Another Voyage

So my life is set up into different chunks of time and focus.  While I was traveling, this blog was about travel.  While in grad school, I focused on it (but I have not caught up with all that I want to say so more to come).  Now that I am a leader or boss of a small organization (I prefer leader), this blog may get a bit theoretical as I attempt to learn how to become a good leader rather than devolve into a horrible one.  This will take active practice and work and I am already staring at six book on leadership from the library taunting me from my kitchen table.  The topic?  LEADERSHIP.  This may mean I lose a few of my eleven or so readers but hey, I write for myself and the process as much as for you (but I really like you a lot so please stay!).

While attempting to finish the thesis that will never end, I read the following quote from an article about economic or extrinsic rewards in business, versus social or intrinsic rewards in business.  Essentially, should organizations create elaborate reward programs to light a fire underneath their employees butts to encourage them to share their knowledge (which apparently people don't do naturally, as we hoard knowledge, much like the show...I wonder if my brian on the inside looks like some of those living rooms...).  Well, as it turns out, people are more apt to share knowledge if they are able to identify intrinsic reasons to do so:

"Employees who think knowledge sharing would increase the scope and depth of associations among organizational members tend to have a positive attitude toward knowledge sharing.  Their positive attitudes toward knowledge sharing are formed by the expectations of reciprocation on knowledge sharing.  Moreover, employees who believe in their ability to contribute to improvements of organizational performance have a positive attitude toward knowledge sharing. Therefore, we should pay more attention to enhancing the positive mood state for social associations which precedes knowledge sharing behaviours and should provide useful feedback to improve the individual's self-efficacy instead of designing an elaborate evaluation and incentive system."
- Bock. G. W., & Kim, Y-G. (2002). Breaking the Myths of Rewards: An exploratory study of attitudes about knowledge sharing. In Information Resources Management Journal, 15(2), 14-21.

Self-efficacy in this study is defined as "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances", a definition which was stole borrowed from Bandura (1996).

Essentially what this says is that my decision to provide an employee this week, who has been invited to participant in...let's say...'turf management', was a good choice.  This may foster a greater desire to contribute to our small but impressive organization, because he will have developed social associations that will motivate him to contribute for intrinsic reasons, which always last longer than extrinsic motivations.  This is why when I was at that crazy school and the administration pretended to listen to the teachers' ideas but really didn't, they did not get feedback when they asked us questions during staff meetings because we had no intrinsic reasons to share our knowledge with them, the leaders of a school, as we knew our organization would not improve without a change in management.  Sharing would have been a waste of our marvellous contributions.  This makes sense now.

I hope 'turf management' does not make anyone lazy.  :)  

The Scarlet Contessa

The Scarlet Contessa: A Novel of the Italian Renaissance by Jeanne Kalogridis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really like her books.  The covers make these look like romance novels but they are history lessons, stories of power and control, and reminders that women did play roles in history, we simply have lost their stories and creatively have to fill in the holes.  Great author.  Page turning books!


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Financial Irony and Toolkits

This week I received mail from my Member of Parliament (MP) Joyce Bateman.  She is letting me know that the "our government wants to strengthen financial literacy across the country".  This sudden need for the population of Canada to become more financially literate is in part due to the increasingly large individual non-mortgage related debt load we are accruing each year.  So there is this new nifty website that you and I can use to assess our financial literacy and then decrease our individual debt load.  It appears to be well organized and have some sound advice and fun ways to determine the users financial literacy.

May I suggest an additional step to decrease the debt load for some Canadians would be for the government to offer more grants and scholarships (not based on GPA as a mark of those who are deserving), rather than hand me out more students loans (which I do appreciate), then charge me interest (which is hogwash).  Not sure how me paying interest back to the government on student loans is helpful for recent post-secondary grads and our financial debt load, but at least my financial literacy will increase in having to adjust my payments for such financial intricacies.   But, as usual, I digress.

Here is the website and I will look it over to see if my financial literacy is high enough to get out from under the load of debt I have accrued doing my master's degree:

Financial Toolkit

In other, but related news, the federal government has hired a private company to help them increase their financial literacy.  The company has been hired by the federal government to find ways for the government to decrease its spending and save money, and for these services the company is being paid $90,000 per day, $20 million in total for the entire contract.  In response I just want to say...let me introduce you to a little tool kit of which I am aware ;)......


Here is Rick Mercer's response:

A Little More Understanding and Equality

May we spend 2013 spending more time learning more about people, analyze and improve how we treat each other, and see the ways that we can improve relationships with each other to coexist with more understanding and equality.

Here are two examples of ways in which people are changing the world to create a more positive, considerate and thoughtful sphere on which we live.

Idle No More:

Religion and Homosexuality:

A BYU's student review of the new LDS Church website about homosexuality.

May your holidays be merry and bright!

A Surprising Evening

Last year around this time, November 2011, I went to a conference and W. Brett Wilson was the keynote speaker.  He told the story of his life, including the ruination of his relationships due to the amount of work he was completing while making millions of dollars (follow link to hear this story). While rebuilding his relationships he has told his family that he will answer their calls at anytime, and then his phone rings during his keynote speaker address.  He answers it, tells his dad he is in the middle of a speech in front of 400 people, and that he will call back in ten minutes, then hangs up.  I tell this story a lot as, in our society, we are still learning how to interact with people, electronics and social media in socially appropriate ways.  Here is an example contrary to much of what I have established as socially acceptable, and yet Brett's decision to put his family first makes sense.

This evening I was asked to attend a fundraising concert at which my nephew was performing with his touring choir.  I love seeing my nieces and nephews perform and gladly agreed.  My father, sister, brother-in-law and I went to the dinner and concert and the performers were the most eclectic mix I have ever encountered.  As it turned out, this was a philanthropic evening organized by Brett Wilson and his staff in order to raise money for the Calgary Veterans Food Bank.  Here was this former Dragon's Den millionaire who had made his money in gas and oil doing more work in the community.  As I looked around I saw a former mayor of Calgary, a few CBC reporters, a Calgary Stampeder (this person was pointed out to me), and several other faces I knew from around Calgary but could not name.  This evening while listening to seven different artistic acts we raised $95,000 dollars, $20 of which was mine.  I did not expect such professional and well connected musicians or audience members, instead I was anticipating a junior high school type performance.  What a night!  This is why I write a little, read and little and get up and live a lot.  The living part is just so enjoyable and filled with surprises.

The performers are below with comments about my favourite parts of the evening.  What a joyous night to be a part of and I did enjoy rubbing elbows everyone in attendance, and I will return next year.

Boys Choir
They performed several pieces written by Benjamin Britten a challenging composer who wrote in the UK around and after World War Two.  They were delightful and Brett Wilson actually won a performance by the choir at another charity auction and used the performance he won to earn more money for even more charities.  This is a smart man.

Brett Kissel
Official website
He is a talented and young country singer who wrote a song in protest of the NHL lockout on behalf of fans, 'Hockey, Please Come Back'.  Rumour has it, it is somewhat viral at this point.  An interesting micx of songs with several poignant ones written for his grandparents.

Shane Koyczan
I had no idea who this man was but I have been exposed to modern forms of poetry, including poetry slams and the spoken word.  He performed at the Vancouver Olympic opening ceremonies with 'We Are More' a tribute to Canada, and is working hard to spread the word about clinical depression and dealing with bullying.  His love poems were equal parts hilarious, thoughtful and enchanting.

One of his funny and brief poems:



The Stellas
Official Website
A group whose name I was familiar with but whom I had never heard.  We were fortunate enough to hear both Brad and Marylynne and their two children, Lennon and Maisy, who recently made a video that went viral and earned them a spot on Good Morning America.  As two duos they are incredibly musical, gentle performers and talented people.  As a quartet, they sang a few lovely Christmas songs and brought others up on stage to share the spirit of the season.

Here is one of there most beautiful videos which Marylynne wrote after finding a book of love poems written back and forth from soldiers to loved ones back home during World War Two.  A moving piece of work:




Also performing were Christian Laurian and his sister Malia Ashely Kerr.  Lastly, we received an operatic performance by Sara Staples along with her accompanist, Nathaniel Schmidt.
Such a delightful night that surpassed my expectations.

Get out and live a lot!

Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada

Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada by Stuart McLean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Twenty years later this book is still a relevant piece of Canadian literature reflecting on the lives of those individuals who live in rural communities.  Working hard to survive and communities these people share with McLean what they love about living in small towns, what endures them to their community members, and the various ways in which they are attempting to survive together as urbanization increases and their rural populations decrease.  From a hockey town in Manitoba, to the historic town of Maple Creek, to the far reaches of a bay town of Sackville, the reader is taken on a soft and melodious journey through the eyes of those who live and work in rural communities.  I wonder if he has written an updated version.  I think McLean should.

The most interesting part for me was the meeting McLean secured with the person who created the Canadian flag, George Stanley living in Sackville, New Brunswick.  He was asked to create a version of a potential flag by a member of parliament as he had strong interests in history and heraldry (a means of identification, usually focused on country or familial commitment).  He based his single maple leaf design on outfits Olympians wore during the 1928 Olympics, the games my grandfather Doral Pilling and his room mate Percy Williams both competed in.  "One of the images I have carried with me all my life is a photograph I saw when I was a boy.  It was a picture form the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam of Percy Williams breasting the tape and winning a gold medal for Canada.  He was wearing a white jersey with a red maple leaf on his chest.  It's an image that has always struck with me."  Recently a book was written about Percy Williams by Samuel Hawley titled, I Just Ran: Percy Williams, World's Fastest Human.  Another book to read especially since the author consulted with my Aunt Arta Johnson who was instrumental in documenting her father's, Doral Pilling's, oral history which included stories about the 1928 Olympics and the athletic tours he participated in as the team returned to Canada.  I also have two cousins who have taken this maple leaf motif from their Olympic uniforms and had tattoos made from them.  Family stories and choices coming full circle.  Thank you McLean for shedding more light on a family story of which I was unaware.


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Remembering

As I posted several years ago, I took the opportunity to go on a tour of the Normandy Beaches in northern France while I was living in London.  As November 11 is commemorated today, here are a few more pictures and stories of this experience.

This shadowed plaque reminds the reader that it took several years for the D-Day plan to come to fruition.  The amount of tanks, guns, vehicles, food and people that had to be amassed in order to cross the English channel to create an artificial port in order to defeat the Nazis is incredible.

Fifty years later the pieces of the port still rest in the sand, slowly being eroded or encrusted with ocean creatures.

An encrusted container on the beach with more of the port structures behind out in the ocean.  The sea claiming what used to be claimed by people.

Arromanches-les-Bains the heart of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.

Pointe du Hoc at which soldiers who landed did not find a beach to run across as they dodged bullets and grenades, but who found rock cliffs they were required to climb as they were shot at and bombed.  Such an incredible series of tasks in order to defeat the occupiers.  

Another portion of the Point du Hoc cliffs ready to be climbed by the soldiers.  

A sculpture called Les Braves, which was erected on Omaha Beach near St. Laurent sur Mer.

Moving to the US Cemetery in St. Laurent it is a peaceful place replete with memorials, reminders, crosses, starts and many art pieces reminding the visitor how many Americans died as the country joined in the final chapter of World War II.  This also reminded me how many more people had died from countries who had participated in the war since its beginning.  

The names of those who lost their lives during World War II.

 A water sculpture with a submerged map of the Normandy Beaches connected to a flat, extended pool of water that reaches out, visually, into the ocean from which the soldiers appeared.

A single cross in the US Cemetery.  Note the lack of a name.  A reminder of so many of the unknown soldiers, those who died but who were never identified.

Leaving a rock on a Jewish grave.  Symbolic of remembrance, God as the rock of Israel, acknowledge recent visitors, and adding their piece of rock to the ancient mound of a grave.

A copy of an old picture in one of the Normandy museums.  I love this picture as it juxtaposes the old with the young, the daily tasks of life with the task of unique events, the lack of acknowledgement by each of the main characters toward each other....just doing what needed to be done for survival.  Side by side.

Keep Shining

While I plaster my blog with videos....here is one a cousin shared with me.  She was able to see Shad in London.  You and I get to enjoy his video and powerful music through YouTube.  Thank you to all the women who have taught me so much.  Keep shining.

I Love Jezebel!

For all those people who were disgusted at the type, amount, bizarreness, and uneducated number of rape comments made during the American election, this article is for you and me!

Team Rape Lost Big Last Night

Dark Star Safari

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A marvellous read and moving read.  Theroux, having lived in many of the countries along the east coast of Africa, returns to them to find many of them worse of economically, socially and developmentally than they were in the 1960's.  His message appears to be that the aid dollars given to African nations may be helping in little ways here and there, but these efforts are not helping with the overall improvement of the human and economic conditions in many of the countries he visited.  While help from other nations is important, Theroux repeatedly stresses that African countries must help themselves deal with their own troubles and difficulties.  I have only ever been to one African country so I am not familiar with the complexities of many of the issues.  This book shed some light on these issues, and I will watch and learn more about these nations and their work to become more stable environments for their people.


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Second Week of September

We all have busy lives and wonder sometimes if I can actually squeeze more into my life and not fall over from exhaustion.  Well, it was another week that I knew was going to be crazy.  All the responsibilities and signs were evident and I knew it was going to be a commitment and a doozy of a week.  For all you graduate students out there, you may have had similar weeks.  Ones that you know will take every ounce of survival skills you have and every ounce of energy.  Here is my seven day extravaganza week.   One I will look back at this post and wonder how I survived, remind myself what I am capable of, and be proud of how much work I have completed not only to get a degree, but in truly engaging with the many communities at this University:

Monday
- finish and send my supervising professor seven documents related to the methods section of my thesis (up until 2 AM doing this)
- organize supplies and freebees for graduate students attending orientation
- apply for a professional job
- meet with a professor about a new teaching assistant position
- three hour meeting with grad students executive team
- continue buying food, prizes and thank you gifts for orientation

Tuesday
- day one of grad student orientation (that I planned): four presenters, two meals, one open house, one social activity
- purchase more prizes and thank you gifts for orientation
- meeting two with a professor about a new teaching assistant position (prof forgot the meeting, the grad students did not)
- a two hour sustainability meeting to improve University campus
- work on paper for a conference, due on Friday

Wednesday
- day two of grad student orientation: five presenters, two meals, one open house, one social activity (a quiz night that was hard to organize and not well attended)
- order food for orientation party on Thursday evening
- meeting three with a professor about a new teaching assistant position (all present)
- purchase more food for orientation
- work on paper for a conference, due on Friday

Thursday 
- first seminar class for a term long course
- day two of grad student orientation: six presenters, two meals, one open house, one social activity (presenters fantastic, food great, much support from the mature and team focused executives)
- run about replenishing food, drink and snacks for bar-b-q orientation meal
- work on paper for a conference, due on Friday
- fell asleep on couch in GSA Lounge between open house and social activity due to level of tiredness
- kept the party going at the social, then moved it to a local pub, arrived home at 3 AM (not the best choice I made all week)

Friday
- first seminar class for another course taught and the group organized
- taught a lecture for a professor on monism, dualism, materialism and physicalism (thank you philosophers for both asking people to think deeply about our lives and confusing the crap out of us at the same time)
- cleaned up grad office from craziness of orientation
- organized and handed in receipts for reimbursement (much money spent, good times)
- slept for two hours
- went to bed at 9:00 PM exhausted (it felt like 3 AM...again)

Saturday
- headed out to Farm Food Discovery Centre (FFDC) two complete research for six hours
- work on paper for the conference, now due on Monday
- write a report about my grad student activities this month
- hang with a friend in this evening (she has a hot tub)

Sunday
- complete research as part of Open Farm Day at the FFDC (100 people expected, extra activities on the go)
- complete paper for conference due on Monday
- do nothing in the evening after all responsibilities are complete (so exhausted)

Monday
- do as little as possible
- sit around
- read
- go for a lovely walk
- buy some groceries
- clean my apartment
- do a little as possible (repeat as needed)

Yep, this is my week and right now I am half way through Saturday.  Good luck to me for finishing off this week and only have one strongly worded conversation with two people (whose immaturity was more than evident throughout grad student orientation).

May we all survive our weeks.  May we all keep going.  May we find the meaning and moments of joy in the constant demands on our time, talents and energies.

Confessions of a French Baker

Confessions of a French Baker: Breadmaking Secrets, Tips, and Recipes by Peter Mayle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For this read I going to my local (not French but as best as I can do in Winnipeg) baker to get some bread I can munch on while reading.  I love baking, I just have not baked a lot of bread.  More of a cookie, muffin, squares baker am I.

The introduction is a quick read and several of the recipes look delicious but I am in grad school in the heat of Manitoba.  To cook or to graduate?  Yep, another day, another time in my life I will have a home that smells of a French bakery.  For now, I shall return the book and head to the local french bakery to be a patisserie snob (I lived in Belgium as a pre-teen, I know my pastries).

Let me know of you try baking any of these delicious looking morsels and how it turned out.


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Travel As A Political Act

Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Rick Steves is one of the most seasoned travellers of which I am aware, I had high expectations of this piece of writing, in particular because it branches off from his repeated pattern of reporting on the good, bad and challenges of a particular place or city.  This book appeared to meander into the more tempestuous waters of the politics of travel, which, as a travel and tourism graduate student, I have been researching for two years.

Each chapter presents a country (or city) and a specific topic (i.e. after war, taxes, soft drugs, etc.) through which Steves shares his experiences, opinions and political ideologies about what he has learned from each of the places with regards to the people and their lives in relation to that topic.  There is a mixture of positive, negative, warnings, messages, ideas, and comparisons throughout the book always directed at his largest market, the American people.  This book is full of lessons and suggestions that many English speaking people can learn from as non-Americans will also find this information poignant.  

This book presented some very good ideas about race relations, cultural understandings/misunderstandings, differences in choice, varying life perspectives, poverty, all within the subject of travel.  He is honest as a traveler and points to the places where he, as an American, is welcome, where he encounters harsh words, and differentiates between government propaganda and the people in the same country/city who see through their country's poor attempts at defaming other countries.  While I did not agree with everything he says in the book (i.e. the continued myth that the USA won World War II for the Europeans, and calling the USA America), as a person who was raised in foreign countries and continues to travel, I did see his open-mindedness and joy in meeting other people through his writing.  I would recommend everyone read this book, in particular those individuals who are afraid of travel or a particular country.  Time to set fear aside and ride the wave of mutual understanding and respect.


Best Parts:

I worry that the mainstream tourism industry encourages us to be dumbed down.  To many people, travel is only about having fun in the sun, shopping duty-free, and cash in in frequent flyer miles.  But to me, that stuff distracts us from the real thrills, rewards, and value of travel.  In our travels - and in our everyday lives - we should become more educated about and engaged with challenging issues, using the past to understand the present.  The more you know, and the more you strive to learn, the richer your travels and you life become.  In my own realm as a travel teacher....I take it with the responsibility to respect and challenge the intellect of my tour members, readers, or viewers.  All of us will gain more from our travel partners to be engaged and grapple with the challenging issues while on the road.  Your experience will be better for it.  p. 12

While traveling, I'm often struck by how people give meaning to life by producing and contributing.  p. 45

Perhaps Europe's inclination to be tolerant is rooted in the intolerance of its past.  In the 16th century, they were burning Protestants for their beliefs.  In the 18th century, they were drowning women who stepped out of line as witches.  In the 20th century, Nazis were gassings Jews, Gypsies, and gay people.  Now in the 21st century, Europe seems determined to get human rights, civil liberties, and tolerance issues right.  Instead of legislating morality, Europe legislates tolerance and human rights. Along with all the rights an American would expect, the in-the-works European constitution will include the right to work, food, and education.  All will have the right not only to healthcare, but to preventative healthcare.  In Europe, the "right to life" means no death penalty.  Europeans will all have the right to the protection of personal data, the right to access any data that has been collected, and the right to have it rectified if it is inaccurate.  Everyone will have the right to paid leave and paid parental leave.  And all will have the right to join or form a trade union.  p. 72

That first [travel] trip lit a fire in me.  I realized I have a right, if not the responsibility, to form my opinions based on my own experience, even if it goes against the mainstream at home.  p. 87

Traveling reminds us that contentment is based not on surrendering to conformity, but in finding that balance between working well together and letting creative spirits run free.  p. 125

What I learn about Islam from media and the US can fill me with fear and rage.  What I learn about Islam by traveling in Muslim countries fills me with hope...The centuries-old tension between Christendom and Islam is like a human sharing a forest with a bear.  Both just want to gather berries, do a little fishing, raise their kids, and enjoy the sun.  Neither wants to do harm to the other, but - because they can't readily communicate - either would likely kill the other if they crossed paths.  The world is our forest and we're sharing it with others.  As it gets smaller, more and more cultures will cross paths.  Our advantage over the human and the bear: we can communicate.  p. 147

When we travel - whether to the "Axis of Evil" or just to a place where people yodel when they're happy, or fight bulls to impress the girls, or can't serve breakfast until today's croissants arrive - we enrich our lives and better understand our place on this planet.  We undercut groups that sow fear, hatred, and mistrust.  People-to-people connections help us learn that we can disagree and still coexist peacefully.  p. 193

My travels have taught me that you don't want to be really rich in a terribly poor world...[it is] simply pragmatic to bring compassion for the needly along with me into the voting booth.  p. 199


Interesting Websites from book:

Take Back Your Time
http://www.timeday.org/

www.ricksteves.com/politicalact


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Get Along

As I was living in Cleveland, Ohio attending high school I remember the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots in Los Angeles as one of my first racial, social justice and political lessons as I saw that life was far more complicated than I understood.  Many of us, from a distance, saw that there had been progress throughout the decades with regards to relationships between races, but we were reminded during this time that the institutionalized, systemic racism and violence towards black people (as well as towards many races and between races) continued.

Recently I was in a conversation during which two people told me that racism happens, sexism happens, homophobia happens, classism happens, it will always happen and there is nothing that can be done.  It is part of life.  Of course I completely disagree.  Racism is a choice.  Sexism is a choice.  Homophobia is a choice.  Classism is a choice.  Agism is a choice.  Colonial ideas are a choice.  An inappropriate comment, a joke meant to demean, and a conversation during which we blame people for their experiences the subsequent traumatic fallout.  It is important to look for, watch and name instances during which we see people making excuses for intolerant behaviour.  Some ideas, words, and comments are so often repeated within a group, society or culture, that they become institutionalized and we believe them to be truths (called doxa by sociologists and anthropologists), but when looked at critically, they have merely been repeated so often that we assume these ideas to be truths.

Most recently I had an individual direct several accusations towards me.  Thank you to some strong and intelligent individuals, we were able to limit his destructive and bizarre behaviour.  Several people told me that this was a case of sexism.  At first I balked at the idea and rejected this notion.  After a few weeks, and in hearing the word domineering directed at me from this person, I conceded.  Upon closer observation I realized that this individual has rarely seen women in positions of leadership, and most certainly is not used to and does not agree with a women reminding him of his responsibilities.  Part of his doxa has been men are leaders, women are not.  It was difficult for me to admit that this was a sexist experience because part of my doxa is women (although few) as leaders, women in authority, and women from whom I have received and accepted advice.   His inane and immature response to me, being in a position of leadership above him, has been an interesting experience.  Doxa's clashing I suppose.      

My experience is nothing close to the trauma and far-reaching aftermath of Rodney King's, but having seen, heard and talked about the LA riots twenty years ago, I am able to identify, as many are, that experiences that parallel his still occur and we each have a choice to contribute to racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, agism, etc.; make excuses for these types of behaviours; ignore these types of behaviours; or have the courage to name them as intolerant and work to remove these inequitable ideas from our societies as doxa which we will no longer believe.

"Long after I am gone, people will remember me saying, can't we all just get along."

Rodney King

Taken from Google images

I shall add his book to the words I want to take the time from which to learn.

Taken from Amazaon.com

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates: A Woman's Trek Through Turkey by Üstün Bilgen-Reinart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Being methodical feels constricting to me so I avoid it and stick with spontaneity.  This includes my selection of reading materials.  I go to the library, head for the travel section, start pulling books off the shelf, judge it by its cover, then synopsis, and keep it in my arms or put it back on the shelf after my discerning judgment :).  Over the past year I have read some wonderful books that have taught me about places I may never visit.  This book, with an unsuspecting cover, an acceptable synopsis, and yet more importantly a travel book written by a women, was left in my arms which was an exceptional choice.

This book was an amazing teaching tool that took me into the depths of thousands of years of history, race relations, conflict, change, and the current lives of many people in Turkey.  Of all the travel books I have read in the past year, this is the most moving one from which I feel like learned enough to be a four month university course that I received for free.  Lucky me!

Perhaps I feel closer to Ustun because she was born in Turkey, moved to Winnipeg, then returned to Turkey as an adult to learn about her culture all over again.  I was born in Calgary, Alberta, but did not live in Canada for any length of time until I was an adult, and I had to learn about my home country year after year when I moved here at the age of eighteen.  As well, I am currently living in Winnipeg.  An interesting coincidence.

This book is for people who want to learn about the deep moving power of travel, history, worship, cultural change, power structures and their influence, the complicated lives of women, goddesses, and to understand how old some parts of the world truly are, all situate in the context of travel, discovery, and making connections between the past and present.  A magnificent read!

I just realized that I will be probably be buying this book.  It is so full of information that I am going to want to come back to it a couple of times just to make sure I hear all of its messages.  Delightful as it stretched my thinking so very far.


The best parts of the book:

But deep inside me there was a division and there was a loss.  There were chambers that had to remain closed.  My Anatolian self was suppressed, my memories of that land - its rhythms, its smells, its temperature, its ancient joys and pains (for what is culture if it is not collective memory that is somehow transmitted through the generations?), the pleasure if my mother tongue - all these lay buried under the psychological layers that formed an efficient, adaptive Canadian self.  p. 14

Ecological balance represents survival - the human race can't live without air, land and water,  I knew that in Canada, too.  But it is only here that I begin to discern the relationship between ecological damage and the loss of distant memory.  So many layers of civilizations have lived and died here that I feel as if spirits hover over Anatolia.  But if their traces are destroyed, if no one remembers those who once lived and died here, we are not even going to know what we have lost...I notice that I often turn to women for stories about taboo themes and about the buried past.  It is true that women are the bearers of collective memory?  That questions leads me to the issue of the suppression of female voices, female memories, and female sexuality in Anatolia, and I see another connection that should have been obvious all along: the killing of nature and the suppression of ancient memory are related to the silencing of women's voices.  Perhaps women could have defended the earth of they hadn't been robbed of power thousands of years ago...On this land at the dawn of history, a different vision taped human societies.  An ancient great goddess reigned in Anatolia for thousands of years.  The traces of her worship remain all over this mountain our land...People often feel an urge to understand their own past in order to gain insights into the present.  I feel complicated to delve into Anatolia's past.  A long and loaded human past must affect the people who now live on this land in the same way that a family history going back many generations will affect someone who knows nothing of the secrets bored with those generations.  p. 17

Ustun continues to discover the thousands of years of goddess worship, provides a historical context of terrorism and her idea as to why it exists, describes how one religion is replaced by another as one culture is conquered by another group with a different culture, provides the history of prostitution and it modern day experience, explains killing ones daughter in the name of honour and how this practice is changing (a difficult chapter to read), and how the people of Turkey are rising up against Western multi-national companies as they destroy the landscape of the country, take their money and run away.  What a read!  It won't be the last time I peruse its pages.  So much more to understand and learn in the second and third readings.

Find it and learn from the words on its pages.  



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Dish

Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth about Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life by Barbara Moses
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I push 40, I have pulled out this book given to me by my sister during a Christmas several years ago.  She is a thoughtful gift giver and I am really enjoying this book thus far.  I look forward to my 40's when my opinions of myself and my life are far more important to me that are other opinions.  More later.

Finished the book and I plan on returning to my sister and she turns 40 next spring.  I have now reached 40 and as usual, a birthday does not make me feel any different.

According to this book, it seems as though I went through my mid-life crisis a little earlier than most.  Three years ago I was in a profession (elementary school teacher) that I enjoyed for several reasons but could not see myself content in for the next 30 years.  I bailed, moved to London, UK to play, applied to graduate school, am now completing graduate work, no longer religious, befriending a larger swath of people, enjoying the occasional rendez_vous, and living in a city that never thought I would even visit.  Strange how life takes on its own plan once you start rearranging yours.

That is what this book is about.  Taking time to stop and assess your life.  Acknowledge the good, address and let go of mistakes, plan a better future after some deep thought, and proceed with life, living it better than before.  Inspiring and a reminder that I am one of many who have left a past life, reinvented myself and am enjoying life so much more than before.

Some of the best parts:
"Sometime in my forties, I realized how important it was to be one whole, integrated person.  I did not want to work in an environment where I would have to segregate a work personal and a personal persona." - Writer p. 45

One [employee] of a bank provides a regular check and balance for herself.  She makes a 'date' with herself at the end of every workweek.  She reflects on the week past and asks herself questions like: Is this work meeting my needs?  Did I do anything significant this week?  Did I have fun?  Did I feel good?  And then she thinks about the coming weeks and what she hopes to accomplish.  p. 116

About 75 percent of the women said they did not have the financial security that they had expected at this life stage - they didn't want a lot, just some latitude or a safety net for taking risks.  Virtually all of them said one of their major life regrets was "buying too much crap and not starting to save earlier."  p. 127

For goals to be meaningful, like our lives, the must be dynamic and changeable.  Do you see yourself as being on a journey, or are you on a fixed path to a predetermined destination?  Many women in midlife see themselves as moving toward a state, such as being debt-free, or leaving a legacy, but their goals are implicit, not explicit.  They trust they will get there.  p. 133

The great British management thinker Charles handy coined the idea of a portfolio career.  He wrote that he balances '"core" work, which provided "the essential wherewithal for life" with work "dome purely for interest or for a cause, or because it would be stretch me personally or simply because it was fascinating or fun."...Every year I take on one new activity that stretches me, and absorbs me completely...I think this is one of the most organic types of career configurations available to midlife women, especially those wit multiple interested or the drive to explore new territory.  It is based on the assumption that we have many needs and desires and play many roles.  p. 154

I asked women I interviewed, "Looking back over your career, what regrets do you have?  What are you most proud of?  If you had one piece of advice to a younger woman, what would it be?
- know yourself
- act on what is most important to you
- maintain your integrity
- distinguish between the big issues and those that are a matter of taste
- find a mentor / be a mentor
- don't make work the centrepiece of your identity
- be able to navigate the political currents
- confront the fear reptile and take informed risks
- invest in yourself
- be financially literate
- be yourself
- never be deterred by lack of confidence
- don't worry if you don't know what you want to do "when you grow up"
- think trade-one, not trade offs (forget having it all, prioritize what is most important in your life)
p. 157-161

The nature of our relationships with our partners is shaped by who we are, what we want from our lives, as well as our partners' personalities, what we project onto our partners, and what we accept in our partners.  p. 221

Although we all have different expectations of our relationships, we agree on the big issues:
- create a life that is not dependent on a partner
- don't allow yourself to be swallowed
- don't swallow your partner
- enjoy and accept your partner for who she/he is
- make time for each other
- recognize and discuss your feelings when they occur
- be realistic
- monitor your thoughts and your speech when you have a disagreement
- know what is important to you
- don't tolerate any kind of abusiveness or behaviour that makes you feel belittled
- take your own counsel when it comes to ending a relationship
- get support through a bad period

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Gonna Be An Engineer

Cattle research done!
Thesis version two, almost done.
Sharing another video, below.

Last year I took the Smithsonian Folkways: American Roots Collection CD collection out of the library.  What a treat!  So many songs I had never heard but were the backbone of folk music, one of my favourite genres.  There were some really cool songs to listen to, some really weird ones, and one that I need to share with you.  It popped up on my playlist today while working and it makes me smile.

When I hear the lyrics I pretend I am a hippie woman at a Folk Festival with my long hair braided (its never long enough to do that, but hey, let me have my dreams), a daisy chain around my neck, a flowing hippie skirt, and maybe even a tambourine gently beating against my hip.  A woman by the name of Peggy Seeger appears on stage with a simple guitar.  She says hello at the microphone and dedicates this to all the women in the audience and beyond who want more choices in their lives.  Access higher (or well) paying jobs, be acknowledged for their intelligence and gifts, for others to see and thank them for their public contributions to the community, be provided with the space to make healthy choices, and live a full life in and outside their homes.

It is a sassy little ditty.

This is for all my engineering female family and friends out there (all 8 of you), and all the rest of us living better lives due to the work, lyrics, marches, sit-ins, folk festivals and potlucks of the 1960's.

I am now in graduate school due to your work.

Thanks!

Doral Pilling In London

I have just spent the last hour scanning parts of Doral Pilling's autobiography into a computer.  I am in the process of sending this information to Dr. Bruce Kidd who is a professor at University of Toronto and researcher the history of athletics, amongst other topics.  He was at the University of Manitoba several months ago and I went to his presentation then provided him with the family story of Doral (my maternal grandfather) helping Percy get through his Olympic events without throwing up etc.  When I read the account in his history (thanks Arta for all your transcribing and work on that book), I can't help but think that Grandpa Doral was using sport psychology techniques with Percy long before the term was even identified.  A forward thinker for sure.

Having just taken a peek at a website dedicated to Percy Williams created by Samuel Hawley, I came across several pictures of Grandpa Doral that I have not seen in any relatives houses.  Once again, I look at these pictures and wonder why my brother Trent is there (or several of the Wood's boys), give my head and shake and remind myself I am looking at Doral.  Here is my favourite shot mostly because many of us have now been in London and here is Doral in the same city long before the rest of us even existed in the flesh.

Taken from website:  http://www.samuelhawley.com/percy1928olympics2.html

From left to right: Doral Pilling, Percy Williams, Stanley Glover

I just love this shot!  Take a look at the website to find even more information and amazing pictures about Percy Williams, with Doral Pilling often hanging in the background.

Busy Busy

Just letting all three of my readers know that I am very busy.
Trying to have my thesis ready to go out to my committee within the week.  It is already at 50 pages so I think I have already gone overboard as the research has not started yet.
Working for professors over the summer trying to complete several tasks with very short deadlines.
Still doing some student political work.
Visiting family for a week coming up soon.
Volunteering at festivals again this summer.
Starting the professional job search as well.
This summer is going to move quickly by, I will be learning a lot of new skills, and I am going to have to get myself on a regular schedule.  Not a big fan of those.
Will post when I have the chance but that is not until June sometime.
Busy Busy Busy!

Sapphire Bound! Add It!

While I am reading methods books to pump up the research section of my thesis, and I have delved into the thick and hearty text, The Handbook of Qualitative Research by Denzin and Lincoln (Sage Publications, 1994).  This is the big mama of qualitative text books so that I can write a methods section and complete my mixed methods research with some flare and accuracy.  As I have been reading through the first section I came across a quote that caused me to pause and ponder.  Then ponder more.

Viola the quote written by Regina Austin (1989) in her book Sapphire Bound!:

"When was the last time someone told you that your way of approaching problems...was all wrong?  You are too angry, too emotional, too subjective, too pessimistic, too political, too anecdotal and too instinctive?  I never know how to respond to such accusations.  How can I legitimate my way of thinking?  I know that I am not used to flying off the handle, seeing imaginary insults and problems where there are none.  I am not a witch solely by nature, but by circumstances and choice as well.  I suspect that what my critics really want to say is that I am being too self consciously black (brown, yellow, red) and/or female to suit their tastes and should "lighten up" because I am making them feel very uncomfortable, and that is not nice.  And I want them to think that I am nice, don't I or "womanish"?" p. 76-77


I am adding this book to the list of 'To Read' in my mind and on GoodReads.