"Between my MA and PhD, my student loan payments were set at $962 a month (including interest) for ten years. Seriously, that's what my BA and MA cost me - attending public universities in one of the world's wealthiest nations - with no opportunity to reduce that amount no matter how well I do or what I contribute to my country. "(purse lip square jaw | Get out the vote!)

:: note :: . . . the above education debt is an atrocity . . . myself putting two children through university and it is only the foresight, over eighteen years ago, to invest in a education savings fund which allows a debt free first degree . . . further education is much more problematic . . . have voted NDP . . . reluctantly . . . a serious mistrust for any major party . . . & to the rest of canada thinking sask. is redneck conservative . . . the center left combined vote is strong . .

"I need to make art. It is both how I communicate with the world and how I control the world around me. "(Thesis Third and Fourth Draft | Tanya Zuzak)

:: note :: . . . wish to read more thesis drafts . . . process is always interesting . . .

"Now, in a development that some have compared to Copernicus's recognition that the earth is not the center of the solar system, startling new data have revealed that only five percent of the universe is made of normal, visible matter described by the Standard Model. Ninety-five percent of the universe consists of dark matter and dark energy whose fundamental nature is a mystery. The Standard Model's orderly and elegant view of the universe must be incorporated into a deeper theory that can explain the new phenomena. The result will be a revolution in particle physics as dramatic as any that have come before."(>>> context weblog sampling new cultural context|quantum universe: the revolution in 21st-century physics)

:: note :: . . . quantum mechanics was supper table talk with a father who was a physicist . . . any questions transformed into involved explanations and readings . . . the one thing learned was nothing couldn't be answered without leading to another question . . .

Cotton Puffs, Q-tips®, Smoke and Mirrors: The Drawings of Ed Ruscha

trace the lines
to the end
lift start over

repeat
the score deepens

not a sign of ignorance
not to know the answers

great merit to face the questions
to cherish rather than despise

accept everything

dedication

need to write about the Three Generations: William Perehudoff, Robert Christie, Jonathan Forrest Exhibition

"Thinking back, I can still remember that first night of class where you told us to pick someone, walk up to them, look in their eyes, and see ourselves. From that I wrote the following poem that I'd like to share with you:"

beware ...
(by DM)

you're trespassing on my desires.
your yearning justifies my fears -
turning me from whispers
towards thinking about
not thinking about
it.

I glare at myself
in your pupils,
dilating your secrets,
miming your tears,
and see you
see me quiver:
waiting, anticipating,
those far away spaces -
silence beckons me deeper -
while I caress the
familiar sowulo
around my neck

"And here is my take on it: The idea of the poem is that happiness lives in all of us waiting, building momentum, wanting to be released onto someone else. Often we are guilty of searching for someone to throw these wonderful feeling at -- people who are not ready, or are afraid or unworthy; people who, for whatever reason, choose not to look deeply into our pupils and see us seeing them seeing us."

:: note :: . . . D was a student forced to drop class . . . he wrote a email of explanation . . . the response included the above . . . it is an honour to have such students . . .

"At a recent news conference for the opening of the Turner Whistler Monet exhibition, a reporter asked: "Can art make cities more gentle?""

"Unequivocally yes."

"Finding the common threads among us and understanding what sets us apart is a civilizing influence on a world that needs it now more than ever. Every day, art gives voice to that discovery."(Toronto Star | Art matters.|Matthew Teitelbaum is director and CEO of The Art Gallery of Ontario. )

(via Marja-Leena Rathje)

:: note :: . . . more talk about the role of the arts . . . wonder whose listening beyond those of us with a vested interest . . . Teitelbaum was at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon for a while . . . questioned many of his directions/decisions . . . without a thorough analysis it seemed he couldn't create the mix of grassroots regionalism with broader perspective that seems so necessary in smaller centers . . . maybe Saskatoon is already gentle . . .

:: note :: . . . so the graffiti strikes again . . . don't mind it so much but the neighbours do . . . wonder how long it will be tolerated . . . think it's the name of a youth gang . . .

" Everything connects. Canadian culture, the imaginative expression of our shared lives and aspirations, is the heartbeat of our people. Its networks of influence are society's arteries. It is in the broad arena of our pluralistic culture that the stories that speak of Canada's distinctiveness are told. In the defiant imaginations of our artists we see the possibilities for our future; in the clamour of their voices we hear the sound of our unfolding identity. Our artists supply the raw materials of the imagination, the foundations on which wisdom and hope are built, for our young people and for Canadians everywhere. The stories we tell each other - in our plays, our books, our films - affirm the importance of the human, the local, the specific: they are the crackly bits that give society texture in the face of the blender forces of globalization."

*****

" Cultural nationalism and cultural freedom are different animals. The key to a flourishing creative identity for Canada lies in the freedom of our artists to create in whatever ways they think fit - and it is this freedom that should be protected by our legislators. Canadian creativity is an integral ingredient of our identity, an anchor of self-knowledge in a fluid world. But its Canadianness lies only in the fact that it is the creativity of Canadians; and that is the only prerequisite that can legitimately be imposed. Beyond that, all options are open. Canadian music is music made by Canadians. Canadian books are books written by Canadians - displaying what George Woodcock called "the restless variegation of a mature literature." The Life of Pi - a story of a young Indian male shipwrecked en route to Canada and cast adrift in a lifeboat with only a Bengal tiger for company - is as much a Canadian novel as Who Has Seen the Wind? To properly protect our culture, it is excellence in creativity that should be supported, not nationalism. Take care of the creators, and the culture takes care of itself."(Our Public AirWaves |The Defiant Imagination)

:: note :: . . . when in Vancouver had mixed feelings about critic Max Wyman . . . the defiant imagination changes everything . . . adds a new dimension to the educated imagination . . .

audblog:arts today:why culture matters to Canadians

"Multidisciplinary artist Rebecca Belmore has been selected to represent Canada at the 2005 Venice Biennale of Visual Art, the Canada Council of the Arts announced Thursda"(CBC Arts News|Aboriginal artist selected to represent Canada at 2005 Venice Biennale)

Rebecca Belmore

:: note :: . . . labels . . . canadian aboriginal women artist . . . humpf . . . let it be an exciting working artist of "great power and grace" . . .

"The vast majority of Canadians despise these "Leaders' Debates" which are in essence public dogfights. The media openly speak of the odds, about which contender can draw the most blood and what he has to do to win or, at least, come out unscathed. On the basis of these merits, each contender is supposed to prove he deserves our trust and our vote."

"After the debate, the air waves and media will be filled with the views of the pundits on "who won" and how it will affect the outcome of the election. "

"Canadians have utter contempt for these politics which serve the aims of the rich and keep the people totally disenfranchised."(MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF CANADA |A Public Dogfight Is Not a Leaders' Debate)

:: note :: . . . in my teens joined the communist party and even attempted to join the Black Panther Party . . .Soul On Ice was a fasinating read at that time . . . today the MLPC still speaks clearly to many issues which need addressing though will never be spoken about . . .

"Tent City is not a city and we don't live in tents. We live in shacks and shanties on the edge of Canada's largest metropolis where the river meets the lake. There's a fence dividing these 27 acres from the rest of Toronto, and on this side we've built what dwellings we can with the rubble of a scrapyard, a no-man's landfill caught in confusion between the city and private business. Sometimes it seems like a community and sometimes like chaos. Junk Town would be a better name."(Down to This | Read the first chapter of Shaughnessy Bishop Stall's new book)

:: note :: . . . there is so much that needs to known and there is so much talk about the known . . .

"I know that your education, the tools you have available, and most of all, your determination and enthusiasm constitute a formidable counter-force to the walls that are being built around creativity and discourse. I count on you to get out there and create. You can [^] you MUST -- innovate faster than your ability to innovate can be enclosed by laws, regulations, and technological fences."(Smart Mobs | To the Class of 2004)

(SiliconValley.com | Dan Gillmor | EJournal)

:: note :: . . . thought the problem existed only in the arts . . . live a too isolated place . . . best to all grads everywhere . . .

"During the design process Gehry built over 70 models before he finally settled for two key elements: the tower, inspired by lighthouses, and the asymmetrically folded roof, based on a shawl worn by a woman in a Vermeer portrait he had seen with Maggie, for the main body of the building."(arcspace.com | Inauguration Frank O. Gehry Maggie's Centre Ninewells NHS hospital Dundee, Scotland)

"Nietzsche taught that nice is the cardinal sin of Christianity. Founded on ressentiment of the mighty, the will to nice seeks an end around might by making deference into a virtue with its, [base "]No, but I insist.[per thou] Nice, as Nietzsche[base ']s controlling aunts taught him, is always a grab for power, a feint of weakness followed by a stab in the kidney."(myirony.com | The will to nice)

:: note :: . . . will try to find the Nietzsche reference . . . yet it rings true in practice . . . connection that stays on nice has proven a cowardly disguise . . .

""What is theatre to you?" - Lift has invited 100 people to address that direct, non-leading question. Connected in diverse ways to the performing arts, the Enquirers are an intriguingly mixed bunch, ranging from the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company to a 14-year-old pupil at Holland Park School, and from a Buddhist monk who is the caretaker of the London Peace Pagoda to the chair of the British Council. Groups as well as individuals have been recruited."

"Patently, this Lift season is in the process of proving on our pulses the truth of Peter Brook's remark that "theatre reopens what definition closes"."(Independent.co.uk | Features | The stage we're going through)

accept getting lost

"The truth of life lies in the impulsiveness of matter. The mind of man has been poisoned by concepts. Do not ask him to be content, ask him only to be calm, to believe that he has found his place. But only the madman is really calm."(MANIFESTO IN A CLEAR LANGUAGE by Antonin Artaud)

:: note :: . . . focused attention = calm . . .

"I am adamantly opposed to undergraduates majoring in playwriting, acting, design or directing, or in any of the arts except perhaps dance and instrumental music (both of which require early rigorous training). Bachelor degrees should be acquired in the liberal arts and sciences, not in vocational training."(NYTimes.com | Readers' Opinions | Tony Kushner)

:: note :: . . . have always felt & counseled students this way but have never seen it written before by a respected 'professional', 'successful' vocational worker . . .

"No wonder, then, that he recalled, in his 1989 commencement address at Brandeis University, a member of the class of 1959, the clown prince and media apache Abbie Hoffman, who had thrown fistfuls of dollars down on the heads of the brokering beasts on the pampas of the Stock Exchange[~] who had done his shamanistic best to levitate the Pentagon:"

"He got people terribly mad, Abbie, and for very good reason: He was insufferable. He was insufferable because he held the mirror up so that we saw ourselves. That's just what the biblical prophets did, they operated in just that way. Wasn't it Isaiah who walked abroad naked to prophesy the deportation of the Jews? And wasn't it Jeremiah who wore a yoke around his neck to prophesy their slavery? "(TheNewYork Review of Books |E. L. Doctorow | The Prophet By John Leonard)

"Connie Deiter, Donna Pinay, Neil Mcleod, and other First Nation writers with the support of The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism, The Saskatchewan Action Committee Status of Women, The Regina Anti-poverty Ministry and others are calling for a press conference to express indignation at the Noon Edition of the CBC, and in particular Dwayne Brenna, Department Head for Drama at the University of Saskatchewan."(taiaiake.com |Aboriginal Community Outraged at CBC's Insensitive Portrayal of Mohawk Poet Pauline Johnson)

:: note :: . . . while searching something else . . . if this were only an isolated incident of insensitivity and poor judgment . . . four years finally ends . . .

sand dunes (via rodcorp | The worlds are dust: Kolmanskop and Elizabeth Bay)

desiring the potency of dynamic improvisation he crossed over to the opposite side surveyed the trans-crossing & decided the tyrannical demands were fake

the scars are visible

(t.burnhard : dispatch 2)

"For all its distinctive character, the house had serious design flaws. The flat roof leaked, requiring the de Menils to keep Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubrey, partners in a leading Houston design firm, on constant call to patch things up. "My first understanding of an architect was as the guy who fixed the roof," said François de Menil, the youngest son, who is now an architect himself, in New York. (The family had tended to neglect maintenance, particularly after Mr. de Menil's death.)"(NYTimes | A House that Rattled Texas Windows)

:: note :: . . . the curse of the leaking flat roof . . . the temple is leaking & not an architect in sight . . . ladder to the roof with a bucket of tar & hope . . .

" I have a preference for quiet."(The Guardian | Seeing and believing How do great screen actors portray the truth? By withholding emotion | David Mamet)

:: note :: . . . me too . . . and an index to Mamet at The Guardian . . .

Chris at Parking Lot has been running a wonderful series of posts on concentration, intuition and improvisation . . . these are the foundations of the spring session acting class now in progress . . .

Stefan my high school aged son asked a question about the arts to the PM, who is at the beginning of an election campaign, . . . "Paul Martin just danced around and never answered my question." . . .