Lotta Nerve

Maybe it was just tired of someone profiting off its enslavement. A killer whale killed a trainer at Seaworld yesterday. The fact that this was international news is interesting. Perhaps the next crisis will be animals rising up against humans a la Avatar. The biggest joke was someone describing the death as "violent". Just like the Haitians are violent right? Or Iraqis are violent? Or Palestinians? Or South Africans? How would these witnesses describe the levelling of whole mountaintops or the tar sands? Oh yeah, economic activity.

But you already know how I feel.

Here are some lyrics from a wonderful Neko Case song that might offer some insight.

People Got a Lotta Nerve

So the saying says
An elephant never forgets
Standing in the concrete cave
Swaying side and sing
They walked over the ocean
And their dreams they dreamed awake
Until the lights grew dim
Until the cop cars came
Everybody tells me this is crazy, yes I know

But I'm a man man man man man man man eater
But still you're surprised
prised prised when I eat ya

You know they call them killer whales
But you seem suprised
When it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank
Where you can't turn around
It took half your leg and both your lungs
And I craved I ate hearts of
sharks, I know you know it

I'm a man man man man, man man man eater
But still you're surprised prised
prised when I eat ya [X2]

It will end again in moonlit song
It will end again in moonlit song.

Winter

I feel like I have nothing to blog about. Maybe that's what I get for moving to the city for a few months. Life is pretty regulated here. Reluctantly get up, eat breakfast quickly, brush teeth, share ride, walk up Robie and sit at my desk for 7.5 hours with a pleasant lunch in between and then onto a bus to return home, cook food, eat, maybe play scrabble or watch a movie then exhaustion sets in and it's off to bed, repeat.

I have all these great ideas for stories and zines and shirts (managing to get some things done). But it doesn't feel like there is space and time for projects.

Perhaps the winter is just catching up with me. I remember that last March and April I was really down in the dumps before the excitement of the summer. I think that it's a natural reaction to circumstances. And it's definitely more overcast in the Maritimes than it is in Ontario. I guess I miss the sun. On the next sunny day I'll have to go out and run around.

--

My friend and fellow gardener Dan has decided to move back to Ontario. I wish him well and I'm glad that being here has helped him to realize what matters most to him.

Though now I'm suddenly in charge of the garden. Secretly I'm so excited to see what I can do and I'm not really that bothered with making any mistakes and this will give me the chance to be creative. It'll be sad not to have a companion in the fields. I'm hoping that a bunch of wwoofers visit us this summer and perhaps a few friends. My friend Sapphire, who visited, told me to make her a flyer or something to give to people to convince them to come out and see what we're up to. And Marya asked me to do up a powerpoint presentation for our friends to explain what we're up to.

I really want to build a community where we live out here but I know that it will take a long time and I'll probably need a little help from our disintegrating civilization. I'm committed. Now I just need some sun!

Coming Clean

Oh temptation! Though I'm definitely not a Catholic I want to confess my sins. Since I got my driver's license and moved to Halifax, I've been borrowing the car now and then and not riding my bike (never it seems!) nor even taking the good transit system here. I have no excuse really. Driving is faster and I'm lazy.

This realization has been a big challenge. Basically I'm going against everything I stood for and believed for the past few years. I feel shame, especially because right now I'm not living in the country where driving is kind of the only option.

The other part of me though says: don't feel shame, every other fucker is driving and everyday. You use the car to go to your late night indoor football matches and driving lessons (funny I know). That's a few times a week and soon it'll only be one time a week.

But that's not the point. We are all wrong, we are behaving badly and mistreating the world on which we depend. The problem is that I may recognize this and never get on another airplane and try and grow all my own food but most people don't take these steps, in fact they probably can't for a whole bunch of reasons.

Bring on the waterless flood and wash away all my sins!

February

I woke up this morning to something I had never thought about; does that ever happen to you? An English professor was speaking on the radio about Black History Month. He remarked that it's interesting that Black History Month happens in the shortest month of the year.

Just some food for thought.

Ham for All

Finally he adds a short video. Not revolutionary by any means. Actually I take that back. The idea that the economy can't grow for ever is revolutionary. Good luck fellow hamsters!