It’s 2010

It’s 2010. January has been an amazingly difficult month. So many things have gone wrong or resulted in tragedy it is hard to cope. In times such as these my belief in God is very strong. Unlike many people’s opinion that when things go wrong there mustn’t be a God, when so many things go wrong at the same time I think to myself, “someone or something must have a hand in this, I have had a disproportionate amount of bad luck.” At times I feel a little Job-like and, with January behind me, having had a relatively good week so far, I understand again that I am only given what I can handle and there are moments of joy in the sorrow. I know I am extremely lucky. My family, my place of birth, my relatively easy life assure me of this. I am not in Haiti dealing with the loss of my country and the death of my family. I am not a child in Afghanistan whose school and house have been bombed or family massacred. I am not, even, one of the immigrants here in Italy fighting to be recognized and treated fairly by the Italians (government and commoners alike). I know my relative sadnesses pale in comparison and so, I get on with life.

It is amazingly beautiful here right now. The sun is shinning consistently and brightly without a cloud in the sky. The air is crisp and clean and perfect for walking (which I do a lot). I feel blessed to be able to go out and buy fresh veggies (in season somewhere in Italy) and walk with my groceries up through the old city. I indulge with regularity in delicious gelato (current flavour combination – coffee and chocolate) and again with a good glass of wine. Terry and I exchange hugs and at night I snuggle down with a Canada Reads book (currently Fall on Your Knees – one of my fav books). In the small moments life is good.

Siena

Terry had Monday and Tuesday off so we decided to make a vacation out of it to do some traveling. We took three trains over 5 hours to reach Siena. A gothic city located two hours south west of Florence, Siena is a city stuck in time. In the 1300s it was a prospering trading town the size of Paris and comparable to Florence with 60,000 people. Artists and architects flocked to Siena and produced amazing art and buildings. When the Black Plague struck Siena lost 1/3 of its population and all of its momentum. Structures that were being built were abandoned half finished and very few new buildings and art were produced. What Siena is today is an amazing Medieval city.

 

Terry and I spent two days wandering around the old buildings. We stood atop the forgotten half of the Duomo with its half made wall and holes for windows. We meandered along the old streets and peered into courtyards with medieval statutes. We hung out in Il Campo, an enormous Italian piazza in front of their town hall. We marveled at the Tuscan hills that we could see when we came to lookout points along the city walls. We stayed in a convent near the house of Siena’s patron Saint, Catherina. And we saw her head and her thumb in the Domenica church. We ate the local cookies and drank the local wine and had a lovely time.

 

Upon returning to Bergamo I thought that we also live in an old town. Our streets are cobbled and cars don’t fit down the lanes. Our buildings are old and our art to match, although we have a lot less of it than Siena. We don’t have famous cookies but we do have polenta cake. It is always nice to go on vacation, but it is just as nice to come home.

Human Mimicry

As I was walking to my afternoon ESL lesson I was listening to CBC’s Q – a radio show I download and listen to daily. One of today’s guests was Chris Atkins who has just completed a documentary on news hoaxes. The discussion went into the realm of celebrity culture and this is when I became interested. Previously, I had been thinking about how this intense focus on celebrity culture was affecting people’s choices in professions (read my last blog for more). My father brought up the idea that until our obsession with celebrity culture ended we would not recover our service jobs. As the radio discussion carried on I realized how closely it linked to my father and my discussion.

 

Our culture has an acute interest in fame and many people will do anything to become famous. The media forces messages of how important fame and celebrity is and we are all complicit in listening and encouraging this. More importantly this celebrity image is projected onto our children. Studies have been done in the United States that link increased television watching and the rise of narcissism. Children are coming home and watching tv all night long. The time they spend in front of the tv is not always monitored because children have access to so many screens. Many families have a tv in every room, the children have laptops and phones that can access television shows, films and celebrity gossip. On top of this televisions are now used in schools as teaching aids.

 

The growing narcissism comes from children mimicking those people that children are exposed to most – celebrities. Celebrities are by nature narcissistic. As the dominant people of our culture we desire to be like them. It is in our genetics as well as a learned behaviour to mimic and be close to those people in leadership roles. As role models, celebrities are probably not people that we would choose to surround our children but we let them through the over abundant access to celebrity culture. Is it any wonder then that children (and adults) are obsessed with fame seeking behaviour, desiring wealth and accessing quick cash through any means necessary?

 

I really don’t do the interview justice. Please take a listen and let me know what you think. www.cbc.ca/q the podcast for November 18^th, 2009

 

 

Hands of Service?

In my weekly conversation with my parents we began talking about the current job crisis in Canada. They lamented that service jobs like law enforcement, fire fighting, ministering and nursing were dwindling due to lack of young people coming into those professions. My dad spoke about how people entering the work force wanted more glamorous and higher earning entry jobs. I added that by not recognizing immigrants’ qualifications from their home countries meant that these fully able people were not able to work in their field and perhaps fill some of these empty positions.

After we signed off I continued to think about this problem. In our Montessori classrooms we devote much of our time showing presentations that allow children to care for their environments and each other. We show how to be gracious and courteous to one another and how to be of service to guests in our classrooms. In elementary classrooms children often take on service projects for the community, and in adolescent environments travel around the world to perform acts of service.

In traditional schools and homes I wonder how important acts of service are? I know that at schools there are bake sales, fundraisers and magazine sales, but how often are the reasons behind these efforts made known to the children? Are children asked to work in the service of others often? Are children asked to research and choose for themselves ways they can give back? At home, do families talk about the ways they can be of service to their communities and do they act? Do they volunteer at local organizations, donate to charities, set aside time in their week to do service oriented work or are they too busy shuffling from work to extra-curricular to the tv?

It seems to me that the cultural focus of today is on the individual, not the community. We have lost our awareness of each other and are focused on how to get ahead and get more stuff. How can we expect students choosing professions to think of service jobs when they haven’t been raised to view service as an every day act of humanity, when they have been raised knowing that money is everything?

But there are people working to promote service. And there is always hope.

http://www.metowe.com/

http://www.gen-we.com/

http://justonedaybooks.com/home/index.php

If you know of a service oriented organization post info or links.

Another Form of Remembrance

In the Netherlands they have two Remembrance days. On May 4^th they remember the war veterans and those men and women who died so that they may be free. On May 5^th they celebrate freedom and spend the day in joyous acknowledgement of the gift of a free country. I like this model. Two days. The first spent in reverence and grief, the second in glorious exultation.

This week Canada marked its November 11^th Remembrance Day with an 11am moment of silence and the laying of the wreaths at the cenotaphs. A humbling and deserved nod to those men and women who have sweat and bled for our country. It is an important and solemn moment in our annual calendar. Usually on November 12^th plastic poppies are discarded and 11am passes without pause in our daily routine. Not this year.

This year our Remembrance Day fell in the same week as two other important moments in our history: the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 40^th anniversary of Sesame Street. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

I was 8 when the Berlin Wall came down, I had no idea what the big deal was. It is only really on this 20^th anniversary that I have taken the time to reflect on what the fall of the wall meant for humanity. This week, throughout the world we are celebrating together, connecting over a moment where we made a good choice and the right choice, where peace triumphed over terror and tears. And for that I am happy.

I wore out my Sesame Street Sings the Alphabet tape when I was three. I can still sing most of the songs and 10 years ago I found a CD version in a used music store and I bought it. I have it on my itunes. If you do as well my favourite is the letter W. I would like to buy an O, It is not easy being green, You are near and far, Rubber Ducky you are the one. How cool is it that my children will get to see this show? And for that I am happy.

It is my recommendation that we take time not only to grieve the sorrow and ills that we have done, but to lift up the amazing accomplishments of humanity. There are so many. Instead of teaching history from war to war and conqueror to conquered we instill in all the wonder of what people can accomplish in peace and good will.

 

Q on cbc radio did an excellent program on Monday November 9th on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Check it out or download the podcast: http://www.cbc.ca/q/pastepisodes.html

Autumn in Bergamo

It is cold. Not so cold that I need my warmest jacket, but cold enough that I have to think about layers (and sometimes wear mittens). The leaves are changing colours and falling off the trees. The ground is littered with yellow and brown soupy leaves. I miss the fiery oranges and reds of Ottawa. Ottawa is gorgeous in the fall. It seems to be a rainy season here with days and days of grey skies and rain. The Bergamese always have umbrellas. I am starting to understand why as I dart from roof overhang to cafe doorway. In every building there are umbrella stands, even our apartment has one. I thought that was funny, but now I understand.

The rain and cold has quieted this city. For weeks, into October, the upper city was full of people, the shops and restaurant doing a booming business. Now it seems that all of the tourists have returned to their homes and have left us locals. The shops are closed more often then open and everyone moves a little slower. It reminds me of university cities in the summer. I am amazed that Italians can make a living with their rarely open establishments that keep me guessing but it seems to work for them. I am trying to flow with the customs and plan ahead when I need something.

Today I have my Italian class where I sit with 15 other foreigners and look confused for 3 hours. My teacher is brilliant and funny as she explains to us, in complicated Italian, verb conjugations and grammar rules. I enjoy the class and can feel this beautiful language seeping under my skin. Now, when I order my coffee, I pretend that my Italian is passable and that everyone believes that I belong here. I know I still have a long way to go. By the time I am fluent it will be time to leave. And there really isn’t anywhere else in the world that requires Italian…