HOORAY HOORAY - Sunday May 1, 2011
today’s Musing written and published from Cranston in south- east Calgary, near the Bow River valley
About music/video links – I find on Saturday and Sunday mornings I have time, and perhaps my readers do too, to listen to some music. I choose pieces I like that connect, in some way, to the subject matter or to my mood… hope you like them]
Here are today’s selections: Van Cliburn Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 Mvt III , Anne-Sophie Mutter Mendelssohn violin concerto , John Prine and Iris DeMent In Spite Of Ourselves , Arlo Guthrie City of New Orleans , Mandy Patinkin Younger Than Springtime , Nikki Yanofsky It Don’t Mean A Thing
Morning walk: 0C/32F, light breeze, cloud-free sky; Gusta tried to befriend a fast moving jogger, two slow moving yard dogs and a very quick Mallard pair down by the lagoon – their efforts no doubt to distract Gusta from a nest location . . . and my left arm is now stretched out to prove that point.
Today I’ll go see Karsh’s work – an exhibition of celebrity and leadership captured in black and white. Tomorrow I’ll vote on a ballot, all black and white. The day after, I’ll read the papers and see the results, in black and white.
Life, it seems, is black and white.
Funny thing, about Sunday morning, is that it isn’t black and white at all.
Or sweet, or anything complete; hinge day, end of week day (or is it the start? ) when coffee and sunshine wake quiet night, newspapers reveal little of consequence happened this week except death, destruction, delusion and politicking – when it is hard to imagine taking up arms or a cause or a fight.
I think it remarkable - pollster and media types noticing some position shifting in Canadian politics; not seismic or erosion, but somethin’ is shakin’. Prospects for tomorrow’s election have caught media, politico observers, parties and leaders by surprise - or napping. Some think it a by-product of social networking shifts, engagement of youth or sporadic apathy, or all of those. No horray factor, but certainly a ‘what’s up, eh?’ factor.
I look at my constituency – the incumbent PC member, Jason Kenny has more signs, but has not been in the riding because he has been busy campaigning for others elsewhere in the country.
I was so, SO, hoping someone would actually mount a credible campaign to unseat him. Sadly, none of the other 5 candidates knocked on my door, put a sign on any lawns on my street – or a leaflet in my mailbox or did anything to attract attention to why they would be a better choice as our representative. Maybe they are talking to others, but I wonder how many other constituents who will actually go out to vote – like me – they missed communicating with in any meaningful way. I’ve read the newspaper bios of each of them and wonder, couldn’t the other parties have found someone with something notable in their repertoire to justify their candidacy?
Those 5 will no doubt spilt a small protest vote into meaningless pieces and, as expected by him, arrogant incumbent will be re-elected. My small vote for someone else will not matter or be noticed. In this riding, it won’t much matter – but I’ll take the trouble to go cast it anyway. I suspect the phenomenon the party leaders and pollsters cannot yet measure or get their hand-shaking-weary arms around, is that people want change – even if it is change for change-sake alone.
Or, as I would like to think, we want to participate in democracy when our vote has meaning and its impact might be felt or influence decision making. I don’t think I am alone. As much as we yearn, ache and starve for charismatic enigmatic leaders, we yearn first for relevance. Until we fix that, the rest is and will continue to be a side-show.
Sadly, it looks to me like they are all in danger of losing their deposit. Kudos to them for trying, but – really – they did not get a message to voters, either collectively or individually.
I think, for those who intend to turn out to vote tomorrow - for the first time in a long while, every vote can be a message, and every voter a messenger. I don’t know who the pollsters have been talking to (they never call me), but I suspect it is not the same constituency of people who will actually cast ballots.
Remember the rhyme? . . . Hooray, hooray, first of May, outdoor screw-ing starts today.
On a day when it’s too cold for golf, and too chilly for a bike-ride, I’ll opt instead for indoor activities - because, like politics, one never knows how things will turn out until the day after.
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This Musing year (my 9th), a new goal - write a short story a week, post a new one each Monday morning for 52 weeks. This week’s story: ROHDE TRIP link to: SHORT STORY PROJECT . Link to last year’s THE POETRY PROJECT archive.
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Mark Kolke
312,928
April 30 - REVOLUTION - Comments Received
I just read your column and oddly enough...I’ve been having these same thoughts lately. i am not in the right line of work and have been kind of struggling to "find my path". but my work will follow your revolutionary theme...I’ve been meeting a few people lately that have added one more piece to my puzzle...i am far from completing the puzzle but I’m beginning to frame it... I think you are one of the people that is meant to be on this path with me...merci et a bientot, AKL, Calgary, AB
