inspired. Sometimes, all the work that I have to do that day will run through my mind, filling every corner, and I haven't even popped my feet out of the bed. If it's past 8 am, alarm bells ring in my work ethic conditioned DNA; I feel anxiety.

OMG, it's late. Get moving! I've got lots of work to do. OK, think. Think. WhatdoIhavetodotoday?

But those mornings when life feels so uninspiring are exactly those times when I need to continue with my routine. With the pattern of my days. And, without fail, some message will cross my heart. Arrive at my doorstep. Or my pedal. Like the other day, when I was pedalling to a meeting with a satchel of notes and printouts, I heard the call of ...a loon? What? There isn't even any water close by. Sure enough, when I stopped my bike to look up into the sky, a loon flew straight over my head, flying due east to Lake Superior, calling out his arrival.

This afternoon, I first thought I saw snow falling outside the dining room window -- which is not improbable right now as we've had some up and down weather, with frosts at night. A snow flurry now? What the....But when I stepped into the porch to get a better look, a squall, not of snow flakes, but of flower petals filled the air. A northeast wind was whipping the flower petals off our neighbour's 60 year old plum tree. The petals had been released into another dance, once closer to death.

Adele. Hometown Glory

I've been walking in the same way, as I did,
Missing out the cracks in the pavement,
And tutting my heel and strutting my feet,
"Is there anything I can do for you dear, is there anyone I could call?
No and thank you please madam, I ain't lost, just wandering.."

Round my hometown, memories are fresh,
Round my hometown, ooh the people I've met,
Are the wonders of my world, Are the wonders of my world,
Are the wonders of this world, are the wonders and now,

I like it in the city when the air is so thick, and opaque,
I love it to see everybody in short skirts, shorts and shades,
I like it in the city when two worlds collide,
You get the people and the government,
Everybody taking different sides.

Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit,
Shows that we are united,
Shows that we ain't gonna take it,
Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit,
Shows that we are united,

Round my hometown, memories are fresh,
Round my hometown, ooh the people I've met,
Are the wonders of my world, Are the wonders of my world,
Are the wonders of this world, are the wonders,
Of my world, of my world, yeah, of my world, of my world yeah.

a Magnolia bandit in my yard

A bandit wearing a black mask surprised me on Queen Victoria's Birthday! As I wasn't expecting to find him there on my back deck when I looked out the back door window, he startled me. But I think I startled him, too. From behind the hops and the yellow dogwood, he just suddenly appeared on the railing. He looked right at me and then left like a shot. But he was there long enough for me to get a good look at him so I would be sure to ID him. And, the black mask was a dead giveaway. There aren't many who wear black masks, that I knew.

I had gone into the back porch after setting the dining room table with four of my Royal Standard MADE IN ENGLAND bone china coffee cups and saucers with the small blue forget-me-not pattern that my mother gave me for my birthday once years ago (maybe my 40th?). I had already brewed a pot of loose leaf Twinings CLASSICS EARL GREY TEA, and it was almost 4 pm. -- time for royal tea in honour of Queen Victoria.

What else to do on a rainy holiday Monday afternoon but take up a bit of silliness? Of course, if you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that I am not a monarchist, so celebrating a Queen's birthday, a colonial queen to boot, is not exactly a regular habit of mine.

But Monday being the second day of steady grey, drizzly rain, and chilly weather on a long weekend meant to signal the start of summer, and Monday being what in Canada is called Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria, and as every now and then I have to do something silly in order to stay sane, I decided to have some British tea (i.e. one of the crops its colonized) in British fine china cups (did they appropriate the process of china, too?) with a slice of cake at 4 pm in the afternoon. I had some willing accomplices: one of my friends, one of my sisters, and my only husband. They were all game for the tea party, albeit some of them (e.g. my husband) more of a a captive audience than a willing participant.

I was so excited when I saw the little bandit! I had never seen him before, not in the city, not in the woods, not on a trail, nor in the neighbourhood. So I did not know his name, but I looked him up and sure enough, there he was. I had no idea if he'd been in my yard before. But he was gorgeous! I just had time to note the black mask across his eyes and his beautiful yellow breast streaked in black. And that he was no bigger than a tea cup!

magnolia warbler

Norman Finkelstein on Obama's speech

“the wonder is that there are so few skeptics.” Norm Finkelstein

I heard Norman Finkelstein speak about 8 years ago at York University to a packed house. His views on Palestine and Israel are troubling to Zionist and pro-Israeli groups, and the Zionist students had come out to heckle him. The university had sent in police for security but as the majority, like me, had come simply to hear his views on Palestine and Israel, so the police did not have much to do. I hope they found his talk informative!

Failing to recognize International Law, as the Americans continuously do, is hubris, showing once again the US's imperial arrogance. In his recent speech to AIPAC, Obama reiterated the US's iron-clad support for Israel, yet Israel continues to flout international law. Why should the US and Israel be above international law? Above the UN? Do they both believe blindly that Manifest Destiny will see them through the next 20 years? I hope more and more people will go to the borders of Israel on Nakba Day. Maybe one day there will be a million unarmed people at Israel's borders, demanding change. What will Israel do? Kill them all?

Obama's gift of rhetoric cannot hide the hypocrisy of his words. Above, watch a 3 min clip of Norm Finkelstein interviewed on Democracy Now, with some critical words about Obama's speech. Why isn't Finkelstein an advisor to Obama? Maybe CHANGE will become a reality, not just rhetoric.

pink washing

building illegal Israeli settlements in Ariel in the West Bank

Pink crime? It almost sounds fashionable and desirable. Indeed, I would say it's an (ethical) crime to call a session "Prisoners in Pink," especially as two of the three papers in that session look at women in US prisons, and we know who they disproportionately are. Lawrence Davidson, US professor of history, tells us that pink-washing this academic conference doesn't make rosy the larger crime being committed:

For those who might not know, Israel will be holding a conference entitled "Pink Crime–Women, Crime and Punishment" on 30 May 2011. As the title implies it is all about female criminality: women as drug use offenders and drug traffickers, women murders, etc., as well as how the media covers female offenders. This is an international conference, drawing to it not only Israeli criminologists but also scholars and researchers from abroad. The United Kingdom and the United States will each have at least two participants.

One might ask what the big deal is? True, the internationals are ignoring a growing boycott of Israel by various elements of civil society. True, the Israeli criminologists should actually be giving priority to their government's criminal acts. True, there is something sexist about the entire affair. What is so unique about crime committed by women? Why "Pink"? Still, there is something else that marks this gathering as out of the ordinary. The "Pink Crime"Conference is being held at an illegal Israeli settlement sitting on stolen Palestinian land. It is scheduled for the "University Center" in the settlement of Ariel on the occupied West Bank. To put it more directly, Israel is to hold in conference on crime in a criminal place.