The Highest Form of Hope

If you can guess the movies that these quotes are from, you will recieve a congradulatory e-card and my undying admiration! JP, I'll try to set you up for a win, but Paul might be in close contention.

1.
"You can take our car, and you can take our keys, but you cannot take away our dreams!"
"Yeah, because we're sleeping when we have them!"

2.
"Go back to England and tell them there that Scotland's daughters and sons are yours no more. Tell them Scotland is free. "

3.
"I'm freezing my royal Rastafarian na-nas off!"

4.
"Is that your blood?"
"Some of it, yeah."

5.
"What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you."

6.
"Man who catch fly with chopsticks accomplish anything."

7.
"You know what her father'll say? I'll tell you what her father'll say. He's gonna kill himself a crab, that's what her father'll say. "

8.
"What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. "

9.
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who. "

10.
"What's that?"
"It's me belt, Turkish."
"No, Tommy. There'a a gun in your trousers. What's a gun doing in your trousers?"
"It's for protection."
"Protection from what? "Zee Germans"?"

11.
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

12.
"You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead. "

13.
"Are you a God-fearing man, Senator? That is such a strange phrase. I've always thought of God as a teacher; a bringer of light, wisdom, and understanding. You see, I think what you really fear is me. Me and my kind.The Brotherhood of Mutants. Oh, it's not so surprising really. Mankind has always feared what it doesn't understand. Well, don't fear God, Senator, and certainly don't fear me. Not any more."

The DaVinci Cartoon

Leonardo getting a lot of press as of late because of the book The DaVinci Code. I haven't read the book. All I know is that it's been "forbidden" by the Catholic Church (along with Harry Potter - because, well, children and magic - its a lethal combination. Who would ever think of putting the two together?). Anyway, I don't understand the hype. DaVinci is facinating whether or not he was a Templar or Mason or whatever.

The first and only time I have seen a work by DaVinci was when I was in London. I went on a "Campus Tour" trip when I was 16 - it's basically a gettaway for rich kids who can't learn a foreign language and thus can't travel as exchange students. I went with a different school than I attended so I only knew one or two people on the trip. They were mostly interested in shopping or getting drunk, so one day I snuck away from the group. I'm not totally sure they even noticed I was gone. London has the most amazing public transit system. Even I could figure it out. Soon I was in Trafalgar Square, dodging pigeons and running up the marble stairs into the National Gallery. The National Gallery is actually kind of small when compared to other European Galleries - Its no Louvre (I would give my right thumb to go there). But the National Gallery has a very substantial collection. It includes DaVinci's Virgin of the Rocks - one of his masterpieces. Across the hallway from the Virgin is the DaVinci Cartoon. It's his sketch for Virgin of the Rocks. I can honestly say that the DaVinci's drawings far outweigh his paintings. He is a master of proportion, the basis for western art. His drawings are not "realistic". They are idealized, but never even close to stale. They are solid but dynamic. They are imaginative, unlike anything before him or after him. I have never seen art that is so close to perfect. It was perfect. Even as a high school student who knew nothing about art, I was amazed. I stood there for at least twenty minutes. If I saw it today, I would stand for much, much longer.

(Some days I feel like this)
Francis Bacon; Head VI 1949 (290 Kb); Oil on canvas, 93.2 x 76.5 cm (36 5/8 x 30 1/8 in); Arts Council of Great Britain, London
This painting is based on Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X

Yes, I can already hear some of you cringing. I do still read the Bible. I just have a much more difficult time doing so than I used to.
I did read the Bible religously at one time. During a four month span, I read it cover to cover; thinking that somehow by accomplishing this I would understand God a little more. But I read the Bible in isolation, believe that God would "speak" to me through the text. I believed that I would find guidence for daily living as I heard so often from so many people. After all, isn't the Bible a "handbook on life?" Well no. It's not. I read the Bible with completely selfish motives. I wanted to know what God had in store for me. I wanted direction in my life. I never took the Bible for what it was - I always drew conclusions to my own situation. In doing so, I lost the story, because the story became about me and only me. My need to understand. My need to feel justified. My need to feel like I was being a good Christian by reading the Bible everyday. Perhaps the most harmful aspect of my so-called devotional life during this time was that it was me and only me who was interpretting the Bible. How arrogent! My personal theology became incredibly flawed, it set me up for disaster. And all the time I thought that I was doing what God wanted me to do.
So now I have a hard time reading the Bible. In fact, I think I stopped reading it all together for about a year or so. I'm not really sure if this is a good thing or not. I'm just having a hard time finding out where to begin again.

Lucien Freud, 1985, Reflection
Freud is considered one of the best artists of the twentieth century. He was a contemperary of Francis Bacon and part of an art movement in Britian as a reaction to the modern art of the fifties and sixties.

George Bush's education policy of "No Child Left Behind" is hypocritical and will further serve to strengthen cycles of poverty. The policy focuses curriculum in schools with low test scores (these schools are almost always in lower income neighbourhoods) on math and language arts. Art and music are cut in order to spend all resources on core curriculum. Never mind that art and music are proven to drastically increase aptitude in reading and math. Often, it is these areas that prevent at risk students from dropping out of school. Cutting the arts also prevents student from learning important critical thinking skills - how are they supposed to compete for places in Universities? Perhaps one of the most disturbing repercussions of this policy is that it is students in these schools who are being streamlined for military service. The difference between these students and those who have the oppertunity to engage in the arts would continue cycles of poverty, punishing students from poor areas while giving advantages to those who already have more options.

The arts are important.

But the arts are not only important because they encourage growth in acedemic areas. Art is the medium by which we evaluate our culture. Whether its good art or bad art, understanding it will lead us to think critically about our society. Especially in our society which is dominated by images, not being able to evaluate images can blind us to what is really going on in our world. Literature and music are intrinsically linked to the visual arts. These different spheres of dialogue constantly borrow from one another, bouncing off ideas, changing ideas and preceding major changes in thinking.

Thoughout history, a shift in paradigm has always been preceded by a shift in the arts. The arts is where philosophy is born. Art is also a guage by which we can evaluate ideas, trends and technology.

The arts also help us to express things that just cannot be communicated by words alone. In the North American church, our services are dominated by words, yet our culture is dominated by images. By no means am I advocating the use of powerpoint - but the church needs to take a deeper look at the arts. We need to think more deeply about the lyrics of our songs, the illustrations in our sermons and even the architexture of our church buildings. This doesn't mean that we need to spend bundles of cash on flashy new equipment, it means that we need to stop dumbing down the gospel.

The only known visual artist in Evangelical Christendom right now is Thomas Kinkade. It's fine that people like his paintings. But the depth of his work is about the same as the depth of a Christian romance novel. It ends up making people long for something that never really existed(if you don't know who I'm talking about check out www.thomaskinkade.com), or worse, it simplifies the truth beyond recognition.

I'd encourage those of you who are interested in digging a little deeper to start looking at some art. Start asking questions about it, and don't just write it off because you don't understand it right away, or because it doesn't appeal to your personal tastes.

Roy Litchenstein, 1963, Blam

I tried for 100, but I'm just not that interesting...

1. I love MacDonald's breakfast.
2. I once ate a worm to impress classmates.
3. I'm often overly sensitive.
4. I have a secret desire to be a dancer.
5. When I was six my parents entered me in a children's rodeo where I rode a sheep (I did not make it to eight seconds). And then I cried.
6. My husband grew up in Ukraine.
7. My first pet was a hamster name "Jennifer". Sadly, Jennifer met with a tragic end when she was given a hug by a three year old.
8. I once lied to a police officer implicating an innocent man.
9. I can't play sports. I can't even run.
10. I HATED Friends.
11. I loved the X files.
12. When I was five I believed that Thundercats were real so I wrote them a letter inviting them over to my house to play.
13. I wanted to be a forensic pathologist.
14. I have a secret desire to be a contestant on Survivor.
15. I've had the same best friend since kindergarten. We used to watch Thundercats together.
16. I cried at the end of the Chronoicles of Narnia.
17. Dog food comercials sometimes make me tear up.
18. I've never been drunk.
19. The worst movie I have ever seen (this took some thinking) was The Postman. A close second was Alexander.
20. I've never kissed any guy other than my husband.
21. I was "called on" in grade nine.
22. I love cereal.
23. I pretended to have a crush on Joey from the "New Kids on the Block" to fit in with the other girls.
24. I like scary movies.
25. My favorate flavor of ice cream is cookie dough.
26. My favorate class at university was Modern Latin American History.
27. My favorate class at Briercrest was History of Christianity.
28. I generally don't like romantic comedies - unless they're exceptionally made.
29. The only sitcom I ever liked was Seinfeld.
30. I watch way to much TV.
31. I was hit on by a forty year old Turkish dude in a London night club.
32. I day dream.
33. I'm not the best driver.
34. I've never golfed.
35. I wish that I could play the guitar.
36. I once gave a speech at a Ducks Unlimited gala.
37. I have the working storylines to three plays running through my mind.
38. My wedding dress didn't fit me properly.
39. I hated Bible College.
40. I like cats.
41. I have an aversion to brown paper towel.
42. I can't stand "Cool Whip".
43. I tried reading The Sound and the Fury.
44. I don't read Christian Fiction (other than Lewis).
45. I didn't start painting in acrylics until three years ago.
46. I can't jump.
47. I have a fear that people will think I'm stupid.
48. If I could change one thing about myself it would be that I wouldn't be so self centered.
49. I wish that I hadn't tried to grow up so fast.
50. I wish that I could be funnier.
51. I wish that I could come up with some original ideas.
52. When I'm stressed out, I can't eat.
53. I have a very limited CD collection.
54. I own too many pairs of jeans.
55. I collect vintage clothing - I have a wool coat from the fifties, a skirt from the twenties, a skirt from the fifties, and a sweater from the forties.
56. The worst job I ever had was working at Tim Hortons.
57. I wish I could go to school forever.
58. I can't stand arrogent people.
59. My favorate houshold chore is cleaing the kitchen.
60. My most hated houshold chore is vacuuming.
61. I tend to rush things.
62. I'm a quiter.
63. I hate video games.
64. I hate msn.
65. I make the best alfredo sauce.
66. I made it to grade nine piano.
67. I have a huge fear of playing piano in front of an audience.
68. I secretly like bratty kids.
69. I rebel inwardly.
70. My favorate dessert is creme brule.
71. I take thoughtful criticism well, especially about my writing and my art - though Paul might not think so.
72. I am patient.
73. I have been hospitalized six times.
74. I am sensitive to any type of medication.
75. I am not allergic to anything.
76. I hate Nicholas Cage - and all of his movies.
77. I hate small white dogs.
78. I like East Indian food.
79. I am thinking about buying a palm pilot.
80. I don't like really hot weather.
81. I hate grammar.
82. I failed grade four spelling.
83. I was in "Model UN" in highschool.... nerd!
84. I like kung foo movies.
85. I desparately want to travel to France and Italy - for the art and the food.
86. I have a sidekick (his name is Sasha).
87. I don't like to be wrong (but who does?).

After writing a poem about the world's beauty, I should balance that with saying the world is also horrible.

How do I teach a bunch of spoiled rich kids about genocide, racism, eurocentricity, hypocracy, hedgemony, and the legacy of colonialism? Maybe the bigger question is how will I help them to care about such issues? I don't know, but apparently I'm going to try.

I'm going to try to teach a unit on the Rwandan genocides. To prepare, I've started reading "Shake Hands with the Devil" by Romeo DeLaire. It's a painful, painful read. I've also read the high school history text I'm going to be working with. It devoted half a page to Rwanda, blaming the genocide on overpopulation and tribal warfare. There were too many of them anyway. Unbelievable.

I feel guilty, that I am where I am because of colonialism. The same colonialism that still infects the foreign policies of Western governments. The same eurocentric and racist mindset that allows Africa to slip into catastrophe after catasrophe. How do you tell white upper-middle class high school students that they are beneficiaries of a history of complacent genocide? We'd be fooling ourselves if we believed that our Western nations have not benefitted from raping and then abandoning Africa, Central America, and on and on and on (not to mention the complacent genocides of North America).

And since I am going to be teaching this in a Catholic Schhol, I am anticipating the question, "Why would God allow this to happen?"

At the end of "Shake Hands with the Devil" (the documentary - on CBC tonight), DeLaire says, "If I could reach out and shake the hand of the Devil and be in the presence of such evil, I must also believe that there is also a Supreme Good out there." That God would allow evil to speak to the fact of his supreme goodness to a broken man... Hopefully some of my students can come to the same conclusion.

Greg Hardy, "Yellow Fields"2002, Acrylic on Canvas

Plains

A tapered gravel road leads me down into
An upsidedown sea
Seemingly empty and formless
Blue beneath a ring of brushed gold leaf
Repeating lines and lines and lines
Under the rhythmic certainty of telephone wire
And steadfast fences
And colors illuminated in orange wash

Pure white is a myth
There is no such thing as grey or black or brown
All are seen from a far off telescope
Not completely in focus
And I, out of focus and out of time
Scratch my neck from the wind's irritation
Observing and collecting
the information passed from my pupil to my optical nerve
Only signals and Morse code
That somehow overwelm me with their beauty

It goes on forever and forever, always holding
The surrounding sky, just above what I can touch
And a smell beyond what can be consciously labelled
As sage or horse or gravel or rain
One second of sense becomes profoundly complex

But If I could make my bed in the valley
Not just in a photograph
And a thicket my home
Not only a passing sense of place
Happily in the ground
I would still feel too small
Too imperfect
Too spoiled
In order to just exist
And be at peace with my freedom

The sky shames me into silence
Shut up
Don't listen to your music
Just hold your breath for once
Long enough to hear
The earth tilt on its axis

I could go on and on
Past the valley, over the river stones, into the northern forrests
I could if I wanted to
I would bum food off strangers and bring a tent to sleep in
I would be transient and transparent
No one would see me go
But something would come up
An aquaitance or a task of some sort
To stand in the doorway and stall
And I'd watch and listen and say nothing

But if you would answer
My one question
I could just keep walking

Yes, its true. I'm a "Correy" fan. It all began the summer Sasha was born. Even though summer TV is never really interesting, I ended up watching a lot of it while I lived my life three hours at a time. Coronation Street was on during my afternoon feeding, and with Oprah in reruns, I ended up getting hooked. The first episode I watched, Maxine (Ashley's wife) was murdered - and of course, no one knew who did it. I was hooked. Now I'm not normally a soap watcher (though I have turned on "Passions" for a laugh once in a while), but British soaps are quite different than American ones. For one, they have real looking people (like those in the image I've included). Also, the stories (though dramatic) are not so far fetched that they become unbelievable. Plus, no actor is ever replaced. Some have been with the show from the beginning (that's forty years ago). There's no nonsense about a charactor disappearing and a few months later reappearing only played by another actor and suffering from amnesia. None of that. Coronation Street is down to earth and thoroughly entertaining. I like it, and I don't care if you all think I'm a nerd (you probably already gathered that from the amount of time I spend writing on my blog).

If there's any other closet Correy fans out there, speak up! Let your voice be heard! Let me know that I am not alone!