Talking the Talk: Shakespeare Didn't Say It the Way We Do

This is something for all those North Americans who find it strange to see "pain" rhyme with "again" in some English poetry. Language is a living thing, and, strangely, I find this explanation of what Shakespeare's actors might have sounded like during his lifetime frequently easier to understand than British Received Pronunciation. Probabaly has something to do with the time at which English began to be spoken on this continent.

Buying Winter Boots Today: The Drama of Someone Who Hates to Shop

Have I mentioned recently how I hate to shop? Probably not, because I avoid thinking about it as much as I can. (Food, garden and book shopping, being the exceptions.)

But shopping is sometimes unavoidable, and it seems I've come to one of those moments. The perfectly good, if a little scuffed, winter boots I've worn for perhaps three years are now ripped beyond repair on the toe seams. If I don't want to spend from now until sandal time with wet feet, I've got to do something about.

Hence this rather scattered post: must go make the rounds of the various shops to see what still is available this late in the season.

This lovely shoe certainly won't do, hélas.

Harper and Old Age Security: Lessons from Mulroney and Chrétien Majorities When Public Opinion Was Heard

It's always a bit indelicate for somebody of my age to start complaining about changes in the old age security system since I'm hardly a disinterested party. But Stephen Harper's little speech in Davos last week when he mentioned raising the age of eligibility to 67 from 65 has prompted interesting reflections on the part of columnists and editorial writers.

Perhaps the most pertinent is that of Jean-Robert Sansfaçon of Le Devoir. (Please note that he was born in 1948, which makes him about to turn 65 so he's got a vested interest too.)

He writes: "The only thing that explains the sudden interest of Mr. Harper in universal social programs, is his determination to find some room for budgetary manoevres with a long time goal of reducing taxes for groups which the conservative ideology wants to favour. The rest is nothing but pretext." (My translation.)

This is just another in a long list of things on Harper's agenda which is to change fundamentally this country. He needs to be stopped, and since he has a majority government, we've got to make sure that the message that we don't agree is heard outside Parliament, in hopes that it may have some influence inside.

Sounds like a tough order, but it maybe possible. Sansfaçon notes that Brian Mulroney backed down from dis-indexing pensions in the 1980s, despite his majority. Similarly Jean Chrétien didn't use his majority to force through measures that would link the old age pension with means tests. Public opinion was against these moves and these two prime ministers reconsidered. Now, how to get the message through to Steve...

Saturday Photo: Sledding in a Winter When the Snow Doesn't Cooperate

The picture was actually taken toward the end of last winter, when a sunny Saturday attracted many to the slopes of Mount Royal, just up from Park Avenue.

This year there has been considerably less snow, and yesterday a mixture of snow, then rain, then snow again has left a mish mash that isn't really all that inviting. But at least it's snow and this morning there were several families out, dragging little kids on sleds, either to the parks or to do errands.

This afternoon we'll be giving Jeanne her first sledding experience. Friends has given her a small sled, and she's all excited about it. Not sure if it's because of the idea of being pulled on one--and I don't think she's seen much of that--or because of the little girl whose sled it was. Jeanne loves Nana, and she's made some connection between the sled, Nana, cold and having fun. It's delightful to watch her make associations. Now we'll just have to see what she thinks about the sled outside.

Love Prevails: Photographs of a Heroic Couple Who Fought Anti-Miscegenation Laws in the US

I've discussed Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes with six book clubs now, and one thing that cmes up every time is the astonishment that marriage between people of African and European descent were forbidden in several US states until the 1960s.

The archaic rules have little to do with the novel which occurs during the 18th century, but everything to do with the world in which Hill wrote it. The child of an African American and a woman of Scandanavian ancestry, Hill grew up in a Toronto suburb because his parents didn't want to raise their children in the racially charged society that was the US in the 1950s where they had to look for a jurisdiction in which their own marriage could take place.

The anti-miscegenation laws were not struck down until 1967 by the US Supreme Court after a long fight by a another inter-racial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving of Virginia. (That's a photo of them with their children.) Their heroic, but quite ordinary story, is told in a series of photographs taken in the 1960s which now are on display at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

Some things have gotten better...

When Documentary Becomes Art: Uprooted, a Video about Suburbs

Artist Isabelle Hayeur says: "I’ve been exploring landscape issues ever since I started working with video. Through the moving image I am investigating environmental, urban planning and social concerns that I’m working on at the same time in photography. I mainly engage with altered landscapes, suburban areas and tourist sites. I show how our societies take over territories and adapt them to their own needs. "

An effective way to make a point!

UPROOTED from ISABELLE HAYEUR on Vimeo.

Average is Officially Over, Says Friedman, But How Can We Get People to Think

Thomas Friedman in today's New York Times points out that the unemployment rates in the US correlated inversely with education:

Americans with "less than a high school degree, 13.8 percent; those with a high school degree and no college, 8.7 percent; those with some college or associate degree, 7.7 percent; and those with bachelor’s degree or higher, 4.1 percent."

He goes on: "In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to buttress employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G.I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education."

Sounds reasonable, but how to get well-educated people (who are more likely to vote than poorly education ones) to realize that they're being hoodwinked by the right wing and that social programs are important to everyone?