R E S P E C T

I just heard Paul Martin speaking on CBC radio about the current state of affairs between First Nations and the Government of Canada.  The question of accountability of government funding was raised.  Not withstanding the idea that Native reserves actually subsidize the rest of Canada  http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/dru/15493.  This was what the former Prime Minister had to say.

 " Toronto is funded by three levels of government, Federal, Provincial and Municipal.  Toronto gets roughly twenty four thousand dollars per person ( I am assuming he means per year)  Attawapiskat is funded by one level of government and they get eleven thousand per person.  In a place where buying a loaf of bread costs four to five times more than it does here.  Nobody would deny that there are problems on reserves and ALL the chiefs have asked for assistance to be accountable, education to set up a financial system, a Native Auditor General and the government(s) said no.  Furthermore the government doesn't have a decent system to keep track of the funds themselves. For the government to blame this all on the First Nations is just not fair."
This is not from a transcript and I am sure I have paraphrased Mr. Martin.  My apologies.

  It seems to me the current movement  is about being heard, seen and respected.  Don't we all want that?  While we can't place the all blame for this situation squarely on the Harper government, they sure aren't helping.  They don't seem to want to listen to any of us. They jammed through Bill C45 and left most of us choking on their dust. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ken-georgetti/theresa-spence-hunger-strike_b_2447982.html  

This has been hundreds of years in the making.  Canada is a country founded by three Nations.  Three Nations!  The people of all these Nations deserve respect.

Today's last word is from Desmond Tutu ~" I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights."

Painting by Riley Charters

Today's last word is from Desmond Tutu ~" I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights."

It's simple really

So here's my creative life story.
  I trained to be an actor, I didn't act but moved more towards music instead, then I did nothing creatively, then I came back to acting.  Sounds simple right?  Of course it wasn't, there was all kinds of angst and navel gazing and pity parties along the way,  and some triumphs, some really glorious triumphs.

When I was trying to get back to acting and bemoaning the fact that I didn't know how to start, or what to do, and why wasn't the universe giving me signs or something, geez; a really wonderful friend of mine said, " you want to act, just act ".  Holy..........what? Can you imagine how pissed I was?  It wasn't that simple!  What did he mean; just act.  There were people to know and secret hand shakes to learn and anyway I wasn't thin enough yet or pretty enough yet, my stars hadn't aligned.

Thing is, it turns out, it really is that simple.

 I don't care what your creative pursuit is, writing, painting dancing, acting , hell parenting!  We learn how to do, by doing.  We build the bridge as we are crossing it.  There is no perfect class that will make us a successful whatever it is we want to be.  There is no super agent who can catapult you into stardom the minute you sign with them.  No one gets a call from Mr Spielberg looking for a, crazy talented, unknown to star in his next film.  Well to be fair I think the last point has happened for a tiny, teeny, tiny minority of very lucky actors.  And there is that word LUCK.  Yes luck, that capricious  little bugger, seems to visit some more than others, but all the luck in the world won't help if you aren't doing, being  practicing,  getting better at what you are.

So write, paint, make music, take photographs, dance, act, make a really awesome totally nude performance piece. Circumstances will never be perfect and it really is as simple as starting.

 The last word today goes to Tom Stoppard ~" I never had any frustration about writing uncredited.  I always felt that the satisfaction of doing it was in the doing of it, really, and getting recognized by the small number of people that know what you did."

Whooooo are you?

There's a great line From The Big Kahuna ( a most excellent movie ) that Danny Devito's character says: " A man hasn't any idea what his soul looks like until he gazes into the eyes of the woman that he's married to."

I think we all have an internal us and sometimes it doesn't jibe with what the outside world sees.  I'm not sure there is anything we can do about it.  Maybe it is a flight or fight thing.  Some of us like to crawl into our shells and stay hidden, others come out swinging all the time.  Most of us I think try to strike a balance.  But every so often we will look into the eyes of someone who loves us and see what they see.  It can be humbling and it can be uplifting.

I was having a very grumbly morning.  Oh come on,we've all been there:
  It sucks to be me.  If only things would..........If only I could...............Why, why, why?  Blah, blah, blah.

 For some reason I remembered something one of my dear friends had said, it wasn't anything profound it was just a lovely warm greeting that made me feel special, singular, seen.
This memory didn't magically erase my problems.  There are some things in my life at the moment I think I have a right to be pissed about damnit!  HOWEVER, mixed in with the crap, I am hugely thankful for my friends and family who see me, the good the bad and the quirky and love me for it all anyway. And with that simple act, make it safe for me to be out of my shell.


 Just so you don't think I've gone all warm and fuzzy on ya, the last word goes to Oscar Wilde ~ " True friends stab you in the front."