To thine own self be true

have been the acceleration of changes and increasing political divisiveness along all lines.

Entropy had had its way with all of us and the world during the pandemic, unleashing more fears, chaos, fragmentation, destruction, and disorganization.

One sign of this is the relative increasing subjugation and control of women by men reappearing in the world and reduction of opportunities for jobs as many women retreat to the home and family fronts.

In North America, many women have been forced home to look after kids, home, provisioning, family health, and working spouses. Fortunately, some Western women can still work from home–one of the boons of the e-connected world.

But overall, there are fewer women employed in the work force and this is a retrograde state of affairs after much progress for women’s rights and their general upward mobility.
Elsewhere, in South Korea, for instance, where things had been improving for women before the pandemic, there have been increasing strictures and setbacks, signalling a patriarchal shift or revival.

Something which is also reflected in Islamic culture with its long historical patriarchal structure. In many other countries, too, we’ve also seen women’s rights to abortion cut back. The U.S., for instance, is turning its back on Roe v. Wade and some states have moved toward banning abortions or, at least, making them harder to get.

The feel of such changes cuts deep into the significant social progress women have made in many parts of the globe and signal a return to the unenlightened past when men mostly ruled and controlled the lives of women.

This trend is unfair, unjust, and is poorly-timed, dramatically limiting about half the world’s population, based on gender differences.

In short, the pandemic entropy has greatly and negatively changed the lives and living conditions of women. One gender, in the main, has been particularly hard-hit suddenly and the only, apparent default has been to the negative, limited and limiting past.

If I hadn’t had an Aussie for my cooperating teacher at St. Joe’s in Edmonton in the fall of 1971, I would never had seen the 1970 movie Walkabout on the big screen in a theatre. And my cooperating teacher Bill Corcoran would never have gotten his PhD with my Ed CI prof-friend R. Glenn Martin and then returned to write and teach in Australia.

Bill would ask me about Martin and look at some of his materials from which I taught his 2 grade 12 classes (30 and 33) Death of a Salesman and Robert Anderson’s play I Never Sang for My Father–the excellent movie of which I saw on campus later in the summer of 1972. Later, I was surprised to hear he had connected with Glenn, but not surprised that he had returned to the country he was originally from and loved so much–Australia.

Bill was a friendly, respected, laid-back guy whose authority was never challenged by the kids. I learned a lot from watching him and he generally liked my performance (as seen in the above attached report).

He was quite excited about Walkabout and highly recommended I check it out while it was in town. He was certainly right that it was a beautiful film, though he omitted mentioning the animal scenes and animal killing scenes! Director Nicholas Roeg included these to compare the Aborigine boy’s ways with white civilization’s. Today, in North America (and probably since the 1970s), these animal killing scenes would not play well in an age of animal rights and so the movie might not pass muster if it was shot and released today.

A half-century later, I went back and watched the Criterion DVD version this past week, and it brought back fond memories of both the mesmerizing movie and Bill. I would have say it is Roeg’s best film, and every bit as powerful as his disturbing Don’t Look Now. It is hard not to be impressed by Roeg’s rich, poetic cinematography, his Garden of Eden visual symbolism, and his juxtaposed images of the outback and city. The film, I suspect, is still the most beautiful one ever made and shot in Australia. And now, 50 long years later, I understand and appreciate more of Bill’s keen enthusiasm back then.

Walkabout, though, is for audiences of high-school age or older and not the children who first read Vance’s original, less graphic novel. But for those who do see it, it is a very special, memorable masterpiece and, for this reason–a must-see for cinephiles and critics alike. 

I suppose Keats had it right                                                                                                                    in “Eve of St. Agnes”                                                                                                                              so that you could imagine                                                                                                                    all that he had left out,                                                                                                                  which was warmer, sweeter,                                                                                                                and richer than even his words.

Leaving readers,                                                                                                                                        both women and men–                                                                                                                          to fill in those blanks–                                                                                                                            as they secretly wished.

Nicely done 76 min, nation fly-over starting in the Maritimes. Includes a section on the northern territories.
Mostly scenery and a bare minimum of talk. Places identified by captions.
Beautiful letterbox HD. A particularly invigorating overview of the country.
Appropriate stereo music by Canadian singers and groups a similar nice touch. (CD included)
You literally get to see all parts/main regions and cities of Canada. Mountains and North scenes are dramatic. All Canadian sports and modes of transportation included.
MB, SK, AB somewhat shortchanged, but everywhere else is good. There’s even bonus scenes after the main show.
Should be basic viewing for all school kids and immigrants.

to remember and treasure the many good memories, the special people in our lives, the funny times when we laughed freely and heartily together, and the warm, deep, feelings of our closest, most intimate moments.

racism, violence, and craziness, is still One Day at a Time.
There are more distractions and unnecessary complexities than ever, but they are ‘out there’.
You still have control over much of your home, life, family, and most of the things that need doing.
Each day I try to get at least one significant thing done, shore up at least one thing, and move forward on one front.
There’s usually time enough to do that as well as time to do something good for myself and to learn some new things in daily process.

“Simplify, simplify.”-Thoreau

AB Justice Minister Madu gets distracted driving ticket for talking on cellphone in May 2020. It is not reported till January 2021. Now why would that be? Someone withholding important info from the media for 10 months!?

And, of course, Kenney is protecting him by not forcing him to resign, and is only taking action now even though he’s likely known about the incident for 10 months. He only acts whenever ‘caught’ or when the media gets hold of a damaging story.

Interesting that Madu gratuitously raised racial profiling to try and offset and pressure the police chief. A sleazy way to slither out of his being caught and being held responsible.

Madu tried distraction, too, back in July last year with his crazy, absurd, dangerous campaign for public use of pepper spray. All of our eyes would have been put out so we couldn’t see his crime! Guilty, guilty. Enough, enough. This guy should be turfed. He is a major embarrassment and disgrace to his position and does not act like an impartial justice minister.