Amazing Stories, Well Not Really

Blogging is an interesting medium.  I have been extremely distracted the last few days, preparing my music for live performance, recruiting musicians, dealing with some release related issues, on top of my usual school work and other responsibilities.  Thus the blog has been deadly silent.  Yet thanks to the many, many posts I have done, people have continued to visit.  Rest assured the blog has not “died” in any way.

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Canadian short stories.  This particular collection is organized thematically, and the editor has been quite clever in his selections.  The section entitled “violence” the stories range from murder to a crop destroying hail storm.  The loss of their entire wheat crop devastates the family in that latter story.  It’s hard to fully grasp the precariousness of life in the past and in places where subsistence agriculture is the norm. Over time people all over the world have become disconnected from their food, and their food security has increased.  In southern Ontario there is an ongoing battle over the conversion of agricultural land into suburbia.  The various governments claim to be clamping down on sprawl.  So far that seems to be the case, and it bodes well for the future of agriculture in this province.

A great deal has been written on this idea, and the story I’m refering to is Sinclair Ross’s A Field of Wheat.

We’re Done Done Done With All The…

This is an opinion piece about opinion pieces.  A great deal of media discourse comes in the form of opinion and speculation.  The 24 hours news cycle is filled with experts and commentators giving their perspective on issues.  Often these people lack evidence for what they are saying, and indeed at times they contradict reality.  Yet under the guise of journalism they pass off information that may or may not be true. This situation has been criticized before, particularly in response to the rampant speculation that appears when a big news event occurs, like the death of Michael Jackson. Facts easily outdo speculation, but require more patience.

In reading an older text on the state of Canada’s poor, I came across a number of columnists claiming that Canada was the most overtaxed country in the world, along side evidence proving this was not the case.  I was inclined to believe that iff you asked Canadians if they were overtaxed, you’d probably find more people believe in the columnists than the facts. But I decided to do some research and discovered that in a 2002 survey, most Canadians asked said they were willing to pay higher taxes to improve or sustain public health care and other social services.  So maybe the majority in this country recognize the value in funding social programs.

Morning on the Train

With a final submission of paperwork, I have completed my Master’s degree.  It’s a very satisfying feeling, even though I was technically finished months ago. Having it all submitted before my 27th birthday feels very nice.  Wandering from Union Station to the University of Toronto I am always astonished by the sheer number of people heading into work in the morning.  There are a great many office towers along Bay and University, and they fill up quickly between 7:30 and 9 am.  Many of them traveled with me from Hamilton this morning, and will head back via train or bus at the end of the day.  I appreciate the compromised insanity of the commute having once done so myself. I left home each morning and rode the bus to Toronto for classes, sometimes getting home well after 11pm, only to return the next day.  For me, it was a small price to pay for the financial savings, and the ability to stay in Pinstripe Mystery.  Others must find comfort in the familiarity of home, the less daunting profile of smaller cities, and the obvious discounts on living arrangements.

There is currently a motor oil commercial that describes the “worst commute in America.”  A man drives two and a half hours each way for work, through congested freeways.  I have heard stories of people traveling from Hamilton to Oshawa for work, a trip that can take 4 hours at rush hour.  Some friends live in the city they work in, but still drive 30+ minutes to work.  What a contrast to the past. For instance, at Whitehern museum in Hamilton there is a rug that depicts the QEW when it first opened. Thomas McQuesten, one of the inhabitants of the house, was instrumental in the construction of that highway.  The rug show a 4 lane street lined with trees and homes, not unlike many rural highways today.  Today, it is a 6 lane (sometimes more) road that is often crammed with traffic.

One of my grandfathers walked to work from his home in the north end of Hamilton.  The other did the same for a time before moving onto the mountain, quite a bit further from the police station he worked at.  It was a sign of the changing world.  People think it is strange when I walk from my home down into the city, or when I ignore the subway and hike from Union to St. Michael’s.  I much prefer the exercise and the fresh air, even in winter.  The new urban plan for the City of Hamilton calls for less sprawl and more intensification. I hope this means more people can walk to work, they’d be doing themselves, and all of us, a favour.

MMMM Cake

I am Henry VIII I am, Henry VIII I am, I am.

Herman’s Hermits (covering an old British Dance Hall song)

I’m Henry VII I Am

This relatively obscure song is my way of saying sorry folks! I’ve been away camping for several days, and without internet a little bit longer.  Thus The Alder Fork has taken a bit of vacation.  The new album is now available in hard copy form through my etsy.com store.  It is also available directly from me, if you are interested.  I think the album art alone is worth the ten bucks, and the music is the icing on the cake.  Pretty soon it will pop up on iTunes and the circle will be complete, so to speak.

My recent post on HIV was pretty popular so I suspect I will write more on related topics in the near future.  It is fascinating to delve into recent history and witness how the unknown continues to confound and scare our species.  There are certainly other examples, but none as clear cut as the AIDS epidemic.  Some people still believe you can get it from casual contact, even though it has been clearly established that it isn’t possible.

Of Epidemic Proportions

Being a bit laid up with this cold has somehow caused me to investigate disease epidemics.  from Spanish flu to Ebola to AIDS most of my day has been spent reading.  If you are interested in the way a modern epidemic affected North American society I recommend the CBC’s digital archives.  They have a fascinating section on AIDS.  As someone who grew up after AIDS was discovered, it is hard for me to fully understand the panic that took place in the 1980’s.  It was only on generation ago that people were afraid of AIDS patients, and acted with a great deal of homophobia.  It took the cases of straight women, celebrities, and young children to bring some sanity to the public discourse around AIDS.

It is also interesting that the earliest cases were likely the result of HIV infection that had taken place years earlier, which further complicated the search for a cause.

Would the same reaction happen today?  SARS had some similar characteristics, at least in terms of public fear, but it was not associated with an already marginalized group of people.  A connection can be made to the case of a serial killer murdering prostitutes in B.C., in the sense that the problem was largely overlooked because of the group involved.  Perhaps our society is not as evolved as it might be, but didn’t we already know that. In fact, I think it’s safe to argue that many of the reactions of commentators like jerry Falwell would be echoed today.  It is easy to find religious leaders who condemn homosexuality and believe that its practitioners should be punished.  I have always found this line of thinking preposterous in an ethical system that promotes love of the other.  Falwell’s argument that God loves people and punishes sin, could work in theory, but falls apart in practice.  To be fair, I don’t believe that God punishes anyone, since the sufferings of life are random.  But more importantly I don’t believe there is anything wrong with homosexuality.  I don’t have a large theological or philosophical argument.  I just have a feeling in my heart, and a thought in my head, that love between two people, even if it is consummated homosexually, is always legitimate.

But I am way off point now.  If a disease demonstrating the same baffling circumstances as AIDS arose today, the internet and 24 hour media would likely create an even larger panic with much more misinformation. H1N1 certainly proved that.  People may be more skeptical in light of the large number of media induced scares we’ve experienced in recent years.  Perhaps we won’t take it serious enough.  Watch some of the CBC archive material, if you weren’t around, you will be shocked and amazed.

Over The Top

Sometimes being stuck on the couch sick can be a good thing.  I happened across a film that I’d never heard of today.  It’s likely that many people do know about this movie since it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. 2006’s Days of Glory tells one of the mostly unknown stories of WWII, that of the Algerian and Tunisian soldiers who fought in the French army.  In Canada we are accustomed to hearing about our own army, and the British colonial troops from Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Newfoundland. The movie plays on the themes of racism both at the time and in modern day France.  Although Canada is not free from racism, it is not nearly has overt as that in Europe.  That is likely related to the multicultural history of Canada. Regardless the film was quite good, even if it was lean on battle action.

This movie is another reminder that there is the potential to make hundreds of WWII movies without covering all of the interesting angles.  There was so much going on for the 5 or so years of the war, and the decade leading up to it that studios could put out one a month for years.  Each one would probably have several “I bet you didn’t know that” moments.

Check out the movie if you get the chance, it’s worth a watch.

Music Music Music

Hi fans of The Alder Fork.  If you’ve had a chance to check out my new album on Amie Street, I’d be ever so grateful if you could sign up for an account (or log into your existing one) and “rec” a song or two. It would really help spread the word about the music. It’s especially helpful if you say things like, this song reminds me of so an so.  That’d be fantastic. Just follow this link and you are all set.

As of right now you can also listen to and request the entire album on New Music Canada.

On another note the album will be hitting iTunes very shortly, so if that’s your preferred musical supplier you will be able to get it there very soon. An announcement will appear here when that happens.  The hard copies of the disc will also be available in the next few days.

As always I very much appreciate your support of my endeavours!

A Mind Trip

I was searching through some draft posts and I came across this random bit of thinking.

Have you ever thought about life in another person’s head?  For example, you might be far too shy to walk up to someone in a grocery store and ask them out, yet people do it all the time.  You may be afraid to haggle over a price, but all over the world people do it regularly. Contemplating different ways of thinking is really a fascinating exercise. There are the very positive types of people who are hoplessly optimistic, or completely naive.  I can’t imagine what life would be like for someone who doesn’t notice and analyze each interaction and response he/she encounters.

I Awake To Muddy Streets

There’s no compromise you see, in the battle of you and me

The Alder Fork

Great Lakes

Another exciting day here at The Alder Fork.  When I apologized for my absenteeism I used a new album as my excuse.  Well the album is officially done today!  I will be putting out a podcast in a day or so with a lot of the music from the disc. In the meantime you can get it through Amiestreet, buy a physical copy at my Etsy store (you will also find my book there), or wait a couple of weeks and get it on iTunes.  Thanks go to Elle, Dave, Heather, and Matt for their ears and assistance with the album.

Marching Marching

Face the monsters bring them to tears it’s all you need to hear.

Laura Smith

I Spy A Monster

A new episode of the podcast is up. As always it is available over there –>. My special guest is Laura Smith who is currently touring across Canada in support of her recent album Sea of Stars. If you get a chance to check her out in Toronto at C’est What on Wednesday at 10pm or Cabin on Thursday at midnight, you won’t regret it.  For more information about Laura check out her site.