Pencil Shavings

Won't you Lay a Wreath?

Today is the 8th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon.  Today speeches will be made, wreaths will be laid, and flags lowered to remember 2,993 people who died that day.  It's a day that is burned in my memory, because people that I worked with, that I talked to nearly every day, I will never talk to again.

And the cry goes out "We will never forget!"

But we do forget.  We forget London (43,000 civilians killed), we forget Desden (135,000 civilians killed), we forget Rwanda (est 800,000 to one MILLION civilians killed) and Hiroshima and Nagasaki (250,000 civilians killed).  Why do we not lay a wreath for these and the millions of others who have died by acts of violence and terror?

Is it because it is "Them" and not "Us"?  Why do we not grieve for the people who are dying all around us every single day, the way we grieve, and "Do not forget" those who died eight years ago?

Here is what I believe.  I believe that there is no "Them".  Because we all share this planet, we share the same branch of DNA, because we all live, love, fear and die, there is no them.  It is only Us.

And when we all grieve for the millions who died in fear, for other people's purposes, and we all realize that it is, only, Us.  That is when we will find a way to have peace.

Oh That Dress!!!!

I woke up this morning feeling happy and content and ready to read about the Inauguration festivities that I had missed yesterday.  This is a new day, a new era for all of us.  We have new hope, we have some new plans, (and I hope that my Canadian Government takes some cues from the positive and moral ground taken down south).

So what did I read and see?

People talking about dresses and the fashion sense of the First Lady.

Seriously.

We are heading into the worst financial crisis since the great depression.  We are coming out of the most morally bankrupt administration in my lifetime.  We are surrounded by fear, hatred, anger, dispair, loss, hunger, war, death and bloodshed, and people are worried about what Michelle Obama was wearing?

What happened to judging people by the content of their character?  What happened to the book being more valuable than the cover? What happened to our society that we have become so shallow as to worry more about what covers our skin, than about what covers our hearts?

I'll tell you what I see when I look at the First Lady.  I see the beauty of confidence.  I see the beauty of intelligence.  I see woman who loves her husband and her children.  I see someone who is articulate, smart, funny, and wise in her own right. I see grace.  I see the beauty that comes from believing in the best of people, and bringing it out in them, especially her children.  I care less about what she covers her skin in, and instead admire how comfortable she is in it.

Maybe all those fashion critics need to step out of their closets and instead have a look at what's inside themselves?

We Hold these Truths...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  - The Declaration of Indepenednce

And today the United States of America fulfilled it's creed.  It has bee a long dark night for people of good will, who believe in freedom, who believe in human rights, and who believe in peace.  Today at approximately Noon EST, the sun rose for us again.

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more." - Barack Obama, President of the United States of America.

Sound Bites, Hysteria, and the Constitution

My Mom is afraid. My brother is upset. People are signing petitions here there and everywhere.

I am appealing for calm, rational, educated thought.

News clips, and sound bites are not always the truth.

People will tell you what they think will enrage, or sway you.

Think for yourselves before you do anything rash.

Here is a great (short) article on the Constitution and how our Parliamentary System actually works: http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/547336

Read it.

Here is the e-mail address for the Governor General who will decided what will happen - regardless of how we weep, wail, or shout (info@gg.ca). She is bound by the law, our law, the law that makes us Canadian and makes us a great nation. Please remember that what makes us a great nation is not just what is written on paper, but it is our words and our deeds. Let's make sure that what we say and what we do over the next few weeks will continue to make us a great nation.

Here is the text of the letter I wrote to our Governor General:

Madame Governor General,

I realize that these are times of great turmoil on Canada's political scene. I also understand that you are under great pressure to act.

Madame, I wanted to write to you to let you know that despite the hysteria, and the fear mongering going on, that I believe in you and your ability to make a clear and intelligent decision based on the law of our constitution, and not on news sound bites, and political machinations.

I think that this situation is unique in our history, but it was not something that was unforeseen by our own founding fathers, and that is why the constitution is written the way it is.

You must use your sound judgment.

I wish you luck, do to the extreme pressures being put on you by the public and politicians alike, but I know that you will use your sound judgment to decide not only what is appropriate, but what is best for all of us.

I won't try to sway you, that is for people who are afraid.

I will support you, in whatever course you choose, knowing that you will choose in wisdom and integrity.

Sincerely
Kathleen Ralph

The Green Painter

It’s kind of surprising to think that so many artists who take their inspiration from nature are blindly polluting our world.

I suspect that there is a certain amount of pollution that we tolerate to live the lives we do, and some is inevitable.  But I do a lot to try and reduce my impact on the planet (and my families impact too) and that doesn’t stop when I sit down in front of my easel.

Firstly I always try to use paper that has less impact than some others.  I use recycled paper when it’s appropriate to do that, I also use windpower produced papers and papers that can be recycled.    I use a lot of cotton paper, and I’m still researching the benefits of that, although for now it is the best choice for my watercolour art.

I use watercolour paints which is generally not bad for the planet, in that there is little waste, and even though I am a “wet” painter I don’t actually use that much water and try to reuse my water as much as possible while I’m painting. 

For my acrylic work I never wash my palette after a painting session... pouring all that paint into the water system is something that doesn’t sit well with me.  So I save all my paint on the palette to dry, then when the layers on my palette are thick enough I roll them off and save these “skins” for collage projects eliminating the need for paint to go into the water system almost entirely.  I also try to filter my rinse water through coffee filters to try and get the biggest particles out.

Finally, and this is something that I don’t really advertise,  I contribute a portion of all my art sales to green charities.  Some years the contributions are larger than others.  The choice of my charity is personal to me, I choose as best I can charities that are not political or religious in affiliation.  I think there are enough people supporting those, I try to give where I think it is needed the most and where I think the money will go the furthest to solving my personal environmental concerns.

Save This House

“When you have cut down all the trees, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe,……Only then will you discover you cannot eat money”

Cree Prophecy

The Doomsday Clock has been advanced two minutes by the Board of Directors of the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” at the University of Chicago.

The Doomsday Clock is an arbitrary measure set by the board based on perceived nuclear threat. The last time it was advanced was just after 9/11. Interestingly this time around the clock isn't being advanced on nuclear threat alone. The board sites nuclear ambitions of many countries, and the wealth of nuclear arms at the fingertips of the trigger happy president* as well as stating that climate change is an imminent threat to life on the planet.

Within the lifetime of a child born today the world will barely resemble the life giving orb that we occupy.

Let me say that again a little more emphatically ... A child born today will likely be one of the last people alive on the planet..... forever!

It's time to stop wringing our hands and hoping that someone comes up with a magic bullet to cure the worlds ills. It is time to stop daydreaming about colonizing Mars – (tip: It's not gonna happen). It's time to clean up our home, not try to move down the block to destroy another one.

It is time to start being accountable for what you do, what you eat, what you drive, where you live, and how you deal with the waste that you produce everyday. It's time to force your government to pull their collective heads out of their asses and do something real to save this house! Because it's the only home we have, and until YOU do something, nothing will get done, and my kids are going to have to pay the price. It's not that far away, and we can't just move. So, go clean up your room!

*my description.

Fearless Predictions

It's that time of year. The time that is a psychic's wet dream. A time to trot out all their prognostication skills and show you that they really do know what the hell they are talking about.

I maintain that there is no great skill to predicting the future, it is simply a matter of understanding human nature and not giving the average person super human abilities (like the ability to do the right thing for the right reasons.)

So... I am about to make a few predictions of my own.

I predict that a major world leader is going to do something monumentally stupid in the next year (hell – I could probably predict this will happen in the next month, week or hour!)

I predict that a lot of people are going to do a lot of bad things for a lot of bad reasons (most notably to make even more money that they can spend on stuff they don't need). I predict that many of them will get caught, a few will be punished and most will not because most of us don't care any more.

I predict that at least one of the year end highlights for the news will involve a celebrity doing something stupid (which includes getting married or divorced).

I predict that the top Google and Yahoo searches for 2007 will be about a celebrity of some calibre, and I'm shuddering thinking that the percentages favour Paris Hilton.

I predict that Bill Gates' uber-generous forays into philanthropy will inspire (or perhaps guilt... I'm good with either) other people into giving more. It would be nice if that generosity was anonymous, but I suspect that it will not be... I can live with that.

I predict that despite all the weird weather we have had this year the mini-van and SUV will still top the growth in vehicle sales in North America, while Europe will continue to be more sensible in their choices.

I predict that someone will bring an automatic or semi-automatic weapon into a public institution at least once this year and begin shooting, and I also predict that the NRA will be on air, on CNN ,within hours defending the right to bear arms, despite the fact that this was never what the founding fathers of the USA had in mind.

I predict that right now a child is being born who will never see a computer, never have a bank account and never own a home. This child will never learn to read, and never have the opportunity to do more than worry about where his next meal will come from, if he survives being born at all.

I predict that right now a child is being born who will have all the things the other child will never have, and I hope that she will know about the first child and do more than donate a dollar a day to change the inequities in the world.

I predict that things will happen this year that none of us could ever predict and I hope it is something wondrous, awe inspiring and that brings us all a little closer to each other and a better world.

It's easy to predict the bad stuff, because human nature is in fact very predictable. I would love to be surprised, and have none of my negative predictions come true. But I predict that I won't be surprised at all.

Reflections on a Year

It has been a interesting and difficult year for me. It has also been a year of great joys, discoveries and personal successes. I set goals and accomplished many of them, including over coming personal, physical and mental challenges in order to train for and run a marathon. I completed that goal this past month and I am so proud that I made it to my goal despite the hurdles. In fact overcoming those difficulties have made the victory of crossing the finish line all the more sweet.

Yes – in many ways this year has been a good one for me. I rediscovered my art, I reopened my creative self to more possibilities and I learned a lot about doing what makes my heart happy and how that makes me a better mother, a better wife and a better person all the way around.

In a lot of ways this past year has been pretty awful for the world. We are still at war, a war that we cannot win. We are still at the mercy of a leader in the United States who can't seem to find his moral compass with both hands. We are still looking for more things to make us happy that we can buy, instead of looking inside our hearts to find our joy not in buying but in giving.

There is a war in our streets against the poor, the disadvantaged and the homeless. We have no tolerance, and a myopia about the people who have found themselves clinging to the very edge of our society. They are hanging on by mere threads that we are happy to try and snip, instead of offering a hand up, back from the edge.

There is a program that was started in my city for the homeless. It is a program to teach them to repair bikes. I know it sounds kind of stupid. But here is how it works. The people in this program take broken bicycles and learn how to repair them. They turn these bikes into vehicles again, instead of trash. The bicycles are saved from the dump (a nice environmental bonus) and are given to people who don't have vehicles or the resources for public transportation, so they can commute to jobs that they might have a hard time getting to. This is a good thing for everyone. The skills learned are being put to use to find other jobs that require mechanical skills and the people who might have lost employment because they couldn't get to work, can now get there, saving more people from a dangerous downward spiral.

This is the kind of effort that needs to be made in more cities. Something that costs little in terms of money. What it costs is time by volunteers. What it gives is rewards that may be hard to measure by our spoiled middle class ruler, but that are priceless to those involved.

This year was good and bad. I hope that the next year is better both personally and for the world that I live in. The world you live in too.

Daylight Stupid Time

In a few weeks daylight savings time will end and we will be plunged again into darkness. I never used to think much about the start and stop of daylight savings time. My mom used to make a big fuss, but I could never remember if it was spring back, fall forward or vice versa.

When I had kids I suddenly realized that kids don't care if they can sleep an extra hour – because they won't. They don't care if there is an hour less during the night... they will get up when they are ready. Generally it takes a week to get the Wee Wonders adjusted to the time change.

I'm not really sure why daylight savings time was introduced in the first place, my mom told me that it was for the farmers ... which of course doesn't explain why Saskcatchewan refuses to go on the dreaded DST. The breadbasket of Canada says that chickens and cows can't tell time.

Here is the thing. Next spring we will start daylight savings time a month early, and end it a month late. Why? Because the genius in the White House thinks that it is a great way for Americans to save energy. The last time this was done, it was done by Nixon. And you know what? People used even more energy than they did before.

My province and my country (the US's closest trading partner) has to go along with this asinine proposal because it will be too costly not too for our economy. Sadly it will be more costly for our environment.

I think we should rename daylight savings time...