Memes, Muses and More

When I see that I haven’t written in more than a month, I start by feeling guilty and apt to make excuses, but probably to my most regular reader, myself.  The truth is I also set up some equipment for drawing and painting and that didn’t go very far either.  Like most people, I think I can accomplish more than I actually can, and it’s not because of age or willpower. I just have made other things take a higher priority - and they are worthwhile.

They have been good results. I spent August preparing for twice-monthly piano selections for coming lessons in the fall and enjoyed them. I was inspired by online instruction from Seymour Bernstein as well as his book on practising piano. I came upon a handbook which helps even an amateur learning to play any instrument. The Practice Handbook is designed for those who it describes as “seriously enthusiastic”, musicians, but it is a model for any serious endeavor. You can find out more at Muse & Mate. Serious confession. The first lesson happened and I played really badly - but different studio, no listener for too long, too much self confidence. It’s good to come back to earth.

Like many others, I have laughed at all the memes that resulted from some of the crazy comments about pet cuisine at the debate - and I was right that it was AI that produced a great page that looks like it comes straight from Dr. Suess with those famous lines. There have been good memes as well as well - until I stopped smiling when I read about their effects on legal immigrants - bomb, threats, closed schools, distrust. Racism isn’t funny. Political vitriol anywhere should make us ashamed. We are very eager consumers of just about anything set before us. I won’t share the meme.

And then there are two related invitations today. One is from a faith body inviting me to a special service celebrating a Season of Creation. The other is inviting me to a Green Drinks Party, “Saving the world one Sip at a Time” - meeting in a local pub with an invitation to people already interested in the environment or looking to find such a group. It is an Irish pub of course. I’m already booked with a group discussing the important book, The Wall Between, tomorrow night, or I might have been drawn to the second. The first group may have to deal with the the reality that climate change and its impact isn’t restricted to a season!

Power

I watched the PBS Frontline program on Biden earlier this week. it’s something of a rags to riches story telling how Biden saw John F. Kennedy’s rise when he was a teenager and decided to imitate it - in spite of not having the financial resources of his model. Both men had influential fathers. The irony of following a model that produced tragedy for both was all too real in this story. Death was always in the background of the climb to power.At one point we see Biden weeping as he watches his son Beau speaking at a convention as though he might be a future presidential candidate, but knowing what others didn’t - that the son would soon die of a brain tumor. It is not a surprise that the president has been seen as a healer since he had too many times to have to heal himself. It’s also not a surprise that the parents who lost their sons in the flight from Afghanistan resented it when Biden said that he knew who they felt at such a time of loss, then spoke about his son, not theirs.

When we’re down, we get up - the ongoing mantra - was a resolution that could help anything but the march of time. Power is attractive when we get it, and its not surprising that we want to keep it. But ultimately what we do with power speaks to our own agency. No one could push Biden out no matter how much they might have wanted to. Perhaps his finest moment should be the one when he made the painful choice to not get up, but to step down. He deserves some time to grieve the loss of something he spent most of his time preparing for. Coming out of that is a hope for a return of that amazing smile. Elders have a role as our indigenous brothers and sisters know.

How About Real Intelligence

I’m reading in the Washington Post this morning that visual artists and photographers are already feeling the blows of artificial intelligence by having it steal their images. They are leaving the social media that claims copyright for anything they post there..

Last night I attended an event jointly presented by the Toronto Symphony and Tapestry Opera - a master class for four rapidly rising women conductors. The program, also jointly supported by the Vancouver Symphony, is intended to create more gender balance in this professional field. It was wonderful to watch each of them privileged to work with seasoned professional musicians as well as being tutored in a good humoured way by a master conductor. This is the second of these master classes I have attended watching some of the same young professionals, and what a pleasure to see growth as they continue building their careers.

And what I heard were one time performances. Perhaps they have been recorded and will appear online later. But nothing can duplicated hearing it as it was - with the drama and immediacy, and sometimes the improvement as the conductors repeated a passage after direction. No mashup by a machine can ever duplicate it. We need to experience real events in real time created by real artists - in concert halls and galleries.

Please feel free .. .

Coming back from an appointment I stopped to look at a paper surrounded by sticky tape and left on the sidewalk. It said, “Please feel free to take it”. My guess is that it was originally posted to something left on the street. It’s not uncommon for folks to leave something near the sidewalk that they don’t want any more. If someone else can use it, that’s a good thing.

But the slogan made me think of how we treat the natural environment. Earlier in the morning I was reading Marilynne Robinson’ new book, Reading Genesis, where she points out that unlike the Babylonian culture that existed when the book was written, that creation was a gift, and that the gift was also supported by promises of continuity, even when the recipients behaved badly. We appear to be slow learners. We still feel free to help ourselves.

Communication

I’ve been impressed for some time by Climate Outreach in the UK. Their small team studies effective ways to deal with the climate crisis - and a couple of my own recent presentations show how other writers use ones that provide hope. Here are some of the key findings from their 2024 report on how Britain Talks Climate. Read the full report.

• They found that no demographic or segment of the general population opposes climate change as a reality that requires action.

• People believe climate change is the job of government - without necessarily feeling that their current government is doing enough.

• They want to work with others in tackling it - not just on an individual basis.

How we talk about it matters:

• Don’t assume that others don’t think it matters. They do. They will differ on the process, but they do care.

• Don’t make people more worried. They are already anxious enough.

• Talk about the progress that is already underway and its benefits.

• Make the connections - a healthy planet, a resilient nature, our own well being.

• Recognize that for many change is scary and times are hard.

Things to avoid

• That climate change is all about more hardship and sacrifice.

• Drastic approaches that are against common sense

• Pitting different aspects of nature and climate change against each other.

The also have good ideas about images and what ones work like the one used here.