What She Said
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has done a commendable job trying to explain in layman's terms what's been going on with our boys and girls in Ottawa these past couple of weeks. We disagree about which should be the governing party (i.e. the party with the most elected individuals), but hey -- that's the blessing of living in a country that attempts, most of the time, to function as a democracy.
While the PM is off visiting the GG, I've decided to keep the CBC radio and TV out of my life, and knit, knit, knit.
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What the World Needs Now...
I am listening to CBC's "Canada Live", which will be featuring the
80-year-old Burt Bacharach later tonight.
In her intro to the program, the announcer said, "What's old is new again". I beg to differ. I say, "What's 'old' is never really 'old'."
Let's face it:
"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, 'Jump', and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what i do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Yep. "What the world needs now..."
I am listening to CBC's "Canada Live", which will be featuring the
80-year-old Burt Bacharach later tonight. In her intro to the program, the announcer said, "What's old is new again". I beg to differ. I say, "What's 'old' is never really 'old'."
Let's face it:
"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, 'Jump', and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what i do, I'm bankrupt without love.
- Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always 'me first',
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies."
Yep. "What the world needs now..."
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
What She Said
I'm back...and want to begin with thanking Stephanie, fellow knitter, writer and Canadian, for her blog post on the arts cuts proposed by our PM, Mr. Harper.
In my mid-fifties, I am a fledgling writer (see my essay in Lela Nargi's latest, Knitting Through It, page 61), and the mother of a recent University of Lethbridge BFA(Dramatic Arts) graduate. That's Fine Arts, Mr. Harper. The degree took him four-and-a-half years, and I footed the bill for about 35% of that (he worked and got an inheritance and scholarships too). Spent about $30,000 (I know, cheap compared to other countries' universities and to other programs in Canada)...or more, counting living expenses, books, etc. And Mart just completed his first dramatic lead as Dr. Herr Fritz Haber in a superb UL performance of Einstein's Gift -- favourably reviewed by the CBC, I'm told. I went to the Opening. Almost a full house. Standing O at the end, given a great cast of student- and recently-graduated actors.
By the way, the play was written by Vern Thiessen, an Edmonton playwrite...uh oh. Another Canadian artist... Further more, this was the first time royalties for this play were released to an amateur production...
I was a typical soccer mom till my son hit 13, and was captivated by the theatre. Thus began years of schlepping him across town to rehearsals for amateur and semi-pro productions at St. Peter's Players ("Anne of Green Gables", for starters. Gosh, another Canadian script based on yet another Canadian's novel of the same name. And just how many jobs in PEI and across Canadad has L.M. Montgomery created, albeit posthumously?) and Storybook Theatre in Calgary, plus summer day-camps at Storybook, Mount Royal College and Theatre Calgary. Then there were drama classes in Junior High and High School...
All without tax breaks for my time, gas mileage etc. He loved doing it; I worked backstage at St. Peter's Players, made costumes, dressed actors, put out props. His dad, grandma and I cheered from the cheap seats...
Now he works as a prep cook at a restaurant in Lethbridge to pay his bills while he pursues his art...and you've just decided he'll have less to pursue because you've cut funding to the arts.
Oh sure, you've offered tax credits to parents for lessons for kids -- but that doesn't help the young and not-so-young artist out there trying to make a go of it. Most artists aren't discovered in Hollywood fashion. And many -- like my son -- don't want a Hollywood career. They want to make it in the theatre or in the gallery, or on the concert stage or in the operatic realm in Canada. You know? The True North Strong and Free, eh?
So...What She Said.
I'm back...and want to begin with thanking Stephanie, fellow knitter, writer and Canadian, for her blog post on the arts cuts proposed by our PM, Mr. Harper.
In my mid-fifties, I am a fledgling writer (see my essay in Lela Nargi's latest, Knitting Through It, page 61), and the mother of a recent University of Lethbridge BFA(Dramatic Arts) graduate. That's Fine Arts, Mr. Harper. The degree took him four-and-a-half years, and I footed the bill for about 35% of that (he worked and got an inheritance and scholarships too). Spent about $30,000 (I know, cheap compared to other countries' universities and to other programs in Canada)...or more, counting living expenses, books, etc. And Mart just completed his first dramatic lead as Dr. Herr Fritz Haber in a superb UL performance of Einstein's Gift -- favourably reviewed by the CBC, I'm told. I went to the Opening. Almost a full house. Standing O at the end, given a great cast of student- and recently-graduated actors.
By the way, the play was written by Vern Thiessen, an Edmonton playwrite...uh oh. Another Canadian artist... Further more, this was the first time royalties for this play were released to an amateur production...
I was a typical soccer mom till my son hit 13, and was captivated by the theatre. Thus began years of schlepping him across town to rehearsals for amateur and semi-pro productions at St. Peter's Players ("Anne of Green Gables", for starters. Gosh, another Canadian script based on yet another Canadian's novel of the same name. And just how many jobs in PEI and across Canadad has L.M. Montgomery created, albeit posthumously?) and Storybook Theatre in Calgary, plus summer day-camps at Storybook, Mount Royal College and Theatre Calgary. Then there were drama classes in Junior High and High School...
All without tax breaks for my time, gas mileage etc. He loved doing it; I worked backstage at St. Peter's Players, made costumes, dressed actors, put out props. His dad, grandma and I cheered from the cheap seats...
Now he works as a prep cook at a restaurant in Lethbridge to pay his bills while he pursues his art...and you've just decided he'll have less to pursue because you've cut funding to the arts.
Oh sure, you've offered tax credits to parents for lessons for kids -- but that doesn't help the young and not-so-young artist out there trying to make a go of it. Most artists aren't discovered in Hollywood fashion. And many -- like my son -- don't want a Hollywood career. They want to make it in the theatre or in the gallery, or on the concert stage or in the operatic realm in Canada. You know? The True North Strong and Free, eh?
So...What She Said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)